Maoxian

Links for 2009-11-21 [del.icio.us]

Sun, 22 Nov 2009 00:00:00 PST

Woman jailed for $25m securities fraud at Great Honest Investments
via dave webb
老门框爆肚涮肉(图)_北京_大众点评网
hot pot place recom by niubi (twitter)
The Story Of Fred Wilson's Avatar
a dozen lucky people got these, thanks to howard
The Beagle Bros Online Museum
IT SHOWS HOW OLD I AM THAT I REMEMBER BEAGLE BROS WELL

Broker Dealers Now Broken

C. Maoxian — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 12:44:21 +0000

In addition to the 40 or so ETFs that I actively trade in my core portfolio, I also keep a spreadsheet with over 90 other ETFs for “reference-only.” The Broker-Dealer ETF, ticker symbol IAI, is one of these that I keep an eye on but don’t trade.

My system did a beautiful job of entering IAI back in mid-March and just now it’s telling me the trend has turned and it’s time to book the profits. Subscribers and I sold Regional Banks (KRE) and Financials (XLF) awhile ago from our actual cash portfolios, for what it’s worth.

I put my own money behind every long idea in the newsletter. Become a member now till year-end 2010 for only $200. Drop me an email here to subscribe.

Links for 2009-11-20 [del.icio.us]

Sat, 21 Nov 2009 00:00:00 PST

Thanksgiving: Where to Eat Out, How to Eat In
"Lily’s (can order out) The new American restaurant in Shuangjing will serve a classic Thanksgiving menu for RMB 89 (kids RMB 49). Turkey will be available for delivery at RMB 60/kg, with stuffing and trimmings at RMB 10/person. All orders must be placed before Nov 25. 5.30pm-late. 2-18 Tianzhijiaozi, 31 Guangqu Lu (in the street just south of the Tianzhijiaozi complex, a few doors east of The Brick), Chaoyang District. (6592 5548) 朝阳区广渠路31号院天之骄子2号楼2-18" ORDERING AMERICAN TAKEAWAY (white kid with dirty smock will deliver by bicycle ... Solly Charlie!)
What Makes an Entrepreneur? Four Letters: JFDI
THERE ARE IDEAS AND THERE IS ACTION (rare in a single person)
China's Reverse Brain Drain
yep, i'm meeting more and more Chinese who have graduate degrees from the US but work in China ... in all fields ... but most notably -- finance.
Calvin Klein Eternity For Men
Release Date: 1989 ... but what about "Summer"??
Q & A with Evan Osnos
EDUCATION: 1998 graduate of Harvard College. PERSONAL: · He was born while his parents were living in Moscow, where his father Peter was the Washington Post correspondent -- they went to London for his birth, December 24, 1976. · Later moved to Washington, D.C. and London. · When he was seven, he & his family returned to the U.S. and moved to New York City and then Greenwich, Connecticut where he graduated from Greenwich High School.
C-SPAN: Q&A Transcript -- Evan Osnos June 17, 2007
DREADED REALPLAYER SO I'LL READ TRANSCRIPT INSTEAD
Why Brooklyn Industries Manufactures in China
"how to find legal and competent sewers while running a production line that was efficient and economical ... We knew we couldn't grow our business without being able to find good, legal sewers" TOUGH TO RUN A SWEATSHOP IN BROOKLYN (but easy in China) ... "One evening in Dong gong Province this August" AH YES, DONG GONG PROVINCE :-)
Shoot the Messenger!
"Kennedy was snubbed within his own firm and investigated by its own attorneys, and he was blacklisted by CardioNet management, who decried him as a tool of short-sellers and filed a complaint against him with the SEC." ... SO MUCH FOR INDEPENDENT ANALYSIS
REALLY Grumpy Analyst Syndrome
no idea why Matthews picks on Ivy Zelman, one of the few analysts who got the housing bubble right (at least the top if not the bottom)
Obama, the Great Wall, and Nixon’s Ghost | Foreign Policy
via niubi (twitter) ... written by @imagethief
The Big Squander - Paul Krugman
"Taxpayers not only ended up honoring foolish promises made by other people, they ended up doing so at 100 cents on the dollar. Could things have been different? Some commentators argue that government officials had no way to force the banks to accept a haircut — either they let A.I.G. go bankrupt, which they weren’t ready to do, or they had to honor its contracts as written. But this seems like a naïve view of how Wall Street works. Major financial firms are a small club, with a shared interest in sustaining the system" GOLDMAN'S GREED TOO GREAT
James Kynge - China blurs bipolar view of the world
CHINA QUICKLY SECURING AFRICAN RESOURCES WHILE THE WEST DITHERS
The Media is Wrong about Goldman Sachs, AIG
"Goldman had collected collateral on other hedges, and they claim that even if AIG had defaulted (gone bankrupt), they would have been "ok." " AND THERE IS A TOOTH FAIRY
Data on Twitter Decline Stacks Up
"The decrease in visitors could mean either falling interest in Twitter or simply migration to other platforms, such as third-party applications and mobile access."

