October 2006 Archives

[TradeKing]
TradeKing is an online broker specializing in options and equities. Website has trade commentary from members.

[Visual Studio 2005 IDE Enhancements]

Enhancements to Visual Studio 2005 IDE through extensions:

• Source Code Outliner
  Tree view of source code's types and members, allows navigation
• Indexed Find
  Uses Microsoft Indexing Service for improved Search
• Super Diff Utility
  Compare text files with color coding and graphics to highlight differences: deleted (red), changed (blue), inserted (green)
• Event Toaster Utility
  Notification of specific events IDE

[Comments on the features]

Factors in rating potential for a relationship

• education
• recreational interests
• closeness in age
• career goals
• family/life goals
• personalities

I'm not sure where I got this.

The article outlines the basic use of trailing stops:

The most basic technique for establishing an appropriate exit point is the trailing-stop technique. Very simply, the trailing stop maintains a stop-loss order at a precise percentage below the market price (or above, in the case of a short position). The stop-loss order is adjusted continually based on fluctuations in the market price, always maintaining the same percentage below (or above) the market price. The trader is then "guaranteed" to know the exact minimum profit that his or her position will garner. This level of profitability the trader will have previously determined based on his or her predilection toward aggressive or conservative trading.

and then describes methods of determining where to set the stop.

[Trailing Stop Techniques]

The money sentence: "The swaps themselves have become a research tool for analysts who monitor their trading activity as a means of keeping abreast of possible pending deals."

[SeekingAlpha]
[Bloomberg]

Summary: Credit Derivatives Research LLC, a New York-based independent research group, contends in a recent study that derivatives traders may be profiting from inside information on leveraged buyouts. The tip-off was the rise -- prior to the public announcement of any deals -- of credit-default swaps based on the bonds of 30 takeover targets in 2006, including four of the year's five biggest LBOs. "Evidence shows that CDS prices are widening before public rumor or news," said Tim Backshall, a strategist at Credit Derivatives Research. "Whether it's insider trading or more informed selling is unclear." Credit-default swaps are contracts derived from bonds and loans that are used to speculate on a company's ability to repay debt. They were designed ostensibly to protect bondholders from default -- they will pay the holder face value in exchange for the underlying securities if the company fails to pay its debts -- but they have proven very attractive to speculators, since they are less expensive and more liquid than corporate bonds. Since their invention less than a decade ago, the total face value of CDS contracts worldwide has reached $26 trillion -- a faster growth rate than any other derivative. The study notes that in 2005, the cost of credit-default swaps on $10 million of Knight Ridder bonds surged 35% one day before the company's largest shareholder called for a sale in an SEC filing. Credit-default swaps on $10 million of HCA Inc. bonds rose 48% in 2 1/2 months before news broke that the hospital operator was in talks for what has turned out to be a $33 billion LBO. And the week before the New York Times reported on Sept. 11 that Freescale Semiconductor may be sold for $16 billion to an investor group, credit-default swaps based on the company's bonds rose 11%. CDS traders are essentially unregulated: neither the SEC nor the Commodity Futures Trading Commission [CFTC] claims responsibility for their actions. The swaps themselves have become a research tool for analysts who monitor their trading activity as a means of keeping abreast of possible pending deals.

[Documentation of Yahoo stock quote fields]

