Stock Picks-Is GM Chairman losing it?

A Directory Of A Business For A Business By A Business

Mumbai, India September 27, 2006. Here finally a business directory with a businessman's needs in mind. Businessmen can do with less clutter and a little more ease. Keeping this in mind, makes the tedious task of searching for appropriate results an absolutely easy task.

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Listed on the Bombay Stock Exchange, with a market capitalization of over Rupees 100 million, Netlink Solutions (India) Limited has synergetic divisions. The divisions namely, Gifts & Accessories Magazine with and Aditya Infotech, and along with form an enviable combination of information providing entities.

The need of information in today's world spurs easy2source.com's energies. Armed with an arsenal of formidable techniques to make information available at the fingertips of an information seeker, makes an invitation that cannot be turned down to a systematic collection of information. Here finally with every click kept in mind, a directory of a business, for a business, by a business.

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Leslie Gregory Fernandes works at Netlink Solutions (India) Limited as a Web Content Writer.

To Trade or Invest

The stodgy old world of stock market investing used to take place in the hallowed halls of dusty investment houses where buying stocks was viewed as a long term deal. You bought company stocks and held onto them for decades slowly earning dividends and appreciating value.

Then came the 1980s and the exploding stock market and the introduction of traders. With the introduction of personal computers in the 1990s, anyone could suddenly become a trader and the numbers of people directly investing in the stock market blossomed. Now, with cable TV replacing the quiet expertise of patrician stoke brokers like Louis Rukeyser with manic hedge fund traders like Jim Cramer you could be forgiven for thinking that long term investment went out the window and short term money making was in.

So what is the difference between 'investing" and "trading"?

Essentially, time is the difference. The terms investing and trading are used almost interchangeably these days although there are subtle differences. Investing is where the shareholder intends to hold a stock for a long period of time; trading is where the buyer intends to flip the stock after a very short period of time.

While the goal is the same – maximizing profits from a stock buy — trading has received a bad rap from the mainstream media and some view trading as a form of immoral addiction.

In reality, all stock investing is trading. Unless the investor is buying a stock in an Initial Public Offering, nothing of a stock purchase goes into the company, so it is hard to call that investing. Therefore, not to get all semantic here, but all stock purchases are trades -- only with a longer time horizon for selling

The investor, as oppose to the trader is not supposed to be swayed by the micro fluctuations of the market. Many investors claim that it is very easy to lose everything in mindless speculative trading. On the other hand, plenty of investors lost large sums of money in the stock market when it went south in the 2000 tech bust.

There is another distinction between trading and investing, although this has to do with the way in which invested capital is expected to produce a return. In trading, the appreciation of capital is the objective. You buy a stock at 10 dollars and sell at 15 and produce a capital gain. If dividends or interest are paid out then that's an added bonus but that is not the objective.

Investing, by its nature, looks at consistent income as a major component of the strategy. Dividends and bond interest payments are a significant part of the investment return. Capital appreciation only arrives at the end of the investment time frame when the investment is sold.

The distinction between investing and trading may become irrelevant as savvy investors realize that a mix of long and short term investment is key to maximizing profits. Investors may hold onto a stock for either five days or five years. The bottom line is what matters now. At both extremes there are those that claim their way is the best way. We have all heard the stories of day traders making four and five hundred dollars a day for a couple hours of work. We also hear of people who lose their initial two thousand dollar investment in less than a week. Like anything there is a skill involved and an expensive learning curve. On the other end of the scale we can look at a Warren Buffet and see that sober and long term strategies can turn into millions. Yet there are others that stick with their investment for the long haul, through thick and thin, and can slowly ride a deflating market down to the bottom.

Following one strategy over the other because of a philosophical belief, bereft of evidence, and believing that one strategy is superior to another is one way to lose money and miss profits.

One way to avoid this is to follow this philosophy. Only own a stock when it is rising and sell it if it is going down. In a volatile market, that would look like day trading but in a bull market you'll look like Warren Buffet. It is a simple concept. You have to factor in costs of trading and capital gains taxes, but you should be doing that anyway.

