some light but interesting reading....
Heres an article/column/snippet from one of my favourite sites today....
"Tapping into the same vein, I have a thousand market topics in my head, but none of them deserves more than a minute of your valuable time. So without further delay, here are my quick takes on everything market-related on this fine April day.
Apple Computer: Its quarterly earnings and outlook were mediocre, but the stock opened four points higher anyway. Honestly, I suspect that Wall Street cheerleaders would find a way to spin the positive on iPod and Mac even if the feds dragged CEO Steve Jobs out in handcuffs.
Crude Oil: It's going to $100 per barrel in the next 12 to 18 months. The real surprise will be when it doesn't stop there, and starts heading for $200 dollars. Unfortunately, it's not a bubble, so put away your history books.
Inflation: Read or watch Jimmy Rogers. He notes that commodity bull markets, once they start, can last for decades. The screaming rally in all types of basic materials began just two years ago and might continue until 2020, and beyond. In the meantime, don't expect cheap interest rates again, ever.
Fed Governors: What they have to say in public rarely counts when they sit down in private and rule the world. So why are the financial media covering every Fed governor speech live these days? We're already suffering from major information overload. It's just bad television.
Tech Rotation: You've got to be kidding, right? There is no great or impending move into tech stocks in 2006. Stop believing in fairy tales.
Market Volatility Index (VIX): Ditch the index. I mean, just rip it out and stop using it entirely. It's obsolete. The markets are more, not less, volatile than they were just a few years ago, but the VIX indicator can't read that because it doesn't understand electronic trading.
Google: The long-term chart looks just fine, after the early-year selloff turned out to be a simple correction. This stock should test the rally high at $475 by the summer and then break out into the stratosphere again before year's end.
China: They're going to rule the world of capitalism some day, and there's absolutely nothing we can do about it. Perhaps if we didn't waste all our resources chasing shadows overseas we would have enough money left to make our system more competitive with the rest of the world. It's game over U.S.A.
Short Selling: Short sales are strictly a stockpicker's market these days, with the vast majority of short positions getting squeezed into oblivion. Of course, they're a lot easier if you're breaking the law and driving down companies using naked shorts. Boy, oh boy, I can't wait until the SEC rips the guts out of this practice.
The Dow Industrials: I still think it's topping out here, despite the continuous flirtation with multiyear highs. The big numbers it struck early in this decade are still holding up as major resistance.
Home Sales: The housing bubble is burst, unless you live where I do, in Phoenix. In that case, it's just begun.
Sentiment Surveys: These closely followed polls are a complete waste of time. It works like this: Private investors get bullish after the market goes up and bearish after the market goes down. Newsletter writers stay bullish forever because they need to sell product, and depressed subscribers cancel subscriptions.
The Consumer: Yes, we care about oil prices, inflation, the war and everything else we're told has already been priced into the market. We're also dumb as dirt when it comes to borrowing money and do extremely stupid things, like buying interest-only mortgages.
General Motors: The stock is holding the lows so far in 2006, and that's very good news. But there's still no valid reason to buy this blue-chip dog, or its weak catalog of motor vehicles.
Iran: The nuclear standoff is real scary and a potential market-mover. But I'm not worried about what the U.S. will do or not do. Instead, we need to pay a lot closer attention to Israel's reaction.
Alternative Energy and Ethanol Stocks: They're overbought because the public loves them, but they're still a major buy and a wave of the future. My favorite picks in the group are Archer Daniels Midland, Evergreen Solar and Pacific Ethanol.
Canslim: I put together a list of the IBD-100 about a year ago, and then forgot about it. Pulling up the list last weekend, I discovered that 80% of the stocks were considerably higher now than at the time they were placed in the list. That's scary-good performance in this confused market.
Gilead Sciences: I made a bad call on the stock in Monday's column. But have you looked at Amylin Pharmaceuticals or Genentech, which were also mentioned? Both are dropping like rocks, just as expected. You win some, you lose some. That's the way it works.
Thanks for tuning in. Good night, and good luck."