This article sheds some light on how these double leveraged ETF’s and ETN’s work.  After having a bad experience with (TBT) which is the ultra-short 20 year treasury ETF, I will never use one of these again.  It really comes down to knowing exactly what you are buying, and due to the way that these...Read More

Fortune Magazine did a great job profiling Banco Santander (STD) Chairman Emilio Botin who has built a family run Spanish regional bank into the largest European bank by market capitalization.  I really appreciate his philosophy of buying banks with an international presence during a period of turmoil, and then helping them recover through incorporating his...Read More

http://seekingalpha.com/article/453981-aig-is-too-good-a-long-term-idea-to-pass-up INVESTING IN THE FINANCIAL MARKETS INVOLVES RISKS. OPTIONS ARE NOT SUITABLE FOR ALL INVESTORS.Read More

http://seekingalpha.com/article/453621-general-motors-stock-price-is-far-too-pessimistic?source=email_rt_article&ifp=0 INVESTING IN THE FINANCIAL MARKETS INVOLVES RISKS. OPTIONS ARE NOT SUITABLE FOR ALL INVESTORS.Read More

Famed value investor David Dreman is still finding attractive opportunities in both energy and financials.  Dreman takes a more diversified approach then we advocate at TTCM, where we tend to take more concentrated positions.  The psychology has changed in the markets over the last few years and pessimism is still highly prevalent even after the...Read More

This was a great interview on the housing market.  Inventories are down to about 6.4 months supply which is very manageable.  I certainly believe that there is still a shadow inventory hanging around there as well but as long as supply doesn’t grow faster than demand the market should continue to recover.  Most of the...Read More

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-03-22/wall-street-profit-estimates-raised-by-analysts-after-jefferies.html INVESTING IN THE FINANCIAL MARKETS INVOLVES RISKS. OPTIONS ARE NOT SUITABLE FOR ALL INVESTORS.Read More

The consensus has been that China was likely to endure a soft landing.  I think this is extremely optimistic thinking when you look at their unbelievable growth and expansion over the last decade, particularly in the housing market.  Their real estate bubble is very different than that that was endured in the U.S. because many...Read More

This article shows more anecdotal evidence of the improvement in the housing market.  With rates so low and affordability considerably better, the primary things holding back purchases are consumer confidence, and available financing.  Assuming sentiment continues to improve I see no reason why we haven’t seen the bottom in the housing market. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304636404577295333746038516.html?mod=WSJ_hp_LEFTTopStories INVESTING IN...Read More

This was a bet made a few years back that the S&P 500 index would outperform a fund of funds.  Buffett’s premise of course was that due to the excessive fees charged by the fund of funds, over time it is very likely the S&P 500 which is very low in cost would outperform.  It...Read More