It's only a stopgap measure, everyone knows. It's a temporary reprieve for XP. Just the same, netbooks are allowing XP, the operating system Microsoft tore from its loyal public last year, to make a comeback.

Last year I tried to get a new computer but was so badly abused by Vista I took it back and reformatted my old computer so I could avoid the demanding operating system.

Continue reading The return of Windows XP

The return of Windows XP originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Sun, 21 Jun 2009 13:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

I almost was one of the people that put money back in the market at the end of the year. It's a new year, Obama is coming in, things will improve, I figured. But I held back. I don't like to make market decisions based solely on gut. And even then, my gut is of two minds and one of them says this recession is going to be the worst of my lifetime.

Some stats do point to an up year this year. We've been hearing a lot this week how the market goes up a lot after a fall. My friends at the always smart Stock Traders' Almanac use a measure of the first five trading days of the year. It was on this measure that I -- thankfully -- pulled back last January. If the first five days are up, the year will be generally be up, they've found. Sy Hirsch invented this measure as an improvement on his other early indicator, which says however January goes, so goes the market for the year.

For the last 36 times that the market has been up for those first five trading days in January, the market has been up for the whole year, they say. And they judge the indicator to have a 86% accuracy ratio. This year it's a little confusing: the Dow was down a little, the S&P was up a little (both under 1%) and the Nasdaq was up 2.5%. By that measure the rally that started in December will continue.

Continue reading What are the signals for the market in 2009?

What are the signals for the market in 2009? originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Sun, 11 Jan 2009 08:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

This post is part of our feature on Money Winners of 2008. See all 20.

Whatever you do, don't tell my mom about John Webber. He's an English guy who had hung onto a cup that his junk dealer grandfather bought in the 1930s. One day he took it out from under the bed and decided to get it examined. It turns out to be made of gold, about 1,700 years old, and decorated with the face of a Roman god. He got $100,000 at auction.

The reason I don't want you to tell my mom about this guy is that this is exactly the scenario she thinks will happen with every mug she has ever bought at a garage sale, each "collectible" she keeps stashed in cabinets and even the old eight-track player that she cannot be persuaded is worthless. It's stories like Webber's that keep houses full of junk.

Also, Webber is now in his 70s. I don't know what his family or financial situation is. I'm sure he could use $100,000. Who couldn't? But I'm also pretty sure that the money would've made a bigger difference in his life if he had examined the cup when he was saving for a house, sending a kid to school, or starting a business.

Be sure to check out more Money Winners of 2008.

Money winners of 2008: John Webber and the gold cup under the bed originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 16 Dec 2008 15:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

This post is part of our feature on Money Winners of 2008. See all 20.

Bill Ackman, who manages the hedge fund Pershing Capital, was one of the first major investors to realize what poor shape Fannie Mae (NYSE: FNM) and Freddie Mac (NYSE: FRE) were in. He warned that the apparent back-up of the federal government wasn't going to do investors much good unless the company fell apart and had to be bailed out.

"It doesn't matter what the rating agencies say about their capitalization," Ackman told CNBC. "Implicit guarantees don't work in the market that we're in now." And he turned out to be right, of course. Ackman was shorting the debt of Fannie and Freddie.

While Ackman has had to take some heat from investors who blame him for profiting off Fannie and Freddie's collapse, some critics say he was a bloodsucker, others point to his keen analysis as the reason we should allow short selling: it's the only way to offer an incentive to investors not to believe the hype.

Continue reading Money winners of 2008: Bill Ackman knew Fannie and Freddie were in trouble

Money winners of 2008: Bill Ackman knew Fannie and Freddie were in trouble originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 15 Dec 2008 18:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

This post is part of our feature on Money Winners of 2008. See all 20.

Lots of people thought real estate was overpriced. Many worried that banks were giving out mortgages too cheap. But what did you do about it? (Either to help the situation or to make money.) Jeff Greene, a real estate mogul in California, actually found a way to bet against the subprime mortgage folly. He made $450 million -- at least that was the count earlier this year.

Well, he didn't just think of it on his own. He basically took the idea that his friend, hedge fund manager John Paulson, had. Paulson thought that, as an individual, Greene wouldn't be able to do this complex a transaction. According to the Wall Street Journal he even used special software so investors in a hedge fund Paulson created just to exploit the subprime crisis couldn't pass on his strategy.

How Greene and Paulson made money involves two financial terms you've probably had to learn this year and never want to hear again. Collateralized debt obligations (CDOs) are the way mortgages are packaged and sold to investors in various slices of risk. Credit default swaps are the holders of those investments insured themselves -- by buying what was like unregulated insurance from one another. The credit default swaps are what got so many big companies in trouble -- they had to pay up on investments that went bad. So Paulson shorted CDOs and bought some credit default swaps.

