Key Biscayne Escorts and Yachts

[wndysrf]

First we feature an article from Bloomberg, confirming that everyone seems to hate stocks, especially the small caps.

 

Seems like every month, the IWM is among the top 3 highest shorted ETF's on the NYSE. The Wall St. Journal reported a gargantuan amount of puts bought recently as the market was approaching the highs.

 

Excerpts:

 

Short Sellers Target Small-Company Shares as U.S. Growth Slows

 

By Michael Patterson

 

April 12 (Bloomberg) -- Short sellers are increasingly betting against shares of America's smallest companies, and some of the biggest U.S. investors are equally pessimistic.

 

Short positions in companies in the Russell 2000 Index, which have a median market value of $669 million, jumped last month to the highest since at least September 2003, according to Citigroup Inc.

 

Bank of America Capital Management, JPMorgan Private Bank and LPL Financial Services, which manage about $1 trillion, are bearish on smaller companies too. They say large-company stocks are cheap relative to earnings and will outperform small caps this year as the U.S. economy slows.

 

The percentage of shares sold short in the Russell 2000, a small-cap benchmark, was more than five times greater than in the S&P 500, consisting of companies with a median value of $13.6 billion, according to Citigroup.

 

Their biggest targets among small caps as of mid-March included Accredited Home Lenders Holding Co., a mortgage lender, and Take-Two Interactive Software Inc., a video-game maker, according to monthly data from stock exchanges.

 

The Russell 2000 has outperformed the S&P 500 every year since 1998. Since the current bull market began in October 2002, the small-company index has climbed 147 percent, almost double the S&P 500's 85 percent gain. This year, the Russell 2000 has gained 2.6 percent, while the S&P 500 has advanced 1.5 percent.

 

About 9.6 percent of the shares available for trading in the Russell 2000 were sold short in March, according to data compiled by Nicholas Gulden, head of U.S. portfolio trading strategies at Citigroup. That compares with a 1.9 percent short interest in members of the S&P 500.

 

``This is an overvalued market that can't sustain itself,'' said Ablin, who oversees $50 billion at Harris in Chicago. ``The only piece of the puzzle we're missing here is a little momentum. All the other pieces are in place for small cap to underperform.''

 

.......................................

 

 

In the meantime, the choice, few, select PigMen and Private Racketeers and Profiteers are getting even richer, using their Vast Fortunes to swoop in and pick up bargains.

 

Here's one featured in today's NY Times.

 

A 36-year old private speculator living in the "Scarface" house on Key Biscayne, with the attendant 140-ft. yacht parked in his backyard. Of course, he used to be a heavy partier and womanizer before he got married, hanging out with Key Biscayne Escorts and the like.

 

Now he's picking up subprime assets for pennies on the dollar for a quick scalp:

 

Excerpts:

 

As Subprime Market Implodes, a Contrarian Prospers

 

Barbara P. Fernandez for The New York Times

 

KEY BISCAYNE, Fla. ? In a clubby market where securities based on risky mortgages, credit card debt and other financial assets are traded, John Devaney is known for making brash pronouncements ? and for often being proved right.

 

?I personally hate subprime,? Mr. Devaney declared at an American Securitization Forum conference in late January, ?and I?m kind of hoping the whole thing explodes.?

 

He certainly got his wish. Within a month of his remarks, several big lenders to people with weak credit ? specialists in what is known as the subprime market ? began collapsing. Now, as investors and policy makers ponder the wreckage, it is clear that asset-backed securities, or bonds, played an important role in subprime?s rapid rise and its messy fall.

 

And as a number of big players swoop in, hoping to make a killing while cleaning up the mess, Mr. Devaney is counting on his contrarian instincts to serve him well in the uncertain atmosphere.

 

Mr. Devaney, 36, has amassed a fortune he estimates at $250 million by becoming a major dealer in asset-backed bonds through his company, United Capital Markets. As the powerfully fickle market has gone through several giddy booms and wrenching shake-ups in the last decade, he and other nimble traders in a small fraternity of investors have been able to profit handsomely by taking advantage of the market?s wide swings.

