Archives for May 2012

May 2012 - Page 15 of 15 - Money Morning - Only the News You Can Profit From

Facebook Ventures Into New Territory with Organ Donor Status

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Facebook is now in the business of saving lives, with another change it hopes all of its members will move swiftly to "like."

The social network behemoth announced Tuesday morning a plan to encourage its millions of friends to start advertising their organ donor status on their Facebook pages. Facebook hopes the status update will create a kind of gentle peer pressure that will urge its 161 million U.S. members to add their names to the list of registered donors.

More than 114,000 people in the United States, and millions more worldwide, are waiting for life saving heart, liver or kidney transplants. On average, 18 die per day because there aren't enough organs for transplants.

Facebook aims to change that.

The status change is being rolled out first in the U.S. and the United Kingdom, where Facebook has some 30 million members.

Plans are to add other countries in the coming months.

Facebook CEO and founder Mark Zuckerberg said in a statement, "We never could have anticipated that what started as a small network would evolve into such a powerful tool for communication and problem solving."

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Will the Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) Deal with Barnes & Noble Work?

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The story behind Microsoft's (Nasdaq: MSFT) $300 million investment in Barnes and Noble's (NYSE: BKS) Nook is an easy read: Both companies win with the deal.

The duo is pairing to create a new subsidiary, with Microsoft taking a 17.6% stake. Microsoft will invest an additional $305 million over the next five years.

The deal gives the tech giant a long-desired grip in the business of e-books and college textbooks, which are moving to electronic distribution.

Microsoft will highlight a Nook app later this year on its Windows 8-powered tablets. This will let it compete against Apple Inc.'s (Nasdaq: AAPL) iPad and Amazon.com Inc.'s (Nasdaq: AMZN) Kindle Fire.

"It's a good strategic deal," Sid Parakh, an analyst at fund firm McAdams Wright Ragen, told Reuters. "It gets Microsoft in the game for e-readers, and gives them access to a market that has been growing nicely and they've basically sat out of. It also makes Windows 8 a more compelling platform from an e-readers perspective."

Microsoft Moves To Mobile

Monday's deal is a new chapter for both companies, especially Microsoft.

Microsoft has been testing the waters of the e-book field but has yet to really get its feet wet. Since it launched e-book software in 2000, it has never been able to amass a significant library. In fact, this software will be shelved on Aug. 30.

"The shift to digital is putting the world's libraries and newsstands in the palm of every person's hand, and is the beginning of a journey that will impact how people read, interact with, and enjoy new forms of content," Microsoft President Andy Lees said in a statement.

Microsoft has been overhauling its approach to mobile, which has taken a back seat to Apple's iOS and Google Inc.'s (Nasdaq: GOOG) Android. This new deal may just take a bite out of Apple or have Google ogling.

The move could be a game changer for Windows 8, as well as the Nook.

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What Magazine Covers Really Say About the Stock Market

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Will Rogers once said that "good judgment comes from bad experience, and a lot of that comes from bad judgment."

If he only knew.

Then again, as one of America's famous humorists and social commentators, I suspect he "knew" all too well that history rarely works out the way people think.

Take the late 1990s, for instance.

As capital markets liberalized and the Internet Age began in earnest it was a time of great hope.

Companies that had very little other than a ".com" after their name suddenly became worth hundreds of millions of dollars. Boo.com, Pets.com, and Kozmo.com are a few that come to mind.

But were any of them worthy of all the hype?

I was one of the few who didn't think so. Many people considered me a Luddite because of it.

I wasn't trying to be difficult. I just reasoned that when everybody "knew something" that the end was near.

How did I know?

Well I didn't…exactly. But, I had a good idea thanks to something my grandmother, Mimi, used to call the "country club" test.

After being widowed at a young age Mimi was a seasoned, successful global investor in her own right. She reasoned that when an investment or a trend began making the rounds over drinks, it was time to move on.

And if she heard something around the poker table, she'd actually bet in the other direction.

One day, I asked what her secret was.

In no uncertain terms she told me to look carefully at the world around me and, in particular, at magazine covers.

According to Mimi, they were the next best thing to a crystal ball. Because whatever is all over the covers is what's on top of the mind on the cocktail circuit — not to mention fodder for the masses…who are usually wrong.

Frankly, I thought Mimi had consumed one too many martinis. She loved them. Then, as my own career progressed, I began putting two and two together.

It turns out it wasn't the gin talking. Mimi was right.

Magazine Covers and the Stock Market

I've never forgotten Mimi's advice and still study magazine covers intently to this day because they help me latch on to important market shifts and trends that others either miss or simply don't see coming.

I am not so much interested in the stories themselves as I am in reading into the implications of headline copy. Many times I find out that what's being said in the headline isn't as important as what's being left unsaid.

For example, do you remember this magazine cover touting the "death of equities" from Business Week's August 13, 1979 edition?

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Warren Buffett Stocks: How to Invest Like the Oracle of Omaha

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For months, the Obama administration has been using Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (BRK.A, BRK.B) Chairman and CEO Warren Buffett's considerable name recognition to try to change how America's top earners are taxed.

The fate of the so-called "Buffett Rule," which would apply a minimum tax of 30% to individuals making more than $1 million a year, still has yet to be determined. Chalk it up to politics as usual.

There is, however, a list of other Buffett Rules that are far more useful to investors.

They're the tricks of the trade that have made Warren Buffett the most successful living investor, and one of the richest men in the world.

After all, the Oracle of Omaha hasn't earned his nickname by mistake. To many, it seems the billionaire has a sixth sense when it comes to investing, a supernatural ability to divine the good investments from bad.

But while his ability may be uncanny, there's really no magic at work. What Buffett has above all else is discipline. His philosophy is based on patience.

As a value investor, Buffett's goal is to identify companies the market has undervalued or companies that are trading cheaply compared to their intrinsic value.

Once he finds them, he buys them and holds on to them for the long term while their value steadily increases over decades.

Warren Buffett's Rules for Successful Investments

Beyond those simple tenets, there are a few rules – those other Buffett Rules – that guide Buffett's conscience as he makes investment decisions.

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Why Investors "Sell in May and Go Away"

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The time-value-of-money concept forms the basic foundation for all investments.

And like anything having to do with people, there are rhythms to the stock market that are a function of time– whether it is the time of the trading day or a particular time of year.

One of these seasonal rhythms is so strong it has given birth to its own adage. Every investor knows it.

It's the admonition to "Sell in May and go away," and it's a proven strategy that results in gains for investors.

According to Sy Harding, author of the book "The Bear: How to Prosper in the Coming BearMarket:" "Over the long term, the market makes most of its gains each year in the winter, and when there is a serious correction, it most often takes place in the summer. We've known about that pattern for decades. The pattern has been confirmed by independent academic studies."

The Logic Behind "Sell in May and Go Away"

There are a myriad of reasons for this, most having to do with the cash flow aspects of the business calendar.

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