Will Greece or won’t they? Personally, I think they will vote to stay in Europe. But the Greeks are rabid. This is up in the air.
Here’s a video from Bloomberg showing what happens if Greece leaves the Euro. It shows the gruesome early stuff and has a nice happy ending, when Greece eventually becomes independent, happy and prosperous.click here.
Cramer is right: Buy stocks that are US-based, with zero exposure to Europe. Sample: Con Edison, New York’s power company. It pays a nice dividend (yield is 3.9%) and has recently gone up. It’s been on my list (on the right) for a while:
What else? A good place to start is the 52-week chart I picked up from finance.yahoo this morning. This list is in alphabetical order, but I do like that top of the list is AGNC, which I’ve also been recommending and is one of my biggest equity holdings.
You should find some others here you like. Checking will give us something to do this weekend. Just keep away from stocks with European exposure.
Going short gives you diversification. But don’t go short for diversificaiton. Go short because you feel the stock is going to fall further because it’s a cockroach (like the big banks) or because its business makes zero sense any longer — e.g. RadioShack, BestBuy or JCPenney, or for other reasons, like too exposed to Europe. Here’s my latest list. I’ve removed some because they’re already fallen. I covered Caterpillar yesterday after a 15% gain. Choose carefully:
Best Buy (BBY)
Cisco (CSCO)
Credit Suisse
Deckers (DECK)
Eaton Vance (EV)
Facebook (FB)
First Solar (FSLR)
Gold (SGOL or GLD)
Green Mountain (GMCR)
Fossil (FOSL)
GameStop (GME)
Goldman Sachs (GS)
IBM
JC Penney (JCP)
JPMorgan Chase (JPM)
LuluLemon (LULU)
Morgan Stanley (MS)
Patriot Coal (PCX)
Pep Boys (PBY)
RadioShack (RSH)
Research In Motion (RIMM)
SanDisk (SNDK)
Sears (SHLD)
Starbucks (SBUX)
Supervalu (SVU)
Terex (TEX)
A nice business. We have a family wedding in Ireland next week. I leave on Monday. I hear the ATM machines in Europe are empty because of the crisis. I panic. I got to my local bank and buy 375 euros. They charge me $504.41, a rate of $1.3451. I check Bloomberg. I should have paid $1.2629. I paid them $31.12 in commission, or 6.11%. Nice work. I now hear European ATMs are actually working. and have money. And the rate they give American debit cards is pretty good. Panic has its price. Stupid me.
Such a business for the pickpockets in Portugal. My friend is standing in a crowded streetcar on his way to a popular Lisbon tourist site. A lady squeezes him from the side while a man squeezes him from the other side and lifts his stash of around $400, but not his wallet with his credit cards. Lucky man.
My friend, who speaks fluent Portuguese, goes to the police. They tell him they know the gang well. They describe the members and their method of operations. But they can’t prosecute and put them jail because they only steal from tourists who have left long before the court date. Hence no witnesses nor victims.
My wife had her purse stolen in Cambodia.
There are obvious lessons here, most boring.
My partner Gerry Friesen. He is reative, hard-working and honest. The best partner anyone could wish for. When we sold the business, I “retired” to learning about investing, to actually investing, to writing this column (and my dictionary), and to playing tennis. Gerry became the “Yes” man. “Gerry, want to go to motorcycle to Alaska?” “Yes!”
Eventually Gerry became a birder. And what a good one he’s become. He can identify more birds than Audubon He has photographed every bird known to mankind. He jumps planes to chase birds. This is my favorite picture of Gerry birding.
Don’t even ask what that lens cost, or worse, weighs.
Harry Newton who recommends you watch Jon Stewart’s take last night on Jamie Dimon’s congressional testimony. Click here. You’ll die laughing.
Harry…maybe you should start every column, every day with the statement…THE FOLLOWING OPINIONS ARE MINE, YOU SHOULD FORM YOUR OWN.
Loved the clip Mitchronl suggested…
Harry, here's a fascinating clip if you have not seen it. Blows my mind, but since I have trouble staying ahead of my smartphone, that is no surprise
http://www.youtube.com/embed/5…
Thanks for sharing that link. Very cool indeed. Take note PowerPoint abusers!
Harry – do you ever go back and read what you have written in the past? “when in Doubt Stay out” is something you have recommended to readers. You generally repeat that after big drops in the market. After a big up day like yesterday you are once again promoting and recommending stocks to own – while also reiterating you list of stocks to short. So what is it – stay out? Or buy and short stocks? You have also said that you do not recommend stocks yet here today in black and white you say and I quote ” AGNC, which I’ve also been recommending” . I guess that is why the internet and blogs are so great – you can write and say anything and not be held accountable. But you certainly can be exposed and lose credibility. Your readers should connect the dots.
Investing is a personal thing. AGNC has long been on my “buy” list — see list on right. I've also said some shorts make sense. And I am not stupid. If the market is going up, with some stocks, I'll buy a few. If you're in doubt, stay out. If you're not, buy long or sell short. But do stay on top of what you own. The world is changing very fast. Flexibility counts. There is one final option — if you don't like what I read, don't read it. I don't charge for my blog. You don't pay.
So the big headline and your regular mantra about “staying out of the market” is only after a big down day or big down move in the market? When we have a good up day or strong up week you are pounding your chest about the stocks you own and the stocks you “recommended”. All the while you maintain that you dont recommend stocks.Heads I win tails you lose type mentality – right? The vast majority of blogs and website access is for free that doesnt mean that there should not be some honesty, integrity, and accountability by the author(s). One day you say stay out of the market. The next day you list stocks we/you own (long and short). One day you say you dont recommend stocks on this blog and the next day you say AGNC , I recommended. Your excuse is that since your readers get your wisdom for free we/I shouldt expect honest dialgoue?
Right on, InvestGuy. There needs to be accountability by these financial advisers who have no clue, like Harry. Harry even quotes Cramer. Cramer changes with the wind – one day it's a scary time to be in stocks, two days later, things are looking great, then 72 hours later we could be looking at another recession. Harry is the same way. He seems to ride the trends – after stocks go up, then he jumps in in a bigger way; after stocks have been dropping for a while, he sells stuff. Classic stupidity – buy high,. sell low. InvestGUy – have you read anything by Benjamin Graham or wArren Buffett? They became wealthy by being contrarian value investors – they bought when nobody wanted stocks. I've become fairly wealthy that way. And, yes, there are a few sites and financial writers, like Harry, that I consult to get a gauge. When harry seems to be recommending stocks, I don't buy; when he talks about the importance of being out of stocks, then I buy. There are other guages – when USA Today has a front page story about how stocks are booming, I'd never buy then. If USA Today has a front page story about how awful stocks have been, that's a good time to buy.
This is, I would surmise, entertainment. Just like talk radio. You either get into a groove with the host or not. If not, move along.
I got into the IVR business in the mid 1990s, and heard about “Harry Newtown” and his annual dictionary. I watched a video of him giving a talk at an industry conference. He's a character, and guileless at that. In short, entertaining.
There are much more appropriate targets for one's outrage.
It's because of people like you that the financial meltdown occurred – enablers, who feel there should be no accountability on Wall Street or by those who rate Wall Street. That's a pathetic philosophy, and I genuinely feel sorry for you, Milquetoast.
No argument here that Harry is entertaining – he is. And I enjoy some of the stuff on this site. But no one in their right mind can take this advice seriously, though some do, and that's tragic.
Best rates in NYC. A&S currency exchange on 32nd st, small booth inside a store. Used my Schwab debit card in Europe with no fees and good exchange rate.