The second is United States Natural Gas (UNG) which is an EFT designed to reflect the price of natural gas:

Cramer is pounding the table for Wynn Resorts because of its huge ($1.625 billion) upcoming Hong Kong IPO of its Macau gambling operation.

Wynn Macau, owned by Wynn Resorts, is a luxury integrated resort in Macau, People’s Republic of China, offering casino gaming combined with a deluxe hotel, restaurants, designer shops, spa, and a choreographed performance lake. It is the first Las Vegas-style integrated resort in Asia.

This is one of the rooms:

According to Cramer last night, Steve Wynn claims this is the best casino hotel he's ever built. Visit his web site.

All this is happening in "communist" China. I suspect Wynn's price will rise further as the IPO gets closer -- now scheduled for October 9.

Meanwhile, Google and Apple will go higher, still.

Dumb takeover bids. As the market reacts to dumb takeover bids, there are opportunities to play the takeover company.

This is what happened to Kraft after it announced a dumb takeover bid for Cadburys:

Latest on STEC. I'm still out of it. But I still like its technology and its potential. The lady Wedbush analyst who killed it a few days ago has, this morning, issued a strongly positive report:

· Headline Risk of Increasing Competition Looks Priced in; Sell-Off Creates Compelling Entry Point Ahead of Likely Q3 Beat and Q4 Raise - Reiterate Outperform Rating and $39 PT

While the changes to the competitive landscape in the enterprise server and enterprise storage SSD markets are slightly ahead of our previous expectations, we don't believe the evolving competitive landscape warrants the sell off in shares. We believe investors are overlooking the likely (1) Q3 beat, (2) Q4 raise and (3) STEC's lead in the enterprise storage SSD market with the only "proven" enterprise storage SSD. Following our recent round of industry checks, we are increasing our Q3 and Q4 estimates above the Street due to strong demand for ZeusIOPs. We believe with investors fully aware that continued changes to the competitive landscape are on the horizon; additional headline risk to the stock is unlikely. We reiterate our Outperform rating and $39 price target.

· Competition in our view may be coming slightly ahead of expectations; however, it doesn't mean Game Over or the STEC story is broken.

· Expect STEC's share in enterprise storage SSD market over the coming months to remain intact due to long and expensive qualification cycles.

· Increasing Q3 and Q4 estimates as demand for ZeusIOPs continue to surpass our expectations.

· Sell-off creates compelling entry point ahead of likely Q3 beat and Q4 raise. Our $39 price target is based upon 17x our 2010E pro forma EPS estimate of $2.29, about a 25% discount to blended peer group median multiple (23x).

My bank is getting creative. It hit one of my accounts with a $12 "inactive account fee." But the account was not "inactive." It had one transaction -- the inactive account fee. Should I point this "logic" out to my bank, or simply bitch?

eBay is not always cheap. An eBay seller was peddling a Corsair 256 SSD for $849.95. I can buy the same thing on newegg for $669. Check. Check. Check.

How do you feel about Afghanistan? I believe we can't "win" this war. I believe staying there wastes precious American lives (the worst part) and money (hence weakening the dollar), and accomplishes nothing to improve our internal security (since Osama and his crew have moved to Pakistan). Moreover, our Karzai administration is corrupt, can't deliver security to its own people and is generally ineffective in every way. No one from Alexander The Great on has ever "conquered" the Afghanis, who according to my sources, "love to fight."


President Hamid Karzai stuffed his election ballot boxes. And we let him do it.

Today, I launched www.StopAfghanistan.org. Please visit it and let me know your thoughts.

Favorite recent New Yorker cartoons:

Senior Road Trip. Yes, this will happen to you, too.

While on a road trip, an elderly couple stopped at a roadside restaurant for lunch. After finishing their meal, they left the restaurant, and resumed their trip.

After 40 minutes of driving, the elderly woman remembered she'd left her glasses.

All the way back, the elderly husband became the classic grouchy old man. He fussed and complained, and scolded his wife relentlessly. The more he chided her, the more agitated he became. He wouldn't let up for a single minute.

They finally arrived at the restaurant. As the woman got out of the car, and hurried inside to retrieve her glasses, the old geezer yelled to her, "While you're in there, you might as well get my hat and my credit card."

This column is about my personal search for the perfect investment. I don't give investment advice. For that you have to be registered with regulatory authorities, which I am not. I am a reporter and an investor. I make my daily column -- Monday through Friday -- freely available for three reasons: Writing is good for sorting things out in my brain. Second, the column is research for a book I'm writing called "In Search of the Perfect Investment." Third, I encourage my readers to send me their ideas, concerns and experiences. That way we can all learn together. My email address is . You can't click on my email address. You have to re-type it . This protects me from software scanning the Internet for email addresses to spam. I have no role in choosing the Google ads on this site. Thus I cannot endorse, though some look interesting. If you click on a link, Google may send me money. Please note I'm not suggesting you do. That money, if there is any, may help pay Michael's business school tuition. Read more about Google AdSense, click here and here.