Continue reading Money winners of 2008: Jeff Greene shorted subprime

Money winners of 2008: Jeff Greene shorted subprime originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 15 Dec 2008 12:42:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Next stop for the Dow: Back to 1997 levels? originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 20 Nov 2008 11:26:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

This post is part of a feature on companies and products that our bloggers think are in need of a makeover. See all 26.

McDonald's has been hit by one serious critique after another of food safety and nutrition. The company has gone from being a family chain to something only those desperate to save time or money want. There have been half-hearted efforts to modernize, but what McDonald's really needs is a complete menu makeover.

I'm not talking about changing away from hamburgers in all their infinite variety, either. But over the last couple decades the eating public has gotten a lot more picky and worried about getting fat or sick from mad cow disease or some contaminant.

There have been many serious critiques of their impact on worldwide nutrition. Eric Schlosser described in Fast Food Nation how mega-producer McDonald's uses butchering assembly lines. In an era of food safety concern, "a single fast-food hamburger now contains meat from dozens or even hundreds of different cattle." Morgan Spurlock examined in the movie Supersize Me and a related book what happens when an individual -- or a whole country -- eats too much McDonald's.

Of course, McDonald's is facing pressure from the other side, too. We want cheap food. Especially in a recession, people love the dollar menu. But McDonald's has just got to improve the food.

Continue reading Makeover needed: McDonald's

Makeover needed: McDonald's originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Sat, 25 Oct 2008 13:10:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

This post is part of a feature on companies and products that our bloggers think are in need of a makeover. See all 26.

When Kmart bought Sears to become Sears Holdings Corp (NASDAQ: SHLD) it seemed like a perfect match. Here were two retail titans of the 1970s who had completely missed the boat of modern big box retailers. Instead of trying to sell dowdy clothes, Sears could have concentrated on hardware and become Home Depot (NYSE: HD). Instead of selling dowdy everything with surly service, Kmart could have become Wal-Mart (NYSE: WMT).

Now what both stores need is a makeover. They need to become that bright, wide-aisle store that people love to shop at because they find neat things they didn't know they needed. Heck, if the Kmart in my neighborhood could just manage to keep its shelves stocked and not hire the surly, it would be a step up.

Both Kmart and Sears know they have trouble, but it just may be too late to make the changes. Kmart already went through bankruptcy and closed about 300 stores. They even came up with a bright, open store prototype with wide, well-lit aisles. But then they couldn't afford to really roll it out, says Shopping Centers Today. And many think they didn't close enough bad stores.

Continue reading Makeover needed: Kmart and Sears

Makeover needed: Kmart and Sears originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 23 Oct 2008 14:10:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Another record for ETF volume during the market volatility: Coincidence? originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 17 Oct 2008 09:58:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Apple down more than market on mainly economic fears originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 01 Oct 2008 17:50:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

I sold on Friday: It was just luck originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 30 Sep 2008 11:50:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

This post is part of our Ads Gone Bad series. Share your thoughts and memories of this ad in the comments, and be sure to check out our other posts on marketing gone wrong.

Verizon made an ad this summer showing a guy scaling a junkyard fence to get his hands on an LG Dare phone, only to run into two junkyard dogs -- chained and snarling pit bulls. Pit bull lovers didn't like the casual depiction of animal neglect and cruelty. Animal rights groups have been working for a long time to stop people from chaining up dogs in their yard, abusing them and generally using them as a street weapon.

Verizon at first insisted that it would keep running the ad. Then concerned dog owners got the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals involved. PETA first tried to talk with Verizon and explain why the ad annoyed people: the dogs in the commercial had ears docked in a "fight crop" and pit bulls are the most abused breed of dogs.

Verizon refused to meet to discuss the situation, PETA says. So they put out an action alert. After Verizon got 7,000 e-mails from angry animal lovers, they took down the ad.

See other examples of Ads Gone Bad.

Ads Gone Bad: Dog lovers not so fond of Verizon ad originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 08 Sep 2008 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

This post is part of our Ads Gone Bad series. Share your thoughts and memories of this ad in the comments, and be sure to check out our other posts on marketing gone wrong.

Mars Inc., has made not just one, but two ad campaigns for its popular Snickers bar seem to sneer at gays. Mars, one of the biggest privately held, family-owned companies, makes many of the world's most popular candies: Snickers, M&Ms, Twix, Starburst (along with Uncle Ben's Rice and pet food like Whiskas), but both of the ads gay rights groups found offensive were for the Snickers bar.

