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FirstAlert: 4:15-5:00 P.M. Investrend / Bestcalls
(InvesTrend Via Acquire Media NewsEdge)
October 2, 2008 (Financial Wire) Conference calls scheduled at 4:15 to
4:30 p.m. on Investrend Broadcast via partner BestCalls include Air
Products & Chemicals Inc. (NYSE: APD), Lawson Software Inc. (NASDAQ:
LWSN), AngioDynamics Inc. (NASDAQ: ANGO), SulphCo Inc., (AMEX: SUF),
Resources Connection Inc. (NASDAQ: RECN), Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:
GPN), DemandTec Inc. (NASDAQ: DMAN).
Conference calls are often impacted by market trends, geopolitical
conditions, news coming from conferences and economic releases.
(By Philip Holmes) Stocks have been tossed around like double-wides in
Tornado Alley as the world reacted to the House's failure to pass the
Paulson Plan into law. What has emerged from the rubble? Smarmy pundits
decrying the stupid, ill-informed public's hysterical angry reaction to
the bailout. In doing so, they hysterically call for Congress to go
back and pass the Paulson Plan, with fig leaves attached. The worst
offender in the scolding/panicky pundit category is Thomas Friedman of
the NY Times. He compares his fear at seeing the bailout fail to what
he experienced during the Cuban Missile Crisis and on 9/11. He says,
"We have House members, many of whom I suspect can't balance their own
checkbooks, rejecting a complex rescue package because some voters,
whom I fear also don't understand, swamped them with phone calls. I
appreciate the popular anger against Wall Street, but you can't deal
with this crisis this way." Right, Tom, and you also can't deal with it
by curling up into a little ball and hoping that Daddy Hank makes it
all go away. Not when Daddy is pushing an ill-conceived plan that does
nothing to address the underlying problems causing the crisis.
Fortunately, Tom doesn't have to walk far to get schooled. His
colleague at the Times, Paul Krugman, is full of wisdom on the subject,
though he was of the "hold your nose and pass it" camp. Krugman says "a
large-scale recapitalization would probably take the form of a giant
swap of debt for equity: the Treasury would issue several hundred
billion dollars' worth of bonds, and give them to financial firms in
return for preferred stock. The bonds wouldn't have to be sold to
outside buyers--they would simply be credited to firms' balance
sheets." There are other alternative medicine practitioners weighing
in, bringing a range of ideas to the discussion. The most questionable
proposals call for a suspension of "mark to market" accounting rules.
This way we can all pretend that the banks are solvent by allowing them
to price their dodgy mortgage-related assets using time-machine
accounting. Rep. Peter DeFazio, an Oregon Democrat, makes this a main
feature of his "No Bailouts Act," along with a general damnation of
short selling and raising the FDIC limit on insured accounts to
$250,000. Raising the FDIC limit is a long-overdue measure that can
help in the current crisis by keeping depositors calm and stabilizing
the capital base of banks reeling from the crisis. But the obsession
with short selling sounds like the talk of executive compensation last
week: it misses the big picture by lashing out at the Boogie Man of the
Day. One proposal making the rounds would strike at the sheer political
arrogance that has typified the Paulson approach thus far: a quarter
percent tax on trades designed to bring in $150 billion a year. This
would provide an adequate funding mechanism for the type of large-scale
government intervention that this crisis surely requires. Implementing
it would go a long way toward reassuring the public that their
grandchildren's piggy bank wasn't just being looted for the sake of
some Wall Street billionaires with cash-flow issues. Now, if we also go
with a Krugman-esque solution--giving taxpayers a tangible stake in
bailed-out companies--the idea that this fix will pay for itself in the
long run might gain some traction. Of course, what we really need is a
longer-term address of the underlying cause of the crisis: a
half-decade of questionable lending to consumers and businesses and the
mountain of bad debt it leaves behind. What we don't need are scolding
hysterics who sow fear and class division in an effort to bully the
public into supporting a half-baked bill. Take a shot of whiskey to
steady your nerves, then get about the business of doing this thing
right.
The Investrend Earnings Calendar features AngioDynamics (NASDAQ: ANGO),
expected at $0.08; Constellation Brands (NYSE: STZ), expected at $0.44;
Global Payments (NYSE: GPN), expected at $0.59; Lawson Software
(NASDAQ: LWSN), expected at $0.05.
The Investrend Economics Calendar lists Weekly Initial Jobless Claims
(8:30 a.m.), Factory Orders for August (10 a.m.), Weekly Money Supply
(4:30 p.m.).
The Investrend Events Calendar showcases Cowen - 11th Annual
Therapeutics Conference.
The Investrend Money Index is an indicator of the depth of market
direction or indirection. While not always including the same stocks,
the NYSE/NASDAQ 50 Most Actives indicate the direction in which the
mass of money is flowing. Last session's trading showed 21 advancers
versus 29 decliners. Advancers were led by Natl City Cp (NYSE: NCC) up
65.14%, Ambac Finl Grp Inc (NYSE: ABK) up 49.79%, Sovereign Bancorp
(NYSE: SOV) up 22.03%, Amer Intl Group Inc (NYSE: AIG) up 18.62%, Fifth
Third Bncp (NASDAQ: FITB) up 16.13%, E*Trade Finl Corp (NASDAQ: ETFC)
up 15.36%, Citigroup Inc (NYSE: C) up 12.14%, Freddie Mac (NYSE: FRE)
up 10.53%, Bk Of America Cp (NYSE: BAC) up 8.94%, Fannie Mae (NYSE:
FNM) up 8.50%, Ual Corp New (NASDAQ: UAUA) up 8.30%, Sprint Nxtel Cp
(NYSE: S) up 7.21%, Jp Morgan Chase Co (NYSE: JPM) up 6.27%, Micron
Technology (NYSE: MU) up 6.17%, Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS) up 6.17%.
Decliners followed Ford Motor Co (NYSE: F) down 12.50%, Adv Micro
Devices (NYSE: AMD) down 9.71%, Lm Ericsson Adr (NASDAQ: ERIC) down
7.32%, Ebay Inc (NASDAQ: EBAY) down 6.84%.
Vote in the Investrend Poll Question of the Day at Investrend
Information (http://www.investrendinformation.com).
Investrend Website of the Day: http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2018.html
Quote of the Day: "Health food may be good for the conscience but Oreos
taste a hell of a lot better." Robert Redford
Today is: Custodial Worker Day, Child Health Day, Name Your Car Day.
Happy Birthday: King Richard III, Mahatma Gandhi, Groucho Marx, Bud
Abbott, George "Spanky" McFarland, Cleveland Amory, Rex Reed, Peter
Ueberroth, Avery Brooks, Chris LeDoux, Sting, Kelly Ripa.
Today in History: The Texas Revolution began with the Battle of
Gonzales in 1835. In Colorado, Nicholas Creede struck it rich in 1889
in silver during the last great silver boom of the American Old West.
US President Woodrow Wilson suffered a massive stroke in 1919, leaving
him partially paralyzed. Thurgood Marshall, in 1967, was sworn in as
the first African-American justice of United States Supreme Court.
[FirstAlert was created by Gayle Essary, founder of Investrend
Communications, Inc., parent of Investrend Information
(http://www.investrendinformation.com). The opinions expressed in
FirstAlert do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Investrend.]
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