Just for a bit of fun ...

The length of women’s skirts tells us the way the market is going to go, according to the so-called "hemline theory". Right now the trend is supershort skirts and stiletto heels. Could this be telling us something about the market ahead?

The link to this tongue-in-cheek post is: http://tinyurl.com/3qvvct

Enjoy!

Nice Prieur, Gotta love the fashion photos. Of course I just read the article.....

Reference recent postings on OPTT & ocean energy:
Additional information on companies involved.

Six Wave Power Stocks to Surf

http://tinyurl.com/5owzto

Note: Spanish utility Endesa also active in wind energy

(No positions)

If Lohan's hemline is any indication, the market should go to all-time highs.

There's a fascinating guest on Coast to Coast tonight at 1 am. He will tell you the story behind the border immigration story.

Tue 06.03 >>
Author Jerome Corsi and filmmaker Chris Burgard will discuss the making of Border, an investigative documentary on the turbulent state of America's southern border with Mexico.

Russian gold miner Polyus RTC: PLZL
(mentioned by some here in the past)

Onexim Group, Mikhail Prokhorov’s holding company, increasing stake.

http://tinyurl.com/68kg2g

No position

[Bill Cara note: As Bernanke speaks to a TV audience, the prices of precious metals are plunging. Is that the market speaking or the FOMC trading operations supporting their boss? ]

Got health insurance? Maybe not!
http://tinyurl.com/6rt6ez

We had better do something about this broken business model.

Prieur's photos and comments are a hard act to follow, but this humorous history re-written might do the job. Enjoy history as it "dubiously" occurred.

http://tinyurl.com/6eouyp

A snippet from the link above from Sudden Debt by Hellacious

" ... Rome, 69 A.D.

The Empire is ruled fitfully by one Debitus Subitus Messopotamicus - a name frequently shortened to Dubious by his numerous enemies - an Emperor whose later reign becomes curiously shrouded in obscurity. An episode is playing out unknown to modern-day historians, because the otherwise meticulous annals of Rome were wiped clean of every mention. The eradication was not performed to protect the innocent - there were none left in Latium by then - but to perpetuate the devious conspiracy that was hatched at the time, and which is still with us to this day. ... "
--MORE at link --

I am sure that was orchestrated and planned to whack Gold as Bernanke speaks.Bloomberg flashing up the charts to accompany Gold and Oil fall and USD spike against Euro as he speaks just to add emphasis.

Oil too.....
I noticed IEF was trading over 88 this AM before Helo Ben, indicating a rough open, now I see it's below yesterday's close.

Don't get me wrong, I'm happy to make some $$$ on TBT and RRPIX, but that could happen honestly without manipulation by the bankers banker/mouthpeice.

Bill,

I think the market reaction to Ben is the predictable lack of interest in PM's concomitant with the highly anticipated end of the rate cutting cycle. Or it could just be a massive conspiracy. The funny thing about this guy is he inspires zero confidence when he talks. He sounds like the safety engineer aboard the H.M.S Titanic.

Shark...are those Lindsay's skirt and high heels?
If I were you I would plant a tree on my parkway, remove the speed limit signs on my street and hope for the best.

how interesting that bernanke is speaking in time to plunge metals before the open.

"let’s just call the capital market what it is, capital marketing" I love it, Bill.
I have bunch of info on the latest cell phones and one chart today http://wallastoninvestments.com/

Cara 100 Update:

WMT - Upgraded to Outperform @ Morgan Keegan

light volume thus far. is Bernanke still talking?

This was no doubt an orchestrated attack on gold and silver. After all, if the market truly believed Bernanke's rhetoric, the DOW would have plunged at the open as we know that low interest rates and easy credit is the DOW's lifeline.

Since the FED cannot raise interest rates for fear of causing the markets and economy to shut-down, all they have left is jawboning as seen today.

Typically, da boyz hit gold on the Monday prior to the jobs report. I thought it strange they took the day off yesterday but it seems the hatchet job was delayed for Bernanke's speech this morning.

"If I were you I would plant a tree on my parkway, remove the speed limit signs on my street and hope for the best."

Totally lost me.

Bernanke's hawkish stance on the $USD will cut both ways, putting pressure on equities as well as PMs. Treasuries should benefit from safe-haven buying, taking pressure off mortgage rates. I see LEH as most vulnerable. Are they about to be sacrificed like Bear was ?