The first gay-themed Snickers ad made a big splash in Super Bowl XLI in 2007. Two mechanics get so wrapped up in eating the opposite ends of Snickers bar that their lips touch, prompting them to decide to "do something manly" lest they accidentally catch gayness -- so they pull their chest hair out.

Continue reading Ads Gone Bad: Snickers tries to make people snigger at gays

Ads Gone Bad: Snickers tries to make people snigger at gays originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 05 Sep 2008 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading Is BT's offer to save Britain's red phone boxes for £500 fair?

Is BT's offer to save Britain's red phone boxes for £500 fair? originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 04 Sep 2008 13:05:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Alternative Energy Holdings looks worse suing for defamation originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Sun, 31 Aug 2008 14:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

This post is one in a series on prominent company nicknames. See all 25, and share your thoughts and memories about Big Brown below in the comments.

The simplicity of a brand name or symbol confers status on a company. Decades ago, the symbol might literally have been a stock symbol: the oldest companies got one letter ticker symbols from the New York Stock Exchange. United Parcel Service (NYSE: UPS) now gets that status by taking an entire color: brown. (Granted, it's not a primary color like IBM's Big Blue, but it still shows the company's clout.)

The company first started using its trademark brown trucks in the 1920s when it delivered appliances and other goods for department stores, says Mike Brewster, author of Driving Change: The UPS Approach to Business. Pullman brown was a good choice because "their department store clients wanted the company to be more under-stated, because the stores didn't want the fact that they no longer had their own trucks highlighted." That, and the dark trucks were easier to keep looking clean.

Brown is much more than a truck color now. It's the uniform. It's the logo. It's what the company calls itself in commercials. UPS employees bragging about their loyalty will say they "bleed brown." This year the company sponsored a horse named Big Brown, which won two-thirds of the Triple Crown.

But, hard as it is to believe now, UPS almost gave up its trademark color. "The company almost changed the color in the '90s during one of several re-brandings, but decided to stick with brown, much to the disappointment of many in the company," says Brewster. "But the 'What can Brown do for You?' campaign has given the color new life at the company."

Company nicknames: UPS: Big Brown, much more than a truck color originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 11 Aug 2008 15:50:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

This post is one in a series on prominent company nicknames. See all 25, and share your thoughts and memories about the $100 store below in the comments.

You know you do it. You walked into Costco (NASDAQ: COST) to save some money on one thing -- just one little thing. In our minds, we do all sorts of calculations. We see ourselves saving money instead of what we're actually doing, spending money. An hour later we walk out loaded down with bulk bargains -- and $100 lighter. That's where Costco gets its increasingly popular nickname: The $100 Store.

Bloggers and consumers have been using the unflattering "$100 store" nickname for a while. And, it turns out they are right. A recent Christian Science Monitor story cites a statistic from the Food Institute: the average visit to a warehouse club costs $93.

The $100 spending phenomena may be a universal phenomena in any of the big-box discounters. But one Harvard professor thinks the membership fees at Costco (and other warehouse clubs) make us think we're getting a better deal than we are. Michael I. Norton, an assistant professor in the Marketing unit at Harvard Business School, says that the presence of fees make people think they're getting a special discount and then they spend more.

"The presence of fees can drive choice of retail outlets, such that stores with membership fees are more popular even when they offer the same goods at the same prices as stores without fees," Norton writes in his working paper. Maybe that idea of paying to shop somewhere was crazy after all.

Company nicknames: Costco really is the '$100 store' originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Sat, 09 Aug 2008 09:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading High-dividend yield in a down market

High-dividend yield in a down market originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 07 Aug 2008 14:27:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Freddie Mac (NYSE: FRE) announced today that it lost $821 million this quarter and cut its quarterly dividend from 25 cents a share to five cents a share, pending board approval. And it's paying the full dividend on preferred stock.

My question is why is this company paying ANY dividend? I know that dividends aren't necessarily just from profits like you might think. But this company lost $1.63 a share, so why is it giving shareholders even a nickel?

We all know this company may be nationalized eventually, however remote that possibility is under the current administration. We all know that taxpayers are on the hook for up to $25 billion or more for the bailout of Fannie and Freddie. And we know the Treasury can now buy shares in Fannie and Freddie to prop them up. But now it's appealing to shareholders' sense of value by keeping a dividend?

Continue reading Why is Freddie paying any dividend at all?

Why is Freddie paying any dividend at all? originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 06 Aug 2008 11:55:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading SEC's lame short-selling move means bank stocks will be overvalued

SEC's lame short-selling move means bank stocks will be overvalued originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 16 Jul 2008 17:06:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.