The Oracle Speaks !

The oracle of Omaha says things will be looking slightly more peachy for US investors from here on out. has the bottom really set in ?

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aeLirKvQi5jw&refer=worldwide

GM loses 3.3 billion , Citigroup to dump some stock

General Motors Corp.(GM) struggled to a $3.3 billion first-quarter loss, due in part to a weak U.S. market, a strike at a major parts supplier and plummeting sales of sport utility vehicles and pickups.

http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D90CBJ8O9&show_article=1

Citigroup Inc., (C)under pressure to bolster capital depleted by mounting losses, sold $4.5 billion of stock, 50 percent more than it planned.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aEdkikTTTWwA&refer=home

Time to trade in your SUV

Oil prices to double by 2012: Canadian study

http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=080424190433.04dy6kj4&show_article=1

We at internetplays agree, thats why we’re also bullish Oil Stocks long term

Make or break time for the markets

GOOG is un-stoppable - what we’re watching now

(GOOG) beat after hours yesterday and we’re waiting a giant gap up of course pre bell … It is our opinion that if you buy GOOG and forget about it , twenty years from now you’ll be a trillionaire. What we’re watching now: (SPWR) (ETFC) (OSTK)

Happy Trading

Wall Street May Face $460 Bln in Losses Says Goldman

Wall Street banks, brokerages and hedge funds may report $460 billion in credit losses from the collapse of the subprime mortgage market, or almost four times the amount already disclosed, according to Goldman Sachs Group Inc. Profits will continue to wane some other analysts said.“There is light at the end of the tunnel, but it is still rather dim,” Goldman analysts said in a note to investors today. They estimated that residential mortgage losses will account for half the total, and commercial mortgages as much as 20 percent.

Earnings and share prices at U.S. financial institutions tumbled in the past year as fallout from the mortgage crisis spread to other markets. Demand for mortgage-backed securities evaporated, leading to the collapse of Bear Stearns Cos., once that market’s largest underwriter, and a Federal Reserve-led bailout by JPMorgan Chase & Co. earlier this month.

Goldman’s own share-price estimate was cut 3.7 percent to $210 at Fox-Pitt Kelton Cochran Caronia Waller. The research firm also reduced its profit estimates for the world’s biggest securities firm for the rest of this year and all of 2009.

Merrill Lynch & Co. had its 2008 profit estimates cut by 45 percent at JPMorgan on concern the third-largest U.S. securities firm by market value may disclose further writedowns on subprime mortgages. Merrill may report a total of $5 billion in additional losses on collateralized debt obligations, so-called Alt-A mortgages and commercial mortgages, New York-based analyst Kenneth Worthington said.

Bank of America

Bank of America Corp., was downgraded to “sell” from “neutral” at Merrill Lynch. The company, based in Charlotte, North Carolina, also had its earnings-per-share estimate lowered to $3.30 from $3.50 in 2008 and to $4.00 from $4.40 in 2009, analysts including New York-based Edward Najarian wrote in a note to clients today.

Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc., the fourth-largest U.S. securities firm, had its share-price forecast cut 16 percent to $70 at Fox-Pitt. The brokerage’s 2008 and 2009 profit estimates were also reduced.

Goldman said the $460 billion in credit losses it foresees may “result in a substantial tightening of credit conditions as these institutions pull back on lending to preserve their reduced capital and to maintain statutory capital adequacy ratios.”

Credit-card loans, auto loans, commercial and industrial lending and non-financial corporate bonds make up the rest of the $460 billion in credit losses.

Goldman Sachs, which has lost 16 percent this year on the New York Stock Exchange, rose 75 cents to $179.73 in composite trading at 4:07 p.m. Merrill fell 52 cents to $47.85, Lehman declined $1.43 to $45.11 and Bank of America dropped $1.48 to $40.97.

Investment banks: borrowing from Fed

In a bid to stabilize the jittery markets, the Fed said on Sunday that it would allow investment banks to borrow from its discount window using a wide range of investment-grade securities for collateral. Markets were unstable after a run on the bank at Bear Stearns Cos Inc (BSC) forced the investment bank to sell itself to JPMorgan Chase & Co (JPM) at a fire-sale price.

The Fed has also cut the rate at which dealers borrow at the discount window to 2.5 percent from 3.5 percent, in two separate actions this week.

Goldman Sachs plans to test the program sometime this week, a spokesman said. Morgan Stanley Chief Financial Officer Colm Kelleher said his bank has already tested the program, and a spokeswoman for Lehman said the investment bank has also done so.

Erin Callan, CFO at Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc (LEH), said in a conference call on Tuesday that dealers can borrow from the discount window at attractive terms.

“We would expect that the dealer/brokerage community will actively begin to access the new program,” Callan said. The program is a statement of confidence to parties that trade with and finance Lehman Brothers, and will also allow Lehman to fund more business with clients, she added.

