Airlines are soaring — directly benefiting from plummeting oil prices. We have Delta (DAL) and American (AAL). Others are doing well also.
Peter Lynch’s major thesis was “Buy what you like.” Curiously that doesn’t play into “Sell what you hate.” Take Time Warner Cable (please take it). It’s truly miserable dealing with them as a customer. They’re my Internet supplier out here in the west. Time Warner Cable’s (TWC) stock has bounced around this year, but is still up. And take the airlines. Miserable to fly, but great stocks (recently).
I despair for bricks and mortar retailing. We moved into our new California holiday house last week. We visited Home Depot for stuff we needed. Awful shopping. But what a great stock this year:
What local retailers (including Home Depot, Staples, Bed Bath & Byond and others we visited) lacked, Amazon had.
That’s what I learned from hours wasted driving from one badly-sign posted, boring strip mall to another. Read that again:
What the bricks and mortar retailers lacked, Amazon had. And could deliver in a day or two.
The worst of all the bricks and mortar retailers was Costco. If I had a family of 20 to feed every night and a family prone to use acres of toilet paper and miles of paper towels, Costco is the place to shop. But for normal people who don’t require quantities to make their SUVs groan, I’d skip Costco. But Costco has done nicely in the past year…
So depressing:
I’m guessing Syria’s “unemployment” rate is right up there with Zimbabwe. Last night 60 Minutes did a piece on how the Syrian dictator, Bashar al-Assad, is using hunger as a weapon, deliberating starving hundreds of thousands of its own people and causing a refuge problem that the World Hunger Organization (WHO) is not able to keep up with. Probably the biggest ever. One Syrian town had eaten all its dogs and cats before WHO got in with a little food and water.Ten million people have fled Syria or have been displaced from their homes. A staggering number in a country of 18 million. That’s 56% of the population.
Watch 60 Minutes here.
Meanwhile, Italy’s unemployment rate has risen to 13.2% — the highest since the quarterly series began in 1977.
60 Minutes did a piece on credit card fraud last night. What little I learned:
1. The card issuers only know they’ve been hacked when their customers’ credit cards go up for sale on Internet web sites.
2. Everyone has been dragging their feet on issuing newer, harder-to-crack credit cards — ones with microchips in them (similar to cell phone SIM cards).
3. The more publicity hacking gets, the better cyber-security stocks should do. I like CyberArk (CYBR).
4. Don’t give retailers your credit card numbers..
5. Make your online passwords very long and very complicated.
Cell phone service need a boost? If you have a little — perhaps also intermittent — cell phone at your home or office, you will find some joy in a cell phone booster. The device comes with an antenna for your roof (or somewhere on high), and cable to connect it to a transmitter in your office/home. It’s a fiddle installing the thing but your cell phone service will definitely improve — no matter which carrier you have. This is what you get when you spend $220:
To buy the thing from Amazon (where else?), click here.
How ISIS apeals to its recruits. I’m fascinated with the Islamic State’s “marketing.” The best piece is from Geopolitical Monitor. It begins:
The Islamic State has a library of ancient myths and prophecies it uses to lure warriors in a march towards the thirteenth century, where they will defeat the infidels in a great final battle in northern Syria. Whether they die and are rewarded with paradise or survive to enjoy the coming Utopia under divine rule, they will be the victors; and this is the appeal of the Islamic State.
Read the rest here.
Favorite recent New Yorker cartoons.
Harry Newton who wanted to alert his readers to the “boom” in suntan lotion. That’s unfair, given the weather back east. We are here in the Coachella Valley until Saturday. Today we’re scheduled to see some clouds. We’ll bring the good weather back with us when we return on Saturday. That’s a promise.
Allegedly, the two cheapest shopping days are today (Cyber-Monday) and tomorrow. God forbid you should buy more junk you don’t need.
Harry, you would enjoy the technology behind these different cell phone “boosters’. The one you linked to is actually a mini cell site. As such, it needs to know and broadcast exactly where it is, so it has a GPS inside. BUT, if the GPS can’t see enough satellites, it will never log into the system. Some folks don’t understand this and complain of total failure. Supposedly it can take a couple of hours to sync, so patience. And, don’t move it or you start the whole process over again. And, of course, in the initial setup you must have SOME cell signal to start. It doesn’t work in a completely “dead” zone.
The other type, referenced by another person commenting, takes your calls “off the air” and shoves them over the Internet. That is dandy as long as you have good Internet service, but it has zero value as a backup to the Internet in case of failure. However, it will work in a completely dead cell area.
Once upon a time I researched all of these. I believe the Internet style “booster” has a 911 emergency call issue, but my info is old and memory of details faded.
Mugabe nightmare…bring back Ian Smith.
Harry, do you think that Delta is down 2.6% today (as of 11 a.m. Eastern) because you praised it earlier this morning? I’m sure there’s a connection.
You’re undoubtedly right. I’m guessing you’re still holding DAL?
Absolutely.
I had the cell phone booster and it worked ok until my condo association saw the little antenna after a year and made me take it down. Jerks. The good news is I bought a micro cell from at&t, also available from Verizon, for $200. It hooks up to your router and now I get perfect service all through our unit on both floors. A much better solution.
Cell phone booster…firstly, your Amazon link doesn’t work, fortunately i have my own…
I have one of these units that worked fine to boost my signal…new tower went up a few blocks away from my house so no longer need it. Will sell for fifty bucks plus shipping to anyone who wants one.
Amazon link repaired. Now works. Thanks.