stlplaceLast Updated on May 28, 2009 by stlplace
Here is a link at YouTube. I vaguely remember Microsoft developed the “Excel” program first on Mac, but I did not know Bill Gates personally worked on “Basic language” for Mac and made 30,000 from Steve.
Last Updated on June 1, 2007 by stlplace
It’s a business broadcast done in a new way. Here is the link. I heard about this site and watched a clip of “Crocs” a while ago. Now it appears WallStrip is available from Google Finance everyday (at bottom of the screen), probablly because WallStrip is popular in YouTube and Google now owns YouTube. Anyway, you may want to watch those two (Starbucks and Nike).
After watching the double over time of NBA game (between Detroit and Cleveland), endless commercials, I found this WallStrip is much entertaining. By the way, I do believe the guy does Nike’s commercials will win the NBA championship, because Nike is the biggest sponsor of NBA.
Last Updated on June 1, 2007 by stlplace
People often asked me where in the world is St. Louis, I told them the Missisipi River, Budweiser beer, the McDonald Douglas (no longer a standalone company), etc.
I think A G Edwards could be counted as a St. Louis icon too. But I did not realized it’s more than 100 years old until today it’s being acquired by Wachovia. The rationale for the buy is Wachovia is looking for opportunities in the baby boomers’ wealth management. After this acquisition the combined company, Wachovia Securities, will manage $1.15 trillion, operate 3,350 offices and employ 31,000 people. It will be the No. 2 US retail broker firm. Merril Lynch is still the No. 1.
Last Updated on May 31, 2007 by stlplace
First heard this “equity shortage” term from Jim Cramer, the host of CNBC “Mad Money”. I watched his show mostly for entertainment purpose, but I think this term desribes the “supply and demand” of global stock market well. Yesterday the S&P index in the US hit a new high at 1530. Last record was set in dot com era on March 24, 2000. To put it in perspective, on March 20 same year, I got my job offer from my current employer.
Last Updated on May 30, 2007 by stlplace
HMIN looked cheap these days, should we jump in and buy it? I have both MR and HMIN, and as a matter of fact, I bought some more HMIN after its disappointing earning report. My mistake. You may think because HMIN has been to $49, and now it’s trading $29.50, isn’t a big discount? Yes or No. I hope HMIN won’t go much lower because it is my largest holding now (I’m looking for opportunities to exit).
Last Updated on May 30, 2007 by stlplace
The policy makers in China found the silver bullet finanlly, the Shanghai composite index dropped 280 points or 6.5% today May 30, as seen from this news from Bloomberg. This is the biggest drop in a day since Feb 27 (9% drop). The policy makers have warned the investors (or more accurately speculators) for a while, the head of central bank said some words during an international meeting (remember the vice chairman of people’s congress, Mr. Chen’s similar words late last year?); two interest rate hikes; three bank reserve rate hikes. But the new investors seemed ignoring all those warnings, as we have seen from the record account openings since March. We have 100 million accounts in China now. Let me quote some words regarding the “bubble” (I was told this was said by Buffet, but have not verified the source):
Last Updated on May 29, 2007 by stlplace
That’s the stock trading 印花税 in Chinese. It was only a week ago somebody from department of finance denied the “rumor”, now they ate their own words. They raised rate from 0.1% to 0.3% for stock trade.
I don’t know how the market will react to this. Will it blush off like it did on May 21 amid the raise of interest rate? We shall see.
Seriously, I think the goverment could put those money (I mean increased stamp tax revenue) into education, and health care, that will be a wonderful thing. We all want a harmonious society, don’t we?
Last Updated on May 29, 2007 by stlplace
You know I am kidding, do you? We all know the bubble is there, but how much bubble do we got? Is bubble going to burst very soon? These are the questions the investors (more accurately speculators) in China should ask.
In my mind, there are fundamental reasons for this rising of Chinese equity values: over liquidity (too much money, too little stocks); improvement of company fundamentals including rapid growth; Gu Gai (the stock reform which remove cloud from the floating shares), etc.
Last Updated on May 29, 2007 by stlplace
I put it in my Yahoo calendar a while ago. But I have not added my positions because it did not fall to the range I wanted to pull my trigger. Although there are heavy insider sellings lately.
“Shareholders of record May 31 will get an additional share for each they hold on June 14”, see this announcement for more details.
Last Updated on May 28, 2007 by stlplace
I stopped by the Ted Drewes today, the best Ice Cream place in St. Louis. Surprisingly, it only has two stores in St. Louis, and the owners intentionly kept it that way. In other words, they don’t want to grow into Hagen Dazs, or something like that. By keeping it small and community-involved, they provided ice creams for St. Louisans and visitors since 1931. Today I saw the sign, where the Mayor of St. Louis declared Feb 17 as “Ted Drewes’ Day”. WOW.