In August, when commercial paper markets were seizing up, the Fed cut the discount rate for commercial banks. Soon after that, the four largest U.S. banks and a major international bank borrowed more than $2 billion total at the discount window, to help remove the stigma of getting short-term financing from the central bank.

IP Call Du Jour : China Architectural

An easy 20% gain for InternetPlays traders today as we nailed China Architectural (RCH) today for a good day trade. You seriously need to hang out in our chat. Here is a copy of the PR from today:

China Architectural Engineering Announces New Projects Worth $50 Million in Dubai

Company Will Build Enclosures for Stations, Entranceways, Walkways, Bridges and Parking Lots on What Will Be the World’s Longest Fully Automated Transit Line …. full pr : http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/080318/20080318006445.html?.v=1

We bought it at 5.00 in the room and it looks like it may have more room to go - Happy trading!

Greenspan Speaks; Brace for impact

The current crisis rocking the markets and global economy could turn out to be the worst since World War II, former US Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan said in remarks published Monday.

“The current financial crisis in the US is likely to be judged in retrospect as the most wrenching since the end of the Second World War,” Greenspan said in a Financial Times commentary.

“It will end eventually when home prices stabilise and with them the value of equity in homes supporting troubled mortgage securities,” he said, referring to the meltdown in the US subprime home loan market and subsequent massive losses for the banks holding the debt instruments.

“The crisis will leave many casualties,” he said, his remarks coming after Bear Stearns, the fifth largest US investment house collapsed Friday and was taken over by JPMorgan Chase for a fraction of its value of only a week ago.

At the weekend, the Fed also announced a series of emergency measures intended to ease the credit crunch and calm nerves as investors fled to apparent safety in the euro and commodities such as oil and gold, which hit record highs again Monday as stockmarkets in Asia and Europe tumbled.

“Particularly hard hit will be much of today’s financial risk-valuation system, significant parts of which failed under stress,” said Greenspan, who some have criticised for contributing at least in part to the current crisis by being too lax on monetary policy whilst head of the Fed.

Greenspan recognised that changes would have to be made as a result of the crisis but he argued that they should not compromise the abiding principles of free competition.

“In the current crisis, as in past crises, we can learn much, and policy in the future will be informed by these lessons. But we cannot hope to anticipate the specifics of future crises with any degree of confidence,” he said.

“Thus it is important, indeed crucial, that any reforms in, and adjustments to, the structure of markets and regulation not inhibit our most reliable and effective safeguards against cumulative economic failure: market flexibility and open competition.”

Stocks Boom on Bank Booster

The Fed promised a $200 billion booster shot for ailing markets and Wall Street answered with its biggest bounce in more than five
Hoping to ease the credit crisis, the Fed — acting with the European Central Bank, the Bank of Canada and the Swiss National Bank — agreed to loan investment banks money in exchange for debt, including slumping mortgage-backed securities.

Investors certainly seemed to like it: The Dow rose 416.66, or 3.6 percent, to 12,156.81. It was the biggest point jump in the Dow since a 447-point rise on July 29, 2002, and its widest one-day percentage gain since March 2003.

The Dow had lost more than 500 points in the past three sessions and is still down about 2,000 points from its October 2007 record high.

It was the S&P’s biggest point gain since April 5, 2001, and the Nasdaq’s biggest since May 8, 2002.

The latest step by the central banks was seen as a direct lifeline to investment banks, which previously couldn’t borrow beyond already established Fed liquidity plans.

The plan basically allows Wall Street’s biggest institutions to put up troubled assets as collateral for loans, use the new capital to make money in the market, and then pay back the loan up to 28 days later.

Though eventually banks would be forced to take the troubled mortgage-backed debt back on their books, the plan still takes short-term pressure off them. Many of these banks will release first-quarter earnings reports next week.

The Fed may have avoided dramatically slashing interest rates again when it meets next week. Economists remain concerned about the unrelenting rise in oil prices and the dollar’s weakness, which contribute to inflation — and cutting rates only adds to those pressures.

Financial sector stocks, many of which have dipped to multiyear lows in recent days on liquidity concerns, led the market higher Tuesday.

Gold prices rose, while the dollar edged up against most other major currencies.

The only sector posting major losses Tuesday was health care, which has been strong in recent months. WellPoint Inc. fell after Goldman Sachs trimmed its ratings in the managed care sector to neutral from attractive. The investment bank singled out WellPoint’s performance amid pricing pressures. The stock plunged $18.66, or 28 percent, to $47.26.

Google Inc. shares spiked after European Union regulators cleared the Internet company’s $3.1 billion bid for online ad tracker DoubleClick. Shares of Google rose $26.22, or 6.3 percent, to $439.84.

The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies rose 29.84, or 4.63 percent, to 673.81.