I bought a couple of more bricks in mid-town Manhattan by adding 25 shares of S L Green at around 15. This brings my total involvement in Manhattan real estate to 50 shares of SLG and 100 shares of SLGPRD. Being a penny pincher sometimes, I decided to buy those shares when SLG started to fall to below 14.8 but was too slow in entering the order. Bricks are a lot more expensive up in NY than here in Tennessee. I am limited in the amount of money that I can use to buy common stocks as previously explained. I am taking the $400 or so used to fund this buy from the remaining $2000 left from the Kraft sell. The shares in SLG are certainly volatile. This will have to be a long term hold with no stop loss given the volatility in the shares. The way that I limit my loss in those circumstances is simply to ease into the position at different intervals in both time and price and, most importantly, limiting the total amount of cash used to buy shares to well within my tolerance levels for a total loss.
An early rally evaporated after the release of dismal consumer confidence numbers. MarketWatch
If you start to expect nothing but dismal and awful news, then there is no longer any surprise component. I expect just awful news for at least the next six months. The market is however giving the appearance of trying to find some stability at the 8000 level in the DJIA and in the low to mid 800s for the S & P 500.
Excluding costs from restructuring, DuPont reported a loss of 28 cents for the 4th quarter as compared to earnings of 60 cents in the prior year period. DD also lowered its forecast for 2009 to a range of $2 to $2.5. MarketWatch The current price of 23 and change already reflects a lot of bad news. The stock has already returned to 1991 levels. CNBC.com
Verizon released a decent report. Earnings before restructuring charges met estimates at 61 cents. Costs associated mainly with a reduction in the work force reduced earnings per share to 43 cents. Verizon Wireless added 1.4 million customers in the 4th quarter ending the year with over 72 million customers. Retail additions were at 1.2 million. During 2008 VZ lost 12.2% of its residential land lines. It added in the 4th quarter 282,000 high speed internet customers and 303,000 TV customers.
There was a slowdown in new wireless customers compared to the 3rd quarter and revenue was slightly under the analysts' estimate. Analysts were expecting 1.6 million new wireless customers. Seeking Alpha I have a small position in both Verizon's stock and senior bonds. I am considering adding some shares on further price weakness. Maybe it is just me, but I view that down move this morning in VZ stock to be unjustified.
Corning announced that it will cut 13% of its payroll. GLW reported a 31% decline in revenue for the 4th quarter and earnings of 13 cents before items.
The TC with the senior Liberty Media bond, PIS, goes ex interest tomorrow.
DISCLAIMER:
I am not a financial advisor but an individual investor trying to navigate my way through a difficult market. In these posts, I am acting as an unpaid financial journalist and an occasional political commentator. I am also aggregating financial news stories that I view as important and providing any reader of these posts, assuming there are more than a couple, with links to those articles, sort of a filtered, somewhat intelligent, free search engine. Any discussion made by me of particular securities is not a recommendation to buy or to sell. Trade at your own risk. Consult with your financial advisor prior to making any purchase or sale. I will try to identify my sales too but it may take a few minutes after I implement them to create a post explaining my reasons. The sale may before or after the post. Before buying or selling any stock, even one recommended by a trusted financial advisor, please research it and make up your own mind which is what I always try to do. Research would include reading reports, reviewing financial records, earnings estimates, sec filings and prior earnings releases and news. In this post, and all others by me, I am merely describing my reasons for purchasing or selling securities, and the potential pitfalls that I identified prior to purchase or the reasons for a sale. The securities mentioned in this and all posts written by me may not be suitable for others based on their unique financial position and risk profile. Always read the prospectus before buying a Trust Certificate, bond, preferred stock or other bond or bond like investments. Information contained in my posts has been obtained from sources believed to be reliable but cannot be guaranteed. These posts by me do not constitute investment advice, nor shall they be construed as a guarantee of future results, or as an offer of any transaction in securities. All content in these posts is provided for informational and entertainment purposes only, and it is a form of entertainment for me.
The S & P Case Schiller 20 city home price index has showed a 25.1% fall in home prices since peaking in July 2006.S&P: Home values post 18.2 pct annual drop in Nov.: Financial News - Yahoo! Finance
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