Baltic Trading Limited: A Quick Double If Shipping Rates Cooperate. Editor's notes: As the shipping industry continues to recover, BALT has the positional advantage of a stronger balance sheet and higher leverage to the spot market than most. Shares are attractive. Current Price: $6.58 Price Target (YE14): $12.50 Baltic Trading Limited (NYSE: BALT) is a drybulk shipper with a fleet of fifteen ships. As has been well documented, the shipping industry has been in a state of disarray since 2009 as the market has worked off an excess supply of ships and weak demand for the transport of dry bulk goods.
Dry bulk cargo typically consists of iron ore, wheat, and coal. Exports out of Australia and Brazil, usually on their way to China or India, are the most common voyage that drybulkers make. This article is part of the Seeking Alpha PRO subscriber-only research library, which covers more than 3,000 small and mid-cap companies. Only subscribers can access this article, which is part of the PRO research library covering 3,805 different stocks. Learn more about PRO or. Eight WTF Divergences. Following up on last week's twelve WTF charts, we thought it might be appropriate to look at the current equity market's efficient discounting knowledge relative to eight historically correlated risk-asset markets.
What do stocks know that these markets are 'inefficiently' believing in? 1. Dr. Commodity appears to be less sure of the global growth expectations behind US equity prices... 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. and Bottom-Up, Earnings expectations are bad to worse So after all that - what do stocks know that everyone else doesn't? Charts: Bloomberg. Isaac Newton And The South Sea Bubble. Bond bubble may deflate slowly - Apr. 2, 2013. While most experts expect long-term rates will rise this year, they doubt interest rates will shoot sharply higher as long as Ben Bernanke and the Federal Reserve continue to buy bonds. NEW YORK (CNNMoney) While 90% of the nearly 30 investment strategists and money managers surveyed by CNNMoney expect long-term rates will rise throughout 2013, their year-end target on the 10-year Treasury yield is just 2.14%.
That's only a little more than a quarter of a percentage point higher than where rates are now and also not that much higher than last year's record low of 1.4%. If bonds are in a bubble, it has just "started leaking air," said Phil Orlando, chief equity market strategist at Federated Investors. Related: Full survey results Fed chairman Ben Bernanke has reiterated time and time again that he will keep stimulus measures in place until the unemployment rate falls to 6.5% or inflation exceeds 2.5% a year.
Meanwhile, Europe's debt problems are far from over. Warren Buffett On Dividends. Short US Government Bonds ‘Right Now’: Jim Rogers. All that money printing has Rogers bearish on U.S. Treasury debt. He said he's shorting government bonds and that if it's indeed the end of the 30-year bond bull market, those shorts will pay off. In particularly he said it's time to short long-dated U.S. government debt. "Stocks may go up too, but I don't know how this can last too long," he added. While Rogers is negative on the U.S. stock market and said he's been short Apple since the fall, he sees better opportunities in Japan and Russia. The Bank of Japan's money printing is not good for the world he said, but it's making markets go up.
And while the Federal Reserve is also printing money through its quantitative easing program, Rogers noted that the U.S. equity market is flirting with all-time highs, while Japanese stocks are down 75 percent from their all-time high. "I hope I'm buying low and selling high," he said. Rogers mentioned the WisdomTree Japan Hedged ETF as a currency-neutral way to play Japan. Interest Rates Will Spike This Year: Soros. George Soros: European Banking System Revived Billionaire investor George Soros, provides perspective on Europe's banking crisis, U.S. debt and when he expects to see a spike in interest rates, with CNBC's Maria Bartiromo.
The euro is transforming the European Union into something very different, he says. He called it a "delicate two-phase maneuver," where first the Fed throws more money at the economy and then as the economy picks up the money needs to be taken back out. But as money comes out of the economy, it could arrest the recovery. Soros expects interest rates to jump this year as soon as there are clear signs the economy is on the mend. "It may already have begun," Soros said of the move in rates.
(Read More: Budget Deficit Not Our Only Deficit: Larry Summers) Soros also pushed back against austerity as a way to deal with excessive debt levels in developed economies. Soros also warned that the political situation in Europe could get worse over the next two years. Expanded Panama Canal Consequences. The near-total closure of the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, which ended today after a week-long strike, could have crippled the flow of goods into the US. But it could be the start of new battles ahead for major US ports. The rise of bigger and more massive ships, the expansion of the Panama canal to accommodate them, and increasing coordination between trucks and trains to make the journey over land cheaper could mean an upheaval in the ports’ dominance as early as 2015.
