Comments on: Begin the Fourth Quarter Reshaping

By: David Merkel

David Merkel — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 16:41:33 +0000

Eric, they were obviously smarter than me on HIG. I’ve had my share of bad calls; add this one to the number.

By: The Market Traders

The Market Traders — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 10:52:27 +0000

Big Troubles for the Euro…

David Merkel submits: The Euro has been falling recently versus the Dollar. Why? There have been many theories proposed, but I want to offer my own theory this evening. Fiat currencies are political creatures, and are only as strong a…

By: Steve Milos

Steve Milos — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 05:12:45 +0000

David,

I’m not sure if you had included any of these types of positions, but it seems to me as though agency closed end funds might be a good buy here; FNMA, FRMC, and GNMA are all trading at very wide spreads to Treasuries, which seems a bit much given the now explicit guarantee. And closed-ends are trading at very wide discounts generally, on the equity side. I’m not sure which particular closed-ends are attractive, but you might know. Interesting idea, anyways, I think.

Steve

By: Eric

Eric — Sun, 05 Oct 2008 14:50:26 +0000

What are people afraid of about HIG that you’re not afraid of?

By: Andrew Abraham

Andrew Abraham — Sat, 04 Oct 2008 19:36:30 +0000

Do you think the market is bottoming and oversold… or could we waterfall… all week we have been chatting about this on my investors place …. what do you think… thanks

By: matt

matt — Sat, 04 Oct 2008 12:39:56 +0000

Mr. Merkel:

Can you explain (at the high level) how you rank sectors and how you screened for that enormous list?

By: matt wilbert

matt wilbert — Sat, 04 Oct 2008 12:26:48 +0000

Take a look at HIMX. Not the most timely stock, but I’m not sure a lot of stocks are right now.

I own a tiny position.