 

?A lot of people would argue that markets are very efficient,? he said during an interview at his home here on the Intracoastal Waterway, where he keeps his 140-foot boat and has filled the walls of his mansion with paintings by Renoir, Cezanne and others. But ?in these over-the-counter markets, fear and confidence hold completely equal weightings to driving prices up and down as do the fundamentals.?

 

Mr. Devaney says he buys when others are selling in a panic. He sells when others are ready to buy, anal cysts and fellow traders say.

 

His experience trading mobile home loans, credit card debt and airplane leases after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11 shows that while the secondary market for securitized assets has grown huge, it is still inefficient at gauging and pricing risk, especially for out-of-favor assets and in times of stress.

 

Mr. Devaney said he first realized he could profit from the market?s flaws in 1998, when investors rushed out of risky bonds after the hedge fund Long-Term Capital Management buckled and Russia defaulted on its debts. Unnerved by those crises, many investors dumped bonds backed by aggressive home equity loans made to people with good credit.

 

?It was just like it is now: ?Oh! Oh! Another news tidbit of New Century news. Oh, my god!? ? he said in a mockingly hysterical tone, referring to the mortgage company that has filed for bankruptcy protection.

 

From the prospectuses for those securities, Mr. Devaney divined that bondholders would get their money back even if 30 percent of the homeowners defaulted on their loans. He bought the bonds for 50 cents on the dollar for himself and for clients.

 

As the scare faded and it became apparent that homeowners would not default in big numbers, he sold for handsome profits. It was a formula he has used time and again ever since.

 

Devaney manages a hedge fund that has $620 million in assets and that had an estimated return of 40 percent last year. His nascent investment-banking business recently became the financial partner for a five-million-square-feet condominium project near Boca Raton.

 

His reputation was established, in part, from big parties on his yacht, Positive Carry, a term for borrowing at a lower rate than you earn from your investments, at industry conferences. At the meetings, he frequently sponsors performances by Jay Leno and bands like Counting Crows and the Doobie Brothers. His Gulfstream jet is outfitted with broadband Internet service, he says, so he can trade while he is traveling.

 

................................

 

What a great life, eh????

 

 

John Devaney, 36, at his home in Key Biscayne, Fla., with his wife, Selene, their three children and their yacht, ?Positive Carry.?

[wndysrf]

Nice moves here:

 

 

 

 

[FableNacy]

Late stage

[wndysrf]

First 15 minutes of AH trading, over 1.5 million shares traded in HAL.

 

Looks like Cheney and Rummy are posturing and positioning for the inevitable breakout.

 

 

 

"Can You Believe the SEC lets us get away with this?"

[Whadda I Do Whadda I Do]

ATI

[Whadda I Do Whadda I Do]

Guess I'll go run the dog. Last visit she swam all over Mission Bay being lead by a salt water duck staying inches from her nose while skimming the water with its wings . 75 yards off shore just a speck in the water was all I could see. Duck finally dove underwater out of sight. She slept well that night.

Reminds me of the Lassie show opening where she is exploring, observing and enjoying everything nature. (I'm just dog sitting the pup)

[prancing_cow]

By looking at KKD earnings report you can tell that Shorty has not been having a good quarter - they need you dude!

 

http://finance.yahoo.com/q?s=kkd

[wndysrf]

After months of apathy, disinterest, and lack of excitement about trading stocks, Tradestation is finally beginning to show some signs of life.

 

[shorty]

Terminal Stage.

[wndysrf]

FableNacy

 

When the BPI gets to 90-95 range, I'll start peeling off my energy stocks.

 

Getting closer.

[Drano]

Merciless, I see you're here. Say something, dude!

[I_Am_Madness]

Merciless, I see you're here. Say something, dude!

575700[/snapback]

[wndysrf]

New highs for Canada and CRX

 

 

[I_Am_Madness]

Finally my STZ closes above the 50.

Looking good.

[Drano]

AAPL's delaying the release of their new operating system -- supposedly, resources have been diverted so that iPhone will be released on schedule in June.

 

Good or bad for Shorty?