8. September 2009 by Dan Walkow, CFA, CMT.

In another sign of economic recovery, benchmark 1-gigabit computer-memory chip climbed to a 1-year high of $1.71, an indication of increased demand, according to Dramexchange Technology, operator of Asia’s biggest spot market for the chips.

Just to give you an idea of the profitability of the chip business consider that 1 gig of memory for your computer costs $ 1.71 to make and retails here in Vancouver for about $60. Thats the no name brand! Seems like good margins to me.

I am of the view that we are in for a technology cycle upgrade over the next two years where a new operating system from Microsoft, suppressed corporate spending and capacity busting usage of the Internet will propel a strong market recovery in the technology sector. The technology sector has been the best performing sector since the lows in March and I suspect it will continue for some time to come.

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28. August 2009 by Dan Walkow, CFA, CMT.

At a time when everyone thought the small car was king and Asian automakers were eating Detroit’s lunch, a big Michigan-built truck is proving that buyers still go crazy for a jumbo vehicle with torque.

Ford Motor Co.’s F-Series pickup has again asserted itself as the top-selling vehicle nationwide, new research by DesRosiers Automotive Consultants shows. By a long shot.

The crowd has been clamouring about the death of the North American auto industry seems the crowd is wrong again! On March 8 of this year I posted Ford on this blog commenting that they were getting it right. The stock was 1.70 per share at the time and the close last night was 7.67. It does not pay to listen to the crowd…

Read more here.

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17. July 2009 by Dan Walkow, CFA, CMT.

Power companies are scrambling trying to get ahead of the curve for the anticipated demand for power for electric powered vehicles.

There is a lot of work to be done from fixing up an aged power grid to installing power delivery systems capable of “fast charging” electric vehicles.

A new growth driver for electric utilities offers some interesting investment opportunities.

To get a peek of what is on the horizon read: Utilities Scramble to Meet Power Needs of Electric Cars at Time.

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7. June 2009 by Dan Walkow, CFA, CMT.

Of course, we now know that more choice isn’t a universal good. Because the brain is a bounded machine - it can only process so much information at any given moment - people actually find excessive choice repellent. When we’re given too many options and no way of distinguishing between them - the different varieties of floss all seem equivalent - we experience a tremor of anxiety, the mild panic of supermarket uncertainty.

Jonah Lehrer comments on a recent study done at Columbia University on how people react when given more investment choices for their retirement programs.

 Bottom line, too much choice tends to make investors “freeze up” rather than enhance their investment experience and investment returns.

I would take that one step further and suggest the major problem investors face today is ” too much information” when it comes to making investment decisions. The Internet along with aggressive marketing programs by investment service providers lead to more confusion and subsequently “more stress” for investors.

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8. March 2009 by Dan Walkow, CFA, CMT.

Mulally was interviewed at the ECO:nomics conference by WSJ reporters.  One has to be impressed with Mulally as he is certainly cool under fire. Just at the  helm of Ford for a little over two years now, he previously ran Boeing, he has done a lot of things right. In my opinion he is still doing things right. With the recent union agreements in place along with the financial reorganization efforts this past week which, no doubt, will be dilutive to existing shareholders risk tolerant investors with a 3-5 year time horizon may be encouraged to nibble here.

At $ 1.70 a share its not a bad long term option but lets see how dilutive this financial re-org is going be over the next short while. Chart-wise the stock is above its prior low but there is nothing compelling from a technical point of view at this point.

See the interview for yourself on Market-Watch here.

Ford Feista- A Global Car - The new Ford Fiesta has been recognized as the “Most Successful Design of 2008” by Fortune China, “Best Car” by Business Week, and awarded “Car of the Year” by What Car? magazine in the UK.

According to the Financial Times Ford Motor moved on Wednesday to bolster its liquidity and avoid a US government bailout by offering to swap up to $10.4bn in debt for equity and cash.

Now, it appears that China wants to be a major player in the global automotive industry. It may be prepared to finance the buy-out of Volvo, a division of Ford (F). The Times is reportingthe Chinese car firm Geely may purchase  the car company that was originally based in Sweden. Volvo is the second largest truck-maker in the world.

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8. March 2009 by Dan Walkow, CFA, CMT.

Click on the charts to enlarge.

The one area of healthcare the Obama Administration seems to favour is that of stem cell research. Here are two of the leading stem cell research companies. High risk, to be sure, but a breakthrough in this line of medical research could be very beneficial to health-care and financially rewarding for those investors prepared to take the risk.

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8. March 2009 by Dan Walkow, CFA, CMT.

Suncor has been building a base since October and despite new market lows has retained support at $22. Recent crossover action by the 60 and 90 day moving averages suggest that an assult on on the $30 break-out level may be imminent. (Click on the chart to enlarge.)

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8. March 2009 by Dan Walkow, CFA, CMT.

Click on the chart to enlarge.

Copper is a leading economic indicator, after building a short-term base are we ready for liftoff? Note how Freeport is tracking copper.

Disclosure: We own Freeport McMoran in client accounts.

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7. March 2009 by Dan Walkow, CFA, CMT.

James Kwak wades into the banking crisis on why the discussion isn’t explicit. This a good thread building on my prior post.

Worth a read here.

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7. March 2009 by Dan Walkow, CFA, CMT.

A comment in Barrons todays gives a little perspective!

“While the U.S. has the resources to bail out its financial institutions, the same may not be said for many other governments,” says Jonathan Golub, a former Bear Stearns strategist who now runs his own firm, Golub Market Insights. Belgium’s short-term bank liabilities are roughly 285% of its gross domestic product, while the figure is 260% for Switzerland, 156% for Great Britain and 60% for France and Germany — versus 15% for the U.S.

Credit default swaps (CDS) are a type of insurance on debt securities and the pricing of these swaps builds in a forward looking market view of the risk of default. A piece in Baseline Scenario notes the the price of CDS swaps are back up to mid-October levels.

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