TGIF (XLII)

C. Maoxian — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 13:50:09 +0000

Links for 2009-11-19 [del.icio.us]

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 00:00:00 PST

Young Americans: Lyrics
javascript disabled, so much for copy and paste
Biorhythm - Wikipedia
"concluded that there was a 23-day physical cycle and a 28-day emotional cycle.... he labelled the former "male" and the latter "female"." ... I HAVE NO DOUBT THAT ONE'S EMOTIONAL STATE IS CYCLICAL (thrown off by the occasional exogenous events)
Menstrual cycle - Wikipedia
"The word "menstruation" is etymologically related to "moon". The terms "menstruation" and "menses" are derived from the Latin mensis (month), which in turn relates to the Greek mene (moon) and to the roots of the English words month and moon—reflecting the fact that the moon also takes close to 28 days to revolve around the Earth (actually 27.32 days). The synodical lunar month, the period between two new moons (or full moons), is 29.53 days long."
Société Générale tells clients how to prepare for 'global collapse'
having a hard time downloading this report, argh
PIMPCO - Billionaire Gross - Anything but .01%
Building Around the Rock
in margaretville ... dunno, rocks are cold
Regents Raise Tuition 32 Percent in California
CLASS DIVIDE YAMNS EVER WIDER
foursquare
Twitter chief to Murdoch: paying for internet content will not work
"Twitter co-founder Biz Stone today warned that Murdoch "should be looking at it as an opportunity to do something radically different and find out how to make a ton of money out of being radically open rather than some money by being ridiculously closed"." RADICAL, DUDE
Writers’ Bloc: Evan Osnos
"By the time George H. W. Bush vomited on his Japanese host in 1992, only a lone pool print reporter was on hand among the cameras. (The pool report, written, by tradition, with crisp efficiency, began: “Dinner eventful.”)"

TAN Feeling the Heat

C. Maoxian — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 01:31:38 +0000

It’s not every day that you see a possible fifth wave set up, but I see one here in TAN, so this is the free daily trading idea I’ll tweet for Friday. TAN is the clever symbol for a solar industry ETF. Earlier this week I gave away short ideas for MCS and BDC both of which are working fine. Who says you can’t get something for nothing?

Links for 2009-11-18 [del.icio.us]

Thu, 19 Nov 2009 00:00:00 PST

Join me now at the new Maria Bartiromo’s Wall Street
$300 a year ... I NEED TO RAISE PRICES ... "None of Maria Bartiromo, InvestorPlace Media, LLC or CNBC, Inc. is a registered investment advisor." QUALITY WRITING TOO!
The Six Entrepreneurs You Meet in China
via skyminor (twitter) ... never heard of any of 'em
Mystery Mandarin expert is one of a kind
via niubi (twitter) ... "In Jim’s category, there’s only Jim," WHAT'S HIS BACKGROUND??
The #1 Key to Investment Blogging
HMMM, NOT SURE ABOUT CONCLUSIONS. (old dog maoxian posts maybe once a weekday when he isn't hungover and gets a measly ~40K in monthly uniques?) ... AND I STILL HAVEN'T READ ZERO HEDGE (not even once)
Ka-boom!
magic
Choosing the Small Screen of a Smartphone for E-Reading
"People once scoffed at the idea of reading a book on a 3.5-inch mobile screen. For many readers, though, sheer convenience trumps everything else." I CAN'T IMAGINE IT
Five new weapons the Maersk Alabama could use to foil pirates | csmonitor.com
"The Buccaneer can also be used to fire anything from bean bags and golf balls to life vests in order help rescue someone who's fallen overboard." GOLF BALLS?
China Holds Firm on Major Issues in Obama’s Visit
"On topics like Iran (Mr. Hu did not publicly discuss the possibility of sanctions), China’s currency (he made no nod toward changing its value) and human rights (a joint statement bluntly acknowledged that the two countries “have differences”), China held firm against most American demands." FOLLOW THE GOLDEN RULE (he who holds the gold makes the rules) ... ""criticism for bowing to Japan’s emperor." DON'T FORGET THEY'RE ANOTHER MAJOR CREDITOR
Math Games
Invest wisely. End poverty. | microfinance at MicroPlace
yet another microfinance outfit?
Internazionale hit two late goals to overcome Dynamo Kyiv
ONLY WATCHED 70 MINS BUT IT WAS A GOOD GAME .. again it looked COLD (but oil/natgas money buys a lot of hot players)
南方周末---独家专访奥巴马
there's the obama interview (and there's jim brown again)

