Mid-Tier Restaurants Struggling: Short CAKE
Ask any successful retail shop owner about the three most important factors for their success and you’re likely to get the answer: location, location, location. You never see a Starbucks stationed on a lonely stretch of country road. Instead Howard Schultz built his company near busy intersections...
CAKE is TOAST
The economy is still facing great pressures. There is no quick fix. The Obama honeymoon period, or Santa Claus rally – whatever you want to call the markets short-lived recovery into early January, is officially over. The slope of hope is now replaced by grim reality. Seeking to take advantage...
Auto Parts Stores Thrive: ORLY
Optional Home Improvement – Mandatory Car Maintenance It’s one thing to volunteer for a series of home improvement projects, but it’s quite another to be forced into it. What if those projects didn’t involve your home but involved something almost as important: your car? What...
O’Reilly Auto (ORLY) On Video
We’re back with another shot at making a decent video and highlighting a stock that looks like a good bet. Now please understand, the quality of our video shoots leave room for improvement, not to mention the quality of the host and his abilities behind the camera! :) That said, we think...
Re-Booting America: Part II and a Merry Christmas
Even more shocking events have transpired since I first suggested re-booting our country. As the Federal Reserve, Treasury, and White House race to “save” America, corporations of all shapes and sizes have been brought to their knees. So have many families. People around the globe are being...
Consumer Spending Bad for Real Estate: SRS
Everything is interconnected in our economy. For instance, when banks can’t loan money, that affects the growth of technology firms. Many tech firms depend on bank financing to fund their operations. It’s one of the reasons rescuing banks has been such an important issue this year. But this...
As The Economy Stagnates – Short Zale (ZLC)
The market has fallen from great heights since last October. The S&P 500 was trading over 1500 and the Dow broke above 14,000 heading towards 15,000 points. And then it happened. The deluge of bad news started last summer. Despite heroic governmental attempts to stabilize the market, it fell. Rally...
Consumer Staples Still Win In This Economy (XLP)
Maybe an Obama election wasn’t such a good thing for the market. Today, the Dow closed down -486 points and the S&P 500 followed suit by dropping -5.3%. True, one day does not make a market. But when that day happens to follow the biggest election turnout in a generation, it tends to suggest more...
Crisis of Confidence Hits Consumers
Been shopping lately? If so, you probably didn’t spend much. For several weeks, retailers have been saying anecdotally what was confirmed today by real data: consumers are cutting back – way back. The Conference Board’s U.S. Consumer Confidence Index fell this month to its lowest level...
Re-Booting America
We are undergoing a significant change in America. Political and market forces are dramatically altering the psychology of each and every one of us. I am especially bullish for the long term as I think the moral and ethical fabric of society has been exposed, and we don’t like what we see. Investors...