People will say that this philosophy creates volatile markets, pumps up stocks and unnaturally inflates the market. So? It is what is happening anyway so why not get in on the action and maximize your investments and profits. The new gurus of Wall Street are suggesting this philosophy with the daily updates and 'lightening rounds" so why not accept that investing has moved on from the starched collars and pin stripped suits of yesteryear into a brave new world of invest and trade.

Jay Northco

Jay Northco is the editor of a website dedicated to examining the skills of Wall Street Guru Jim Cramer while pitting Cramer's skills against a stock picking internet monkey named Leonard.

Writing Covered Calls

Covered Calls

Options are most commonly used by investors for either leverage and / or insurance (hedging). As leverage, options allow the investor to control an equity position without paying 100% of the share price. For example, rather than going on the open market and purchasing 100 shares of IBM for $8,257 ($82.57 per share), an investor could control the same amount of shares at a given strike price for a fraction of the cost such as the Jan 07 $80 strike with a total cost of $1,050. As insurance / hedge, options can assist in protecting against price fluctuations. For example, the same IBM investor can sell a call against his shares which will reduce the basis in the equity position by the premium received. In other words, he has hedged his position against any short term fluctuations his equity position may experience.

Writing covered call options provide many benefits with the major reason being collecting premium from the sale of such an option. The premium collected goes into your account and can then be used to invest in other positions. The writer keeps the premium regardless of whether or not the option is exercised. Another important aspect with selling options is that of time value which now works for you rather than against you.

Covered Calls are not new and it isn't as complicated as many make it out to be. It is a viable means of generating consistent income from your portfolio. If you are not writing options against your positions you are losing out on money you could be putting in your pocket each and every month. Keep in mind writing covered calls are not get rich quick strategies. They are a means of generating income for the individual investor regardless of their trading expertise.

Covered Calls are not a get rich quick strategy and often misunderstood but when used correctly can assist investors in generating monthly income as well as providing downside protection. The site I mainly utilize for Covered Calls trading is Tony Lassito is a full time options trader with years of experience. You can learn more about the strategies he uses at the following Covered Calls site. How To Write Covered Calls

Investing in the Stock Market for the Individual Investor

Over the past few years the stock market has made substantial declines. Some short term investors have lost a good bit of money. Many new stock market investors look at this and become very skeptical about getting in now.

If you are considering investing in the stock market it is very important that you understand how the markets work. All of the financial and market data that the newcomer is bombarded with can leave them confused and overwhelmed.

The stock market is an everyday term used to describe a place where stock in companies is bought and sold. Companies issues stock to finance new equipment, buy other companies, expand their business, introduce new products and services, etc. The investors who buy this stock now own a share of the company. If the company does well the price of their stock increases. If the company does not do well the stock price decreases. If the price that you sell your stock for is more than you paid for it, you have made money.

When you buy stock in a company you share in the profits and losses of the company until you sell your stock or the company goes out of business. Studies have shown that long term stock ownership has been one of the best investment strategies for most people.

People buy stocks on a tip from a friend, a phone call from a broker, or a recommendation from a TV analyst. They buy during a strong market. When the market later begins to decline they panic and sell for a loss. This is the typical horror story we hear from people who have no investment strategy.

Before committing your hard earned money to the stock market it will behoove you to consider the risks and benefits of doing so. You must have an investment strategy. This strategy will define what and when to buy and when you will sell it.

History of the Stock Market

Over two hundred years ago private banks began to sell stock to raise money to expand. This was a new way to invest and a way for the rich to get richer. In 1792 twenty four large merchants agreed to form a market known as the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE). They agreed to meet daily on Wall Street and buy and sell stocks.

By the mid-1800s the United States was experiencing rapid growth. Companies began to sell stock to raise money for the expansion necessary to meet the growing demand for their products and services. The people who bought this stock became part owners of the company and shared in the profits or loss of the company.

A new form of investing began to emerge when investors realized that they could sell their stock to others. This is where speculation began to influence an investor's decision to buy or sell and led the way to large fluctuations in stock prices.

