Gold has crumbled and may tumble more before it comes back. Meantime, AMZN and TIP are doing OK. But nothing else is. The mortgage REITs have high dividend yields but are falling out of favor.
Annaly’s earnings are, predictably, under pressure. Annaly reported last night. Here are two reports — the first is in two sections. (More in a moment.) One has a target higher than its present price. The other has a target price lower than where it is at present. Personally, I’m still mulling.
Click here. Click here. And click here.
Annaly is holding a conference call this morning at 9:00 AM. Go here.
I’m sure it will rebroadcast.
Your cellphone’s battery sucks. It actually doesn’t. It’s just that today’s smartphones use up your battery when not actually talking on the phone. You can save on battery by turning off location services (aka awareness), diagnostics and usage, setting time zone and traffic and iCloud syncing. Change your email’s fetching to manual.
Several people report good success by conditioning their battery. This involves draining the battery completely and then charging it all the way up to 100%.
You can also buy a case for your iPhone4 and 4S that is also second battery and doubles your battery life. Neat. $80. click here.
Siri tip. If you say Wikipedia followed by anything like Muppets or Zombies, it will take you right to the Wikipedia entry for that.
The insanity of FedEx. We get used to the beautiful logic of Apple products. Then we deal with the real world. Take FedEx. (Please do.) To save a few pennies, I’m filling in my shipping forms on line. If I want to track those packages, I don’t go to Track Packages, I go to Create A Shipment. Go figure.
If you have a web site, get some of your friends to test it for user friendliness. You’d be surprised how many CEOs simply leave their web site design to a bunch of programmers who layer the site with impossible-to-understand stupidities, like rejecting passwords that don’t have a capital letter and several numbers and three expletives…
Occupy Wall Street worked. The Bank of America dropped it plan to charge $5 a month to its debit card customers. Such a nice bank. I remember when I was a customer of Fleet Bank. Their people were lovely. Then one day, Bank of America bought it. The next time I visited, several of the new Bank of America employees asked me if I had a job for them. Why I asked? Answer: Bank of America was treating them so awfully and was making them adopt rules that made no sense to them.
Rick Perry: The Best Little Whore In Texas. That’s the headline of Matt Taibbi’s latest engrossing piece for Rolling Stone magazine. The sub-headline is “The Texas governor has one driving passion: selling off government to the highest bidder.”
Here are several of Taibbi excerpts:
+ Early morning in a nearly filled corporate ballroom at the Cobb Energy Centre, a second-tier event stadium on the outskirts of Atlanta. It’s late September, and a local conservative think tank is hosting a get-together with Rick Perry, whose front-runner comet at the time is still just slightly visible in the bottom of the sky. I’ve put away five cups of coffee trying to stay awake through a series of monotonous speeches about Georgia highway and port reform, waiting for my chance to lay eyes on the Next Big Thing in person.
+ But such superficial criticisms of his weirdly erratic campaign demeanor don’t even begin to get at the root of why we should all be terrified of Perry and what he represents. After all, you have to go pretty far to stand out as a whore and a sellout when you come from a state that has produced such luminaries in the history of political corruption as LBJ, Karl Rove and George W. Bush. But Rick Perry has managed to set a scary new low in the annals of opportunism, turning Texas into a swamp of political incest and backroom dealing on a scale not often seen this side of the Congo or Sierra Leone.
+ In an era when there’s exponentially more money in politics than we’ve ever seen before, Perry is the candidate who is exponentially more willing than we’ve ever seen before to whore himself out for that money. On the human level he is a nonpersonality, an almost perfect cipher – a man whose only discernible passion is his extreme willingness to be whatever someone will pay him to be, or vote for him to be. Even scarier, the religious community around which he has chosen to pull his human chameleon act features some of the most extreme end-is-nigh nutcases in America, the last people you want influencing the man with the nuclear football. Perry is a human price tag – Being There meets Left Behind. And sometimes there’s nothing more dangerous than nothing at all.
+ Yes, he has done all of those things, and more. But it’s all incidental. When you ask what Perry’s true nature is – the first and principal thing that defines him – there’s just one answer: favors.
For the entire long Taibbi article, click here.
