The Friday Once Over

• Who can blame Presidents Obama and Sarkozy giving her the once over? Anyone who has not shot a glance at a nice rear end, please step forward. 
• Another day where the stock market does nothing.  I hope you're enjoying your Summer and not paying too much attention to this.  Ask the Presidents, there are better things to pay attention to.
• The Michigan sentiment numbers came out worse than expected.  Well, the unemployment number sucks.  We're battered with bad news constantly.  Housing continues to tank.  International strife around the globe's four corners.  Celebrities are dying left and right.  The Yankees are winning.  What could be worse?
• $20 gallon gas would be worse.
• Heading to Reno. There will be some rear-end watching. I admit it.  LOL.   Have a great weekend!

Thursday Night Randomosity

• The stock market closed in the green. Advancers led.  Financials and semis did well.  Oil broke a losing streak.  Jobs number came in "less bad" than expected.
• T. Boone Pickens'  huge wind farm scrapped. 
• The New York Yankees have the Minnesota Twins number.  Beat 'em again today for the sweeeep.
• The Michael Jackson memorial price tag?  $1.4 million.  Los Angeles officials say Tuesday's memorial service for Michael Jackson cost the city $1.4 million to cover security, traffic control, and other services, according to the Associated Press. The figure includes $1.1 million in overtime pay for the 4,173 police officers securing the Staples Center, Forest Lawn cemetery, and other areas that attracted fans and media, the Police Department said in a statement.
• C'mon, we all know Michael Jackson is still alive and he faked his death.  Now the money is rolling in from sales and he's laughing all the way to the plastic surgery table.  In Hungary.
• Global warming agreement at the G8 summit.  Meeting here in L'Aquila, all parties agreed that global temperatures should not rise by more than an average of two degrees above pre-industrial levels.  Somebody better fax that memo to the Sun.
• G8 members also agreed to work toward an 80 percent cut in greenhouse gas emissions by the year 2050. While developing nations have committed themselves to negotiating cuts, they have not yet agreed on specifics.  The specifics are that the jobs will go to the developing nations, who are more than happy to expand their middle class.  And say, that (growing middle class) seems like a good idea for investment dollars, no?
  

As you can see in the picture, Michael Jackson is not dead. He is performing at the Imperial Palace in Las Vegas as a "dealertainer."

Hump Day Thoughts

* At least the market recovered from weakness today. I'm in the summer doldrums and just trying to make it from weekend to weekend. My indicators (aka the Black Box) has been on a sell signal for a while (it was early), but I'm not doing much other than moving some things around. We'll see if that matters or not. Right now my portfolio is going down.

* Earnings season on deck. At least I think it is. LOL. Alcoa today, and they were not as bad as feared.

* I was reading some of the archives. What struck me as horrrrible was when I was poking fun at those citing the inverted yield curve back in 2006. Oopsie. They were right. I was wrong.

* I'm in first place in Fantasy Baseball. Love the MLB.com app for the iPhone. Listened to the Rockies today.

* Google to release an operating system that will utlimately compete with Microsoft Windows and Linux. I don't know, do we really need a new operating system? Is Google bored and looking for something to do? Are they retaliating for Microsoft's Bing search engine? (Which is pretty good, by the way).

* With Michael Jackson's service yesterday, I was hoping the news would die down and we could all move on. Together. Man, it's still in the headlines and dominating the radio shows.

* When I changed my commenting system to Disqus, it blew away all the old comments. Not that there were that many, but I miss them. Sob.

* I love Google Reader for reading blog feeds.

* Watched a 2001 movie starring William Macy and Neve Campbell called "Panic." Man she's hot. Shudder. Movie? Eh, somewhat entertaining. Middle-aged crisis where Macy finds himself unhappy with his life situation and stumbles into Neve.

* Now there's an idea in there somewhere.

