Throttle Linkage

I stayed up too late working last night and watching the Oscars so I am a bit tired. A recap and then some links from today's reads are on tap.

Market Operations
Using the PPT and the screening tools provided there, I came across some good looking items last night and I figure why not take them for a run? I usually do not like to have more than 3 open positions at a time, but I liked all these stocks for various reasons.

In the trading account I have:
HSY
DAN
And last night I added:
COCO
BUD
MFB (yes the bra maker!)
AIXG
Full disclosure: I may be responsible for 10% of BUD sales!

I still hold a little OMEX from years ago as well.

It is the first day of the month tomorrow so that usually means a huge up day for stocks.

Throttle Linkage
Some reading material.

Got Nickels?
It was a double blast of nickel mania today!

Kid Dynamite explains some of the logistics behind an arbitrage play on the US nickel, which has monetary value of 5 cents, but a metal content value of 7 cents!:
If I Had a Nickel...

Over at Credit Bubble Stocks we are hit again with a bag of nickels:
Silverbugs, Why Don't You Buy Nickels Instead? (SLV)

Now any serious metal watcher has known about this relationship for a long time. Instead of looking at it through the lens of grabbing a ton of nickels, why not talk about how the debasement of money and the vast credit/debt bubble results is such a silly thing as a nickel being worth 7 cents. I will stick with pre-1965 dimes and quarters myself:

90% silver.

Hot New Venture Fund
Josh Brown was working all weekend so don't miss this great post:
Top 10 Names for JPMorgan’s Venture Fund
JP Morgan is starting a new venture fund aimed at hot new social media names. Perfect timing. Josh suggests some names for the new fund. Click over for the list but an instant classic was born:
Chasebook
That's funny I don't care who you are.

Advertising I May Actually Look At
One of my biggest issues with Facebook/Twitter/whatever is that I do not even see ads online because I block them out. I bet you do too. Here is a new way of advertising that may catch my interest though (via Geekologie):

Sure to get "eyeballs" but will it translate to sales? Sorry, could not help it!

Have a good night.

Best of the Web Tuesday July 27, 2010

Day Two went a bit better, no real drama with the kitchen! It seems impossible that the room will ever be back together, but I guess everyone feels that way.

Looking to Open Positions
I have done a bit of homework using my proprietary trading system (my mind) and I think I will be opening up some positions in the following as I have not made any trades this year so far:
-Hormel (HRL)
-McDonald's (MCD)
-Budweiser/Inbev (BUD)

All three are showing clear ability to still get people's money for their products and the charts are favorable as well for the medium/long term trade (3 month-9 months). I will update with stops, buy prices and the rest of it if I can get it done.

Best of the Web Tuesday July 27, 2010
Today's must read comes from Housing Wire's Paul Jackson who pens:
The New Math Surrounding HAMP Doesn't Add Up
You will have to read this to believe it but here is the set up:

At HW, we chose not to run with the HAMP redefault numbers except to note that Treasury officials had added them into the latest report card. And this choice was made with purpose: we knew these numbers were fake. Nobody gets a 1.7% redefault rate 6 months after modification –- not even Uncle Sam — and any media outlet reporting that number with a straight face quite simply doesn't understand the industry it's covering.

The only way to come up with a 1.7% redefault rate is to change how redefaults are calculated. And that, dear readers, is precisely what our government did.

This should be a scandal and called out, but I don't think it will even make the Sunday paper. Hat's off to Housing Wire for the catch.

Have a good night.