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Editor's Note: This article was written by Anthony Randazzo director of economic research for the Reason Foundation.The financial services reforms of the Dodd-Frank Act were ostensibly aimed at many of the firms Congress sees as culprits in the financial crisis. The systemic risk oversight trading limits and compensation rules are largely directed at the big banks that dominate the financial industry. But with all of the focus on the banking sector there are two gigantic subprime elephants (GSE) in the room that have gone unnoticed: Fannie Mae (FNM) and Freddie Mac (FRE). The omission of Fannie and Freddie reform from ...

Vertex Pharmaceuticals (VRTX) has several catalysts coming up that investors should be paying close attention to -- it might be time to consider the biotech for your portfolio.While the biotech announced Wednesday that it posted a wider loss in the second quarter than it did in the corresponding period in the year prior Vertex also announced some news that could mean its fortunes will be turning around.Vertex told investors and analysts on Wednesday that it has initiated a rolling New Drug Application for its hepatitis C drug telaprevir. The drug is one of a few that has shown late-stage promise

When Dendreon (DNDN) surprised Wall Street by choosing a price for Provenge of $93 000 it was inevitable much of the conversation about Provenge going forward would revolve around price.When the Centers for Medicare Services (abbreviated CMS) dove in and launched a National Coverage Assessment (shortened to NCA) for Provenge this really got the debate about Provenge’s price moving. In retrospect the NCA process makes sense as CMS most likely wants to make sure it's not paying for off-label use of the drug.The outcome of the Provenge IMPACT trial was reported yesterday in the New England Journal of Medicine. As

Fact: Over the first six months of 2010 for the first time in history General Motors sold more cars in China than in the United States.Fact: GM's North American market share which once stood at 54% gave all but 19% of it away to foreign competitors in the years since.Fact: In 2005 Toyota (TM) Chairman Hiroshi Okuda actually floated the idea of raising retail prices on his own products to help GM saying “I'm concerned about the current situation GM is in.”At a certain point even the least-experienced fisherman knows enough to cut bait. Is it time for GM to

“My sister had troubles bought into bubbles; took her for all she was worth now she’s a swinger that married a singer I can’t decide which is worse.”There are several things in life you should do if you’re able.Eat a frozen hot chocolate at Serendipity3 in NYC.Enjoy a popover at BLT Steak in Manhattan.Catch a Petty show while the cat can still sing.I was at MSG last night with my brother to celebrate his 4-4. After the smooth bluesman Buddy Guy rocked the Garden like a baby TP delivered a fantastic set that melted years off the crowd. Very few

It’s been more than 17 months since the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act was signed. However fears of a US double-dip recession have mounted because the labor market remains so lousy. Little wonder then that only about 1 in 4 Americans believe that the stimulus has worked. In response President Obama and other government officials have been circling the country in what’s been described as a “perpetual tour” to boost the stimulus. More than 172 trips have been announced in support of what government officials have taken to calling “Recovery Summer.” Since June 21 the official start of summer the

Editor's Note: Read more from William Fleckenstein here. Night of the Living Dead Fish: We've Seen This Movie BeforeI'd like to take a look at Newmont Mining's (NEM) results as well as touch on a topic I continue to find absolutely absurd. I was certain after the equity bubble was over that the game of beat-the-number promoted by Bubblevision and lapped up by Wall Street would end. To me nothing is more moronic than looking at a company's earnings "analyzing" whether it made a penny more or less than the average guess and then buying or selling the stock. For

Editor's Note: The following was posted in real time on our premium Buzz & Banter (click for a free trial).Note that the SPDR Gold Shares (GLD) ETF’s bullion holdings collapsed over 18 tonnes (1.43%) to just over 1 282 tonnes yesterday.Now some might view that decline in bullion holdings as bearish but as I’ve noted before the historical record would argue that the opposite is true.Just as we used to see large mutual-fund redemptions by the public on lows in the stock market back during its secular bull market one-day declines in this ETF’s holdings of over 1% have tended

I've been reading a lot about how Europe's economy has recovered and how our economy is floundering. A lot of the upbeat assessment comes from some recent data released about Germany's business confidence and GDP growth in the UK. Below is an excerpt from Reuters' "Europe's Prospects Brighten as US Fades " which lays out exactly what the fuss is all about: German business confidence is soaring while US consumer sentiment sinks.Britain's second-quarter economic growth was almost twice as fast as expected the strongest in four years.Meanwhile economists have steadily marked down forecasts for Friday's US gross domestic product report.I

Powered by its high-profile line of Android (GOOG) smartphones on Verizon's (VZ) network Motorola (MOT) posted largely positive second-quarter earnings today that edged out analysts' expectations.Excluding some costs the company earned $0.09 a share which narrowly beat Wall Street estimates of $0.08. Second-quarter revenue dripped 1.5% to $5.41 billion but was roughly $200 million higher than expectations.Revenue in Motorola's mobile-devices division had mixed results falling 6% from last year to $1.7 billion. However its adjusted operating loss shrank from $239 million in 2009's second quarter to $109 million.The road ahead looks bright but not blinding for Motorola. Despite the smear