Even the antiquated term "daytrader" describes a much longer than optimal holding period in this age of micro trading. Good trades these days last from between 3 seconds to a couple of hours.

for the first time in a while im noticing a dump in the POG with a nice little rise in the miners, with the canadian miners ratio vs. gold having a nice jump this morning.

a temporary blip or what?

Does anyone else think the GM news is a bull trap? The 6 month chart looks horrible.

Anybody been following EXC? They stand to benefit from a global warming perspective.

EXC accounts for about 9% of NLR, the nuclear energy ETF. NLR has been in a trading range for about 5 months but is showing good relative strength and looks poised to breakout. It is on my watchlist.

Alrighty Shark....this should help....

Lindsay Lohan's DUI car wreck on sale

Her Mercedes is on eBay By: News Desk

The car that Lindsay Lohan was driving when she hit a tree while under the influence of alcohol has appeared on eBay - with a starting bid price of $110,000.

The white Mercedes Benz SL had just 6,200 miles on the clock when Lohan had the accident in Beverly Hills. Lohan owned the 2005-model car until earlier this year, when it was sold to a private dealer.

OOOHH>>>I see. Please don't expect me to be un on actual Lohan "news", I am only interested in the upskirt photos Perez Hilton posts and even those, only mildly. Have you seen them Craig? She looks like an abused plucked chicken.

Are you insulting chickens? LOL!

Thanks AU, now looking at NLR.

Shredhulk GM: Bill said this was going nowhere just a couple days ago - I strongly agree.

Seamus,
Re: OPTT and the Ocean energy space.
Thanks for the link.

There's obviously a lot of interest from utilities, due to governmental pressure to explore alternative energy sources as well as POO.

RWE, for instance, is Germany's second largest energy producer.

The devil is in the details as far as operating principles of the conversion of the ocean's kinetic energy to electricity . There's the vertical and the horizontal component. Which one is truly predictable? Only the horizontal tidal streams. That is, near shore ebb currents and flood currents occuring once or twice daily.

Simple wave action is not constant. Yet there are regions that experience high wave action regularly.
Then there's this idea of 'oscillating water column' found here:
http://tinyurl.com/4q2frq

Stu

I caught some of Bernanke's propaganda - I mean speech - but not all. It sounds like all he has left to stop the dollar slide is jawboning. If he ever loses that ability, meaning he loses credibility, watch out.

It is interesting that the miners are rallying while gold is selling off.

Lehman is a rock today, on top of yesterday's dive. The CEO was insisting that his firm does not need capital. But today they apparently are preparing to raise $4B. I wonder if that deal will find a buyer at any price.

you guys will love this one.....
Bloomberg: Bernanke: Dollar fall is unwinding of "gains" since 02'.

Kaimu will love that one.....

Has the dollar gone up since 1913? Ever?

I read somewhere the 1913 USD is now worth $0.04

Anyone following news with Noront Resources? It's dropping faster than the PM price; I haven't seen anything negative in terms of results recently....

pookie - another term for s**t. I like chickens, got several as pets. Ducks too!

side note: As a friend once said - "I like chicken, they taste like cat."

If they parted-out the Mercedes, which component would bring the most bids?

Actually....yes.

I have no position in oil. However, it seems obvious to me that the cash/spot market is for physical delivery therefore a user does not buy oil at the spot price unless he/she can afford and make use of it. It seems absurd to call the spot price speculative since it is all physical delivery. As the price rises demand becomes more elastic and therefore we see sharp pullbacks at times - like in Jan '07 when oil went from $80 to $50. Funds do not take physical delivery of oil.

The only candidates for speculation are futures or more usually long dated futures. Yet we were barely in contango for oil for a time being. Speculation is when the long dated futures are WAY, WAY higher than spot price - say spot $130 and 2016 oil at $300. Even then who is to say it is wrong if specs see inflation coming?

All this speculation talk is nonsense as it has always been throughout history. Even 300 years ago governments would shut down the futures market only to realize it is necessary for producers and reopen them.

Anyone looking at Brunswick?

I want to apologize to Bill for using language and subject matter inappropriate for the audience. Sometimes I forget we aren't all 30-plus year old males.

wave - I think it was Sunday's WIW where Bill made comment on Brunswick. I recall he was interested, waiting for an entry (when crude retreats?), BC owns SeaRay boats & those are good quality imo).

