While the race for Democratic nomination for president seems to be 67% wrapped up with Hillary Clinton getting the nomination, the Republican nomination is far from settled. According to Intrade.com, a betting site where you can bet on the outcome of the elections, Mike Huckabee has been gaining a lot of ground recently.

As a stock analyst, I can recognize a healthy, up-trending chart, and support for Huckabee has taken off in the last two months, from a 3% chance of the Republican nomination to a 12% chance of the nomination.

My colleague Brian White asked recently whether Google could ever be beaten at its own game. The answer is yes it can, but not easily. He also commented on its strong brand. I believe Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) can be dethroned if someone develops a better product with an appreciable difference, not just a little better. If that is done then the brand will be meaningless. Otherwise Google reigns supreme.

Branding is much less important in the virtual world than the real world. Google has the most recognized brand in the world (or close to it). Put Google on a bandage and see if it beats Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ). Put it on tax software and see if it beats Intuit Inc. (NASDAQ: INTU). I doubt whether the brand would work on shoes or shirts either unless there was the superior product to back it up. Otherwise the brand would be hurt.

It is about strength of product and the world it operates in. If a stronger competitor comes along the brand will mean no more than it did to every other search engine that Google beat out....which is all of them...combined!

Those of you who are new to BloggingStocks can check out my other stories and read Chasing Value or Serious Money to find more potential opportunities and verify my track record as well.

Sheldon Liber is the CEO of a small private investment company and the principal for design and research at an architecture & planning firm. He is on the advisory board of Internet start-up CircleBuilder.com.

The Dow gained 286 points to retake the ground lost Friday. Markets were still rattled about sub-prime and credit concerns, but there is hope going into the tomorrows Fed meeting that maybe the Fed will pay closer attention to the subject.

The NYSE had volume of 4.2 billion shares with 1,782 shares advancing while 1,551 declined for a gain of 183.14 points to close at 9,553.74. On the NASDAQ, 2.6 billion shares traded, 1,455 advanced and 1,626 declined for a gain of 36.08 to 2,547.33.

Fannie Mae (NYSE: FNM) jumped $5.87 (10%) to $62.50. CIT Group (NYSE: CIT) fell $2.30 (-6%) to $34.38. Intuit (NASDAQ: INTU) rose $2.16 (8%) to $30.26. Crocs, Inc. (NASDAQ: CROX) fell $3.49 (-6%) to $55.13. Countrywide Financial Corporation (NYSE: CFC) rose $1.75 (7%) to $26.75 as it reported access to $46 billion cash.

The most active calls were on the QQQQ's as investors are hopeful for a turnaround. PowerShares QQQ Trust ETF (NASDAQ: QQQQ) saw heavy volume on the August 48 calls (QQQHV) with over 82,687 options trading. The VIX set a new intraday high at 26.47. Likewise options were very active as investors worked to hedge risk in this market. CBOE S&P 500 Volatility Index (NASDAQ: $VIX) saw heavy volume on the August 25 calls (VIXHE) with over 45,877 options trading.

One of the most active sectors recently has been the financial area, with sub-prime concerns. Financial Sector SPDR ETF (NYSE: XLF) saw heavy volume on the September 35 calls (XLFII) with over 44,080 options trading. A couple of individual stocks that made are most active list include Cisco Systems (NASDAQ: CSCO) moved volume on the August 30 calls (CYQHF) with over 27,000 options trading. El Paso (NYSE: EP) saw heavy volume on the September 16 puts (EPUQ) with over 34,000 options trading. In options there were 7.7 million puts and 6.7 million calls traded for a put/call open interest ratio of 1.15
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Kevin Kersten is an Options Analyst with InvestorsObserver.com. Disclosure note: Mr. Kersten owns and/or controls a diversified portfolio of long and short positions that may include holdings in companies he writes about.

It occurred to me recently that we probably have entered a new age of ubiquitous piracy. A world that sneaked up on us quite unobtrusively, little by little permeating everything, and until recently, we did not realize we had been hijacked. There must be exponentially more pirates operating today, both in overall quantity and as a percentage of the world population, than there has ever been at any time in history.

Last week Alan Abelson wrote in his Up and Down Wall Street column (Barron's, subscription required) that 80% of the software sold in China was pirated. No kidding - and he quipped that software companies should be happy because that meant they were paying for the other 20%. Oh boy! - this is sure to please Adobe Systems (NASDAQ: ADBE), Intuit Inc (NASDAQ: INTU), and Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ: MSFT). The billions of dollars lost to piracy in one year is certainly more than all the doubloons ever high-jacked on the highs seas.

Software is not the only thing being pirated, everything is being pirated. One could make the argument that in China, and even worldwide pirated goods would easily make up the largest business ever known if it was a single enterprise.