The U.S. Restaurant Industry is facing its toughest times in 3 decades and the outlook appears to be grim unless the economy shows signs of rebound. With lower disposable income, consumers are spending less and dining out seldom. Moreover, rising unemployment is making things worse. Most of the companies have either scaled back ...

I am being very selective about purchasing common stock. In fact, my Speculative and to a lesser extent my Permanent Portfolio(s) consist of a higher percentage of bonds, preferred stocks and commodities,almost all via ETFs. Rental real estate has been advanced to a higher amount than ever in my holistic portfolio, as well as tax strategies to keep what I earn. Not one who is prone to panic with each day's news, I try to be well read from a variety of viewpoints, especially the Financial Times and Wall Street Journal, a few blogs and Bloomberg, for starters. I also subscribe to a few eclectic financial and economic publications that I may discuss in a future post. I am concerned about inflation, creeping socialism, the geo-political status of world hot spots and the victim mentality that appears to be resonating from a form of class warfare not seen in the United States since the 1870s. That said, there is always a bull market somewhere and I have been toying[More...]

I am being very selective about purchasing common stock. In fact, my Speculative and to a lesser extent my Permanent Portfolio(s) consist of a higher percentage of bonds, preferred stocks and commodities,almost all via ETFs. Rental real estate has been advanced to a higher amount than ever in my holistic portfolio, ...

UP
Shuffle Master, Inc. (SHFL)
United Rentals, Inc. (URI)
Denny's Corporation (DENN)
SYNNEX Corporation (SNX)
IHS Inc. (IHS)
DOWN
RF Micro Devices, Inc. (RFMD)
Countrywide Financial Corporation (CFC)
Juniper Networks, Inc. (JNPR)
AllianceBernstein Holding LP (AB)
Opnext, Inc. (OPXT)

UP
InterOil Corporation (USA) (IOC)
NAVTEQ Corporation (NVT)
Whole Foods Market, Inc. (WFMI)
Denny's Corporation (DENN)
Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc. (CMG)
DOWN
IMPAC Mortgage Holdings, Inc (IMH)
ACA Capital Holdings, Inc. (ACA)
General Cable Corporation (BGC)
Corinthian Colleges, Inc. (COCO)
MasterCard Incorporated (MA)