Does anyone here have an opinion on crox.
At 52 week low and 2 of the 3 rsi values at or below 30.Looking longer term.

It's okay Shark, I checked and there is no poultry on the list.

CROX -

On minyanville someone was saying that the put/call ratio for CROX was low indicating that this is not the bottom.

Long term I don't know. If their products are a fad then their shares likely will not perform well.

addicted to POT

Craig, there are female readers on this site...

Shark, the apology is accepted.

[Bill Cara note: My patience is being severely tested. I regret to inform all that the next use of swearing here will be the last from that source. Zero tolerance.]

Took a ride on the BRK/B RR, passed go, collected over $200.

Took a chance yesterday, purchased ROM at 68 which is working nicely.

Well Thank You. That's so special.
Have a nice day.

Sorry shark, turns out there's a turkey that took it badly. After the last couple days I thought you were doing alright. I clearly only speak for myself.

thinking about scaling into dgp

thanks moab, i'll do some more dd
into this.

ALOHA !!

Why aren't the creators of the BIGGEST BUBBLE in human history answering for their fraud?

THE CREDIT BUBBLE ...

Ben Bernanke to Earth ... "OPEC we have a problem!"

The US FED needs to go! Bernanke is essentially capitulating before our very eyes today. If he raises rates he is signalling not the US Peso's strength but the US economy's doom! Americans just do not have the savings or the jobs to survive another 1980 style Volcker rate hike. Who could afford a 17% car loan now? What good is saving the US Peso when everyone is on welfare? Look around we are all on US government welfare now anyway! Nearly everyone has a paycheck that is either directly paid or indirectly paid by the US Federal governement and/or State and County governments which are funded by the US Federal government. If you're a Union worker, a Fireman, policeman, nurse, doctor, a teacher, a postman, military, a public works contractor, a bank employee, stock broker, farmer, prison guard ... the list goes on and on full of jobs subsidised by hte US government. That is why I keep calling the USA the USSA and the US Dollar the US PESO!

Bernanke is signalling to those who are the SMART MONEY that the monetary metals will rise. Today's antics are most definitely manipulated selling of PMs by the US FED and their bullion banks accomplices. You do not want to be holding anything denominated in US Dollars and nobody knows that more than OPEC and China!

READ ON:
Oil price crash not imminent despite bubble: Soros
Tue Jun 3, 2008 10:17am EDT

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The phenomenal rise in oil prices show signs of a bubble, but a crash is not imminent, billionaire hedge fund manager George Soros told U.S. lawmakers on Tuesday.

"We are currently experiencing the bursting of a housing bubble and, at the same time, a rise in oil and other commodities which has some of the earmarks of a bubble," Soros said in prepared testimony before the U.S. Senate Commerce Committee. "To be sure a crash in oil markets is not imminent."

U.S. lawmakers - mostly Democrats - are looking for legislative ways to rein in speculation in crude oil markets, which they see as the prime mover behind the rise in U.S. oil futures above $135 a barrel last month.

Kaimu posted a link to a commentary on the book "When Money Dies" by Fergusson. I found this book at the library and started reading it, although I read the epilogue first. This book seems like the only book written on a very important subject; perhaps that is why it costs about an ounce of gold for a copy.

The authors contention is that once an inflation gets underway, usually because of money printing to pay for unaffordable wars, the only thing that can stop it is tremendous political will. Weimar political institutions were illegitimized after WWI as the army made disastorous decisions with no regard to economics or to views of civilian leaders. The crisis starts once money is printed to buy bonds. Then the crisis degenerates very fast and goes on much longer and gets more worse than people think possible.

Very, very important book.

More on this later as I read it.

Competition from China: Two McKinsey Surveys

Higher wages are driving up production costs in China, leading to speculation that companies there are beginning to lose one of their biggest competitive edges. But a McKinsey survey of executives around the world shows that, overwhelmingly, they still see low-cost production as the primary competitive advantage of Chinese companies and expect little change on that front in the next three years.

