Diamonds and Dogs
Charles Ponzi Would be Proud
Charles Ponzi Would Be Proud
Today, Allen Stanford was charged with 21 counts related to his diversion of billions of dollars from customers to himself. A typical Ponzi scheme, Stanford first gained the trust of his clients and brokers became larger than life by buying his way into the public eye and then secretly stole the life savings of countless retirees and other marks. His scheme was for $7 billion, and although it pales versus the $50 billion that Bernie Madoff took off with, the sum is enormous nonetheless. Washington this week is trying to cram more and more regulation down the throats of Wall Street, and I am not sure that it will matter. You cannot legislate honesty, you cannot legislate greed and the more and more the government works its way into capitalism, the more and more opportunities arise for scammers like Madoff and Stanford. Don't let the cure kill us.
Thursday June 18, 2009
Diamond
SJM
J.M. Smucker
J.M Smucker Co. doubled its fiscal fourth-quarter profits due to the generous appetites of consumers' to eat in the household rather than going out. After the company's acquisition of the Folgers coffee brand last year, J.M. Smucker was able to boost sales and raise its earning guidance for 2010. CEO Richard Smucker said that the company's top priority in 2010 is to expand the Folgers coffee business to higher levels. The stock was up 9.67% or $4.22 to $47.86 per share.
Dog
LIZ
Liz Claiborne
Retailers such as Liz Claiborne Inc. projected a wider second quarter loss than analysts projected. Many customers have cut back on many luxury brands of clothing and nonessential purchasing. There was uncertainty regarding the results of the second quarter and many analysts are taking this into account in connection with any investment in the company. Liz Claiborne stocks plummeted 25.87% or $1.04 to $2.98 per share after Thursday's trading.
Friday June 19, 2009
MSFT
Microsoft
Technology stocks flourished on Friday after Goldman Sachs added Microsoft to its "conviction buy" list. With the introduction of new products and information technology such as Microsoft's Bing search engine, spending should underpin growth in this case. This already established cooperation is on its way to bigger and better things as stocks increase by 2.86% or $0.67 to $24.17 per share.
RIMM
Research in Motion Ltd.
Competition heats up as BlackBerry takes the back seat to Apple's introduction of their new 3G iPhone. As the craze for Apple's new innovations take the hot seat in Friday's trading, Research in Motion is sitting there pitching ideas how they can create a better and faster product than their competitors. Many analysts believe that Apple brings a more sophisticated device to the consumer market. As a result RIMM is down 4.85% or $3.71 to $72.84 per share after Friday's trading.
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