Corzine is incredible. Super-confident. Super-arrogant. And perhaps embodying the worst of Wall Street. From yesterday’s New York Times:
Corzine Crashes Like It’s 2008 By JOE NOCERA
When Goldman Sachs went public on May 4, 1999, Jon Corzine, who was then the firm’s chief executive, held a stake that was suddenly valued at $305 million. So, perhaps, it’s uncharitable to complain about the piddling $12 million severance he was poised to gain if he had managed to sell his current firm, MF Global Holdings, over the weekend.
But I’m going to complain anyway. The idea that Corzine, who single-handedly destroyed MF Global Holdings, was in a position to command so much as a penny in severance is horrifying. It suggests two things. The first is the extent to which “heads-I-win-tails-you-lose” remains the operative concept for Wall Street compensation. The second is that one’s politics doesn’t much matter when it comes to lining one’s pockets. Corzine is an avowed liberal who has decried income inequality and Wall Street pay — but right up until the end, he had his hand out for millions he didn’t deserve.
To read a recounting of Corzine’s tenure at MF Global Holdings is to wonder how he missed the 2008 financial crisis. Oh, yes! That’s right: he was the governor of New Jersey, a job he won in 2005 after one term in the Senate. Still, you would think that as a former Wall Street titan, he would have noticed that taking giant bets on shaky, long-term bonds while financing your operations with overnight loans that can be pulled at any second is not exactly a recipe for success.
But that’s exactly what Corzine did. After taking over the firm in March 2010 — just months after losing his re-election bid to Chris Christie — he decided to transform the derivatives broker into something sexier, something more like his old firm, Goldman Sachs. In particular, he wanted MF Global to risk its own capital, trading for its own account, just like Goldman had so successfully done when he was running it.
Stunningly, the risky bets he took at MF Global were on European sovereign debt. “Europe wouldn’t let these countries go down,” he reportedly told another Wall Street executive, according to The Wall Street Journal. The firm’s position in European bonds grew to $6.3 billion — and its leverage ratio to 40 to 1, according to Egan Jones, a ratings agency. That is, it had $40 of debt to every $1 of equity. It was remarkably 2008-ish.
As was the denouement. After a poor fiscal second quarter was announced last week, its stock fell off the cliff and Moody’s downgraded its debt. Its trading partners became skittish, and its access to the overnight lending market started to disappear. It was the classic modern Wall Street run on the bank — just like Lehman Brothers. Finally, Corzine’s only hope was to sell the firm. When that effort failed early Monday morning, a bankruptcy filing was inevitable. Just like Lehman.
When I read MF Global Finance’s second-quarter results, though, what popped out at me was its compensation expenses: 64 percent of revenues went to compensation. In any industry but Wall Street, that would be obscene. Indeed, in a talk he gave at Princeton last year, Corzine said that he’d been “arguing about compensation sins of Wall Street” for decades. Not enough to actually do anything about it, though, once he was back in charge of a firm.
Then there’s Corzine’s own compensation. When he walked in the door, he negotiated a salary of $1.5 million. (Incredibly, MF Global Holdings paid a $400,000 fee to Corzine’s lawyers.) He also received a signing bonus of $1.5 million, and $11 million in stock options.
But here’s the kicker. Like many executives — on Wall Street and off — Corzine’s agreement also covered his eventual departure. If he left MF Global because, say, it was sold, his $11 million in stock options would immediately vest, and he would get a $12.1 million golden parachute. Of course, the MF Global proxy statement doesn’t call it a golden parachute. It calls the payment “severance.”
There is nothing in the proxy statement about what would happen if Corzine destroyed the firm by making bad trading bets. There is nothing that links his payout to, you know, performance. No matter what, he would be owed the $12.1 million. All he had to do was sell the firm.
So that’s what he tried to do. I’m not saying the payout was his only motive or even his primary motive. But, in less than two years, he took a $7-a-share stock and turned it into a $1.20 stock. Had he succeeded in selling MF Global, the price would surely have been less than $1. It seems almost criminal that Corzine was still entitled to a $12.1 million payment after destroying so much value. Yet that would have been the result. And you wonder why people are angry?
Instead, the deal he had been negotiating fell through — and so did Corzine’s severance. Now he’s just another unsecured creditor. In this day and age, I guess that counts as progress.