Four out of five of the executives also say that they expect to see rising competition from Chinese companies in the next three years. Executives at companies based in China come to a similar conclusion: in a parallel survey, they report that they expect strong growth in revenues from outside the country and aspire to be global competitors in their industries. The primary impediment by far is a lack of managerial talent, respondents say—a finding that supports McKinsey’s experience in the field.

Kaimu:

This is a big thank you for Lysander Minerals that you talked about back November of 07 I did my dd and bought at .0625. Thanks again ronK
Long and very happy..

The low for Lysander that I can find is 10 cents.

The stock is rallying apparently on a takeover. Seems to be true as there has been consistent strong buying on the way up.

Thanks riteside. That is awfully magnanimous of you.

I don't know what is going on but this is some real ugly action - or beautiful if you are short.

BKX is going to close under support probably. That means all that huge volume in it this year is underwater. Some people may be getting real nervous about now.

Lehman's going the way of Bear.

By the way, have you guys noticed that DCR isn't really behaving right in the face of lower oil? When did you say this thing comes into the money?

QT, thinking of quitting the FXP club? It does get tempting the longer one holds....

Gather up your Lehman t shirts, baseball caps and what I have, tons of very funny leather handbags saying things such as "internet conference 2000" and other funnies. Get ready to ebay em, I know the Sundance kid is ready to buy buy buy.

Lehman tapped the Fed window apparently and this caused the selloff. Tell me, who is going to fund them with new capital, beside the working group?

As Jim Sinclair says, you don't know who is buying the debt and equity of the banks.

DCR is up over 10%! That's smokin!

General Motors May U.S. sales drop 27.5%

Instead of NLR, I use PKN.

Sharky - I'll pay a premium for any shirts from a Lehman "risk management" conference ;-)

On with the kerfuffle........

I swear I think I have those in the basement. And folks, remember you heard it here first. the name Lehman will not exist come Christmas.

Today is a McHugh Fib cluster turn date, and the market is tanking right on cue.

We've heard WAY too much BS out of them over the past couple of years, and I know guys on the inside...Things there are REALLY precarious. Pins and needles.

Todd Harrison: "The conditional elements for meltage are in place" - meaning stronger dollar, weak commodities and BKX 75 broken.

Sounds like TOG setting up to me.

Allen

I know what you mean. But if the news keeps getting worst and the Asian markets follow our market lead, then I am going to gut it out into positive territory. I want pay back for my emotional suffering. :-)

In the mean time I loaded up the truck on DUG yesterday @28.15 to ease the pain of being underwater with FXP. Must say green is such a prettier color than red!

Are you still in the "Land Of Pharaoh?"

Lehman's going to sleep with the fishes like Jimmy Hoffa and Sal Bonpensero.

LEH puts hot. Bought some july 25's.

The Big Dogs sure PUKED today!

Take back what I said about DCR not moving

shark - no offense, but i don't think we heard it here first re: Lehman.

I'll back Shark on this one, he was inside quite a while ago on LEH. He announced the layoffs before the press.

FXP cleared for takeoff.

QT, got back from Egypt last Wednesday. I've been seeing green with TBT and RRPIX lately, and Geologix as well, so I'm cheered. Seeing FXP @ $72 plus helps. I visited the Sphinx to ask what FXP would be in the future, but she was, er..., Sphinx-like.

govt officially out of tricks/handouts/rebate checks/rate cuts/etc. nothing has improved at hb&b. housing hasn't bottomed. consumer still on the ropes. manipulation for the mega rich in DC and wall st abounds still.

is that a sufficient summary?

Allen

LOL ...good one! Let hang tough on this one Allen.

teamonfuego- Who else told you they're going out of business?

NYU - right as rain, Financials LEAD the market today!

Ha.. somebody took my Brunswick question to heart and decided to jack the price after 11am this morning... Knew I should have bought.

Again, anyone know of a hedge for GE besides selling the dog?

vinod/craig/QT-> ;)

Japanese scientist may have reproduced cold fusion:

http://tinyurl.com/4musco

He did his experiment in front of Japanese television and press.

That was a question

Wave - It seems often when Bill has positive comment, a corresponding move takes place and vice-versa.

Colin Twiggs latest [June 3rd] take on gold.

