Investorcluzo's Profile

  • investorcluzo@yahoo.com

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There's a reason they got into in business school...

nothing new here people, but interesting that one clown didn't know what was going on. basically there is a disincentive to save when applying for financial aid. I've even heard that some people take a 25% - 35% hair-cut from their investments and convince themselves it's not lying because of cap gains taxes. from today's post:

http://www.nypost.com/seven/06292008/gossip/pagesix/harvard_can_drive_you_crazy_117625.htm

June 29, 2008 --

STUDENTS at Harvard Business School pull a cunning trick that allows them to drive luxury cars and get financial aid, an upcoming book claims. In "Ahead of the Curve," journalist Philip Delves Broughton, recounting his two years at the Ivy League university, tells how he was stunned to find so many students tooling around in BMWs, Porsches, Lexuses, Mini Coopers and Lincoln Navigators, while he drove a $2,000 used Toyota. One knowledgeable student told him: "Once you get accepted into HBS, you want to clear out your bank account so that you can get more financial aid. When you list your assets in the financial-aid application, you don't have to mention your car . . . You buy a car for $20,000, maybe you get an extra $20,000 in financial aid, so basically HBS buys you a BMW. If you hadn't bought the car, you'd have to pay $20,000 out of your savings." Broughton notes he was jolted by "the idea of these 25-year-old Wall Street jerks fiddling with their financial aid forms, with the connivance of their parents and the local BMW dealerships." The school's rep didn't get back to us.

Drop it like it's hot...

Microsoft Withdraws Yahoo Offer
After Sweetened Bid Is Rejected
By KEVIN J. DELANEY, MATTHEW KARNITSCHNIG and ROBERT A. GUTH
May 3, 2008 9:40 p.m.

Microsoft Corp. said it abandoned its offer for Yahoo Inc., as the two companies failed to bridge a gap between them on price.

Microsoft released a letter from Chief Executive Steve Ballmer to Yahoo CEO Jerry Yang saying that Microsoft had said it was willing to raise its offer to $33 a share for Yahoo, but Yahoo demanded at least $4 per share more.

looks like stevie is calling jerry out, this can't be the final chapter of this book (can it?). will he go back after yhoo drops to pre bid levels as investors unload the truck?

asleep at the switch?

on a sleepy friday when no one was at work (at least on the trading floors), S&P took a big leap and cut the “outlook”, but not the rating, (talk about going out on a limb) on golden slacks (thanks cramer) and the lehman sisters.

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

seriously, do any institutions still read their propaganda? take a gander at some of the riveting analysis they provide as rationale for the “downgrade”: “our current expectation is that net revenues could decline 20%-30% year-on-year…” (let me guess, they were on the earnings call too); but wait, there’s more: “…we see some possibility, were there to be persisting capital markets turmoil and sharply weakening economic conditions, that financial performance could deteriorate significantly.''

talk about a crystal balls and deep analysis. perhaps we should take this as a sign of a market bottom for financials (never mind the bounce they had on thursday despite CIT). are the “major agencies” still relevant? just askin’…

Comments

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Entry: I'll See Your New York Supreme Court Judge, And Raise You A Federal District Court Judge

posted by Investorcluzo

Oct 05, 2008 9:50PM

this is a $hit show. seriously, once the politicos weigh in, I'm sure the taxpayers (and wfc) will win out. if they split the co up, would that mean c has to pay a higher price or would wfc pay a lower one? you can't have the suitors valuing the co at different prices. Further, if they valued the pieces separately, there could be some unintended consequences for marks on other banks’ books.

entourage in 10 min, please don't tell me there's going to be a conf call tonight...

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Entry: Neel Kashkari: Seven Hundred Billion Dollar Baller

posted by Investorcluzo

Oct 06, 2008 9:56AM

what happened with the fnm/fre cds auction?

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Entry: Unfounded September Performance Rumors

posted by Investorcluzo

Oct 06, 2008 11:17AM

seriously, you people need to get a grip. for those of us who have read bessy’s work for some time, we know that these are terms she often uses. the visual her (very descriptive) words produce provides the reader with a strikingly accurate picture of how the investors feel when opening their monthly statement. in fact, given the comments above, I would say she has done her job as a writer. well done bess! btw, and would it matter if bess were a man? how sexist…

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Entry: Unfounded September Performance Rumors

posted by Investorcluzo

Oct 06, 2008 12:13PM

@28 - concerned or schadenfreude? can't we all just get along...

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Entry: The Main Event

posted by Investorcluzo

Oct 06, 2008 1:18PM

damn, I can't believe I'm missing this! I think it's a rite of passage for all ceo's who banked millions while their companies went south...however, the politicos should be ashamed of themselves for wasting good taxpayer money for this public flogging. this isn’t going to unfreeze the credit markets.

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Entry: This Is Not A Lot To Ask

posted by Investorcluzo

Oct 06, 2008 2:00PM

@19 - send them from your bberry to dealbreaker. that has to be pretty funny and we all need to laugh right now. btw - someone has to be making money from that, what's the promotion?

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Entry: How Low Will It Go?

posted by Investorcluzo

Oct 06, 2008 2:52PM

@21 - nice, haven't seen that one yet.

I'll try to be the optimist here, 9,625 dow; 1,065 on the s&p...

bessy, bring back the dance tunes: my vote, ssss-aaaa-ffff-eeee-tttt-yyyy, safety dance (men w/o hats).