'Symbol'                =>  's',    # old default
'Name'                =>  'n',    # old default
'Last Trade (With Time)'        =>  'l',
'Last Trade (Price Only)'        =>  'l1',    # old default
'Last Trade Date'            =>  'd1',    # old default
'Last Trade Time'            =>  't1',    # old default
'Last Trade Size'            =>  'k3',
'Change and Percent Change'    =>  'c',
'Change'                =>  'c1',    # old default
'Change in Percent'        =>  'p2',    # old default
'Ticker Trend'            =>  't7',
'Volume'                =>  'v',    # old default
'Average Daily Volume'        =>  'a2',    # old default
'More Info'            =>  'i',
'Trade Links'            =>  't6',
'Bid'                =>  'b',    # old default
'Bid Size'            =>  'b6',
'Ask'                =>  'a',    # old default
'Ask Size'            =>  'a5',
'Previous Close'            =>  'p',    # old default
'Open'                =>  'o',    # old default
"Day's Range"            =>  'm',    # old default
'52-week Range'            =>  'w',    # old default
'Change From 52-wk Low'        =>  'j5',
'Pct Chg From 52-wk Low'        =>  'j6',
'Change From 52-wk High'        =>  'k4',
'Pct Chg From 52-wk High'        =>  'k5',
'Earnings/Share'            =>  'e',    # old default
'P/E Ratio'            =>  'r',    # old default
'Short Ratio'            =>  's7',
'Dividend Pay Date'        =>  'r1',    # old default
'Ex-Dividend Date'        =>  'q',
'Dividend/Share'            =>  'd',    # old default
'Dividend Yield'            =>  'y',    # old default
'Float Shares'            =>  'f6',
'Market Capitalization'        =>  'j1',    # old default
'1yr Target Price'        =>  't8',
'EPS Est. Current Yr'        =>  'e7',
'EPS Est. Next Year'        =>  'e8',
'EPS Est. Next Quarter'        =>  'e9',
'Price/EPS Est. Current Yr'    =>  'r6',
'Price/EPS Est. Next Yr'        =>  'r7',
'PEG Ratio'            =>  'r5',
'Book Value'            =>  'b4',
'Price/Book'            =>  'p6',
'Price/Sales'            =>  'p5',
'EBITDA'                =>  'j4',
'50-day Moving Avg'        =>  'm3',
'Change From 50-day Moving Avg'    =>  'm7',
'Pct Chg From 50-day Moving Avg'    =>  'm8',
'200-day Moving Avg'        =>  'm4',
'Change From 200-day Moving Avg'    =>  'm5',
'Pct Chg From 200-day Moving Avg'    =>  'm6',
'Shares Owned'            =>  's1',
'Price Paid'            =>  'p1',
'Commission'            =>  'c3',
'Holdings Value'            =>  'v1',
"Day's Value Change"        =>  'w1',
'Holdings Gain Percent'        =>  'g1',
'Holdings Gain'            =>  'g4',
'Trade Date'            =>  'd2',
'Annualized Gain'            =>  'g3',
'High Limit'            =>  'l2',
'Low Limit'            =>  'l3',
'Notes'                =>  'n4',
'Last Trade (Real-time) with Time'=>  'k1',
'Bid (Real-time)'            =>  'b3',
'Ask (Real-time)'            =>  'b2',
'Change Percent (Real-time)'    =>  'k2',
'Change (Real-time)'        =>  'c6',
'Holdings Value (Real-time)'    =>  'v7',
"Day's Value Change (Real-time)"    =>  'w4',
'Holdings Gain Pct (Real-time)'    =>  'g5',
'Holdings Gain (Real-time)'    =>  'g6',
"Day's Range (Real-time)"        =>  'm2',
'Market Cap (Real-time)'        =>  'j3',
'P/E (Real-time)'            =>  'r2',
'After Hours Change (Real-time)'    =>  'c8',
'Order Book (Real-time)'        =>  'i5',
'Stock Exchange'            =>  'x'        # old default

2008-05-21: I wish I knew what this was saying. Looks like python code but I'm not sure how it is supposed to be used.

URL url='http://finance.yahoo.com/d/quotes.csv?s=btu&f=sohgpv&e=.csv'; tickers=string.join(tickers)
query={ 's':tickers, 'f':'sohgpv', 'e':'.csv' }

I think I'll use this for crossword puzzles: imdb.com, dictionary.com, and wikipedia.

Have a website or collection of sites you'd like to search over? With Custom Search Engine, you can harness the power of Google to create a search engine tailored to your needs.