Tuesday Night Update

• IBD has the market uptrend under pressure.  Surprised they didn't change that one to something more dire.  Just saying.
• Despite almost a dozen years of cooling temperatures, the global warming crowd is mandating white roofs in California's hottest areas. ...  What caught me was this from the reader comments: Shame on you deniers! What a marvelous idea Rosenfield has, we shouild also follow up with a thin layer of white paint on all the worlds oceans, dark grreen vegetation and the granite in the Sierra Nevada mountains.
• Overall, not a bad idea as it will save folks some money on energy. Of course, this means that homes in CA will also be cooler in the winter, requiring more natural gas and electricity (from coal and nat gas) to heat their homes.  Maybe they need reversable roofs, black for winter and white for summer.
• Torchwood coming back July 20th.  Set the DVR!
• Dr. Who the week after.  Last one with David Tennant.
• Didn't watch the Michael Jackson funeral.  You?   While everyone is remembering him fondly, also remember the lesson learned from this.  Seems to me that he squandered his talent.  The last 15 years (or so) were a complete mess.   And we have another talent that has fallen to drugs.  Insane.

Monday Blahs

• The market acted like I felt today:  BLAH!  The ISM came in "better" than expected, but still below the magical growth number of 50.  Decliners led advancers, but volume was light.  I think a lot of folks decided to make it a longer weekend and didn't even bother to phone it in today.
• Maybe the market is just watching and waiting for the Michael Jackson funeral service tomorrow.
• I was just watching Kendra via the DVR.  Topless indoor skydiving?
• Perhaps the "jumping the shark" moment for Al Gore's global warming was when he released his movie, An Inconvenient Truth.   Global temperatures continued to plunge this past month.
  Planet Earth has dropped 74°F since Al Gore released his "Inconvenient Truth."  Meanwhile, the politicians forge ahead with cap-and-trade.  Hello, McFly?
• The Economics of Climate Change.  Very.  Good.  Read.
• John Hussman says the market will deliver a 7.8% annual return over the coming decade.
• Hey, American Idol judge Kara Dioguardi got married!  Pictured.
• Al Franken goes to Capitol Hill.  The Al Franken Decade officially begins.  I think the Dems should replace Pelosi with Franken.  At least we'd mostly be laughing with him.

The 5th of July

The holiday isn't over until Will Smith and Jeff Goldblum shoot down the alien ship!

Asian markets down as I type.

Yea, just an excuse for a patriotic bikini.

Happy 4th of July Randomosity!

• Taking a break from thinking about the stock market - mostly.  The market holiday rally didn't happen, that's for sure.  Earnings season is on deck, and it will be interested to see how companies report their numbers and future guidance.  I believe the economy is improving and the unemployment numbers are lagging indicators.  I think it's likely that the market is in consolidation from the Spring rally and may be in a trading range during the traditionally weaker Summer season.  No need to go out on an investing limb here.  Dollar cost average in, protect gains from the rally, look for spots near the bottom of the trading range, etc. 
• Hey, how did I miss this?  Moon Bloodgood joins the Burn Notice cast as a last-minute replacement for Jennifer Esposito.  As if I needed another reason to watch.  Great summer show.
• Adam Warner all over TheStreet's newest investment guru Ron Insana.  Looks like TheStreet has not missed a beat since giving Lenny (Dykstra) the heave ho. Enter Ron Insana, fresh off his wildly successful stint as a fund of funds maven.  As always, Adam's a must read.
• Drove to Bodega Bay yesterday and down the coast via Highway 1 to Point Reyes.  Did a little hiking.  It was definitely cooler on the coast with a solid fog bank hanging in all day.  But it was very scenic and nice to get away for a day.
• Phil Jackson coming back to coach the Lakers.  And I thought maybe Sarah Palin was going to be announced as the new coach.
• From Calculated Risk, Another Wave of Foreclosures.
• Sarah Palin: What the hell?  Is it scandal?  Is it the 2012 election?  Is it a TV gig with Fox or a stint as Michael Westen's adversary on Burn Notice?  Is she Penthouse Miss July?  What's going on?  And SNL is on Summer Break! 
• The environmentalist knuckleheads want to make the 4th of July "greener."  Seems that fireworks threaten the environment.  Good grief.  As always, it's best to ignore those nincompoops!
• Quote of the day:  Republicans believe every day is the Fourth of July, but the Democrats believe every day is April 15.  -Ronald Reagan.

