Seeking Alpha by Adding Beta

First week of Nov 2010 would be arguably most exciting week of this year for following reasons: Monday: Week would start with news from Brazil about results from runoff election for President of Brazil Tuesday: Mid-term elections which could set course for American Politics and possibly where America is headed for next decade Wednesday: Federal reserve bank meeting to decide size and timing of QEII which could decide course of American economy for at least next 2-3 years Wednesday: World Series Game 6 - most likely SF Giants would claim their first world series win reviving sports enthusiasm in Silicon valley after long time Friday: Jobs report for month of October which should give an indication if employment is stagnant or making some progress Friday: Happy Diwali for all Indians ! Saturday: Obama's visit to India - crucial both for India and Obama who would like to forget democratic party losses in election and instead enjoy warm Indian hospitality Very few times s...

What do US mid-term elections and Baseball world series has in common ? Few things: For US adult population, both are interesting discussion topics especially as Nov comes near This year, World Series is almost like elections between Democrats and Republicans with SF Giants representing Democrats and Texas Ranges representing Republicans. You cannot have better distinction than these two teams to represent their state's political affiliations Next week would be quite interesting with elections results on Nov 2 and Game 6 (most likely decisive one) on Nov 3 I am no baseball fan or expert, but would go ahead and take  chances on predicting: Giants would win world-series most likely in Game 6 or Game 7 - whoever wins would be their first win as SF Giants or Texas Rangers (Giants have won in past but as New York Giants) Democrats would keep senate majority by slim margin (52-48) while Republicans would gain control of house by about 5 seats Barbara Boxer would keep California se...

By all means Apple had a blockbuster quarter with its first $20 Billion quarter. There are so many things to like about Apple's latest quarter: First $20 B quarter Over $4.6 Billion in net profits Beat earnings estimates by over $500 million Over 14 million iphone sales Revenue forecast for holiday quarter of over $23 Billion. I won't be surprised if holiday quarter crosses $24-25 billion in revenues for Apple No wonder it's stock was trading at all time high near $318 and it was second most valued company in America and most valued technology company in world ! Ok - but that was about past and as we all know, investors like to know what's in future. There are some concerning trends in same report: ipad sales were less than expected. Many folks were expecting over 5 million units. It came in around 4.2 million units. Not bad for any other company considering this was brand new category which did not exist just few months back. However since expectations were so ...

Finally DOW reached and closed above 11000. I predicted this back in June.  Even though my timing was off by about 3 weeks, my trend prediction was correct (which did help in my portfolio). Now that DOW has crossed 11000 once more (it has crossed so many times in last 11 years) - what's in store for last quarter of 2010 ? There are some interesting trends in market which are worth watching. Currencies: It is like race to the bottom . All countries are making all subtle and not-so-subtle efforts to make sure that their currencies are weakened so that they can grow by exporting to all other countries. This works only if one one or few countries do it. But if everyone does it, it's lose-lose situation unless we can find another planet to export to:-) Gold and commodities: Since all currencies are racing to the bottom, some folks are losing confidence in "fiat" money and instead putting their money in gold and other commodities essentially creating a "gold...

Two Sundays, two movies: Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps and The Social Network. Both had my interesting topics. But the movies turned out to be quite different. Wall Street was boring movie with very loose script and no-where near original Wall Street which came out in 1987. The Social Network which originally I was planning to see only on DVD but went due to one of friends insistence turned out be an excellent and very well made movie. Script by Aaron Sorkin was the key to very good movie. I am no movie critic but I would recommend watching The Social Network and passing Wall Street ! We are in final quarter of 2010. The earnings season should start earnestly this week. What's in store for Q3 earnings and Q4 forecasts and how would markets react to those ? Here are some of my predictions for Q4 and year end ! Corporate earnings would be good even though forecasts would continue to be cautious. In general more companies would have upside in earnings than downside Q3 GDP w...