Originally investing in the stock market was confined to the very wealthy. Now stock ownership has found it's way to all sectors of our society.

What is a Stock?

A stock certificate is a piece of paper declaring that you own a piece of the company. Companies sell stock to finance expansion, hire people, advertise, etc. In general, the sale of stock help companies grow. The people who buy the stock share in the profits or losses of the company.

Trading of stock is generally driven by short term speculation about the company operations, products, services, etc. It is this speculation that influences an investor's decision to buy or sell and what prices are attractive.

The company raises money through the primary market. This is the Initial Public Offering (IPO). Thereafter the stock is traded in the secondary market (what we call the stock market) when individual investors or traders buy and sell the shares to each other. The company is not involved in any profit or loss from this secondary market.

Technology and the Internet have made the stock market available to the mainstream public. Computers have made investing in the stock market very easy. Market and company news is available almost anywhere in the world. The Internet has brought a vast new group of investors into the stock market and this group continues to grow each year.

Bull Market - Bear Market

Anyone who has been following the stock market or watching TV news is probably familiar with the terms Bull Market and Bear Market. What do they mean?

A bull market is defined by steadily rising prices. The economy is thriving and companies are generally making a profit. Most investors feel that this trend will continue for some time. By contrast a bear market is one where prices are dropping. The economy is probably in a decline and many companies are experiencing difficulties. Now the investors are pessimistic about the future profitability of the stock market. Since investors' attitudes tend to drive their willingness to buy or sell these trends normally perpetuate themselves until significant outside events intervene to cause a reversal of opinion.

In a bull market the investor hopes to buy early and hold the stock until it has reached it's high. Obviously predicting the low and high is impossible. Since most investors are "bullish" they make more money in the rising bull market. They are willing to invest more money as the stock is rising and realize more profit.

Investing in a bear market incurs the greatest possibility of losses because the trend in downward and there is no end in sight. An investment strategy in this case might be short selling. Short selling is selling a stock that you don't own. You can make arrangements with your broker to do this. You will in effect be borrowing shares from your broker to sell in the hope of buying them back later when the price has dropped. You will profit from the difference in the two prices. Another strategy for a bear market would be buying defensive stocks. These are stocks like utility companies that are not affected by the market downturn or companies that sell their products during all economic conditions.

Brokers

Traditionally investors bought and sold stock through large brokerage houses. They made a phone call to their broker who relayed their order to the exchange floor. These brokers also offered their services as stock advisors to people who knew very little about the market. These people relied on their broker to guide them and paid a hefty price in commissions and fees as a result. The advent of the Internet has led to a new class of brokerage houses. These firms provide on-line accounts where you may log in and buy and sell stocks from anywhere you can get an Internet connection. They usually don't offer any market advice and only provide order execution. The Internet investor can find some good deals as the members of this new breed of electronic brokerage houses compete for your business!

Blue Chip Stocks

Large well established firms who have demonstrated good profitability and growth, dividend payout, and quality products and services are called blue chip stocks. They are usually the leaders of their industry, have been around for a long time, and are considered to be among the safest investments. Blue chip stocks are included in the Dow Jones Industrial Average, an index composed of thirty companies who are leaders in their industry groups. They are very popular among individual and institutional investors. Blue chip stocks attract investors who are interested in consistent dividends and growth as well as stability. They are rarely subject to the price volatility of other stocks and their share prices will normally be higher than other categories of stock. The downside of blue chips is that due to their stability they won't appreciate as rapidly as compared to smaller up-and-coming stocks.

Penny Stocks

Penny Stocks are very low priced stocks and are very risky. They are usually issued by companies without a long term record of stability or profitability.

The appeal of penny stock is their low price. Though the odds are against it, if the company can get into a growth trend the share price can jump very rapidly. They are usually favored by the speculative investor.

Income Stocks

Income Stocks are stock that normally pay higher than average dividends. They are well established companies like utilities or telephone companies. Income stocks are popular with the investor who wants to own the stock for a long time and collect the dividends and who is not so interested in a gain in share price.