This would completely alter the way goods enter the world’s largest consumer market. The changes are two-fold, but the widening of the Panama Canal is the biggest of them. When completed in 2015, the new canal will allow bigger ships to slash their journey time from ports in Asia to the east coast of the US, and allow vessels bound for Western Europe to avoid a time-consuming journey through the geopolitically problematic Suez Canal. Ports that want to compete in this new environment have to adapt. Which Midstream Is Targeting the Bakken? (NGLS) By Taylor Muckerman and Joel South | More Articles | Save For Later November 16, 2012 | In this video, Motley Fool energy analyst Taylor Muckerman tells us about a big new diversification move by Targa Resources Partners (NYSE: NGLS ) .
Targa has traditionally been focused on natural gas in the Texas and Gulf Coast areas, but is now making a big play for the Bakken, which moves the company into crude oil. Because this is an area with such rapid growth for the upstream oil companies, pipelines from the midstream are in constant demand, which means this will likely be a great source of revenue for Targa. Muckerman tells us what this means exactly for it, and how the company plans to pay for this expansion. The surge in oil and natural gas production from hydraulic fracturing and horizontal drilling is creating massive bottlenecks in takeaway capacity.
However, this problem for producers creates a massive and immensely profitable opportunity for midstream companies. We'll Never Reach the Fiscal Cliff, And It Wouldn't Matter If We Did. Citi: The End Of The Commodities Super-Cycle. In his latest note Citi's Edward L Morse writes "the commodity super cycle is over. " That is a monumental call, given how popular the long commodities trade has been. Why the turn? Basically, it's all got to do with China. First, the economy is slowing down, and second as China rebalances its economy it is becoming less dependent on commodities. "Going forward, Citi forecasts that China’s overall real GDP growth might steadily fall from +9.2% in 2011 to +5.5% by 2020. ...Both the overall slowing and the restructuring of the Chinese growth model should mark a watershed in global commodity markets, if only because China had played such an outsized role in global commodity markets in the past decade.
These two charts tell the story. Citi SEE ALSO: 19 things that only happen in China > Shipping Stocks: Sink Or Swim? The dry bulk shipping stocks have gone through a horrific selloff during the past three years. Many trade at a fraction of their former highs and at a deep discount to book value. Are dry bulk shippers the buy of a lifetime? In this article, I will review the macro evidence to determine if the group is more likely to sink or swim from here. Suggestions for further research on individual stocks will provided at the end. Smooth Sailing The dry bulk shipping industry went through terrific growth period from 2006 through to 2008 when many stock prices increased dramatically.
Running Aground A classic bubble formed, one to rival sub-prime and housing. Is The Tide About to Turn? Is this author on the ball? Follow and be the first to know when they publish. Follow Christopher Wallace (478 followers) Long/short equity, special situations (You’ll be notified by email with new articles from your favorite authors.) New! Follow these related stocks (Click to add stocks to your portfolio) Just a millionaire? The only slightly wealthy can now invest in hot startups. For the majority of accredited investors, putting funds in an early-stage startup is no better than pissing thousands of dollars down the drain. In the past, angel investors have been multi-millionaires, even billionaires. They are classified as “sophisticated” or “experienced,” primarily because they can afford to pour $25,00o, $50,000 or more into over a dozen early-stage startups.
To succeed at the high-stakes, low-odds investment game, you’ll need a diverse portfolio of high-calibre companies. The first-of-its-kind partnership This month, SecondMarket and Angellist announced a partnership that lets accredited investors fund startups for small dollar amounts, as low as $1000. “Entrepreneurs can now get access to more sources of capital, and there are more people with a vested, financial interest in seeing them succeed,” said Naval Ravikant, the founder of AngelList, a network and subscriber-base of angel investors. The trial “But the product itself is being tested,” Ravikant admitted. Tomball Regional Med Center assets sold - Houston Business Journal.
Tomball Hospital Authority, which owns and operates Tomball Regional Medical Center, has sold all the assets of Tomball Regional Medical Center to Community Health Systems Inc. Nashville, Tenn. -based Community Health Systems (NYSE:CYH) has committed to make capital investments of at least $50 million over five years to expand clinical programs and renovate and expand existing facilities and infrastructure. This investment will also allow Tomball Regional Medical Center to acquire advanced medical technologies and pursue development strategies, such as physician recruitment and practice acquisitions.
