March 5, 2012 - Weekly Articles To Read

Starting this monday, every week I will post links to articles I have read that I think everyone should be reading, especially people just starting to invest. Especially this past week, with the Russell 2000 ETF closing below support, and today with the S&P and Dow going below their Short Term support, reading up is vital.

Volatility Indices Vs. Futures by Bill Luby -  "The CBOE Volatility Index, also known as the VIX, is the most famous and widely quoted of all the volatility indices. It measures the market’s expectations of the volatility in the S&P 500 index (SPX) for the next 30 calendar days. Unbeknownst to many (despite my efforts), the VIX also has a lesser known sibling that measures the volatility expectations in the SPX for the next 93 calendar days: VXV."

Volatility ETF's Often Own All Vix Futures -  by Dave Nadig and Gene Koyfman -  "When TVIX halted creations last week, it caused a lot of people to look at this tiny little corner of the ETF market. With just 14 products and a bit more than $2.5 billion in assets, it’s easy to dismiss it. In fact, on these very pages, we’ve been quoted talking about how the VIX products are largely irrelevant for most investors. We stand by that assessment. VIX—an index of the implied volatility in the S&P 500 options market—is a curious beast. It isn’t the actual volatility of the S&P 500; that’s a number that’s easy to calculate. At the time of this writing, the trailing 30-day volatility of the S&P 500 was 8.58 percent. What that actually means is that 66 percent of S&P 500 returns for a one-year period should fall between +/- 8.58 percent of a mean return."

Stock Market Analysis Week ending 3/2/12 - By AlphaTrends - "Markets continue to act tired but the majority of stocks continue to hold up well. The main area of concern right now is the action in the Russell 2000 ($IWM) which broke below support of the last month at 81. The Semiconductors $SMH) are another group which looks vulnerable and breaking below 34 would give us more reason for concern. The video below takes a look at these markets as well as $QQQ $XLF $SPY"

Beyond Oblivion: How Promising Music Startup Imploded - by Eliot Van Buskirk - "Beyond Oblivion was supposed to save the music industry. Instead, it lived up to its name, collapsing in dramatic fashion at the end of 2011 when investors lost their patience with a company that kept promising and never delivering. Years of careers and $33.2 million vanished, with two days notice, over the December holiday break. Here’s how it was supposed to work: Consumers would buy a device that came with the right to listen to unlimited music for the life of the device or seven years. Unlike Nokia’s device-tied “Comes With Music” service, if they bought another Beyond Oblivion-enabled device from another manufacturer, all of their music, preferences, playlists, song ratings, and so on would transfer seamlessly there. Even better, according to what the company’s chief marketing officer Bruce Henderson told Evolver.fm last August, customers would also be able to transfer all of that music to iOS and Android apps to keep their collections alive that way."

Wynn - Anatomy of Erroneous Release - By Kid Dynamite - This morning I got back from grocery shopping and buying more feed for my hens, and I saw some hullabaloo about $WYNN.   The stock was halted after trading up nicely on the heels of a press release that turned out to be erroneous.   Here’s what happened. WYNN released an (erroneous) 8-k  at 9:36am this morning which said (click to enlarge, or click on the link):"

For Stock Fund Providers, If It Squawks, Its 'Social Media' -  By Ben Steverman - "Nutrisystem (NTRI) primarily makes money selling frozen meals to people trying to lose weight. That’s not the sort of business model usually labeled “social media.” Yet there Nutrisystem is, in the stock holdings of the Global X Social Media Index ETF (SOCL). The exchange-traded fund, started Nov. 15, tries to capture the craze for all things social media. Whether it succeeds is open for discussion. “It’s a very odd assortment of stocks,” says Gregory Peterson, director of investment research at Ballentine Partners. Unsophisticated investors, excited about social media or Facebook’s upcoming initial public offering, might not know what they’re getting into, he warns."

Random Thoughts: Is Gold Giving Stocks a Warning? - By Todd Harrison - "Another session in the world's most famous arena is upon us and the bulls are still catching their breath from yesterday. They know that following outsized action, the tape tends to (at least) probe that direction the following session, and while the meat of the heat was in gold—which fell like a rock (because it is)—it planted a seed of doubt in the mindset of the masses.  Today—and tomorrow's—action will be telling, particularly given the proximity to S&P 1375 (recent highs, drawn with a crayon). The news of the morning seems to be the ISDA statement that default insurance on Greek debt won't be paid out" 

"Wednesday Links: Active Learning" by AbnormalReturns -"Markets - Markets don’t like it when QE3 comes off the table.  (Global Macro Monitor) A look at small caps consolidating over time.  (All Star Charts) For everyone who thinks only easy money gets the market going.  (Money Game) Richard Bernstein says that credit bubbles rarely reinflate, ergo risk-off.  (FT)"