[Google Custom Search Engine]

This is a favorite geeky travel link. It allows you to determine the great circle distance between any two airports or just any two points by latitude and longitude. Useful for settling the kinds of bets we have here: which is farther from New York, A or B?

[Great circle mapper]

*Trading rule RIO 25 Sep 2006 Hit low on a hammer with high trade and reversed the next day. Is there a signal that indicates a broad reversal started that day?

*Finance blog http://www.guzzothecontrarian.com/

*XP-compatible taskbar http://www.freewebs.com/nerdcave/taskbarshuffle.htm BTW, this reminds of a wonderful little XP-compatible taskbar reordering thingy-ma-bob that I discovered a few months ago[1]. It's wonderfully simple... allows you drag-n-drop taskbar buttons, allows you to group them without collapsing them, etc, etc. Best of all, it just works.

The Final Word on Futurephone

*Tracking down managed memory leaks (how to find a GC leak) http://blogs.msdn.com/ricom/archive/2004/12/10/279612.aspx

*Textbox validation http://www.codeproject.com/vb/net/TextBoxValidation.asp

[SmartMoney correlation tracker]
[Who controls the market]

The Ultimate Mystery: Popular Sport Beats SATs at Ranking Universities Academically

Whether measured by graduation rate or prestigious scholarships -- the result is the same. What is this sport that mysteriously divines a university's stature so precisely? It's called Ultimate Frisbee, or more commonly just Ultimate. It is the fastest growing college sport and is already played interscholastically at over 500 colleges and universities. While wildly popular on campuses, relatively few in the wider world have even heard of it.

A study (slated for release September 1) by Dr. Michael Norden shows that among all 86 private national universities, those ranking in the top half for Ultimate have a graduation rate of over 85%, while those in the bottom half graduate just 60%. The difference in the totals of Rhodes scholars and Marshall scholars among their graduates during this decade is even more dramatic - 208 versus 15. (The odds of this happening by chance are truly infinitesimal). Moreover, the top ten schools based on Ultimate ranking have a slightly higher mean graduation rate and more winners of top scholarships than schools chosen by - not only SATs, but any standard metric including: grades, faculty resources, and financial resources.

*Eye evolution http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M3OZndaMi8c&eurl=

*Top 10 Ways To Recover After Physical Exercises http://uncommonbody.blogspot.com/2006/09/top-10-ways-to-recover-after-physical.html

*Magic formula investing Joel Greenblatt's site http://www.magicformulainvesting.com/

*Zero savings, 'dream jobs' and nest eggs Millionaires are dreamers, but not about cushy retirements! http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/Story.aspx?guid=%7B3E930A60%2DBE58%2D4AE2%2D8BB8%2D09240F262F80%7D&siteid=

Cramer's Ten Commandments of Trading

Commandment No. 1: Keep It a Trade
In this special look at Jim Cramer's latest book, he lays out a brutal, but effective, rule.

Commandment No. 2: First Loss Is Best
Why you should leave a trade that doesn't work immediately.

Commandment No. 3: Take Your Losses
Cramer clears up a common, and costly, trading misconception.

Commandment No. 4: Trading Gains, Not Investment Losses
Cramer describes a slippery slope for traders and how to avoid it.

Commandment No. 5: Tips Are for Waiters
Cramer points out why tips are best left on the table.

Commandment No. 6: No Sale? No Profit
Cramer lays out why you have to take gains, especially now.

Commandment No. 7: Control Your Losses
Cramer shows an easy way to improve your returns.

Commandment No. 8: Don't Fear That You'll Miss Anything
Cramer points out a reason to control this impulse.

Commandment No. 9: Don't Trade Off Only the Headlines
Cramer points out the reason to resist the knee-jerk reaction.

Commandment No. 10: Don't Trade Flow
Cramer warns that the tape reveals sucker plays, not good trades.

*Zack's simulator http://simulator.zacks.com

*Zack's feeds http://www.zacks.com/external/index_feeds.php