Mortgage servicing problems and mortgage fraud have had a dramatic change in the industry.  The automated machinery to approve as many loans as possible on the basis that the collateral will keep the issuers protected is over after the huge declines that we have seen in housing prices.  While changes had to be made in...Read More

This article does a great job in outlining the importance of patents in the current environment in the tech sector. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303815404577335551794808074.html?mod=WSJ_hp_LEFTTopStories INVESTING IN THE FINANCIAL MARKETS INVOLVES RISKS. OPTIONS ARE NOT SUITABLE FOR ALL INVESTORS.Read More

With Best Buy struggling as a transformational shift from big box retail, to online distribution, more bad news occurred today with the announcement that the CEO is stepping down due to an internal probe.  Best Buy is a company that had a great model which is just becoming outdated due to the changing landscape so...Read More

It’s good to see AIG getting back into Real Estate while collateral values are still low.  This is a company that has a huge amount of float that they need to invest so they must remain disciplined and diversified.  Before their CEO Robert Benmosche took over AIG was winding down everything under pressure from the...Read More

Concerns over the European economy and the debt situation in Spain and Italy has roiled the markets substantially over the last few days.  These factors combined with lackluster jobs growth on Friday are raising borrowing costs for the periphery of Europe, and have caused steep market declines particularly in Europe.  While profit taking is certainly well...Read More

One area of lending that is looking particularly risky right now is student lending.  The costs of education have increased dramatically, and students are bearing the brunt of these huge debt loads in an economy that is not flush with high paying jobs for recent graduates.  Just as healthcare costs are a concern for our...Read More

This was a really interesting article discussing the pending execution of a 30 year old Chinese woman for fraud charges.  I’ll let you come to your own moral conclusions as it hits on many levels, but it is certainly an informative perspective into the Chinese judicial system. http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-04-10/shadow-banks-on-trial-as-china-s-rich-sister-faces-death.html INVESTING IN THE FINANCIAL MARKETS INVOLVES RISKS....Read More

This was a great article on the new CEO of Research in Motion Thorsten Heins.  The key takeaways for RIMM is that they compete in a fast growing market and have a strong and loyal subscriber base.  The company has endured several misfires but the stock price implies a drastic decline in both revenue and...Read More

While ETF’s have become one of the most popular investment vehicles for investors, their utility as a proxy for certain markets is limited by some structural flaws.  One example is the natural gas market where it is not realistic to store natural gas in the same way that gold or silver can be stored.  This...Read More

AOL is up big this morning off of the news that they sold about 800 patents to Microsoft for over $1 billion.  This is a tremendous monetization of assets for AOL and will likely lead towards a special dividend for shareholders.  While you may have missed the opportunity in AOL I think the best investment...Read More