short Apple?

yikes, hits the $500 milestone, some 20% above the 50d moving average. Clearly gonna correct.

FDIC report, Lehman under Dodd-Frank

What might have been ... What might be too-large to fail resolution under DF.

http://media.ft.com/cms/0a72e3a2-6948-11e0-9040-00144feab49a.pdf

And the FT has more:

"Billed as the solution to the costly AIG bail-out and the damage caused by Lehman’s bankruptcy, the new tools [under Dodd-Frank] would allow the government to seize a company and run it before selling the assets to the highest bidder."

Slicin' thru 50d's

Lotta formerly strong sectors slicing thru their 50-day averages, eg., VGK, EEM, EPP. Given the kinda funky mkt to begin with, ie, little volume, spotty leadership, this is worth watching.

Bernanke to markets: Deflation is here (?)

Ben Bernanke's comments to Congress today seemed to elicit a flight to quality (Treasuries up, stocks down, i.e., position as if we're Japan).

Bernanke:
"... underlying inflation has trended down over the past two years.... expect continued moderate growth, a gradual decline in the unemployment rate, and subdued inflation over the next several years. ... progress in reducing unemployment is now expected to be somewhat slower than we previously projected, and near-term inflation now looks likely to be a little lower ...One factor underlying the Committee's somewhat weaker outlook is that financial conditions—though much improved since the depth of the financial crisis—have become less supportive of economic growth in recent months."

Another sign of market weakness

JPM posts strong results, and financial stocks fall. Yet another sign of a weak rebound.

Euro crisis not another Lehman: Bob Doll

Bob Doll says the current worries over the euro and sovereign credit risks don't amount to another Lehman-sparked implosion.

"Credit risks involving governments are significantly more transparent than those surrounding subprime loans and collateralized debt obligations," he says, and unlike 2008, "the broader global economy is firmly in recovery mode [and] the banking system as a whole is in better shape."

Is the foreign bull over? Part II

Last week, I said yes.

Today's down market tends to confirm the thesis that we may be entering a period with strong dollar/weak foreign markets:

Berkowitz likes financials

BusinessWeek reports that Bruce Berkowitz, manager of the Fairholme Fund, thinks financial stocks are in the second inning of a nine-inning bull market.

BW says:

As the economy continues to recover, financials can sustain a rally reminiscent of their run in the 1990s when they rose sevenfold, said Berkowitz, who was named U.S. stock manager of the decade in January by fund-rater Morningstar Inc.

I'd tend to agree. Been buying IAT, KRE, KIE, KBE, VNQ.