Value Stocks

Sometimes a company's earnings and growth potential indicate that it's share price should be higher than it is currently trading at. These stock are said to be Value Stocks. For the most part, the market and investors have ignored them. The investor who buys a value stock hopes that the market will soon realize what a bargain it is and begin to buy. This would drive up the share price.

Defensive Stocks

Defensive Stocks are issued by companies in industries that have demonstrated good performance in bad markets. Food and utility companies are defensive stocks.

Market Timing

One of the most well known market quotes is: "Buy Low - Sell High". To be consistently successful in the stock market one needs strategy, discipline, knowledge, and tools. We need to understand our strategy and stick with it. This will prevent us from being distracted by emotion, panic, or greed.

One of the most prominent investing strategies used by "investment pros" is Market Timing. This is the attempt to predict future prices from past market performance. Forecasting stock prices has been a problem for as long as people have been trading stocks. The time to buy or sell a stock is based on a number of economic indicators derived from company analysis, stock charts, and various complex mathematical and computer based algorithms.

Risks

There are numerous risks involved in investing in the stock market. Knowing that these risks exist should be one of the things an investor is constantly aware of. The money you invest in the stock market is not guaranteed. For instance, you might buy a stock expecting a certain dividend or rate of share price increase. If the company experiences financial problems it may not live up to your dividend or price growth expectations. If the company goes out of business you will probably lose everything you invested in it. Due to the uncertainty of the outcome, you bear a certain amount of risk when you purchase a stock.

Stocks differ in the amount of risks they present. For instance, Internet stocks have demonstrated themselves to be much more risky than utility stocks.

One risk is the stocks reaction to news items about the company. Depending on how the investors interpret the new item, they may be influenced to buy or sell the stock. If enough of these investors begin to buy or sell at the same time it will cause the price to rise or fall.

One effective strategy to cope with risk is diversification. This means spreading out your investments over several stocks in different market sectors. Remember the saying: "Don't put all your eggs in the same basket".

As investors we need to find our "Risk Tolerance". Risk tolerance is our emotional and financial ability to ride out a decline in the market without panicking and selling at a loss. When we define that point we make sure not to extend our investments beyond it.

Benefits

The same forces that bring risk into investing in the stock market also make possible the large gains many investors enjoy. It's true that the fluctuations in the market make for losses as well as gains but if you have a proven strategy and stick with it over the long term you will be a winner!

The Internet has make investing in the stock market a possibility for almost everybody. The wealth of online information, articles, and stock quotes gives the average person the same abilities that were once available to only stock brokers. No longer does the investor need to contact a broker for this information or to place orders to buy or sell. We now have almost instant access to our accounts and the ability to place on-line orders in seconds. This new freedom has ushered in new masses of hopeful investors. Still this in not a random process of buying and selling stock. We need a strategy for selecting a suitable stock as well as timing to buy and sell in order to make a profit.

Day Trading

Day Trading is the attempt to buy and sell stock over a very short period of time. The day trader hopes to cash in on the short term fluctuations in a stock's price. It would not be unusual for the day trader to buy and sell the same stock in a matter of a few minutes or to buy and sell the same stock several times a day.

Day traders sit in front of computer monitors all day looking for short term movement in a stock. They then attempt to get in on the movement before it reverses. The real day trader does not hold a stock overnight due to the risk of some event or news item triggering the stock to reverse direction. It takes intense concentration to monitor the minute by minute movement of several stocks.

Day trading involves a great deal of risk because of the uncertainty of the market behavior over the short term. The slightest economic or political news can cause a stock to fluctuate wildly and result in unexpected losses.

There are a few people who make respectable gains day trading. The people who probably make the most are the self proclaimed "experts" who sell the books or operate the web sites that cater to the day trader. Because of the profits to be made from sales to people who want to get rich quick, they make it seem as attractive as possible. The truth is that in the long run more people lose than gain by day trading. This does not translate into a very good investment.

