Normal tech support phone call: "Press 1 for help with e-mail. Press 2 to have your password reset."

Madoff tech support phone call: "Hello, how can I help you dummy up some trading records today?"

The investigation of Bernie Madoff's fraudulent financial empire is leading to more arrests. Jerome O'Hara and George Perez, both computer programmers employed by the Ponzi schemer, were arrested by the FBI on Friday morning. The charges include conspiracy for falsifying books and records. They are accused of doing the deed for the boss and accepting hush money -- in the form of 25% raises and net bonuses of $60,000 -- to keep the scam afloat.

Back in August, I discussed my amazement at Abercrombie & Fitch (ANF). The stock just didn't seem to be acting in a manner which reflected the fundamentals of the business it represents. Well, my bout of amazement continues, because shares of the retailer are up 9% as of this writing on the latest earnings report. One that didn't impress me.

For the third quarter, Abercrombie made, on a reported basis, 44 cents per diluted share compared to 72 cents per diluted share in the year-ago period. After adjustments, earnings came in at 30 cents per share. Okay, that profit drop is bad enough, but wait till I get to the really bad stuff. Which would be revenues. Total sales declined 15%, but same-store sales were even worse: they plunged off the proverbial cliff, falling 22%.

What's one good short-hand for investors concerning whether the current, very-young U.S. economic recovery can last?

Keep an eye on the price of gasoline. And that's not too hard to do, for most Americans, given the abundance of gas stations in most areas. If you're far from one, you can get a snapshot of prices regionally, by visiting gasbuddy.com.

There's always good news, if you're willing to look hard for it. So, even though consumer sentiment dropped as unemployment rose, you can find the seeds of economic recovery in some of the U.S. import and export data reported recently.

Consumer sentiment fell early this month, largely because of the grim outlook for the job market. Consumers don't see a recovery coming anytime soon, with economists saying that unemployment has yet to peak despite having hit 10.2% already. Hopes edged higher in September when imports were seen to be on the rise, but sentiment starts and ends with jobs.

Now that Warren Buffett likes the railroads, maybe you should consider shares in one, too, and that's one reason I'm reiterating my Buy rating for eastern U.S. railroad CSX Corporation (CSX), first recommended on May 1, 2009 at a price of $30.56. If you bought CSX in May, you're up about 56%.

Since the May Buy rating, institutional investors (IIs) have been incrementally adding to their CSX positions, on the company's likely 5-7% increase in revenue for FY2010. Volumes should increase and overall prices should firm, albeit with some softness in selected price categories.

It's still a tough time to be a CEO. In October, 89 top dogs moved on (by choice or not). Though this is 15% lower than the 105 in September and 29% off the whopping 125 CEOs who turned over a year earlier, it's still a sign that "stability" doesn't equal "recovery."

The latest study that Challenger, Gray & Christmas revealed to BloggingStocks reports that October was the eighth month this year in which CEO turnover was down year-over-year. Through the end of last month, 1,028 CEO positions changed hands -- down 18% from the 1,257 by the same point in 2008. In fact, the tally for the first 10 months of 2009 is the lowest since 2004, when the big office found only 561 new inhabitants.

The financial industry remains the toughest place for CEOs, with 19 leaving the job last month. Even though the situation has gotten easier, this industry still has the highest turnover. For the year, approximately 10% of all CEO departures (106) have been in the financial sector. "The financial industry is still incredibly volatile, as both October and September saw major announcements from leading companies including JP Morgan Chase (JPM), Bank of America (BAC) and last month's bankruptcy of CIT Group, which led to the exit of CEO Jeffrey Peek," John A. Challenger, chief executive officer of Challenger, Gray & Christmas, says.

One preferred investment sector here is the electric power generation sector, with particular emphasis on growth states, including Florida, which is why I'm I'm reiterating my buy rating for Teco Energy (TE), first recommended on August 4, 2009 at a price of $13.53.