Harry Newton who sees Europe as boring and worsening.
You can get earning call transcripts for most stocks at seekingalpha.com
http://seekingalpha.com/symbol…
Harry,
Now that Goldline has a 19 count criminal fraud and theft complaint filed by prosecutors in Santa Monica Ca you may want to reconsider having them advertise on your site. It isn't helping Glen Beck's reputation right now.
Harry – you have been warned repeatedly that NLY AGNC and other mortgage REITs that play the interest rate spread game are accidents waiting to happen. NO stock (or bond ) with that high div yield can be healthy. High yields spell high risk. Very high yields like NLY and AGNC spell very high risk. NLY recently cut the dividend. Now the “predictably” announced earnings are under pressure. What do you need – a rock to fall on your head. Dividends being cut, earnings falling short and a business model built on unsustainable interest rate environment. Get out while you can – one day you will wake up and the stock will be down 50%!. You have already lost all your dividend income because the stock has gone down by at least that much. It's a loser Harry – sell Mortimer.
Not actually yet. I'm still up on Annaly. The dividends are more than making up for the decline in Annaly's stock. I don't believe there willl be a 50% drop one day. But I can see continued weakness in the stock. Today it's weak. In contrast, the other mortgage REITs are actually up strongly this morning.
Harry – the circumstances responsible for NLY dividend cut and earnings shortfall will continue. There is no macro development to think otherwise. The interest rate spread “game” on morgtage paper will continue to unravel. What more must you see? NLY cut the dividend and now the miss the earnings. You are getting a chance to get out even – do so. Its as plane as the nose on your face!
Stockjock, no dice. I have a Rule of thumb – don't take advice from someone who confused “plane” and “plain.”
Even if you didn't, sure sounds like you have an agenda. But I just come to this site to laugh at Newton. I don't think anyone takes this crap seriously.
I really thought Perry was to be our knight in shinning armor…what a disappointment! Cain? No, never did feel he would make the grade even as much as I favored his business acumen. Romney? I never voted for him the last time he ran (I voted for Huck) but it looks as if I will be voting Romney this time and pray hard!
Romney seems to be the most sane.
Just remember that Taibbi is an over the top leftist hack who will do a hit job on any and all conservatives. He was down there coaching the losers at OWS. Take anything he says with a grain of salt – he has an agenda and he's sticking with it no matter what.
Actually Matt Taibbi is one of the most talented writers in the United States today. The fact that you don't like some of what he writes is your privilege. But before you tar and feather him with “leftist hack,” perhaps you should study his article and the facts he's researched to come to his conclusions. The article has plenty of damning facts to support his conclusions.
Taibbi is an excellent writer and researcher. His articles on Goldman and others were very revealing. He has talent in abundance, no doubt. It's what you do with the talent that counts.
Why does our hero Matt never turn his pen toward Obama, Pelosi, or Holder? The woman who was two-heartbeats away from the presidency is so venial as to make Perry look saintly. The dirt on Holder is appearing daily in a Congressional Record near you. The “leftist hack” badge applied by Devilznj is earned as much or more by what you choose to investigate than how you do it. Since Bill Hearst was a boy, “Journalists” have been making their fame and fortune by taking down “somebody big”. There are Pulitzer prizes waiting for investigating and taking down Eric Holder. And Holder is so blatant that it's easy. But Matt spends huge blocks of time and gallons of ink researching and writing arcane trivia about Romney and Bachmann? He writes about mole hills when there are mountains all around him? Ask “Why?” not “How?”… clearly there is an agenda edging toward liberal hackery.
Harry, Saul Alinsky has your number. This time it's Rule 11: “Pick the target, freeze it, personalize it, polarize it.” That is what Matt Taibbi is doing and he is doing it in line with the liberal agenda. The liberals want to run against Romney, so they try to bury Bachmann and Perry. Does Matt have enough to do a murder board on Cain?
You speak about liberals and leftists as if there is a consensus here and everybody knows that a leftist perspective is obviously only to be discredited and contemptible.
Hello. Not everyone who reads Harry has that viewpoint.
I don't play party politics but if I were to dip my toes there I would remind you which party moved forward an agenda to the point where it brought down the US economy.