Harry Hooper has over 30 years experience in portfolio management. He is the senior stock tracker for

Ford has a better idea

Ford announced two milestones this week. The first is a new CEO coming from outside the company, in this case Boeing. The second is a restructuring plan that everybody knew was coming. We just didn't know how deep, or how far they would cut. This company is very quickly becoming a case study at Business School for how NOT to run a company.

The company has a management team that has been asleep at the switch for at least 25 years. You would think they woke up this morning for the first time, and said we have to cut everywhere.

Let's start with what's missing from the plan, the MASTER plan that Ford is now proposing. I have reviewed all publicly disseminated documents and this is what I conclude. I don't see a word anywhere talking about "LET'S MAKE CARS OF HIGH QUALITY THAT PEOPLE WANT TO BUY."

The only thing these guys talk about is financial engineering. They've blown it, they've blown it so bad, that the question is, are they so far down in the hole that they can't dig themselves out. They may be at that point. Let's deal with reality. America is NOW a high cost producer of just about anything that involves manufacturing. In 1900, half our population was involved in agriculture. Think, half of us were farmers, or farming related.

With the continued industrialization of this country, we moved from the farm to machines, to manufacturing. America was a manufacturing powerhouse for decades. The latest census shows that we are a 75% service society, and about 4% agriculture. The rest is manufacturing, and that sector will continue to decline.

Automobile manufacturing is the tip of the problem. We will come to a point perhaps, where there will be little to no car manufacturing in this country. It's sad, but it is what it is. We have to deal with it. Ford has not wanted to deal with it for decades. They wait till now to say, we have a problem, "Hello, anybody home, are you listening."

I was talking to an individual recently who has sold Lincoln cars (owned by Ford) for 25 years. He told me about a woman that bought a Ford Navigator, and drove immediately from the dealership on a trip to Florida. The horror show began in New Jersey. Windows started to open and close on their own. Internal lights went on and off. By the time she made it to Maryland, she had to leave the car at a Ford dealership.

Two weeks later, the company decided to give her a new car. Apparently while building the car, a worker put some kind of sharp tool through the wiring harness in the engine compartment. The shorts were everywhere, and affecting every major electronic component of the vehicle. This is not an isolated incident. Ford use to advertise, "Where quality is number 1." Had they put quality in their cars through the years, they wouldn't have a problem today.

What do the people who run Ford drink at night? What do they smoke? Do they think everyone else outside their company is functioning in the same manner that they are. The Japanese continue to set a high standard. The standard may be so high that we Americans may not be able to reach it anymore. Is that a reason for Ford not to try?

Ford has 75,000 hourly workers in the United States. The company has offered to buy out all of them. If you have a FULL year on the job, you get a $100,000 buyout, and healthcare benefits for 6 months. If you have either 30 years on the job, or you are age 55 with 15 years or more on the job, you get $140,000 to leave immediately. You also get to keep your pension, but you give up retirement health care coverage.

Workers are also being offered college benefits with 8 other options. These are people who in a good year are use to making a $100,000 with overtime. Where do we stand now? You have a 100% UNHAPPY workforce. You know how a car spins its wheels in the snow. You are going to have every worker at Ford spinning his wheels, do I take the deal, do I not take the deal. They will be flipping coins trying to figure it out. Meanwhile the executive ranks are going to be saying to themselves, "What am I doing here."

The whole game plan is about as disruptive to a corporation as disruptive can be. How is anything going to get done including manufacturing well designed cars that people are comfortable buying?

Wait, there's more?

This whole deal has been announced before the new CEO, Alan Mulally of Boeing takes over in the next couple of weeks. Is their any reason why this announcement couldn't wait two weeks for the new man to come in? Ford made a CONSCIENCE decision to announce immediately. They didn't want their new CEO to take the pubic hit for adverse public reactions that are going to come from the latest restructuring plan.

Can Ford come back?

It's really a good question. The answer is that it's going to be tough under all scenarios. The best bet they have going for them is bringing in an OUTSIDER. Einstein once said, "The significant problems we have cannot be solved at the same level of thinking with which we created them." I believe this is a cardinal rule of management as well. The problems of a company cannot be solved by the same executives who were there when the problems were created.