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Entry: How Low Will It Go?

posted by Investorcluzo

Oct 06, 2008 3:05PM

I have a feeling that we are going limit down, mkt will close for the day shortly. bess, hold me, I'm scared.

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Entry: Maria Bartiromo Impressed With You Guys Not Losing Your Shit

posted by Investorcluzo

Oct 06, 2008 3:09PM

first! beyatches...

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Entry: Maria Bartiromo Impressed With You Guys Not Losing Your Shit

posted by Investorcluzo

Oct 06, 2008 3:28PM

@8/10 - your humor lacks originality and wit (just like my post). glass houses, beyatches. go back to gawker...as for the pink slips, you may want to talk to the hatchet man about that (let's see what you know about that)

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Entry: Maria Bartiromo Impressed With You Guys Not Losing Your Shit

posted by Investorcluzo

Oct 06, 2008 3:36PM

@12 - you've hurt my feelings, boo-hoo!

@17 - on days like this, you need to celebrate something...24 minutes until the close.

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Entry: Maria Bartiromo Impressed With You Guys Not Losing Your Shit

posted by Investorcluzo

Oct 06, 2008 3:49PM

@21/25 - are you having a rough day processing all those trades? your misplaced anger will only makes you look more foolish. again, you have both managed to do repairable damage to my feelings, not to mention, you're giving fulton street a bad name. boo, hoo, hoo...

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Entry: Maria Bartiromo Impressed With You Guys Not Losing Your Shit

posted by Investorcluzo

Oct 06, 2008 4:08PM

@29 - rusty t (you get creativity points for the screen name)

@29/30 - if you had been reading this blog for any length of time, you would realize that empty threats/lame jokes/use of "moron/douche/a$$clown" have no effect on people. seriously, this is a blog. from time to time, you will read something clever or, heaven forbid, insightful (not just incite-full). once again - don't you people realize that you're living in glass houses. think about it...

@33 - too long, didn't read...

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Entry: How Low Will It Go?

posted by Investorcluzo

Oct 06, 2008 4:20PM

@esguru - you have to get the right price without going over...nice try.

@c - please...

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Entry: Afternoon Distraction: Caption Contest

posted by Investorcluzo

Oct 06, 2008 4:28PM

stop, it's lee-man, not lay-man...

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Entry: How Low Will It Go?

posted by Investorcluzo

Oct 06, 2008 4:38PM

@c - missed 79. you sir/madam get points for creativity. I will let the others opine as to whether or not you get slagged-off. good luck.

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Entry: Maria Bartiromo Impressed With You Guys Not Losing Your Shit

posted by Investorcluzo

Oct 06, 2008 4:56PM

@kev - like I said glass houses. from your own commentary:

"The 3rd guy (the trader) in the threesome on CNBC just wouldn't shut up; I don't blame Santelli for taking a hike.

@10 - Beautiful! Now I know what I've been searching for - a motivated beaver!"

while some of your posts have been insightful, at times, you stray (I presume to alleviate the stresses of the day). don't let one bad apple spoil the bunch. hang in there...how's the loonie holding up in this market?

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Entry: Write-Offs: 10.06.08

posted by Investorcluzo

Oct 06, 2008 9:46PM

@11 – while I typically like to make fun of the little man from charchar, I have to admit – he’s learned from his competitor’s mistakes. rather than wait for the stock to drop back to $18 (you know, after the short sale rule goes away), he is raising capital early (bravo). also, don’t forget wfc and $hiti both have large cap raises to come. investors have a limited amount of dollars to allocate into bank stocks. moreover, he couldn’t issue equity this late in the quarter without issuing earnings.

in going over the results, kenny boy was very careful to provide data “excluding countrywide” – the ghost of angelo lives, so that earnings may die (ok, so net was $1.2 bn, but as you’ll see, that could easily have been negative)! deposits were up by 44% (+$21 billion) - look out below, with all the people losing jobs, that means one thing – other banks are losing deposits in droves. you can’t have the largest bank in the land increasing deposits at that rate without putting a serious hurt on the little guys.

CDO’s were written down by $952 million (12.8% of exposure), for those keeping track at home, it was 7.7% last quarter. on the bright side, the carrying value is “only” 40% of the original exposure. that said, the balance sheet should be in the fiction section of your local book store. non-performing loans in the resi/home equity portfolio was $6.5 billion while the reserves were only $5.0 billion. commercial r/e isn’t pretty either ($3bn of non-performers vs. $1 bn of reserves). if, as sweet lou stated he expected, the economy continues to slide south – don’t you think it would be wise to up the ante on reserves? also of note (but not surprising), credit card losses were up above 6% and another 3% were 90 days past due. more pain to come…

oh, and I loved the comment from nancy bush – do you think it’s your “patriotic duty” to make loans. c’mon.

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Entry: Maria Bartiromo Impressed With You Guys Not Losing Your Shit

posted by Investorcluzo

Oct 06, 2008 9:50PM

@spode - I learned from the best, word.

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Entry: Write-Offs: 10.06.08

posted by Investorcluzo

Oct 06, 2008 10:22PM

@14 - there's a reason gs and ms converted to commercial banks. more relaxed rules on the marks than those governing investment banks...