Market Watch week of 10/05/2009

[candleman]

The Fit is a fantastic vehicle -- been researching this class of vehicles for a while now. If it weren't for the upcoming release of the Honda CRZ, I'd already own this vehicle.

http://automobiles.honda.com/cr-z/


*after owning 25+ vehicles, my all-time favorite (and longest kept) vehicle is the Honda CRX Si -- that car was simply amazing...I still get weepy over *that* damned motorcycle totaling her.

for the record, the Fit has a much better safety record ;-)

Thanks Russ, the safety record is the real selling point for me. And I know folks getting 36 mpg with the automatic. Hybrids aren't doing a lot better than that and they cost thousands and thousands more.

Anyone else have a take on this car?

[candleman]

My friend has one... I think it's pretty cool, and if I had to get a second car, since I have a big ass truck, I'd consider it.

Thanks Dave, I'm this close to going and getting one. The question is the Sport model or the base model. 1600 bucks difference, and that's hard for me to spend that money on sporty looks.

[candleman]

SDTH

Take a look at this one guys. A nasdaq stock with a bright future as the economy rebounds. It's up to 7.00 today. May be a nice long term hold for investors.

[Dr. Dave]

Thanks Dave, I'm this close to going and getting one. The question is the Sport model or the base model. 1600 bucks difference, and that's hard for me to spend that money on sporty looks.

I can't even get myself to spend the money on a new car... all used baby. I don't know which one my friend has. I'm not that into cars actually, but I pay attention to the ability to get back on forth on your dime, safety and reliability, so forth. Never had a honda, but I do like his car a lot. It's fun to zip around in... I wish he'd let me drive it, and that it was a stick.

[Dr. Dave]

btw, when I saw the 1600, I thought it was your gold price prediction.

[Dr. Dave]

anyone have a lvl II for cbai - i'm afraid a big order will come in eod, so I'm thinking about sucking it up and going in at 0.0075. Though, the plan was the low ball would have been at what would have been my stop loss if the pattern forms... which as long as it doesn't pierce 0.0071, I'd say the pattern has formed.

[Dr. Dave]

SDTH

Take a look at this one guys. A nasdaq stock with a bright future as the economy rebounds. It's up to 7.00 today. May be a nice long term hold for investors.

I'd say 6.75 would be a decent pullback, but then add a penny, but you saw what happened to me today so far... add 2 pennies.

HLCS is in a pattern I like, but it's not breaking out, they have earnings coming up soon, don't like going into those without a gain, but if I remember right, they are coming close to making a profit. The earnings, or rather the losses, are closing the gap.

I'm likely going to still load up on gold stocks on a futures/spot pullback.

[Dr. Dave]

set to 0.0073, see what happens.

[GoHerdGreg]

Chuck--
Cars are my passion. The Honda Fit is a very nice car that does all things well. If you're DEAD set on buying new, then it would be a great choice for the intended mission.

However... you can do better (IMHO) by buying 1-3 year old cars. You can get them fresh off a lease with low-ish miles, for about 50 percent of what they sold for new.

So, you can get more car for less money.

Have you considered a 1-3 year old Toyota Prius hybrid? We are looking at them now, and for about $10,000 you can get one with 60-100k miles on it. You'd get 40-50mpg that way, and save versus buying a new Fit.

I drive my dream BMW because of this approach. Otherwise...I couldn't afford it.

Good luck with whatever you choose.

NOW...about CHB. It is a billion-dollar company selling for less than .50 per share. One year ago, it was $6-8 per share. There is no reason to doubt it will return there as housing regains its collective feet. Definite long-ish play, could take a year or more to be a 10-bagger.

But it will shoot back up there eventually. Picking the entry point and time is tough, but .45 looks good to me. Buy it up and check on it every 3 months.

EDIT: I am getting out of GSAE after reading their updated financials. There's little to nothing there of value.

[Los Tiburones]

LOL -- ;-)

Well, then you can appreciate how pissed off your fellow sports fans were after the city paid millions of bucks to keep the teams, guaranteed that the seats would be *filled, and then locals couldn't watch the games on TV because it was blocked due to the networks not wanting folks to see a half-filled stadium.

*the agreement was that the city would buy unsold seats. A part of the deal was that the city was not permitted to resell or otherwise give the tickets away.

*the blocking of the games, the way I see it, is not unlike deforestation by way of clear-cutting and leaving the trees that line the roadways.

Companies like the "herd mentality".

***

Point of record, I played sports from the time I could spit, all through high school. Baseball was my favorite -- then basketball -- football followed up.

I had always been an avid fan. That was, until the MLB strike. Well, I continued to watch football until I lived abroad. It only took a game and a half for me to realize that the real cost of watching the games live was way too expensive.

Speaking of 'real costs' - the true cost of an NFL game, in Sandy Eggo, is so far out of the stratosphere...it should be a crime.

***

I might would add that I don't fault the players for wanting more money. After all, *they* are the reason that folks pay the bucks.

Hey Ramsey, one word for you ...

Hockey