Patience is the name of the game

Last week was another bad week for the market. The market is on a downward spiral. It will come up as fast as it went down. We will see some of that within a few weeks. I am sick to my stomach to see AIG is gaining ground over the last few sessions. How wrong was I? I was under the impression that AIG will continue to go down.
OPC will turn around soon, I am sure. It’s just a patience game.

The projects are very quite in Fort McMurray, I am sure it will change. The question is when? How long can we really wait?

- Oil prices rose above $60 a barrel on Monday, halting last week's falling trend, as investors turned to commodities for protection against a weaker dollar and after attacks on oil facilities in Nigeria. By mid-afternoon in Europe, benchmark crude for August delivery was up 19 cents to $60.08 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. On Friday, the contract fell 52 cents to settle at $59.89.

- NEW YORK (AP) -- Investors are waiting for corporate earnings reports to arrive before they push into stocks. Stocks turned lower early Monday as investors awaited earnings reports this week, including key results from banks.Investors have been cautious as they prepare for earnings reports this week. Banks have been among the most hurt companies since the recession began in late 2007 as investment and loan losses piled up.

Financial shares got a boost after banking analyst Meredith Whitney said on CNBC that she was upgrading her view on Goldman Sachs Group Inc., which has long been considered the strongest bank amid the economic downturn. She also noted Bank of America Corp., one of the hardest hit by mounting loan losses, could provide value for investors.
Goldman Sachs, Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase & Co., and Citigroup Inc. are all scheduled to report second-quarter results this week.

- TOKYO (AP) -- Japan's top two beverage makers, Kirin and Suntory, are considering merging their operations, a Suntory spokesman said Monday.
A merger would create the world's fifth largest food company by sales, just behind Kraft Foods Inc. and Pepsico Inc., the Nikkei business newspaper reported. It also would help the companies overcome a saturated domestic market with an aging population and compete more strongly with large international brands.

- America's Five Most Overpriced Cars

1. Dodge Ram 2500
2. Mercury Grand Marquis
3. Jeep Liberty
4. Dodge Nitro
5. Dodge Durango

- OTTAWA (Reuters) – Trade and employment data showed Canada still mired in recession at the middle of this year, and virtually guaranteed that the Bank of Canada would keep interest rates at rock bottom until mid-2010. Figures from Statistics Canada showed that fewer people lost their jobs in June than analysts had expected.

But that appeared to be due largely to what one analyst dubbed a "do-it-yourself recovery" -- people trickling back to work through self-employment or in part-time jobs while full-time job creation was scarce. Net job losses in June totaled 7,400 and the unemployment rate rose to 8.6 percent from 8.4 percent in May, the highest since February 1998, Statscan said on Friday.
The data triggered a short-lived rise in the Canadian dollar, but the mood darkened on closer look at the report. "The good news, such as it is, stops at the headline," said Doug Porter, deputy chief economist at BMO Capital Markets.

Another depressing Monday

Every thing looks gloomy. Every where i look, it seems negative.
I am really in the dark here. I don’t know how to describe it. I guess all the experts in the world failed to predict what is going to happen. I am so disappointed that AIG reverse split to 20 to 1. I am really sad; I have quite a few dollars stuck with this stock.
DOW and TSX is keep sliding down and I don’t know why. It will go up at some point but who knows when. We gotta survive this. There is a bunch of bad news stacked up together. I hope within the next week, I will see some lights.

- A federal judge over the weekend approved the sale of almost all of General Motors Corp.’s assets to NGMCO Inc.
NGMCO is a company funded by the U.S. Department of Treasury.
In connection with the sale, the company will change its name to General Motors Co.; be led by Fritz Henderson as president and chief executive officer and Edward Whitacre Jr. as chairman; and continue operations out of Detroit.

- NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Stocks tumbled Monday morning, as weakness in overseas markets and tumbling oil prices added to concerns about the length of the recession.
The Dow Jones industrial average (INDU) fell 70 points, or 0.9%, over an hour into the session. The S&P 500 (SPX) index lost 10 points, or 1.1%, and the Nasdaq (COMP) fell 26 points, or 1.4%.
Stocks slipped Thursday in the last session of a holiday-shortened trading week after a weaker-than-expected jobs report fueled worries about the economy. All financial markets were closed Friday for the Independence Day weekend.

- URUMQI, China – Riots and street battles killed at least 140 people in China's western Xinjiang province and injured 828 others in the deadliest ethnic unrest to hit the region in decades. Officials said Monday the death toll was expected to rise.
Police sealed off streets in parts of the provincial capital, Urumqi, after discord between ethnic Muslim Uighur people and China's Han majority erupted into violence. Witnesses reported a new, smaller protest Monday in a second city, Kashgar.

- MOSCOW – President Barack Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev struck a preliminary deal Monday to reduce their nations' stockpiles of nuclear warheads to as few as 1,500 each, pointing their arsenals toward the lowest levels of any U.S.-Russia arms control agreement.
The document signed by the two leaders at a Moscow summit, Obama's first in Russia, is meant as a guide for negotiators as the nations work toward a replacement pact for the START arms control agreement that expires in December. The joint understanding completed by Obama and Medvedev, signed after about three hours of talks at the Kremlin, also commits the new treaty to lower longer-range missiles for delivering nuclear bombs to between 500 and 1,100.
- Oil prices plunged nearly $3 to below $64 a barrel Monday as dismal unemployment figures from the U.S. and Europe last week sparked investor doubts about any nascent economic recovery.
By midday in Europe, benchmark crude for August delivery fell $2.97 to $63.76 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. It last settled on Thursday at $66.73.
Trading was closed in the U.S. on Friday for the Independence Day holiday.
Oil has tumbled from an eight-month high above $73 a barrel last week after gloomy U.S. consumer confidence and jobs numbers fueled doubts about a rally that has doubled the price of crude since March.

Hope we all have a good week.

DOW and TSX is having a good day at the market

We are having a good day at the market. DOW is up about 90 points. My stocks are still sliding without a clue. I am really confused what is going on with AIG, OPC, FNM, and TPUT. This is not really giving me a lot of confident. I am still very optimistic about AIG and FNM. I think it will pay off at the end of the day. OPC is another story, no news from the management which makes every one very uncomfortable. What is going on?

I wrapped up buying a Jeep (Patriot) for my wife. This is the first American brand new car that I bought. My logic is that help the local companies and help the local economy which will create jobs. I am happy about it. Hopefully, it will come here tomorrow.

Here is what is cooking around the globe:

- LOS ANGELES - Michael Jackson's mother asked a Superior Court judge on Monday to name her administrator of her late son's estate so she can ensure the King of Pop's three children are its beneficiaries. The court filing states that Jackson's parents believe he died without a valid will.
Supporting Katherine Jackson in her petition bid to administer the estate was Jackson's father, Joe Jackson. The court documents state that Katherine Jackson "intends to marshal assets of the decedent for the exclusive use of the decedent's three children — her grand children — after payment of debts and expenses of administration."

- SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) -- Oil prices settled above $71 a barrel Monday, as China said it would boost oil reserves and Nigerian militants partly shut down an offshore oil platform belonging to Royal Dutch Shell PLC. Benchmark crude for August delivery gained $2.33 to settle at $71.49 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Alaron Trading Corp. analyst Phil Flynn said China's plans to increase its strategic crude oil reserves by 60 percent should provide the market with some long-term support. Shell spokesman Precious Okolobo confirmed the Nigeria attack and partial shutdown. Previous militant attacks on infrastructure in the country's restive southern oil region have trimmed output in Africa's biggest crude producer by about 25 percent.

- TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras – Honduras' newly appointed leader vowed Monday to resist pressure from across the Americas to reinstate the president ousted in a military coup, as protesters burned tires outside the occupied presidential palace. Leaders from Hugo Chavez to Barack Obama called for the reinstatement of Manuel Zelaya, who was arrested in his pajamas Sunday morning by soldiers who stormed his residence and flew him into exile. Eight leftist countries pulled their ambassadors from Honduras.

- Historic swindler Bernard Madoff was sentenced to 150 years in prison Monday for a fraud so extensive that the judge said he needed to send a symbolic message to potential imitators and to victims who demanded harsh punishment. Scattered applause and whoops broke out in the crowded Manhattan courtroom after U.S. District Judge Denny Chin issued the maximum sentence to the 71-year-old defendant, who said he lives "in a tormented state now, knowing all the pain and suffering I've created."

- Iran's election oversight body on Monday declared the hotly disputed presidential vote to be valid after a partial recount, rejecting opposition allegations of fraud and further silencing calls for a new vote. State television reported that the Guardian Council presented the conclusion in a letter to the Interior Minister following a recount of was described as a randomly selected 10 percent of the almost 40 million ballots cast June 12. The "meticulous and comprehensive examination" revealed only "slight irregularities that are common to any election and needless of attention," Guardian Council head Ahmed Jannati said in a letter, according to the state TV channel IRIB.

Another Monday, another brutal day for DOW and TSX

I don’t know when I talked about a Monday that was great for the market.
I am sad about writing on Monday when everything looks gloomy and rainy like the weather here this morning. I am hoping that the middle of the week would be much better. I think we will see some light on OPC, AIG, CEMJQ and VSTN.

It was a busy weekend for me and my wife. We had a dinner party to attend and we worked out all 3 days which was great.

Here is what is buzzing:


- Oil prices were down by more than $2 to below $68 a barrel Monday as the World Bank said the global economy would shrink by 2.9 percent this year, much worse than its March prediction for a contraction of 1.7 percent. Concerns over a weak U.S. economy and the dollar's rise, which tends to pull investors away from commodities, also pushed the market lower. Benchmark crude for July delivery fell $2.25 to $67.30 a barrel by afternoon in Europe in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. On Friday, it dropped $1.82 to settle at $69.55. The July contract expires later Monday. The August contract dropped $2.19 to $67.83.

- NEW YORK (AP) -- Lowered expectations for the global economy are giving investors more to be wary about. Major stock indexes retreated by about 2 percent Monday after the World Bank added to the market's growing economic worries. The Washington-based global lender predicted the world economy will shrink 2.9 percent in 2009, worse than its previous forecast of a 1.7 percent decline. Deteriorating hopes for a quick economic recovery also weighed on the prices of oil, metals, and other commodities. Companies that produce these commodities saw their shares tumble in early trading.

- CAIRO – Amateur video of a young Iranian woman lying in the street — blood streaming from her nose and mouth — has quickly become an iconic image of the country's opposition movement and unleashed a flood of outrage at the regime's crackdown. The footage, less than a minute long, appears to capture the woman's death moments after she was shot at a protest — a powerful example of citizens' ability to document events inside Iran despite government restrictions on foreign media and Internet and phone lines.

- TEHRAN, Iran – Riot police attacked hundreds of demonstrators with tear gas and fired live bullets in the air to disperse a rally in central Tehran Monday, carrying out a threat by the country's most powerful security force to crush any further opposition protests over the disputed presidential election. Britain, accused by Iran of fomenting post-election unrest, said it was evacuating the families of diplomats and other officials based in Iran.

- SEOUL, South Korea – President Barack Obama assured Americans in an interview broadcast Monday that the U.S. is prepared for any move North Korea might make, amid reports that Pyongyang is planning a long-range missile test to follow up its provocative nuclear test last month. Defense Secretary Robert Gates has ordered additional protection for Hawaii as a precaution, though experts say North Korea doesn't yet have a ballistic missile that can reach Hawaii and has not mastered mounting a nuclear bomb on a long-range missile.