Lynn LeBeouf, president and CEO of Tomball Regional Medical Center, said after thorough consideration, the sale of the hospitals to Community Health Systems is the right next step for the hospital to be able to meet the community’s health care needs for many years to come. The transaction is subject to customary closing conditions and is expected to be completed later this year. The Forecasting Folly Of Equity Valuations And Earnings Growth. As we have painstakingly pointed out, rising equity markets in 2012 have mostly been a function of rising multiples applied to relatively stagnant earnings. While JPMorgan's CIO Michael Cembalest would have given odds no better than 1 in 4 of a 17% advance in the S&P this year, he does note that forecasting annual equity returns is an entirely treacherous (and we add foolish) exercise as real return variation has completely swamped industry expectations for the last 60 years.
The traditional Graham-Dodd/Shiller valuation model makes equities look expensive currently, but Cembalest notes, valuations might not be the driving factor at this point. The debasement of money by the Fed has altered the calculus of investing for many participants, and not necessarily for the better (as he notes ongoing work that hints at since the Greenspan/Bernanke era of negative real interest rates began, stock market volatility is even higher than before the creation of the Fed in 1913).
Source: JPMorgan. US Garbage Economic Indicator. Can Microsoft Co-Founder Paul Allen Revolutionize Banking? Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen is funding a Texas bank’s bid to shed its formal designation as a chartered bank so that it can transform itself into a financial institution that offers loans and other services without having to deal with the federal government’s increasingly complex regulatory burdens.
From a Wall Street Journal article: In an extreme example of the frustration felt by many bankers as regulators toughen their oversight of the nation’s financial institutions, Main Street’s chairman, Thomas Depping, is expected to announce Wednesday that the 27-year-old bank will surrender its banking charter and sell its four branches to a nearby bank. Mr. Depping plans to set up a new lender that will operate beyond the reach of banking regulators—and the deposit-insurance safety net. Backed by the private investment firm of Microsoft Corp. co-founder Paul Allen, the company won’t be able to call itself a bank, but it will be able to do business the way Mr.
Depping wants. The Bear Market Rally Has Begun | Toby Connor. By: Toby Connor | Tue, Aug 30, 2011 I've been warning bears for a couple of weeks that the market was due for an aggressive bear market rally. That rally has clearly begun. I have often referenced the Rubber Band theory in my nightly reports. For those not in the know, the rubber band theory is nothing more than the tendency for any market to regress to the mean.
And the further a market is stretched away from the mean the more violent the snap back tends to be once the pressure is released. In the case of a rubber band, the further you stretch it in one direction, the harder it snaps forward once you release it. Markets are really no different than a rubber band. Larger Image A normal bear market rally will typically last from 4 to 10 weeks. A bear market rally out of a yearly cycle low (other than a four year cycle low, the move into a yearly cycle low tends to be the most damaging decline in the stock market. 1. 2. 3. Investors need to be prepared. This was not a correction.
Airbnb Launches New Service for Monthly Rentals, Sublets. Airbnb, the "marketplace for spaces" that lets people rent their property just like it's a hotel room, has now extended that concept to also include monthly rentals and sublets. As the company moves into this new category, it aims to make it just as easy to book a monthly stay or a sublet as it is to rent a hotel room. One advantage for those who are looking to host or rent property for a month or longer with Airbnb is the convenience of being able to search more than 20,000 properties around the world and filter choices by location or price. Airbnb emphasizes the convenience of being able to book long-term accommodations "sight-unseen," giving its customers the ability to avoid scoping out multiple apartments, condos or houses in person. In addition, the company touts the convenience of paying rent with a credit card and adds that many users will like trying out a neighborhood by living in it for a month or two before they commit to buying a house or signing a long-term lease.
IVolatility Services. Stock Market News & Financial Analysis. Here Are The Real Reasons Why Gold And Silver Plunged. Bill Gross Just Made A Huge Bet On Economic Doom, And Nobody Seems To Care. Dwolla. Crowdfunding: Where it has been and where the new bill is taking it (infographic) How to Pay No Taxes: 10 Strategies Used by the Rich. 7 Reasons Why the Bull Market Will Resume. Should Rich Families Leave Their Wealth to Their Children? S&P 500 Nears ‘Ultimate’ Death Cross: SocGen. The economics of self-storage: The golden hoard.