And I agree with you that Obama needs to be criticized by Taibbi and others (he is) to the extent that he has moved ahead with the people and policies of the Bushes and other “free marketers” that have turned the economy of the planet upside down.
It's not about Romney. It's not about Obama. And it's not about that tired liberal/conservative mule- it's about acknowledging that the system and the people who run and exploit it is broken and that we need to build a new one that puts human values at its center.
“It's Bush's Fault” ?? That's your best shot? Good grief. Nobody uses that anymore except Debbie Wasserman Schultz and she is clearly delusional. (Much to Florida's shame)
Okay.. here are a few bullets:
The US Home ownership rate shot up as a result of the 1977 Community Reinvestment Act (Barney Frank). Now jump to 1994… Quoting Investor's Business Daily: “At President Clinton's direction, no fewer than 10 federal agencies issued a chilling ultimatum to banks and mortgage lenders to ease credit for lower-income minorities or face investigations for lending discrimination and suffer the related adverse publicity. They also were threatened with denial of access to the all-important secondary mortgage market and stiff fines, along with other penalties.” Ooops — Sub-Prime Mortgage Crisis Insemination Event. And, oh yes, if you had asked Barney Frank he would have put “human values” at the center of the policy.
I'm sure if you had asked Lyndon Johnson he also would have put “human values” at the center of the War on Poverty. How'd that work out?
Government's pursuit of “human values” is loaded with unintended consequences.
Oh let's see… what else? In January 2007, Nancy Pelosi became Speaker of the House. Bush didn't have a budget after the end of 2006. Pelosi and Reed had the whole quarterdeck.
Now, if you want to blame Bush for going into Iraq and squandering lives, then have at it. There might be mitigating circumstances (like Congressional approval, etc) but that's on him. If you want to blame Bush for deficits, a lot of that is on Pelosi. And, in the long run, according to the CBO, eight years of war in Iraq cost less in terms of dollars than the Pelosi, Reed, Obama “Stimulus Act”.
The problem with trying to use “human values” as a measure is that no one can agree on what they are. And, government is SURE to screw it up.
Get Government OUT of the “values” “benefits” “aide” and “education” categories and then human values (whatever they are) can flourish.
Thanks for removing the scales from my eyes- I'm sure president Romney will meet with the approval of us all, including those pesky “lower-income minorities” who cause trouble just by existing.
Yes I do blame the Bushes… and Clinton, and Reagan and their fellow travelers R and D in Congress. They all were promoters of the new economic agenda that has resulted in the loss of millions of jobs, economic instability, and the current “Crisis Economics” “Shock Doctrine” status. And let's not forget that all these guys sit at the top of a pyramid that they stoke, so that bottom line, as long as they and their pals don't get hurt it's all theater to them. My repertoire of villains is just more inclusive than yours.
The commitment to human values is built into a culture, at its core- and the policies of government reflect those values. Our government has its priorities and they are not about representing the soul of our nation, which has been co-opted, battered, and abused. It will take some time and pain for this nation to pick itself up, find its voice and reclaim a representative government. Neither of the two current political parties in their current form are up to participating in a meaningful reform.
Voting along “human values” lines in the sign of a democracy – majority (mob) rule, ie; Greece.
Fortunately, we still live in a REPUBLIC, albeit it seems increasingly to be in name only.
There is one GOP candidate that agrees with you – “Get Government OUT”
His message has been consistent.
Who might that be?
Ron Paul.
Read “Liberty Defined”.
View every video and article you can find.
This information will aid you in determining the depth to which you want Government OUT of your life.
I have to agree..Taibbi has talent – though its plainly obvious that he has an agenda …for that reason that I can't read his work seriously – reads too much like propaganda that would spew from the DNC. If he showed some balance in his writing, an argument for objectivity might work, but there is none. It appears to me he's another hack that's been bought and paid for by the likes of Soros et al.
Likewise… Clicking on Romney in the voting booth will require a large clothespin for my nose. While I did find Romney personable and polished when I saw him speak in a small group in Tampa, he is too much the professional politician. I'm still hoping to beat Obama with a Cain.
I would like to hear more from (in alphabetical order)
Cain, Gingrich and Paul.
Everybody else can go home.