Happy days are around the corner - Enjoy while you can

This is much better. Last week was a good one.
We have seen DOW rise above 9000 mark.
CAEI is on the move. I sold AVRNQ and made a
few dollars last week. The dark horse “CEMJQ” is on a roll again. What a relief. Looks like UUU is looking very good this morning. Maybe OPC and OCNF are finally breaking through. I think RF might be a good buy this morning. This is looking much brighter then before. I don’t know when I was excited about Monday before.

- WASHINGTON – New home sales in June posted the fastest increase in more than eight years as buyers took advantage of bargain prices, low interest rates and a federal tax credit for first-time homeowners. While home prices are still falling, the figures released Monday were another sign the housing market is finally bouncing back. Earlier this month, the government reported that new home construction rose to the highest level since last fall. And data out last week showed home resales rose almost 4 percent in June, the third straight monthly increase.

- GENEVA (Reuters) – There may be no escape from H1N1 pandemic flu, which according to the latest World Health Organization figures has spread to the most remote parts of the planet including popular island getaways. In a snapshot published on Monday, the WHO said more than 20 countries and overseas territories had had their first lab-confirmed cases of the new virus, widely known as swine flu.

- WASHINGTON (AP) -- Federal regulators on Monday made permanent an emergency rule aimed at reducing abusive short-selling, put in at the height of last fall's market turmoil.
The Securities and Exchange Commission announced that it took the action on the rule targeting so-called "naked" short-selling, which was due to expire Friday.
Short-sellers bet against a stock. They generally borrow a company's shares, sell them, and then buy them when the stock falls and return them to the lender -- pocketing the difference in price.
"Naked" short-selling occurs when sellers don't even borrow the shares before selling them, and then look to cover positions sometime after the sale.

- WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Barack Obama, opening two days of high-level talks with China, said the discussions could lay the groundwork for a new era of "sustained cooperation, not confrontation" in a relationship likely to shape the 21st century.
Obama said that Washington and Beijing needed to forge closer ties to address a host of challenges from lifting the global economy out of a deep recession to nuclear proliferation and global climate change. "I believe that we are poised to make steady progress on some of the most important issues of our times," the president told diplomats from both countries assembled in the vast hall of the Ronald Reagan Building.

- COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) -- Oil prices on Monday paused in their two-week rally, as stock markets dipped with mixed signals on the economy. Benchmark crude for September delivery lost 5 cents to $68 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. On Friday, the contract rose 89 cents to settle at $68.05. Oil has rebounded from $58.78 a barrel earlier this month as stronger economic results from the U.S. and China boosted investor optimism along with better than expected second-quarter results from many companies. The Dow Jones industrial average has risen about 11 percent during the last 10 days, but was down slightly in Monday midday trading. The government said Monday that new U.S. home sales jumped 11 percent in June, the largest amount in nearly nine years. Sales have risen for three straight months, but the median sales price of $206,200 was down 12 percent from $234,300 a year earlier.

Here we go - Some light at the end of the tunnel

NEW YORK (AP) -- The Dow Jones industrials are back above 9,000 for the first time since the beginning of January. Investors snapped up stocks across the market Thursday, sending major indexes up more than 2 percent, after a report showed existing home sales jumped for the third straight month in June. The 3.6-percent increase in home sales has investors excited that the hard-hit housing market might be improving. The National Association of Realtors said sales came in at 4.89 million, above the 4.84 million analysts had been expecting.

- DEARBORN, Mich. (AP) -- Helped by a lightened debt load, Ford Motor Co. posted a surprise second-quarter profit of $2.3 billion Thursday, following the worst loss in company history a year earlier. Shares rose 10 percent in afternoon trading. The net profit ends a string of four straight quarterly losses for the nation's second-largest automaker, which has gained U.S. market share at the expense of crosstown rivals Chrysler Group LLC and General Motors Co., both of which spent time under bankruptcy court supervision. Ford last went into the black in the first quarter of 2008, with net profit of $70 million. However, excluding its debt reduction and other items, Dearborn, Mich.-based Ford would have reported a quarterly loss, though smaller than Wall Street expected.

- WASHINGTON (AP) -- The U.S. housing market has started to recover from the most far-reaching crisis since the Great Depression, data released Thursday show. Sales of previously occupied homes rose for the third month in a row in June, the National Association of Realtors reported. That hasn't happened since early 2004, during the boom. "The turnaround in the housing market appears finally to be here and indeed may be gaining some speed," wrote Joel Naroff, president of Naroff Economic Advisors Inc.

- NEW YORK (AP) -- Oil prices were pulled higher Thursday by a rally on Wall Street and a rise in home sales that suggested the U.S. may soon regain its appetite for energy.
Benchmark crude for September delivery added $1.15 to $66.54 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. In London, Brent prices rose $1 to $68.21 a barrel on the ICE Futures exchange. Oil prices lifted in morning trading as the Dow Jones industrial average rose above 9,000 mark. The last time the blue chips closed above that was on Jan. 6. Investors also cheered a National Association of Realtors report that said sales of previously occupied homes rose for the third month in a row. The last time that happened was in the middle of the housing boom in early 2004.

