Economics
Chart porn on the composition of the July consumer price data released yesterday:
And:
http://mjperry.blogspot.com/2008/08/with-core-inflation-at-25-inflations.html
The cost per day to consumers resulting from the rise in commodity prices:
http://bespokeinvest.typepad.com/bespoke/2008/08/cost-of-rising.html\
fiscal profligacy (Government spending as a percent of GDP is too high and the looming explosion in entitlement expenditures will make it worse. There is no good solution save spending discipline.). It is the 73rd anniversary of social security:
http://www.clubforgrowth.org/2008/08/social_securitys_73rd_annivers.php
The
http://mjperry.blogspot.com/2008/08/america-uncompetitive.html
Politics
Domestic
Obama’s newest tax plan:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121867201724238901.html?mod=opinion_main_commentaries
And an opinion:
http://mjperry.blogspot.com/2008/08/obama-delares-war-on-two-income.html
International War Against Radical Islam
The Market
Technical
The impact of the SEC’s emergency short sales rule:
http://dealbreaker.com/2008/08/sec_emergency_short_sale_order.php
The percentage of stocks above their 50 day moving average:
http://bespokeinvest.typepad.com/bespoke/2008/08/percentage-of-1.html
Fundamental
Subscriber Alert
The stock prices of Kimberly Clark (KMB-$62) and Linear Technology (LLTC-$34) have risen above the upper boundary of their respective
http://finance.yahoo.com/q?s=KMB
http://finance.yahoo.com/q?s=LLTC
The stock price of AJ Gallagher (AJG-$27) has risen above the upper boundary of its
http://finance.yahoo.com/q?s=AJG
Pop Quiz
What does it mean when the news is disappointing (weekly jobless claims -10,000 versus expectations of -13,000; core CPI +.3% versus estimates of +.2%) but stock prices goes up (DJIA +83; S&P +7)?
(1) everybody knows ‘random walk’ is alive and well; so it means nothing,
(2) most of the Floor is on vacation and those that are left are smoking funny cigarettes,
(3) Obama is crawfishing [a little] on taxes,
(4) stocks are forward looking which means the bad news is already in the price of stocks.
I’m going with (4) until proven wrong (although (3) undoubtedly helped).. This doesn’t mean that the July 2008 low was the bottom; it just means that the probability that the July low was the bottom is increasing.
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Medivation (10 Baggers) recently announced promising developments on three fronts:
(1) a positive article on Dimebon in Lancet as well as excellent progress enrolling patients for Dimebon’s phase three Alzheimer’s clinical study,
(2) it is preparing to review the results of its phase two Huntington’s disease trial and expects to begin a phase three trial in 2009,
(3) it has begun a 360mg MDV3100 prostate cancer dosing trial and has been approved for two higher dosage trials; this suggests MDV3100 has an excellent safety profile.
It continues to seem likely that MDVN will partner Dimebon with a major drug company and that it will occur before year end. While such a development would involve a substantial cash payment to MDVN and should lead to a significant advancement in the company’s stock price from current levels, the Aggressive Growth Portfolio’s position is at its maximum size; so no further shares will be bought.
http://finance.yahoo.com/q?s=MDVN
News on Stocks in Our Portfolios
WalMart (Dividend Growth Portfolio) reported second quarter operating earnings per share of $.86 versus expectations of $.84 and $.75 recorded in the comparable 2007 quarter.
http://finance.yahoo.com/q?s=WMT
More Cash in Investors’ Hands
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