Filed under: International markets, Other issues, Rants and raves, Competitive strategy, Workspace, Media World, Headline news

While Michael Jackson is referred to affectionately by fans as the "King of Pop" . He could have just as easily carried the title "The hardest working man in show business" except for the fact that elder statesmen of the music world, the late James Brown earned that title first.

While recriminations are being thrown around about the specific cause of Jackson's death, the primary reason he passed away may really have been overwork. In truth, his sleep disorder, eating disorder, drug dependency and seemingly bazaar behavior at times may have all stemmed from his obsessiveness. He truly gave his fans everything he had in him right to the very end.

Many of us have been accused of being workaholics, some worse than others. Michael Jackson was an extreme example pushed by his perfectionist attitude and the fact that he always felt the need to surpass his already high performance level.

Continue reading Michael Jackson fireworks, the workaholic

Michael Jackson fireworks, the workaholic originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 03 Jul 2009 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Television, Walt Disney (DIS), Viacom (VIA), Sony Corp ADR (SNE), News Corp'B' (NWS), Media World

Disney (NYSE: DIS) programmed a new movie recently on one of its prime media assets. The film, entitled Princess Protection Program, debuted on the Disney Channel and stars a young actress named Selena Gomez. The casting choice was no accident. Because Disney tries to be as synergistic as possible (the company is generally good when it comes to the science of synergy, although there are certainly opportunities for it to be even better), the Mouse made sure to use Gomez since she is the popular star of another Disney Channel program called Wizards of Waverly Place, a project meant to capture at least a little of the Harry Potter magic.

According to this news source, Princess delivered a healthy number of young viewers. About 8.5 million watched. Last year's Disney movie Camp Rock scored a little higher in its debut. The article points out what High School Musical 2 scored, which was about twice as many viewers in its initial run (hey, you can't beat Musical). The article further points out that all these statistics do not include time-shifted ratings, which takes into account later viewings facilitated by digital-recording technologies.

Continue reading Disney Channel does it again with 'Princess' film, but it still has challenges

Disney Channel does it again with 'Princess' film, but it still has challenges originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 03 Jul 2009 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Other issues, Money and Finance Today, Personal finance, Small business

This is bizarre at best but its true. In Latvia there lives a man named Viktor Mirosiichenko who heads a company called Kontora Loan Company. Who is this man and what is so unusual about him? He will make a loan to you if you sign an "agreement" and pledge "your immortal soul" as collateral.

Continue reading Would you pledge your soul as collateral for a loan?

Would you pledge your soul as collateral for a loan? originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 03 Jul 2009 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: NIKE, Inc'B' (NKE)

So, we are approaching the final semifinal match to set the men's Wimbledon finals. Americans will be rooting for Andy Roddick while Britain will be rooting for Andy Murray (a native Scotsman). The last time a Brit won Wimbledon was in 1936, when Fred Perry accomplished the feat. What is interesting is that Fred Perry is a sponsor of Andy Murray, and the company stands to make a pretty penny should Murray win Wimbledon. That said, the article I linked to by Darren Rovell brings up an interesting point - how much money is Fred Perry losing because Andy Murray wears Nike (NYSE: NKE) shoes?

I decided to do a bit of investigating over at Fred Perry's website (which was a tad slow) and found that most of the shoes offered by the firm are retro inspired. I own a pair of Chuck Taylors, and if I played basketball, I wouldn't play in those - the technology isn't the same as a pair of basketball shoes. My point here is that shoe technology is going to have some part to play in whether or not the top players wear the product. I have never worn a pair of Fred Perry shoes, but I am guessing that they can not hold a candle to Nike's offerings. My main reason for this hypothesis is the fact that Andy Murray wears the Nikes rather than the shoes of his main sponsor and the fact that only three pairs of the shoes on their site are made of leather.

Continue reading JockStocks: Fred Perry knows its boundaries, lets Nike make Murray's footwear

JockStocks: Fred Perry knows its boundaries, lets Nike make Murray's footwear originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 03 Jul 2009 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Bad news, Market matters, Recession

Unlike the stock market, the bond market thrives on "bad" news. Why is this? The main reason is the money trail. Investors are quick to move their money from stocks into bonds when something bad happens.

Yesterday we had plenty of bad news. The U.S. job market lost 467,000 jobs, a 26-year high. Now to add fuel to the fire, wages are dropping due to layoffs and shortened work weeks (WSJ subscription required). Fewer people are working, which means less money that consumers have to spend. That signals a slower economy.

Continue reading Bad news triggers a rally in the bond market

Bad news triggers a rally in the bond market originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 03 Jul 2009 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Private equity, Financial Crisis

Remember the heyday of the housing boom when investors would "flip" properties? Speculators would put a down payment on a property, usually a new construction, and sell it before it was completed with a fat profit. But the "flippers" got bagged when the price of real estate started dropping. Many just walked away from their deposits and left developers holding the bag.

Why is this idea of flipping real estate important now? Well, it seems that private equity investors buying troubled banks will be prohibited from "flipping" the bank for at least three years. In addition, regulators are requiring purchasers to maintain a capital ratio of 15%, three times the ratio required of other banks.