Summer Swoon

The stock market did exactly the opposite of what I thought it would do this week. Getting the blame for the meltdown today was a poor jobs report.

The stock market found little to celebrate heading into the long holiday weekend.

Major stock indexes fell more than 2.6 percent Thursday, pushing the Dow Jones industrials to their lowest level in six weeks, after the government said the unemployment rate hit a 26-year high and employers cut far more jobs than expected.

...

Since hitting multi-month highs on June 12, the Dow has fallen a total of 5.9 percent, while the S&P 500 index has lost 5.3 percent.

Looks like the Summer Swoon is here. 

Employment is a lagging indicator and does take time to turn around even if other economic indicators are improving. 

Of course, even those who are employed may be facing declining salaries via pay cuts.

If there is a silver lining, it is very unlikely that any of this is impacting Jessica Biel (pictured). 

July 1st Rally!

• Stock market up because the bad news isn't as bad as people were expecting. Hooray, semi-bad news!  Manufacturing index sinks less than expected.
• Oil back up over $70 as supplies fall.  Of course, at this time demand isn't in a major uptrend.  We're dealing with Nigerian issues and then China wanting to increase their reserves to 150%.  Gee, it would be nice if we were to expand our domestic drilling, start using natural gas for cars, and build new nuclear power plants.  But it seems as if the Lord hath hardened Pharaoh's heart and we will burn oil until we have to go to war over it.
• The government won't fund GM past July 10th.  A senior member of President Barack Obama's auto task force testified Wednesday that the U.S. government will not continue to fund General Motors Corp.'s operations if the automaker doesn't get approval to sell its assets to a new company within the next 10 days.
• Cheerios for dinner! General Mills profits double.  Consumers have been pulling back on their spending at restaurants during the recession and heading to grocery stores.   I have cereal for dinner quite a bit.  Not to save money, just because I don't like to cook and I don't want to go out every night of the week.
• Seven U.S. states from California to Connecticut began the fiscal year today without spending plans in place as they battle over tax increases and other measures to balance budgets amid declining revenue.  I recall a book... "Empire of Debt?"
• A new Doctor Who movie to be announced?  (Love that show, btw.)

Picture is of Freema Agyeman, who plays Martha Jones on Doctor Who.

Monday Holiday Week!

• The market up a bit this week. My guess is that there are more things working in the bull favor than the bear favor this week. Quarter end means funds will want to own the winners to show them in their quarterly statements.  Month end means 401(k) adds are automatically dumped in mutual funds.  Holiday week means volume will be light and "they" say never short a dull tape.
• Just a guess.  But that's mine. Up this week.  Oh, and what's been up?  That seems likely candidates for the dog pile.
• Bad math?  E*Trade shares today rose 1 cent, or 1.6%, to $1.29.  It's been awhile since my college math classes, but my Windows calculator has a 1-cent move up from $1.28 to $1.29 being about a .78% move.  The article linked to makes a case for ETFC, but you have to wonder about the numbers they throw around when they're not getting their percentages right. Just saying!  (Disclosure:  Long ETFC).
• I skipped the Michael Jackson (not pictured) coverage this weekend.  I wasn't a big fan of his music.  In the 80's I was listening to Van Halen and Motley Crue.  From a financial angle, the guy owed $400 million.  So was the guy rich?  He earned a lot, but spent a lot more.  They say he has a lot of unreleased tracks, so maybe there is a lot of money there waiting to be made.
• Hayden Panettiere has no problem with nudity.  "You never know."  I don't have a problem with her being naked in a movie, either.  Looks like we're all in agreement, Hayden.