Links for 2009-11-17 [del.icio.us]

Wed, 18 Nov 2009 00:00:00 PST

Obama’s Umbrella Habits Set a Standard
"The women’s section of popular Web site Netease.com has declared that the umbrella issue has become a vital standard in judging the character of a man." NO, THE STANDARD OF JUDGING A MAN IS HOW HE TREATS WAITRESSES (and don't ever forget it, ladies)
Everyman Offers New Directions in Online Maps
"Mr. Hintz said these acts of geo-volunteerism were motivated in part by self-interest: he wants to know where he’s going. But “it has this added attraction that it helps others,” he said." HURRAY FOR SHARING ... "Armed with GPS devices, cameras and paper maps of neighborhoods, they added missing alleys, public art, restaurants and hotels." ... “Most of our customers expect a level of due diligence and quality that is way more than what a community is going to put together,” INCUMBENT WOULD SAY THAT
OpenStreetMap
Google Map Maker
argh, China disabled... darn ChiComs
Obama charisma? China keeps it in tight check. | csmonitor.com
""They don't want this trip to be about Obama," says Russell Leigh Moses, a political analyst here. "They want it to be about China's rise."" MOSES QUOTED AGAIN (taught at Hopkins Center when I was there)
Killing Ideas
cute, but good ideas are a dime a dozen ... the killer is getting off your ass and executing them (perseverance)
How Blogging Has Changed Over The Last 3 Years (Stats)
"the share of total engagment that happens on-site vs. off-site has dropped 50%." YES, BLOGGING IS DYING (if you didn't notice) ... GOOD THING ALL TWELVE OF MY REGULAR READERS FOLLOW ME ON TWITTER NOW
Champions League: Lyon v Liverpool
stopped watching in 70th minute so missed the goals... rooting for Lyon of course
Sample Extensions (Chromium Developer Documentation)
Top Employers for Global Business Undergrads
"One of the biggest surprises was how well the Big Four accounting firms did. Despite their distinctly unsexy images, all landed in the top 10 for business undergrads, with PricewaterhouseCoopers in the No. 2 spot behind Google, whose cult following among the global youth culture easily propelled it to No. 1. As a group, the Big Four handily beat out such buzz-worthy rivals as the consulting giants Bain & Co. and Boston Consulting Group, which are catnip for business students." OLIGOPOLIES UNITE!
China Travel Guide - NYT
Police Say Behavior of Suspect in Yale Killing Drew Suspicion
"Mr. Clark had scratches on his face and left arm, which he said had come from one of his cats at home. ... The officers were surprised when Mr. Clark took out cleaning supplies and went to work on the floor because, the affidavit said, “it did not appear to need cleaning.”" OUT, DAMNED SPOT! OUT, I SAY! (the kid will learn that hell isn't murky, it's called CT State Prison)
The Great Wallop - N Ferguson
"For a time, Chimerica seemed not a monster but a marriage made in heaven. Global trade boomed and nearly all asset prices surged. Yet, like many another marriage between a saver and a spender, Chimerica was not destined to last ... From 1960 to 1978, for example, the deutsche mark appreciated cumulatively by almost 60 percent against the dollar, while the Japanese yen appreciated by almost 50 percent." I BELIEVE JPY WAS FIXED FROM 1949 UNTIL 1972 AND ALL THE APPRECIATION FOLLOWED LATER SO FERGUSON IS FUDGING THINGS ... "A heavily undervalued renminbi is the key financial distortion in the world economy today. If it persists for much longer, China risks losing the very foundation of its economic success: an open global trading regime." THE GLOBAL CAPITALIST CLASS WILL MAKE SURE TRADE REMAINS OPEN

Ring-a-ling, Hear Subscribers Sing

C. Maoxian — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 01:45:55 +0000

Gold gets all the attention but silver has been the better investment this year. Back in May subscribers and I got long SLV and have been holding tight. The previous buy in SLV was in October 2008 but we scratched that in mid-March when the broad market bottomed. Many people claim brilliant entries and exits but precious few of them will produce confirmation slips proving their trades.

