Kirk Shinkle submits:With the Dow reaching the 10K plateau Wednesday, where do the experts stand? Most will tell you 10,000 is just a round number that's easy to single out. U.S. News caught up with two economists, both just as optimistic about the Dow's potential as they were almost a month ago. Jeffrey Saut of Raymond James & Associates points to recent earnings announcements and says they came as no surprise to him. JPMorgan Chase (JPM) was the first banking giant to release its monster earnings Wednesday, and Thursday Goldman Sachs (GS) followed suit with earnings tripling since the days of the financial panic, according to the AP.Complete Story »

  The Curious Investor submits: I wrote a little while back about the rumored Apple Tablet. At the time I talked about my desire for a product which would truly legitimize the netbook/UMPC category. Apple has done a terrific job differentiating its computing offerings. The majority of computer users start with a laptop for general everyday use and occasional mobility. Power users might buy a desktop for more horse power. And, everyone needs an iPhone for highly mobile media and light productivity. To me, the natural follow on to these three product categories is a full on mobile productivity device. The Mobile Productivity Device In my post on the Apple Tablet, I talked about my image of the perfect mobile device being shaped by the viral Microsoft Origami Project videos circa 2006. Well, leave it to Microsoft to drop yet another follow on which I think once again targets my mobile productivity desires – the Microsoft Courier.Complete Story »

  Kurt Wulff (McDep Associates) submits: Buy-recommendations Gazprom (OGZPY.PK) and Lukoil (LUKOY.PK) have long-run appreciation potential from a gradual relaxation of natural gas price controls in the case of Gazprom and the oil export tax in the case of Lukoil. Many of the same issues of energy economics and politics being debated in Russia today parallel the arguments we recall vividly that came to a boil in the U.S. during the 1970s. Having visited the two leading Russian companies in their Moscow headquarters on September 21, we will have more to say on each. McDep Ratios below a half for the two companies point to the opportunity subject to the usual risks. Market multiples, Enterprise Value to Ebitda, convey a similar message. Last, the industry backdrop looks positive with an upward oil price trend. Complete Story »

  Saj Karsan submits:Investors will often look at the P/E ratio of the S&P 500 in order to gauge how expensive stocks are. Earnings, the denominator of that equation, are quite volatile, however. In a year like this one, where massive write-downs plague income statements, it is difficult to determine the market's true earning power. Another method to gauge investor sentiment, though not nearly as popular, is the market's price to book ratio. Unlike earnings, book values are not nearly as volatile (unless of course, you are an over-leveraged bank), and therefore they can give us a decent indicator of how the market is valuing company assets. Courtesy of Comstock Partners, here is the price to book value of the S&P 500 over the last 30 years (original version here): There are a couple of interesting observations to note in the above chart. First, on a price to book basis, during this recession the market did not fall to the depressed levels seen in the late 1970s. Second, the market's price to book value currently appears to be fairly close to its 30-year average (denoted by the horizontal blue line), despite the fact that the outlook for economic growth appears tepid. Of course, there are a number of factors that make historical comparisons of price to book values difficult. Accounting methods of how book value is calculated have changed over the years, with an increasing trend towards making book value better reflect market value. Furthermore, there has been a shift when it comes to industries in the S&P 500, with manufacturing companies playing a decreasing role while knowledge-based companies (e.g. software, consulting, other services etc.), where hard-assets are not a determining factor, comprise a larger portion of the index. For the above reasons, long-term comparisons of historical price to book ratios can be problematic. Nevertheless, investors can look at the price to book ratio over recent periods as a decent gauge of investor sentiment. Clearly, price to book ratios fell dramatically from their 2008 highs, but a large rally has resulted in a recovery of a significant portion of those losses. The above chart won't tell you where the price to book ratio will go, but it will tell you that investor sentiment has recovered to a large extent and that downside risks have increased as a result.Complete Story »

