Articles

With all the drugs out there and all the claims on TV and in other ads, wouldn’t it be nice if you could pay only if the drug delivered promised results? Pay for Lipitor, for example, only if it dropped your cholesterol level by 30% or pony up for a pain reducer only if it actually reduced your pain significantly. And, then there are these extremely expensive drugs for major debilitating diseases where no one is sure whether or not they work. The idea that you would pay only if a drug actually delivered as promised is a very sexy idea.

Cramer has spoken about this stock time and time again, and he is always wrong. Last night, he set a new precedent by mispronouncing the stock as "elvaron".

It is very hard to separate yourself from most Chinese Stocks these days. It is so easy to double your money fast. The etf, FXI, and PetroChina (PTR) just keep going up and up. Most investors know all this, and many have put a lot of money to work in FXI, PTR and many others. It is hard not to. And, the TV gurus tell us that the Chinese government will control things such that its market doesn’t come crashing down, at least until after the Olympics – August 2008. But, if you believe that, I have a bridge in Brooklyn for you at a real cheap price.

Where is Greenspan when you need him? What is going on now in the stock market is sheer giddiness. It is the hot and cold, up and down phenomena that has characterized the market over the last months. The new highs suggest only that everyone wants to forget that a week or ten days ago we were all forecasting rampant inflation and almost-certain recession. We are working ourselves into a froth and smack into a bubble – a bubble in the whole market.

Merck just released phase II data on a drug called a CETP. The stock has been moving up- at least partially on this news. This drug is very unlikely to ever reach the market. I don't understand what Merck and the market are thinking!!!

We mostly know AFLAC (AFL) from its TV ads. They have done a brilliant job branding the company. That it is rooted in red-dirt Georgia with Southern flavor and drag is less well known. But one has to forgive the Southern in them when one looks closely at the company. It is a great stock to own, a strong international play, and a decent dividend stock to boot.

Today's payroll and unemployment numbers are being interpreted to mean that the economy is not going in to a recession and that the Fed will not need to cut interest rates further. The dollar is strengthening, interest rates are rising and, the stock market is going up. Yes, the stock market is going up. I'm very pleased to me making money and very pleased that our economy is strong, but something just isn't coming together here. Isn't this the same market that has rallied since the Fed's last move on the expectation that the Fed will need to reduce rates drastically to stimulate the economy and to ward off a recession? Wasn't the market moving higher on expectations for further move? Wasn't everyone saying don't fight the Fed? This is the kind of hypocritical herd behavior that makes no sense. While it works in a rising market, it will drive you mad in a falling environment.

Countrywide's latest campaign demonstrates the company's true colors.

If one built a portfolio of only FXI and BRK-B, one could accumulate a fortune in a very short time. Both have risks, but the upside -- absolutely proven from their short and longer track records -- is enormous. Together, they are still more powerful and together they balance off the risk in each. It is almost too sweet an opportunity -- huge upside and very low risk when owned together.

Henry Blodget is calling for Google to go to $2000 a share.

EBay's $1.4 billion writedown suggests not that they overpaid for it, but that they have never understood the prospects for trhe business.

I think everyone who doesn't have his head in the sand realizes that the housing market has a long painful slide ahead of it. I am trying to protect my biggest investment

Qualcomm's guided higher in a market with a powerful tape, yet the stock fell. This proves the stock is going nowhere.

Google, Apple, Amazon and RIMM are leading the market higher. Here is why it is going to continue.

Lee Bollinger, Columbia University's President, is completely out of line, and should be fired by the University's Board immediately.