Prieur du Plessis submits:
I posted a short article “Picture du Jour: Keep an eye on small caps” about 10 days ago, arguing that small caps, a leading performer since the lows of March 9 last year, seem to be tiring. This is illustrated by the relative chart of the Russell 2000 Index versus the S&P 500 Index below. (A rising relative-strength trendline indicates small caps outperforming and vice versa.)
Michael Arrington submits:
Google (GOOG) has acquired a company that has created a new process for highly efficient isotope separation, we’ve confirmed from multiple sources. The primary use of this technology, say experts we’ve spoken with, is uranium enrichment.
Enriched uranium is a necessary ingredient in the creation of nuclear energy, and one source we’ve spoken with at Google says that this is part of the Google Green Initiative. The company will use the new technology to enable it to design and possibly build small, mobile and highly efficient nuclear power generators. “Google has already begun building an enrichment plant,” says a high ranking IAEA source.
John Lounsbury submits:
There has been a lot of news in recent weeks about precious metals trading, but a lot of it is not on the front pages. In fact, you have to dig to find some details. One recent nugget involves a London silver trader, Andrew Maguire. You can read Andrew Maguire’s e-mails to the CFTC (Commodity Futures Trading Commission) alleging silver market (and gold market) manipulation by JP Morgan Chase (JPM), available here, courtesy of King World News.
Maguire spells out in advance of the events exactly what moves will occur in six moderately lengthy detailed e-mails from January 26 through February 9, 2010.
Paul Kedrosky submits:
The Trouble Turning Over the U.S. Auto Fleet
Many people, myself included, consistently underestimate the difficulty of transitioning the U.S. auto fleet to something other than gasoline reliance. This chart makes that point clearly, because it’s hard to change the fleet when people insist on hanging onto their autos ever-longer.
Market Folly submits:
Dan Loeb’s hedge fund Third Point LLC has filed an amended 13D with the SEC in regards to shares of Nabi Biopharmaceuticals (NABI). Due to activity on March 29th, Third Point now shows a 12.1% ownership stake in NABI with 5,914,100 shares. This is a decrease in Third Point’s position as it sold shares on March 24th, 25th, and 29th. When we previously looked at Third Point’s portfolio, we noticed that it was the hedge fund’s 11th largest U.S. equity position. The bulk of Third Point’s sale came at a price of $5.75 per share. In total, Third Point sold 975,900 shares of Nabi Biopharmaceuticals and you can see a chart with the breakdown of the exact transactions below: (Click to enlarge)
So for now, Third Point has reduced its position size in this name. To learn how to invest like this hedge fund manager, check out Dan Loeb’s recommended reading list. And for more insight we’ve also posted Third Point’s commentary as well as its performance figures. Lastly, we’ve also covered other recent portfolio transactions out of Third Point for those interested as well.
Market Blog submits:
By David Berman
It is tempting to dismiss gold producers as a homogeneous group of stocks that merely trade with the price of gold. What a mistake.
Mark O’Byrne submits:
Gold
Gold fell to $1,101/oz in New York Tuesday before recovering to close with a loss of 0.53%. It has since risen from $1,105/oz to $1,110/oz in Asian trading this morning. Gold is currently trading at $1,109/oz and in euro and GBP terms, gold is trading at €825/oz and £732/oz respectively. Gold looks set for a lower close for the month of March (some 1%) but a higher close for the quarter.
Gold’s rise this morning is likely due to dollar weakness and oil, copper and some of the other commodities remaining firm. Global steel prices are set to soar after yesterday’s iron ore pricing deal and this will contribute to increasing inflation and more inflation hedging buying of gold.
Paul Kedrosky submits:
The Trouble Turning Over the U.S. Auto Fleet
Many people, myself included, consistently underestimate the difficulty of transitioning the U.S. auto fleet to something other than gasoline reliance. This chart makes that point clearly, because it’s hard to change the fleet when people insist on hanging onto their autos ever-longer.
Wealth Daily submits:
If Paul Revere were to make his fabled ride today, he would surely be warning us about the Chinese instead of the British.
The Chinese are coming. Perhaps faster than we all think.
Eddy Elfenbein submits:
Twelve million percent — that’s what micro-caps have done since the Great Depression.
Here’s a breakdown of market performance by size decile. The smallest have done the best and the biggest have done the worst.
