• There was a time when “General Electric” and any hint of “accounting irregularity” would be the lead story in the press.
  
  
• I’ve got some General Electric (GE) puts and the strategy, as discussed Friday, was to set a stop on the other side of $28.
  • STOCKS
  • RELATED ARTICLES
  • ALSO BY...

  SEARCH:

  Market Strong Despite Bad Macro News
  Buzz of the Street: Gold 1100?
  Strange Days
  Dear Mr. Bernanke, A Note to Say Thanks
  Debunking the Dollar's Demise
  

  The Ghosts of Periods Passed
  Freaky Friday Potpourri: When Push Comes to Shove
  Video: The Frisky Buffett
  The Frisky Buffett
  How Will 2009 End?
  
  
  
  
• In the spirit of the season, I’m going to call an audible and see how this opens before calling my next play on the Buzz & Banter.
  
  
• Policies and the ramifications thereof come in waves of psychological and structural acceptance. That’s an incredibly important point to remember as we find our way.
  
  
• Hedge Fund Shutters remain in play and that will add to unforeseen crosscurrents in the marketplace.
  
  
• Will the higher dollar be a chicken of causation or an egg of effect?
  
  
• I continue to have the “consumer vs. consumer” pairs trade on through calls in non-durables such as General Mills (GIS) and Coca-Cola (KO) (margin expansion due to input cost deflation) and puts in Sears Holding (SHLD) and Wal-Mart (WMT) (the other side of retail therapy).
  
  
• In that regard, pay particular attention to Campbell Soup (CPB) earnings on Wednesday for hints on how the pass through is playing out.
  
  
• Also remember that Wal-Mart is a two-stop shop, with the first level of resistance at $61 and the other at $64.
  
  
• While I ultimately foresee crude lower as a function of slowing global growth, I’ve been trading the USO from the long side into par ($100) for a trade.
  
  
• The weekend news—which is dollar negative—should help that position out of the opening gate while Hurricane Ike might provide an additional bid. Again, just a trade.
  
  
• Seven years on Thursday. Unbelievable. I would be lying if I said it didn’t “hit me” this past weekend, as it does in waves, albeit less frequent.
  
  
• We’ll be “celebrating life” at MVHQ when that closing bell rings, trying to prove once and for all that if something good comes from all things bad, that something is sometimes perspective.

• If you ran China's Central Bank and needed capital, how would you raise it?
  
  
• Societal acrimony? What societal acrimony?
  
  
• We needed a scientific study to figure this out?
  
  
• Couldn't we have learned the same thing by polling former Wall Street big shots?
  
  
• Does this chart--sent to us by Minyan Dom at Tradingthecharts--paint the other side of the grizzly picture?
  
  
• Or should Boo take solace in the fact that the VXO is at the halfway point to previous fear fulcrums?
  
  
• Are you using price to your advantage or reactively letting it determine your posture?
  
  
• Paul Volcker said that the financial system is "broken down" and this is the "most complicated" financial crisis he's ever seen?
  
  
• Wouldn't it be great if Minyans knew this before it happened?
  
  
• Have you taken your 2 week FREE trial to our premium real-time commentary on the Buzz & Banter?
  
  
• Is anyone else seeing the visual of the financials limping around like a wounded antelope as vultures circle from abroad waiting them to weaken more?
  
  
• Did you know the doors to Festivus 2008 are officially open? Have you yet locked your spot for the critter trot as last year's soiree sold out? (This is our annual event to commingle our professors, partners and Minyans while chowing down and listening to live music. The very best part? It's for the kids in the good name of my grandfather.)
  
  

R.P.