Gold
The recent rally on spot gold fell short of resistance at $950 and, together with the strong retracement, indicates weakness. Reversal below this week's low would signal another test of support at $850. In the longer term, breakout below $850 would signal a primary down-trend but, considering the weakness of the dollar and the strength of oil, this remains unlikely. Breakout above resistance at $950, on the other hand, would indicate a primary advance to test $1000

What we are most likely witnessing is a large consolidation similar to the formation in 2006. Respect of support at $850 would confirm this.

see charts: http://tinyurl.com/54qccl

wavesmash, I'm using DXD to hedge GE. Imperfect, but only half the cash.

Spot silver has completely recovered from the Bernake smack down.

Ok...I'm outta here for the day.

"vinod/craig/QT-> ;)"

2nd: I see your ;) and raise you a couple!
You should be doing nicely.....

2nd

Ooooooo... you were signaling that you were making "monumental gains" today.

Good job "2nd" !

Forbes: "GM will profit from admitting the fact that oil is getting too expensive to keep producing gas guzzlers."

History 101 - I recall this same comment from American auto industry back in the 70's.

2nd: Sold ROM (from yesterday)got into QID, now back in ROM. A couple decent RT's on BRK/B the last few days. Reloaded again.

Also traded SKF...too much movement to resist.

Nibbled a little TBT. Will be watching if we can break the 50dma.

Gotta admit though, I've got a little V6 buick in the driveway that gets 32mpg, not too bad for a semi-LUX econo-box! A real experience to work on, and very cheap ABS interior materials. At least Ford uses HDPE.

QT- you're not?

GFI/SA mines: Story out today that mine output in SA was down 16% in 1Q due to power outages that took GFI to the previous low of 13.10.

The story doesn't say it will be repeated but that it must be handled better in the future.

GFI 12.45 bid/12.51 ask AH.

NOT.V - Jun 03, 2008 13:49 ET
Noront Resources Ltd. & Probe Mines Ltd. Enter Discussion Regarding McFaulds Lake Area

http://www.marketwire.com/mw/release.do?id=864239&sourceType=3

During the Saturday discourse I mentioned that I am ready to buy TBT (DOW fell form its lofty highs of 13000+ and inflation has officially become the name of the game), but I wanted to wait for a retreat in the market this week after some advance last week (when stocks fall, TBT falls as well). Well, right before today's close, I figured that the two-day drop we have observed is sufficient, and I bought some TBT. At the same time, I have increased my short on XHB, since XHB long-term moves opposite to bond yields. Locally, however, if the market rises tomorrow, then XHB will rise and TBT will also rise, so the joint TBT + XHB short position has a smaller risk than each of them individually while having a high long-term upside with a small long-term downside.

DavidV

ALOHA !!

ON LYSANDER
I have some inside news on Lysander Minerals-LYM that may account for the share price rise and further increases to come.

There is a "takeover" in the offing and it is tied to one of the current Directors from Australia. Either today or tomorrow some 800,000 shares will move to this Australian Director and the current CFO and another Lysander officer will leave the company.

I put "takeover" in quotation marks because it is the only word I can think of now to explain what is going on. An Australian company who is heavy into coal and copper wants the LYM properties. That is all I know and all I can say for now as my sources will not go any further than that.

This all started with the 2.1 million shares on May 22 and if you look at the Canadian Insider you will see one of the soon to be deposed insiders dumped 550,000+ shares that same day. I am not sure why? I did figure out so much just from the Canadian Insider that something was getting shook up, because this insider has always been a heavy buyer and supporter of LYM. The management dynamics have changed and a new owner is moving in. That's as much as I know ...

I have held LYM for at least two years now and I still own some 400,000 shares at a basis of $0.16CDN. I did sell some at $0.32(30,000). It is safe to say I am holding out longer and I don't want to say more!

The change will be positive!

LYM did a spin-off of the Teck Cominco JV with Lorraine and JaJay and rolled it over into a new company called Lorraine Copper-(LLC:TSXV). The current properties held by LYM are the Pinchi and Oslinko and the rest of the DCC property(Duckling Creek Complex), which forms the Quesnel Trough area. I posted a link to a news atory written in Northern Miner about the Quesnel Trough last year. It is not new to the big miners though and that is why Teck Cominco has an interest in the Lysander properties.

The spin-off gave me 9/10 of a share of the new company LLC for every share of LYM, which almost doubled my holdings in the DCC play.

More to come ...