I put my own money behind every long idea in the newsletter. Become a member now till year-end 2010 for only $200. Drop me an email here to subscribe.

Links for 2009-11-16 [del.icio.us]

Tue, 17 Nov 2009 00:00:00 PST

Corporate Logo Colors
THIS IS WHY UPS'S BROWN IS PURE GOLD
Bloomberg Software Status
UPGR
The 40-30-30 Rule: Why Risk Is Worth It
"success was only 40% physical training. The other 60% was mental. And of that, the first 30% was technical skill and experience. The second 30% was the willingness to take risks." TRADING IS MAYBE 80% MENTAL (willingness to take risks), 20% TECHNICAL SKILL / EXPERIENCE
Infinity Ward | Modern Warfare 2
i don't play video games but this thing took in 310MM in one day (Xbox, Playstation, Windows XP)
Twitter’s New Headquarters As Shown Off By Employees (Pictures)
IT'S LIKE THE DOT COM BUBBLE NEVER HAPPENED (actually furnishings look a little cheapo to me)
Twitter to scrap controversial list
their original suggested users thing was a terrible mistake ... doubt they'd repeat it again.
Confessions of a Woman on Wall Street
"Out of hundreds of bond traders at the company, I was one of about 10 women, the only one hired from the 2002 class of summer interns." ... DEFINITELY A HOSTILE ENVIRONMENT :-) ... AND HE STIFFED HER AT BONUS TIME TOO (yuck, yuck)
Purchase additional storage
don't need it (yet)
Ok, So I learned Chinese…Now why can’t I find a job?
"Rather than a fortune and a new career, most expats seem to return home with little more than a thicker waistline, a prodigious collection of DVD’s, and possibly a new spouse. " HA! (there's no going home again as the song says)
U.S. Seizes 74 Million Rounds Of Illegal Imported Ammunition
Published: Friday, May 5, 1995
Linda Bradford Raschke - FAQ
"In general, we use an initial stop of 5 points in the SP futures unless specified otherwise. For scalp trades in the SPs, we use a 3-point stop. In the domestic futures markets, we use a fixed $500 stop per contract unless specified otherwise. If there is an unusual expansion in volatility, we will use wider stops and lower our leverage. Stops should be tightened up as a market moves off in your favor. In stocks, we recommend using stops to limit losses to no more than 2% of your working capital." HMMMM
Paul Krugman - World Out of Balance
"month after month of headlines juxtaposing soaring U.S. trade deficits and Chinese trade surpluses with the suffering of unemployed American workers. If I were the Chinese government, I’d be really worried about that prospect." LOL, I THINK THEY'RE MORE WORRIED ABOUT THE PROSPECT OF UNEMPLOYED CHINESE WORKERS

Oil Spurts

C. Maoxian — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 02:29:44 +0000

So USO went up a bit as we hoped. Tricky part was executing it. Why is the Chairman showered with three-packs of deodorant by his faithful* followers? Because of ideas like USO. But I’m happy to give them away because I know good ideas are a dime a dozen and execution means everything. Talk is cheap but tweeting is even cheaper. (And always ask your guru for a trade confirmation screenshot to make sure she’s not a fake.)

*Actually I lose ten followers for every idea that fails and only gain five for every idea that succeeds.

