The Disciplined Investor

MarketMash

Entitled : How to Simplify Your Stock Research, Barron’s author Mike Hogan attempts to deliver an article to  provide some help when researching stocks, yet it does nothing of the sort. Instead it discusses how Google Docs can be used to gather information and Google’s Notebook is a good organizational tool. Read more »

Screens

* Buy 300 shares of United States Natural Gas Fund (UNG) with a limit of $40 and a protective sell stop at $36.90. Enter buy transaction after 10:30am ET.

When I was growing up, I can recall that the official end of summer was signified by a Labor Day barbecue where we would gather and watch the MDA Telethon hosted by Jerry Lewis. It was the last memory before school started and the fiscal work year began.

For many investors, this will come as a relief. The summer has been brutal. From June 1 to Aug. 26, the Dow Jones industrials ($INDU) fell more than 8%, while the Dow Europe Index dropped more than 15%. At the same time, the price of oil dropped 8% as speculators ran from the coming storm of legislative action squarely aimed at controlling rampant manipulation done through unregulated exchanges.

Read the rest of the article and get a screening criteria to search for potential stocks to short.

Strategy Lab

My latest MSN Strategy Lab Journal Update: Lately there has been a generally accepted theory that credit card issuers with exposure to loan losses will have great difficulty in this slowing economy, while card companies that simply earn money from transactions will thrive.

That’s incorrect.

The latter group contains two well-known companies, MasterCard (MA) and Visa (V), that are considered card-processing companies. They earn money each time a card is used.

But don’t be fooled. These are by no means recession-proof and could see more selling pressure the longer the economy suffers. (See my related MoneyShow video, “Is credit priceless?“)

I know what you are thinking. There is a shortage of money out there, and many people have turned to their credit cards to help fund daily living. There’s no arguing this point. The figures show an enormous increase in credit card usage and a corresponding increase to personal debt over the last year.

But that just cannot continue indefinitely. Here are a few reasons card usage and the number of new cards will begin to decline:

Read the rest of the article on MSN Money HERE.…

Gameplan

MSN Money TopStocks

It is no secret that markets have been tough for everyone and on Friday, Chairman Bernanke said, ” the crisis is softening growth, raising joblessness, and the Fed’s job is one of the most challenging in memory”. At the same time, he believes that the recent trend of the dollar will likely slow inflation. The market took that as good news and a reason to raise stocks and crush oil. Read more »

Media

So, minding my own business, I am interviewed for my thoughts on the Enron Loophole and Oil. I did some research on the publication and found that they are a group that says they are a “publication of the Communist Party, USA.” Hmmm. Good thing it is not the 50’s.

Below is the summary of what they are trying to achieve and an excerpt from the article.

You know… I wonder why the reporter never told me about his publication. Just goes to show you that a name is not always fully descriptive.

“Political Affairs is an online magazine of ideology, politics, and culture. Our mission is to go beyond simply giving an account of events to providing analysis and investigating what is new and changing in our world – from a working-class point of view.
Read more »