What’s in the Szelhamos Portfolio?
Not as catchy as Abraham, Martin and John, but much more alliterative.
Unfortunately, Dion had to throw in the name “Bobby” after the title was already a done deal.
So, throw General Motors in there too, but pronounce in the way they do south of the border or, if you.re a fan of the obscure, the Balkans..
I don’t currently own GM, but I agreed with the $50 B bailout.
What I don.t agree with is the announcement that the federal government will be selling their remaining stake, at what will amount to a large loss, all in the name of political expediency.
Szelhamos used to believe that you should never talk about sex, politics, religion or money, when in proper company. So he did so on a regular basis, as do his offspring, since he also taught us to never keep proper company.
Although I voted for this administration, and only the third time that I correctly chose the winner in a presidential election since 1972, I’m having a harder and harder time supporting some of their economic and fiscal policies.
But, the other side isn’t very good. In fact, I think they.re even worse on the economic side of things. Compassionate conservatives, my ass.
Nonetheless, to divest because they want to wash their hands of the auto business before the election, as has been the reason attributed to the announcement, once again puts politics ahead of rational thought.
Not to mention the public good.
Of course, if I were a shareholder, I would also be pretty upset that they are once again tipping their hand on a market moving and disruptive kind of transaction.
I suppose you could make the case that divestiture would raise money to put toward deficit reduction. Additionally, potential capital gains by those purchasing shares in a secondary offering would increase tax revenues, but still, treat it like an investment.
I think that if Timothy Geithner, who along with Ben Bernanke, have been very good at funneling money back to the federal government was left to his own resources, he wouldn’t be giving up the shares so quickly.
Although Geithner is never at ease on camera, he appeared even more so during this mornings’ CNBC interview, as he tried to calm the international markets on the quality of US debt.
Unfortunately, politics gets in the way and the Treasury, too, will be held hostage by the children that we have elected to serve our interests.
While Geithner was speaking, Goldman Sachs was basking in its earnings report. The stock was up more than $4 during the pre-open. By noon, and one downgrade later, it was down more than $2.
Of course, that downgrade was from Dick Bove, who after bouncing around is at a firm that everyone seems to mispronounce. Rochdale, as in Rockdale.
Remember, Bove is the guy who appeared on a near daily basis on CNBC as he steadfastlt defended Chuck Prince’s CitiGroup as it kept falling and falling.
“The dividend is absolutely safe”.
Remember that?
What happened? They’re still the smartest guys and now they’ve unloaded those expensive preferred shares held by Warren Buffett.
That can only be good for Goldman, but now comes the worry that with the retirement of those shares, so too are the principals of Goldman relieved of some of their obligations, such as not to sell their shares and not to retire.
Would it really be that bad if the likes of Blankfein faded away?
Certainly, Senator Levin (D-Michigan) would be able to find a new whipping boy, but some of the considerable heat would be off.
The Goldman bench is deep enough, even 2 levels down, that they could seemlessly continue operations, yet claim that those newly in charge had nothing to do with the questionable practices that fueled the financial crisis.
Win- win.
Since I own quite a few shares of Goldman, I would like to see a win-win outcome.
David Viniar, the CFO, was a past high school classmate of mine. I didn’t really know him, but do remember his 70’s hairstyle, which is very different from what he now sports.
Unfortunately, he didn’t get good grades at today’s conference call and was thought to be evasive.
People like answers.
Now that leaves me with Google, to complete the alliterative theme.
Actually, I have nothing new on Google. Still weak today, but finding a floor at $520. What frightened me from picking shares yesterday during the bargain hours, was that it looked as if Google still had downside potential to $500, when I looked at its chart. Based on its previous action following large earnings related drops, I don’t expect that to happen.
But still.
I did have the chance to sell call options on Dow Chemical, Riverbed Technology, Textron, Freeport McMoran, Sallie Mae and Mosaic today and am still hoping to close a trade on Rio Tinto, while awaiting decent opportunities on all of the rest.
Freeport reports earnings tomorrow. I think they’ll be good, but I’m concerned that guidance will drive stock down. In return for that fear, I got $1.91 on a $52 call, when the stock was at $51.20
Sallie Mae also reports tomorrow. The stock price started inching up in the last hour today. I took that opportunity to sell 79 call contracts. Why not 80?
3 PM, I think the day’s outcome is already sealed and the trend is trickling upward. Now sit back and wait for IBM, Intel and some other company that I can’t recall, but don’t own, to report earnings after the closing bell.
Oh yeah. Our benefactor, Yahoo!
At least that’ll give me time to come up with lyrics to Geithner, Goldman and Google
Invest like TheAcsMan
Option to Profit is available as either an eBook or 300+ paperback. Take a humorous look at a serious topic and learn how to make your portfolio finally go to work for you in bull and bear market environments.
See a sneak preview of Chapter 1. hoco blogs
More about the book and purchase options. Scroll down and read the Szelhamos Rules blog, updated every weekday.
Find OTP Book at Amazon, B&N or now you can also Order direct from publisher. Use 10% Discount Code P4S2ZD8H