The executives now in charge at Ford are part of the problem. They in fact are the problem. They have too much invested in an old way of thinking, an old management style that is no longer appropriate for the 21st century. In fact, it hasn't been appropriate for 25 years, which is why the Japanese are eating Ford for lunch. It may still be too little, too late, and what about QUALITY and DESIGN, still not a word from Ford.

Goodbye and good luck

Richard Stoyeck's background includes being a limited partner at Bear Stearns, Senior VP at Lehman Brothers, Kuhn Loeb, Arthur Andersen, and KPMG. Educated at Pace University, NYU, and Harvard University, today he runs Rockefeller Capital Partners and StocksAtB

A disaster waiting to happen!

Remember the Spanish flu pandemic of 1918? Like today's threat, it started in birds and migrated to humans. It hit every country on earth. Not one was spared. The epidemic sped around the globe in only five months.

When and if bird flu completes its last necessary mutation to jump from birds to humans, think how fast it will travel. Today a plane can circle the earth in less time than a train could cross the continent back then.

In 1918 and 1919 more than 21 million people died. A quarter of the world's population was infected. With more crowded cities, non-stop air travel, and poor hygiene still in many parts of the world, how fast would it travel today? Experts fear it will be only a matter of weeks before it spreads globally.

And don't think that antibiotics will help. Flu is a virus, and antibiotics don't work on viruses. If they did, we wouldn't have flu, and we wouldn't have AIDs anymore either. Viruses are as tough to kill as bacteria was before penicillin.

Human are about to see what could be the biggest human disaster in history, and there are only a handful of companies that may have the potential to prevent it.

Governments worldwide are preparing for a global disaster of untold magnitude. Containment relies on having billions of doses of vaccine stockpiled and ready. The problem: There is none.

And so authorities are anxiously awaiting a vaccine that works. A vaccine that is quickly produced and stable in storage. A vaccine like the one being developed by many drug company.

There are currently only four drugs on the market that can battle even the mildest flu. But the lethal strain known as bird flu, or H5N1, is resistant to even to our best weapon, oseltamivir, branded as Tamiflu.

Even if Tamiflu worked, it would be too little, too late. The product must be stored at below 30 degrees Fahrenheit. That is well beyond the capabilities of the world's third world countries where the disease would spread far and fast.

What's more, all of the flu vaccines are made by a broken down system that's a disaster waiting to happen. The vaccines are made by harvesting viruses in chicken eggs. But the bird flu virus is as deadly to the eggs as it is to the chickens. And so the virus must first be deactivated by altering its genetic code.

The whole process can take up to six months. And that's supposing that the bird flu hasn't already wiped out the billions of chickens necessary to produce the eggs to produce the virus.

Health agencies around the world are chomping at the bit for their vaccine product. The U.S. has earmarked $3.9 billion to buy vaccines. The figurative purchase orders are already written.

Bird flu is the biggest health danger of our time. More than half of everyone infected has died. Experts say we could be only months from a worldwide pandemic that could kill tens of millions.

It is estimated that if there is a pandemic soon. The death toll could be from 2 to 7.4 million fatalities. Unless an effective vaccine is found and produced.

So taking a look at the drug companys that R&D on bird flu drug. It could be the "new oil & gas" for investors.

Are you looking for a new way to make big dollars in the post oil-boom market? Here's a strategy that savvy short term traders use for big gains.

News drives up share prices. And big news equals big gains. Look at recent history: 9/11 drove up defense and security shares. Hurricane Katrina and other crisis events drove up oil and gas shares. But oil's played out. The avian flu index is up 43.69% so far this year, to oil's 14%.

Bird flu is one of the biggest crisis stories in years. And this is just the beginning. If you bought the right vaccine developer today and you could potentially be holding the best, most profitable buy you've made in years.

Looking back last winter, as news of the global bird flu scare picked up going into last winter's flu season, share prices of vaccine makers skyrocketed.

If you think that's impressive, wait till bird flu hits the U.S., as experts think it will sometime this winter. The story will dominate headlines, and vaccine makers' share prices could skyrocket to astronomical gains!

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