Iran posts
FeedPosted Nov 30th 2009 4:00PM by Jon Ogg (RSS feed)
Filed under: Amazon.com (AMZN), Amer Intl Group (AIG), Las Vegas Sands (LVS)

Today's bits of economic activity hardly mattered in the grand scheme of the markets. Traders were watching more out of Dubai and the U.A.E. than they were watching what Federal Reserve districts had to say today. Iran also sent oil prices higher by detaining a British cruising race yacht and five Britons, and the added political fallout added to the gains in oil today. Stocks were weak for most of the day, but Dubai comments that $26 billion needed to be restructured (rather than $60 billion) helped in the final hour of the day.
Here were today's unofficial closing bell levels:
Dow 10,295.11 -14.81 (-0.14%)
S&P 500 1,095.63 +4.14 (0.38%)
Nasdaq 2,144.60 +6.16 (0.29%)
Top Day Trader AlertsTop Analyst CallsContinue reading Closing Bell: Dubai almost stole the day (AMZN, LVS, AIG, SOMX)
Posted Sep 29th 2009 5:00PM by Michael Fowlkes (RSS feed)
Filed under: International Markets, Forecasts, Consumer Experience, Middle East, Market Matters, Money and Finance Today, Oil, Israel, Recession, Financial Crisis

Oil prices
dropped a bit today, as investors weigh news that consumer confidence took a hit in September.
Today's move was not a sizable one, but further evidence that investors are concerned over just how strong the current economic recovery really is. News came out today that
consumer confidence is down in September as more Americans are concerned over the weak job market.
Continue reading Oil prices fall as consumer confidence drops
Posted Sep 24th 2009 10:30AM by Michael Fowlkes (RSS feed)
Filed under: International Markets, Good news, Industry, Competitive Strategy, Russia, Middle East, BP p.l.c. ADS (BP), Mexico, Oil, Israel

The oil industry has been working hard to find new oil reserves, and so far this year
the efforts have been paying off.
It has been a year with some major discoveries that have put the oil industry in a good position to make it the year with the highest level of new discoveries since 2000.
A big reason for the increase in discoveries is improvements in technology that has allowed oil hunters to drill deeper and break through tougher rocks than they were previously able to do.
Continue reading A good year for oil discoveries
Posted Jun 20th 2009 8:10AM by Sheldon Liber (RSS feed)
Filed under: International Markets, Rants and Raves, Middle East, Scandals, Politics, Headline News
It really matters little what the outside world thinks about the current conflict in Iran over the disputed re-election of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, or whether the people in Iran are crushed by the totalitarian form of government that has been adopted. This is not a matter of opinion. It is a matter of fact by definition. There is a supreme ruler and what he says goes.
Nothing is more important to the ruling elite than remaining in power -- not the economic well being of it's citizens, not the education of the rural population, not the personal freedoms of the man in the street, and certainly not the rights of Iranian women.
Continue reading Iran's ayatollah willing to sacrifice economy, education and personal freedoms
Posted Jun 16th 2009 2:40PM by Sheldon Liber (RSS feed)
Filed under: International Markets, Bad News, Rants and Raves, Middle East, Scandals, Politics, Headline News

The Iranian government
hand counted tens of millions of presidential election ballots in a couple of hours; less time than we count ours by computer --
an Ayatollahs' miracle for sure! These results indicated that
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was able to garner two-thirds of the vote. Given the Ayatollahs miracle, the public viewed this result as anything but.
Protesters expressing their extreme objection to the election results then created
a miracle of their own when up to one million marchers hit the streets forming a 5 to 6 mile parade of discontent, claims of fraud, and in some cases calling the government a dictatorship.
Meanwhile
Ahmadinejad who made references to disgruntled fans after a football game in slighting the protesters, hung around for a couple of days before appearing a day late for a conference in Moscow. He missed some of the key events but he did get a chance to mention how bad the US economy was doing, neglecting to mention that Iran's economy is showing signs of falling off a cliff. If he remains president that is a real possibility.
Meanwhile the pragmatist in me knows that the greatest miracle of all would be a recanting of the election results and the president stepping down. The Ayatollahs have asked for an investigation of the election results to appease the fuming population.
The results of this investigation being conducted by the same folks that created the fraud in the first place are easier to determine than any of my stock picks. Look for the results of the investigation to acknowledge that the vote count was off by some meaningless percentage, not affecting the outcome and leaving the results as they stand.
The Ayatollahs are all for democracy as long as they get to choose who wins. Perhaps in the future they will simply default to the patterns of authoritarian rulers before them -- massive election rhetoric, with only one candidate on the ballot.
Related stories:
Iran's great potential and its challenges!Iran will waste four more yearsSheldon Liber is the CEO of a small private investment company and the principal for design and research at an architecture & planning firm. He writes the columns Chasing Value and Serious Money.Posted Jun 15th 2009 6:47PM by Sheldon Liber (RSS feed)
Filed under: International Markets, Other Issues, Rants and Raves, Middle East, Scandals, Politics, Presidential Elections, Oil, Headline News

The landslide victory of current president
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and the announcement of same, only hours after the voting polls closed, even though paper ballots had to be hand counted, has cast serious doubts about the election results.
Last week I wrote of
Iran's great potential but today much of that potential has evaporated for the time being, and perhaps for another four years. The rulers of Iran have decided that the devil they know is better than the one they don't. Unfortunately, as far as politicians go, they may have gotten exactly that.
Continue reading Iran will waste four more years
Posted Jun 15th 2009 4:00PM by Jon Ogg (RSS feed)
Filed under: Yahoo! (YHOO), Wal-Mart (WMT), Bank of America (BAC), Amgen Inc (AMGN)

Today was a negative market from the start of trading, and the economic data just confirmed the selling, as hunting for green shoots looked more like hunting for four-leaf clovers. It seems that those analysts and economists saying that the market has risen too far and too fast are getting some more ears than in recent weeks.
The
housing data showed a dip after two months of rising data, and the New York Empire Manufacturing data
came in weaker than expected. Even the
Iran turmoil after the election failed to rally oil. Here were today's unofficial closing bell levels:
Dow 8,613.04 -186.22 (-2.12%)
S&P 500 923.81 -22.40 (-2.37%)
Nasdaq 1,816.38 -42.42 (-2.28%)
Top 10 Analyst CallsContinue reading Closing Bell: Rally reality check (AMGN, BAC, SVNT, WMT, YHOO)
Next Page >