Teco Energy is a holding company for several energy plays, including Tampa Electric, and Peoples Gas System.

This was one of those low-volume trading days where more stocks were up than down with the big explanation being "fewer sellers than buyers." Commodity import prices, the trade deficit, and a weak University of Michigan confidence reading failed to keep a rally from dying. Hell, even Friday the 13th didn't matter.

Here were today's unofficial closing bell numbers:



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Europe, font of western civilization, is growing again. The euro-zone officially entered a recovery with GDP in the 16-nation zone increasing 0.4% in Q3 compared to the previous quarter, Eurostat, the European Union's official statistics agency, announced Friday. Europe's economy had contracted for the five previous quarters.

Meanwhile, growth in the 27-nation E.U. (EU27), which includes nations that aren't members of the euro monetary system, increased 0.2% in Q3.

"New Oriental Education (NYSE: EDU), which offers English language instruction to Chinese students, recently fell sharply after disappointing the Wall Street crowd," says Tony Sagami.

In his The Asia Stock Alert. the China stock specialist suggests, "This pullback is creating a buying opportunity. Indeed, this is your big chance to buy it on sale.

"Digging deeper, EDU's numbers contain both bad and good news. Among the good news, EDU earned $1.57 per share of profits last quarter, which is exactly what the consensus forecast was and 27% more than the same period last year.

This winter, a bit more of New York is headed to Florida. Layoffs for 2010 have already been announced for the New York Times Company(NYT). The New York Times News Service will lose 25 editorial positions next year and shift the service's editing to one of the parent company's Florida newspapers. At present, the news service has 30 editorial jobs. Some of the layoffs will occur in February, and the others will happen in May.

These layoffs are not included in the planned slashing of 100 jobs in the flagship newspaper's newsroom -- a workforce reduction of 8% that should take hold by the end of the year. The NY Times is also ceasing pension contributions for nonunion employees.

The teen market can be extremely difficult and competitive, especially with the fickle changes in tastes. But, rue21 has been able to beat the odds and as a result, has become a strong growth company.

To continue the momentum, rue21 launched its IPO today. The company issued 6.77 million shares at $19 each (the price range was $16 to $18). The lead underwriters included BofA Merrill Lynch (BAC), Goldman Sachs (GS) and J.P.Morgan (JPM).

Interestingly enough, rue21 has a spotty past. Keep in mind that in 2002 the company filed for bankruptcy. However, a new management team has certainly made the right moves to get things back on track.

McAfee' Inc.'s (MFE) shares have meandered since the July 5, 2009 Buy recommendation at a price of $40.82, Hence, I'm placing a hold on the company's shares. Here's why:

The company reported Q3 EPS of 62 cents, which beat the First Call Q3 EPS estimate of 61 cents, but of course Wall Street was not satisfied, and sold the stock. It seems with most companies it takes a 10% or better quarterly 'earnings beat' to keep institutional investors satisfied these days.

There is legislation in both the House and Senate aimed at breaking up large banks that are deemed: "Too big to fail."

Against this backdrop, Jamie Dimon of JPMorgan Chase (JPM) said "If some unforeseen circumstance should put this firm at risk of collapse, we should be allowed to fail."

Dimon went on to say writing in Friday's Washington Post: "The term 'too big to fail' must be excised from our vocabulary." Dimon also argued against limiting banks' size saying that increased scale can benefit customers.

"Being socially responsible means different things to different people; however, in the mutual-fund world, it refers to funds that combine progressive 'social' mandates with investment criteria," explains fund expert Mark Salzinger.

In The No-Load Fund Investor, he suggests, "We have no problem with the concept of socially responsible funds for an investor who wants his investments to reflect his values, provided that the funds have also provided good risk-adjusted returns." Here, he looks at two favorites.

"Funds that call themselves socially responsible usually avoid stocks that don't meet progressive, or politically liberal, standards of environment impact, workplace environment, and diversity/tolerance and community involvement.