Links for 2009-11-15 [del.icio.us]

Mon, 16 Nov 2009 00:00:00 PST

For Marijuana, a Move Into the Open in a Ski Town
"town vote here that decriminalized the possession of small amounts of marijuana," NO ONE SKIS HIGH, DO THEY? (can't imagine it, depth perception would be whacked)
More Than Ever, You Can Say That on Television
""douche" represents the latest of broadcast television’s continuing efforts to expand the boundaries of taste, in part to stem the tide of defections by its audience to largely unregulated cable television." ... LOWEST COMMON DENOMINATOR PROGRAMMING
Selling Lesson Plans Online, Teachers Raise Cash and Questions
"thousands of teachers are cashing in on a commodity they used to give away, selling lesson plans online" EVENTUALLY WILL BECOME PUBLIC DOMAIN (i'd hope ... taxpayer funded after all)
TeachersPayTeachers.com
- a marketplace for lesson plans and teaching resources
WeAreTeachers Home
also mentioned in NYT story
Lucy Kellaway - The return of managerial bone-headedness
"The bear market in management bullshit is over ... During five full days, not one of these senior manager dared to say: why are we doing this? Or: this is total crap." TO DO THAT, THEY'D BE ADMITTING THEY'RE OWN WEAKNESS FOR REMAINING CORPORATE DRONES
'What the Dog Saw - And Other Adventures,' by Malcolm Gladwell - Review
"The themes of the collection are a good way to characterize Gladwell himself: a minor genius who unwittingly demonstrates the hazards of statistical reasoning and who occasionally blunders into spectacular failures. ... he is apt to offer generalizations that are banal, obtuse or flat wrong. ... The common thread in Gladwell’s writing is a kind of populism, which seeks to undermine the ideals of talent, intelligence and analytical prowess in favor of luck, opportunity, experience and intuition. The reasoning in “Outliers,” consists of cherry-picked anecdotes, post-hoc sophistry and false dichotomies" GLADWELL BACKLASH
Serials & keys - unlocks the world
unfortunate banner ad
Five Things the U.S. Can Learn from China
I DON'T SEE HOW TO KIDNAP PEOPLE OFF THE STREET AND TORTURE THEM (oh yeah, we already know how to do that)
The Ultimate Ugly Showcase of Current Government Websites
amusing
DVD Knife 3.0 - Extract clips from your DVD by DVD Knife
funny, i was just thinking about how to clip that scene in Heat where pacino says "Cuz she's got a great ass! And you've got your head all the way up it."
My Nightmare Interviews With Google
amusing ... when GOOG starts hiring dummies, it'll be a sad day
Khan Academy
via chad

Looking for a Spurt in Oil

C. Maoxian — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 02:28:54 +0000

The free trading idea I will tweet for Monday is a long in USO. Crude oil has been a bit of a pain lately — we’re long in the long-term portfolio but not making money. Let see if this short-term pattern will work out.

Long Play in an UltraShort

C. Maoxian — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 02:12:23 +0000

The free trading idea I will tweet for Friday is a long in SRS. Don’t be fooled by long because this is an ultrashort fund for the real estate sector. Those of us with a good short-term memory recall SRS trading around $270 (that’s 30 times $9) not too long ago. I wonder how many people who bought up there are still holding? Doesn’t matter, this puppy may be good for a couple points here, and if our initial risk is small enough it could be a fine play.

Proactive, Controlled, Gradual Appreciation

C. Maoxian — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 02:10:28 +0000

China’s Economy Strengthened in October, Boosting Yuan Calls

Policy makers will improve the setting of the yuan’s rate in a “proactive, controlled and gradual manner and based on international capital flows and movements in major currencies,” the People’s Bank of China’s said in a quarterly report yesterday. Officials have previously aimed to keep the yuan “stable.”

There’s a Chinese Yuan ETN listed in the US, ticker symbol CNY, and it really jumped yesterday. Of course it’s so thinly traded that a ten or twenty thousand share order can move the market.

You can see from the non-deliverable forward market that they’re looking for 6.60ish (around 3% appreciation) twelve months out. In any event, hold fast to your CNY as I’ve long said: March 2009, August 2008, May 2008, April 2008, February 2008 (there’s a long list of links to older postings there).

TAO Ka Ching — China Real Estate ETF

C. Maoxian — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 02:45:43 +0000

I recently learned there’s an outfit called Claymore that offers three China-related ETFs: HAO, YAO, and TAO. The one that interests me most is TAO, The Claymore/AlphaShares China Real Estate ETF and here are its holdings based on this index –almost all Hong Kong-listed companies.

Isn’t it great that US investors can get exposure to such a far-flung, niche market with one fairly inexpensive product?

Fixing To Go To New Highs

C. Maoxian — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 02:18:14 +0000

The China ETF I follow for my newsletter closed at a new 52-week high. Here’s the long view of FXI which shows, once again, that timing is everything. Here’s a spreadsheet of all the ETFs listed around the world that have a focus on China.