Editor's Note: David Banister is the chief investment strategist and co-founder of ActiveTradingPartners.com a small-cap portfolio and market advisory service. See more of his commentary here.I enjoy making controversial calls based on human behavioral topping and bottoming patterns often referred to as Elliott Wave Theory. This is a difficult pattern-recognition model to follow as there can be numerous interpretations. Instead I look for additional clues like sentiment indicators a few traditional technical indicators headlines in the news and covers of papers etc. Recently I saw an article on Bloomberg indicating that short positions were at two-year lows with the ratio

Editor's Note: Read more from Jeb Handwerger at Gold Stock Trades.New Gold (NGD) has been one of my long-term recommendations -- since May of 2009 when it was selling at $2.50. I've always been impressed by the quality of assets New Gold owns. It's unique in the mining sector it's leading the sector in increasing production and reducing cash costs. In two years this company has gone from being in debt to having a comfortable net cash position.New Gold has three operating mines in mining-friendly jurisdictions and cash costs have significantly decreased. Costs are expected to go down further when

Below are some of the most-discussed stock charts on Minyanville's Buzz & Banter presented without bias claim or injury. For in-depth commentary analysis and trading ideas on these stocks and much more take a free two week trial to Buzz & Banter.Microsoft (MSFT)CLICK TO ENLARGEVirgin Media (VMED) CLICK TO ENLARGESprint (S) CLICK TO ENLARGENvidia (NVDA) CLICK TO ENLARGE Western Digital (WDC)CLICK TO ENLARGE

Despite an elevated unemployment rate weak consumer sentiment and a hoard of homeowners strategically defaulting on mortgages an opportunity may exist in real estate. One positive force working in favor of an upbeat real estate market is affordability. With the real estate sector being depressed for such a long period of time prices are at record lows on a per-capita disposable income basis. In fact when adjusted for inflation organic income growth is on the rise and is expected to continue to increase as businesses expand and the overall economy improves. To further support the affordability force mortgage rates are

Editor's Note: The following was posted in real time on our premium Buzz & Banter (click for a free trial). My (S&P futures) 1108.50 and 1118.00 targets for this leg of the rally are similar to Todd Harrison's 1115 area. I expect this area to launch the next downleg and I expect big things from it. Bigger turning points are messier. As more and more buyers become sellers weight distributions shift unpredictability. Price begins to drop sporadically propped up by late-comers.Late-comers are attracted by a variety of things and a lower price is only incidental.Perhaps more important to them is

Most traders I've been talking with are feeling the same thing. Something big is brewing for the equities market but most don't want to get heavily involved until there's a clear direction. The broad market has been consolidating for almost three months and it’s important to remember that the larger the consolidation the bigger the move.Also the biggest and best moves come from failed patterns. So is the big head-and-shoulders pattern on the S&P 500 which everyone is yelling about really going to happen? Or is this the big fake out? Only time will tell but no matter which way

Yesterday Amazon (AMZN) announced that it's trying to go “mass market” by releasing a new Kindle e-reader. On paper it seems like Amazon may be making the right moves; but when you look closer Amazon may have swung and missed. Improvements to the Kindle include a screen that features increased grayscale contrast a battery that lasts for a month and it’s slightly smaller than the last version. The reader comes with a Wi-Fi and 3G version and a Wi-Fi-only version. The 3G-Wi-Fi version will sell for $189 and the Wi-Fi-only version will sell for $139 making it the cheapest reader

From Yellowstone to New York yesterday brought painful reminders the bear often awakes without warning. Dow Industrials saw their four session winning streak snapped after the Fed’s beige book looked more like hospital white to investors and a drumbeat of earnings which beat the Street was overshadowed by an unexpected second successive decline in durable goods. (Defined as expensive items designed to last upwards of three years; think Lindsay Lohan’s wardrobe as opposed to her career.) A day after JWoww walked on Wall Street Obama took a sub to the Jersey Shore. That our skinniest ever president no stranger to

Editor's Note: This article was written by Richard Suttmeier chief market strategist at ValuEngine.com which is a fundamentally-based quant research firm in Princeton New Jersey that covers more than 5 000 stocks every day.10-Year Note -- (3.001) This yield returned to my annual pivot at 2.999 once again after failing again between my annual pivot at 2.999 and annual risky level at 2.813 for the second time in July. Semiannual and quarterly value levels are 3.479 and 3.486 with weekly and annual risky levels at 2.875 and 2.813. Quarterly and semiannual risky levels are 2.495 and 2.249. Comex Gold --

The Efficient Market Hypothesis (EMH) is not only dead it’s really most sincerely dead. In fact one could argue that an excess volatility tornado caused a bank-owned house to land on its head and kill it once and for all.While James Kostohryz suggests that only “Nietzschean populist anti-intellectual” munchkins waving pitchforks and torches are proclaiming “ding-dong the wicked EMH is dead” in between their tea party meetings the truth is that it was killed by rigorous academic analysis throughout the 1980s and 1990s led by Schiller (Yale) and Lo & McKinlay (MIT). Academia completely turned its back on EMH following