Does Apple want to sell TV's?

Intriguing idea. And why not? They pretty much own the rest of the media space - the next revolutionary step should be home entertainment. They apparently have been securing lots of supply of some product...lcd displays?

Stock up on that coffee

Coz the prices have gone ballistic, and it's about time the costs will be passed on to the consumer.

Of note, target has a great deal on Starbucks coffee right now...discounted + a small gift card for buying in bulk.

Overbought readings

At this juncture, the stock market looks very overbought. While timing declines based on such indicators in not of much value, it certainly does imply that any further gains from here will be tenuous and prone to sudden downdrafts. The indicators I follow for this are:

• CBOE index and equity put/call ratio
• ISE sentiment index
• VIX/VXO volatility indices

Long term dollar chart

As much as the fed has been trying to debase the dollar, this long term chart shows that it's fallen back to a little below where it was before the tech boom (the dollar index is the weighted avg. of the dollar against trading partners). If technical analysis has any value, the dollar should now bounce off that lower wedge line. On the other hand, a breakdown below that line will be mighty significant which might propel gold, silver and stocks to the sky!

Silver

All I can say is WOW!!

nflx

While the broader markets have gone nowhere since reaching their peak in April, Netflix stock has doubled! Of course, the company has been going gangbusters while the competition lays by the wayside. Reasons attributed to the meteoric rise are expansion into Canadian markets, savings from postage costs as more subscribers shift to watch content online and the potential to add more subscribers attracted to its increasing arsenal of entertainment programming.

In spite of these reasons, valuing such a company at almost 60 times earnings is insane! This is purely a momentum stock. While it may do really well as a company in the long run, the stock will most likely not give good returns for anyone buying at such lofty levels. I just shorted some, ready to get my fingers burnt a little but will bail if it continues to go stratospheric.

Junk

The junk bond rally through this year has been an absolute blessing for many companies. This means that companies with low credit ratings are able to issue bonds at favorable interest rates. Also, there is a lot of debt that needs to be refinanced in the next few years. Remember that the unavailability of short term financing was one of the big problems of the prior crisis. Although I don't have a sanguine view of the economy, it looks like the fiscal strain on many companies is being eased. Still, the household sector is in shambles and until that is restored, there will be no rapid growth in GDP.