Where do we go from here?

We might be making a run here.
I think we are on the verge of a run. I just want to hang tough and make right decisions.
I got little good news over the last week.
We will see the closure this week.
Life is not bad after all.
CEMJQ is not moving. I am surprised that FNM is sticking around the $ .59 mark.

I am hoping for something big from TPUT and VSTN. I just hope that i am right on these stocks.
Again, It's very hard to predict what is going to happen in the next month.



NEW YORK (AP) -- Investors are betting that the stock market has restarted its spring rally. Stocks ended little changed Friday but held onto an enormous gain for the week. Investors are looking to another flood of corporate earnings reports next week to provide more signs that the economy is healing.
The Dow Jones industrials and the Standard & Poor's 500 index posted their best weekly performance since early March, when the market's spring rally began. Major stock indexes rose about 7 percent for the week.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Construction of new U.S. homes rose in June to the highest level in seven months as builders rushed to pour foundations for homes that must be completed by the end of November for first-time buyers to take advantage of a special tax break. The Commerce Department said Friday that construction of new homes and apartments jumped 3.6 percent last month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 582,000 units, from an upwardly revised rate of 562,000 in May. It was better than the 530,000-unit pace economists expected, and was the second straight monthly increase after April's record low of 479,000 units.

- CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) -- Bank of America joined other major banks in reporting better-than-expected second quarter income Friday, earning $2.42 billion even as losses from failed loans continued to rise. The results, which included $713 million of dividend payments tied to a federal bailout, compared with profits after preferred dividends of $3.22 billion in the same three-month period a year ago. Earnings per share, which reflected a much higher amount of shares outstanding, fell to 33 cents from 72 cents. That was well ahead of the 28 cents per share forecast of analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters.

- JAKARTA, Indonesia – Suicide bombers posing as guests attacked American luxury hotels in Indonesia's capital and set off a pair of blasts Friday that killed eight people and wounded more than 50, authorities said.
The bombings, which came two minutes apart, ended a four-year lull in terror attacks in the world's most populous Muslim nation. At least eight Americans were among the wounded.
The blasts at the high-rise J.W. Marriott and Ritz-Carlton hotels, located side-by-side in an upscale business district in Jakarta, blew out windows and scattered debris and glass across the street, kicking up a thick plume of smoke. An Associated Press reporter saw bodies being carried away in police trucks. The attackers evaded hotel security, smuggling explosives into the Marriott and assembling the bombs in a room on the 18th floor, where an undetonated device was found after the explosions. The bombers had stayed at the hotel for two days and set off the blasts in restaurants at both hotels.

- WASHINGTON (AP) -- Unemployment topped 10 percent in 15 states and the District of Columbia last month, according to federal data released Friday. The rate in Michigan surpassed 15 percent, the first time any state hit that mark since 1984.
The Federal Reserve this week projected that the national unemployment rate, currently at a 26-year high of 9.5 percent, will pass 10 percent by the end of the year. Most Fed policymakers said it could take "five or six years" for the economy and the labor market to get back on a path of long-term health. To get there, consumers must return to a regular spending groove and housing prices need to start rising again. Home to America's struggling auto makers, Michigan has been clobbered by lost factory jobs. Its jobless rate of 15.2 percent in June was the highest in the U.S.

- NEW YORK (AP) -- Investors extended Wall Street's rally Monday on more upbeat earnings and reports that commercial lender CIT Group has a deal with key bondholders that will help it avoid bankruptcy. Major indexes rose about 0.5 percent in early trading Monday, and both the Dow Jones industrials and the Standard & Poor's 500 index briefly surpassed multimonth highs hit in mid-June. The CIT news helped stoke the market's newfound optimism that was fed last week by a string of good earnings news. The Dow and the S&P 500 are coming off their best weekly performance since the market's spring rally began in March.

- NEW YORK (AP) -- More plans to build homes, higher stock prices and fewer people filing first-time claims jobless aid sent a private-sector forecast of U.S. economic activity higher than expected in June. It was the third straight monthly increase for the New York-based Conference Board's index of leading economic indicators, and another sign pointing toward the recession ending later this year. The index rose 0.7 percent last month. Wall Street analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected a gain of 0.4 percent.

- In his final act at the home of cricket, Andrew Flintoff broke England's 75-year Lord's curse with his first five-wicket haul since the Ashes-clinching Oval Test of 2005. It was, unquestionably, a performance that will enhance his already mythical status within English cricket, but more pertinently for now, delivered England to a 1-0 series lead heading into Edgbaston. Victory was sealed 17 minutes before lunch when Graeme Swann, another major contributor on Monday, pegged back Mitchell Johnson's middle stump with the Australian total at 406. The wicket prompted scenes of jubilation not witnessed at Lord's in decades, and a collective furrowing of brows in the Australian dressing rooms as the series momentum shifted sharply in the hosts' favour.

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."