Continue reading No-flipping, increased-capital rules proposed for buying troubled banks

No-flipping, increased-capital rules proposed for buying troubled banks originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 03 Jul 2009 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Apple Inc (AAPL), Market matters, General Mills (GIS), Yum Brands (YUM), Cramer on BloggingStocks, Recession

From TheStreet.com Network

• Unemployment Rate Climbs to 9.5%
• Today's Outrage: Companies Lack Courage

TheStreet.com's Jim Cramer says there's good in this market -- remember that.

Does unemployment trump everything? Does it trump Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) (Cramer's Take) sales? Does it trump 3G and 4G? How about Chinese orders? How about General Mills' (NYSE: GIS) (Cramer's Take) numbers? Yum!'s (NYSE: YUM) (Cramer's Take) business? Does unemployment trump pending home sales? Or order pick-ups in autos and a subsequent bottom?

That's what you have to ask yourself when you sell. You have to ask yourself whether 40,000 or 60,000 jobs trumps everything good that has happened. You have to ask yourself if the government were to take 100,000 of those people and give them jobs taking care of federal lands and parks or working at the post office or having them go into a conservation corps, whether we would be up and not down.

Continue reading Cramer on BloggingStocks: Don't paint everything with the jobs brush

Cramer on BloggingStocks: Don't paint everything with the jobs brush originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 03 Jul 2009 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Consumer experience, Competitive strategy, Sprint Nextel Corp (S)

When Sprint Nextel Corp. (NYSE: S) released a $50/month "unlimited everything" plan with its Boost Mobile prepaid unit back at the start of the year, it never knew what firestorm it would eventually set off. Indeed, that move caused a huge spike in Q1 subscribers to Sprint, with a number north of 700,000 -- and it caused the prepaid wireless competition to start offering low monthly costs for unlimited talktime plans (often with unlimited use of other features).

Tracfone, the largest prepaid service in the U.S., has finally fallen into place. The prepaid reseller's "Straight Talk" pan will cost $45 per month for unlimited talktime, further making comparisons of prepaid and post-paid wireless easy for many cash-strapped consumers. With post-paid wireless plans costing $99 and up for unlimited talk, prepaid plans for half the cost are soaring during the recession.

Continue reading Sprint Nextel, Leap Wireless stand to lose some business

Sprint Nextel, Leap Wireless stand to lose some business originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 03 Jul 2009 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Recession, Financial Crisis

What a way to go into the holiday weekend, eh? On Thursday, seven banks were shut down by authorities, which pushed the total of failed banks for 2009 to 52 -- which more than doubles the number of bank failures in 2008. Six of the seven banks seized were located in Illinois and the other was in Texas, according to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC).

According to the federal group, the Illinois failures are interlinked, as all six banks were controlled by one family and used a similar business model. The FDIC noted that this model "created concentrated exposure in each institution." This model left the banks heavily exposed to collateralized debt obligations and other loan losses. The six banks brings the total of failed banks in Illinois to 12.

As for the Texas bank failure, it was the first in the state this year.

Continue reading Seven banks go up in smoke ahead of the holiday weekend

Seven banks go up in smoke ahead of the holiday weekend originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 03 Jul 2009 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Wal-Mart (WMT), Marketing and advertising, Target Corp. (TGT), Best Buy (BBY), Sears Holdings (SHLD)

Sears Holdings (NASDAQ: SHLD), a retailer whose competitive colleagues include Target (NYSE: TGT), Best Buy (NYSE: BBY), and Wal-Mart (NYSE: WMT), wants to improve its brand equity and find a new path to growth. As such, it's willing to employ all kinds of initiatives, especially ones that will form a nice image with the consumer during this dreadful economic contraction.

According to The Wall Street Journal (subscription required), Sears is trying out a program that offers protection against the risk of investing in an expensive appliance during a time when job security is not as secure as it used to be.

The program will run for a specified time period beginning next week, and the basic gist is this: buy an appliance priced $399 or higher on a Sears credit card and, and if you lose your job, Sears will credit one twelfth of the cost every month. Still no job after one year? Keep the appliance, your debt will be forgiven.

Continue reading Sears offering hedge for consumers who lose their job -- good idea?

Sears offering hedge for consumers who lose their job -- good idea? originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 03 Jul 2009 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Law, Scandals

On Monday, convicted con man Bernie Madoff was sentenced to 150 years in jail, and today federal authorities took possession of his $7 million Manhattan penthouse, forcing his wife to leave and look for somewhere else to live.

Ruth Madoff was told ahead of time that she would be forced to vacate her lush Manhattan penthouse, and reportedly she did leave the property this afternoon around 1 PM EST. The penthouse, on East 64th Street will be sold, with the proceeds being used to help reimburse the victims of the nations largest ever Ponzi scheme.