- Following Pakistan's eight-wicket victory over Sri Lanka in the ICC World Twenty20 final at Lord's, former national captains praised the side as thousands of fans took to the streets across the country. Javed Miandad and Inzamam-ul-Haq paid tribute to the spirit of the side while Ramiz Raja said this win was even better than Pakistan's World Cup success in 1992.
"We are always slow starters, but once the team started playing as a unit, I knew it would go all the way and lift the World Cup," said Miandad, director-general of the Pakistan Cricket Board. "It's a great achievement."

Here we go again, Monday slide on the market.

I did not know what to expect while we approached Monday. DOW and TSX are sliding this morning. I just hope that I can make the right decision on the stuff that I acquire. I am still optimistic about the “Dark Horse” CEMJQ.
I am upbeat about the TPUT. I think it will be up while the stimulus package in effect in Canada and USA. I think it might be a very good buy in the long run.

I had a terrific weekend. We worked out, had company over for dinner. My wife did a wonderful job preparing dinner, and entertaining our guests.

Here are some issues:

- NEW YORK (AP) -- U.S. investors worried that a three-month surge in stocks has been overdone and sent share prices down sharply on Monday. The slide on U.S. markets followed steep drops in Europe and Asia as a stronger dollar pushed commodities and materials prices lower.

- COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) -- Gas prices rose Monday for the 48th straight day, matching a record going back to at least the 1970s, with prices now up nearly two-thirds since the beginning of the year even as demand from motorists remains weak. Yet the oil prices that influence what you pay at the pump are taking a breather from a three-month rally, with benchmark crude for July delivery falling nearly 3 percent, or $2.07 to $69.97 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. On Friday, it fell 64 cents to settle at $72.0.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Obama administration will target critical weaknesses in the troubled U.S. financial system, such as thin bank capital cushions and eroded lending standards, when it proposes an overhaul of financial regulation this week, two senior officials said on Monday. In the fullest summary to date of the administration's reform proposal, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and White House economic adviser Lawrence Summers said the plan will also urge stronger consumer and investor protections and new powers for the Federal Reserve.

- ISLAMABAD – Police in Islamabad recently foiled plots to kidnap diplomats and carry out bombings in the Pakistani capital, the interior minister said Monday. Rehman Malik made clear that security in Islamabad, already tightened, must be improved even more, saying efforts were under way to recruit an additional 20,000 police to protect the city. His announcement at a ceremony for slain policemen came a day after Pakistan ordered its army to go after the country's top Taliban commander, a feared al-Qaida-allied militant whose remote stronghold could prove a difficult test for troops but whose demise would remove a major threat to the country's stability.

TEHRAN, Iran – Gunfire from a pro-government militia killed one man and wounded several others Monday after hundreds of thousands of chanting opponents of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad marched in central Tehran to support their pro-reform leader in his first public appearance since disputed elections. The outpouring in Azadi, or Freedom, Square for reformist leader Mir Hossein Mousavi followed a decision by Iran's most powerful figure for an investigation into the vote-rigging allegations. Security forces watched quietly, with shields and batons at their sides.

The Monday blues continues

We are observing another bad start of the week and we don’t know why. When I woke up this morning, I actually thought I would see a good start for DOW and TSX. It was not meant to be. I was excited to complete at least 5 trades but when I went to the trading account, I was clueless. This is so disappointing and draining. In my mind I was saying “Just get better already”. AIG, FNM, OPC, AMNE, F, and VSTN are in the dog house. The dark horse CEMJQ is still shining and I think it’s on its way. I hope that it meets the expectations.

- NEW YORK (AP) -- Investors turned away from stocks ahead of the latest government report card on banks. Stocks fell Monday, sending the Dow Jones industrial average down by about 100 points at times. Overseas markets also pulled back. The government is expected to announce as early as Monday which banks will be allowed to return bailout funds. JPMorgan Chase & Co., Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and American Express Co. are expected to get approval to repay their loans, according to The Washington Post.

- KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) -- The world's airlines will collectively lose $9 billion this year -- nearly double the previous projections -- and face a slow recovery as the economic crisis saps air travel and cargo demand, an industry body warned Monday.
The International Air Transport Association, which represents 230 airlines worldwide, increased its loss estimate from the $4.7 billion it forecast in March, reflecting a "rapidly deteriorating revenue environment."
Although there has been growing signs of a bottoming out of the recession, IATA said the industry was severely hit in the first quarter with 50 major airlines reporting losses of more than $3 billion. Weak consumer confidence, high business inventories and rising oil prices pose headwinds for future recovery, the association said during a two-day global aviation conference in Kuala Lumpur.

- The recession's grip loosened slightly this spring as seasonal hiring picked up and helped offset rising bankruptcies and foreclosures, according to the Associated Press' monthly analysis of the economic pain in more than 3,100 U.S. counties.
The latest results of the AP's Economic Stress Index show the free fall that marked the autumn of 2008 and winter of 2009 gave way in April to a more controlled descent, possibly even a bottom. Still, the analysis found that pain remains high compared with year-ago levels.

- SEOUL, South Korea – North Korea convicted two American journalists and sentenced them Monday to 12 years of hard labor for crossing into its territory, intensifying the reclusive nation's confrontation with the United States.

Hope we all have a good week.

Oil, gas prices defy recession; crude hits $66

Here we are. The market is on the upward move even thou GM filed bankruptcy.
I bought some GM shares this morning. I did not catch the early bus, yet again.
I am happy that the market is up this morning. AIG, FNM, OPC or UUU is not up, kind of disappointing.

OIL is up $ 66 which is great and expected news. I just hope that the price stays around the $ 70 mark for a week. We will see some activates here in Fort McMurray. We need this for our economy.

Got bonus last week, which was a shocker and a significant one. Things are rolling in the right direction.

- NEW YORK (AP) -- General Motors filed for bankruptcy protection Monday as part of the Obama administration's plan to shrink the automaker to a sustainable size and give a majority ownership stake to the federal government. GM's bankruptcy filing is the fourth-largest in U.S. history and the largest for an industrial company. The company said it has $172.81 billion in debt and $82.29 billion in assets.

- NEW YORK (AP) -- Wall Street is starting June with a big gain, boosted by reports that paint a more upbeat picture of the global economy. Investors looked past General Motors Corp.'s bankruptcy filing and instead focused on better-than-expected readings on U.S. manufacturing, consumer spending and construction spending. Stocks got off to a strong start Monday following upswings in Europe and Asia, where markets surged on surveys showing improvements in manufacturing in those regions.

- NEW YORK (AP) -- Delphi Corp. said Monday that it has reached a deal to sell some of its assets to a private-equity firm and emerge from bankruptcy protection. Parnassus Holdings II LLC, an affiliate of Platinum Equity, will operate Delphi's businesses both in the U.S. and abroad with about $3.6 billion in emergence capital and capital commitments.

- ISLAMABAD – Taliban militants armed with rockets, grenades and automatic weapons abducted at least 400 students, staff and relatives driving away from a boy's school in a northwest Pakistani tribal region on Monday, police and a witness said.

- NEW YORK – The Dow Jones industrial average is the latest Wall Street institution to be reshaped by the financial crisis. The stock market's best-known barometer is adding Travelers Cos. and Cisco Systems Inc., replacing Citigroup Inc. and General Motors Corp. The move comes as GM enters bankruptcy protection, a move that was widely expected. Dow Jones said Travelers, the property and casualty insurer and one-time division of Citicorp, would replace its former parent. Cisco, which makes computer networking gear, is filling the role left by GM after 83 years as part of the Dow.