  Tom Lydon (ETF Trends) submits: European stocks and exchange traded funds (ETFs) have benefited from rising investor appetite for risk. Even though there are positive indicators for looking into investing into Europe, an investor should be aware that possible risks still abound.Analysts are out making the case for Europe to be the next comeback story. Why?Complete Story »

  Dividends4Life submits: Investing in dividend stocks provides the investor with continuous feedback. As time passes dividend investors see their income steadily grow. You do not have to wait five to ten years to determine if the strategy is working. Each dividend and dividend increase provides the investor with reassurance that the strategy is working.Complete Story »

  Mark O'Byrne submits:GoldGold is currently trading at $1,048.10/oz. In euro and GBP terms, gold is trading at €703/oz and £640/oz. Support for gold is currently seen at $1,034/oz and resistance is at $1,054/oz. Gold took a much needed breather yesterday and fell some 1%.Complete Story »

  The FDIC finally admits to C&D and CRE loan problems. I have been warning about overexposures to C&D and CRE loans posing the biggest threat to community and regional banks since April 2006.Complete Story »

  China’s Powerful State-Owned Enterprises Scour the Globe in a Bid to Quench the Country’s Insatiable Thirst for Oil & GasNews reports over the past few weeks of two potential multi-billion dollar Chinese oil deals in Africa, and another significant gas-related acquisition in Kazakhstan, only further reinforces China’s insatiable appetite for energy.Complete Story »

  Colin Peterson submits: Let's talk more about the bond funds that now own Georgia Gulf Corp (GGC).FMR (Fidelity) is the largest holder and owns 8,986,271 shares which is 27.286%.Capital World Investors owns 8,770,360 shares which is 26.6%Pioneer High Yield Fund has 3,374,442 shares or 10.23%, with various other Pioneer funds owning more.Complete Story »

  Low Sweat Investing submits:I make it a point never to make short-term forecasts.That’s because the simple secret to successful forecasting is to forecast far enough into the future that by the time the event happens, or doesn’t happen, nobody remembers what your forecast was. Then, if you were right, just remind them about it. Soon enough, you’ll have an excellent forecasting record.Complete Story »

  Michael Pettis submits: The release of September trade data earlier this week was pretty interesting, although because of two or three extra working days last month, plus the very big holiday at the beginning of October which might have pushed activity into September, some of the comparisons are misleading. Exports were down 15.2% year-on-year, better than the expected 20-21%. Imports were down 3.5%, much better than the expected 15%. Month-on-month figures showed a rise in both imports and exports. So much ink has been spilled in discussing these numbers that I won’t try to summarize, but it is worth noting that for many analysts the numbers were a very positive surprise. Typical was this Reuters report reprinted in the New York Times:Complete Story »

  For the next several years, Americans' net worth will decrease and their food and energy costs will increase as the economy suffers the effects of both inflation and deflation. Keynesianism and Monetarism can not explain this paradox because the money supply can’t simultaneously increase and decrease. However, John Exter’s Inverted Pyramid resolves this economic contradiction. In 1960, John Exter, then Citibank Vice President, developed what is known as the Inverted Pyramid. The Inverted Pyramid is an upside down pyramid made up of assets backed by debt. The foundation of the Inverted Pyramid is the ultimate form of money, gold, because it is an asset with no liability attached to it. The US Dollar or Federal Reserve Note, which is a debt-backed currency because it is a liability, sits above gold. Higher still is more debt, US Treasury bills, which back the US dollar. As you move up the pyramid, the debt-backed assets get more and more illiquid such as corporate bonds, stocks, real estate etc. Complete Story »

  Michael Young submits:Dow 10,000 – 10 Years on The Dow Jones crossed the psychologically significant 10,000 mark this week as investors continued to embrace risky assets. Bulls cited the possibility of a 20,000 Dow in the years ahead. Bears reminded optimistic traders that the Dow first crossed the 10,000 mark more than 10 years ago on March 29th, 1999, and has made little progress since.Complete Story »