Continue reading Federal authorities take possession of Madoff's home

Federal authorities take possession of Madoff's home originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 02 Jul 2009 18:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Rants and raves, Competitive strategy, General Electric (GE), Diageo plc (DEO), Anadarko Petroleum (APC), Wells Fargo (WFC), Chasing Value, Commodities, Anglo Amer ADR (AAUK), S and P 500, DJIA, Stocks to Buy, Intuitive Surgical Inc (ISRG), NASDAQ, Annaly Capital Management (NLY), Best Stocks for 2009, American Eagle Outfitters (AEO), EZCORP (EZPW)

The second quarter is now behind us and for the most part it was a positive one in terms of the market pushing higher almost 40%. This is the second review of my 2009 stock picks through June 30 (see: Chasing Value: 9 picks for 2009 -- APC, GE, ISRG, WFC and more). There was a lot of talk about green shoots this past quarter as Wall Street was looking for any small bit of optimistic data to support the market.

The federal printing presses continued to run at full speed pushing the dollar lower and oil prices higher. While the feds were printing money to cover their deficits, the States do not have that same luxury and many of them are having trouble balancing their budgets to the tune of billions of dollars.

Continue reading Chasing Value: 2009 picks 731% better than S&P -- 2nd quarter review

Chasing Value: 2009 picks 731% better than S&P -- 2nd quarter review originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 02 Jul 2009 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: General Motors (GM), Initial public offerings

General Motors is hoping to emerge from bankruptcy conduct an initial public offering sometime in 2010, according (subscription required) to The Wall Street Journal. The IPO could either raise additional capital for the company or allow the United States and Canadian governments to begin divesting their stakes in the company.

Washington has been mum on how and when it plans to begin recouping its "investment" in General Motors. Earlier this week on DailyFinance, Peter Cohan wrote that our investment in GM has mostly gone down the tubes:

Continue reading The hot new IPO of 2010: General Motors

The hot new IPO of 2010: General Motors originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 02 Jul 2009 17:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Nokia Corp. (NOK), Research in Motion (RIMM)

I just finished speaking with Jim Oberweis, president of Oberweis Asset Management and the editor of investment newsletter The Oberweis Report. Oberweis, whose newsletter recommends specific high growth small cap stocks, is rated among the top two investment advisory letters for 20 year performance, according to Hulbert Financial Digest. He says while technology stocks have been among the worst performing stocks for the past eight or nine years, this year they are best performing stocks in the Russell 2000 Growth Index.

This could be the beginning of a long awaited rebound.

Continue reading Tech stocks set for a rebound

Tech stocks set for a rebound originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 02 Jul 2009 17:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Deals, Private equity, Recession

Private equity investors are using current financial market constraints on liquidity to negotiate favorable deals, as private equity general partners have watched the values of their portfolios fall profoundly. Efforts to attract additional investment haven't been easy, as potential limited partners are reluctant to make long commitments in an uncertain marketplace. This has given limited partners a stronger position from which to negotiate both fees and terms and conditions.

Limited partners are getting a leg up on the private equity funds in which they invest, signaling a change from the historical trend in which funds could push for aggressive compensation based on the returns they provide. In a poll conducted by Preqin, 43% of investors noted a power shift from fund to limited partner, with only 2% seeing a shift toward the general partner.

Continue reading Limited partners putting pressure on private equity funds to cut fees

Limited partners putting pressure on private equity funds to cut fees originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 02 Jul 2009 17:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Scandals

Here's today's update from the irony department -- special thanks to Sam E. Antar for e-mailing it to me. From a FORM 12b-25 filed with the SEC on June 30th:

"The Company recently discovered that it inadvertently issued more shares of the Company common stock in connection with its 401(k) Plan than were registered on the Registration Statement on Form S-8 (File No. 333-123540) relating to the plan. The Company needs additional time to ascertain the facts relating to this issue and to analyze the effects, if any, on the plan."

Continue reading Overstock issuing phantom stock?

Overstock issuing phantom stock? originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 02 Jul 2009 16:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Amer Intl Group (AIG)

Some days you know you have a winner, and some days you know you have a loser. Just like the loss of 473,000 jobs to 9.5% unemployment in June, today started as a losing day and ended up as a losing day. It feels as though the "lagging indicator" aspect of employment may lead us into a new leg-down in the recession. At least there was some bit of good news: bond yields came down.

Here were today's closing bell levels:

Dow 8,306.21 -197.85 (-2.33%)
S&P 500 898.88 -24.45 (-2.65%)
Nasdaq 1,798.12 -47.60 (-2.58%)

Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Continue reading Closing Bell: When the unemployed govern the markets (AIG, DSCO, FSLR, TIVO)

Closing Bell: When the unemployed govern the markets (AIG, DSCO, FSLR, TIVO) originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 02 Jul 2009 16:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Industry

The dealmaking is heating up in the nuclear sector. Today, Exelon Corp (NYSE: EXC) upped its hostile bid by 12% for NRG Energy (NYSE: NRG). This new price tag translates into a valuation of $7.45 billion.

The wrangling between the companies has gone on for roughly eight months. In fact, hostile deals can be time-consuming (in some cases, lasting a couple years).

Something else: Exelon has indicated that this is the "best and final offer." Apparently, the company has realized new cost savings, which justifies the higher valuation.

Continue reading Exelon's deal for NRG gets nuclear

Exelon's deal for NRG gets nuclear originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 02 Jul 2009 15:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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