ON PMV
PMI GOLD(PMV:TSXV)is another company I have held and their share price is in limbo now, as their fundametals greatly improve. There was some news today released about a Swedish financial company that has taken up the PMI GOLD funding cause. PMI GOLD has a lot more clout in Europe and Africa than they do in the USA and Canada, which to me is a plus! Read the news release and you will determine that we are now waiting for a fund rating from Fitch which I hear will be the B+ rating mentioned. In essence the gambling isn't over with PMI GOLD since to secure funding there has to be a lien on the Kubi properties, but everyone I know from GOLDER ASSOC who did the pre-feasability study to the Ghanan Mining Minister give the project a GO! I believe, and I have put my money where my mouth is, that PMI GOLD will have a sizeable mine in Ghana within the next couple years and they will have the Ghana government's whole-hearted approval and support. Mining in Ghana is changing and becoming more mining friendly than any other African country and most Asian and South American countries as well! Far from being as low a country risk as Western Australia though! But the truth is the BIG miners want in Ghana and they too are putting their money where their mouth is!

Go to PMI GOLD website for more details and further due diligence ...

I own 900,000 shares of PMV! I have upped my involvement by over 160,000 shares since the share price dropped to $0.21CDN over the past few weeks.

Brief market comment

The S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average have broken down, and warning was given over a week ago with the weekly outside reversal to the downside.

South African gold miners

I would only buy them by default when I buy GDX. Otherwise I would stay far away. Sinclair believe the power problems will persist for many years.

Market leaders: Didn't HB&B say everything was ok, and the bottom was in so they don't need to raise more capital?

Okay, so when's the pookie gonna really hit the fan?

Refiners manipulating gas prices?

I am writing this from one of the world's most refinery-laden areas. Usually, in times of cheap oil, plant maintenance, "turnarounds," etc. occur during the winter months of January and February.

Not so now--check out the nationwide refinery production outages. You do not have to believe me, but I can tell you that the Port Arthur, TX "power outage" referenced in the article below is very suspicious.

http://preview.tinyurl.com/4yqcwp

These refinery outages have us running at 80% nationwide capacity--the same capacity that rocketed up prices after Hurricanes Rita and Katrina shut down refineries down here.

And yet, there's already foreshadowing that a Gulf Coast Hurricane would send gas prices to $5 and $6 dollars . . . even though the oil futures have a lag time of weeks/months between purchase on the open market, refining, and selling to the public.

http://preview.tinyurl.com/48o8j5

Any chance this is just the free market at work, or is something a bit more "shady" going on at our expense?

High crude squeezes the refiners' margins. No surprise maintenence or even shutdowns take place at times of least profitability.

Pavlovian rush for TSO today, just before a wave 3 of iii down, for those who believe EW. Bad move, IMHO.

Want to thank all of you for sharing your activities today, I learned enormously.

soros testifies before the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation:

http://tinyurl.com/6rxvme

"The investment flood into commodity indexes bears eerie similarities to the craze for portfolio insurance that led to the stock-market crash of 1987, according to hedge-fund investor George Soros, who warned that the rush into oil has created a "bubble."

"In both cases, the institutions are piling in on one side of the market and they have sufficient weight to unbalance it," said Soros in testimony prepared for a Senate panel on energy manipulation. "If the trend were reversed and the institutions as a group headed for the exit as they did in 1987, there would be a crash."

" He said there are fundamental factors behind the rise in oil prices. Namely, there are increasing costs of developing new reserves and waning oil production in countries like Russia and Venezuela, as well as domestic subsidies in countries such as China that keep prices artificially low.
Over these factors, a bubble has been "superimposed" by pension-fund managers' move to commodities as an asset class, Soros added.
Lured by cheaper prices in longer-dated futures contracts, financial institutions continued to pile into the asset class as that initial opportunity disappeared. That's because commodities turned out to be more profitable than other assets -- a 'classic case of misconception that is liable to be self-reinforcing in both directions,' he commented."

I am somewhat stumped by the valuation of a junior gold produceer that I follow, Sierra Minerals (SIM.TO). This company produced 4,450 oz. gold in Q1 at a cash cost of $613/oz.

70.9m shares outstanding. Large shareholders I have identified account for the following from SEDI:

Keith Piggott - Chairman - 23m (32%)

Warman Investments Pty Ltd - 15.7m (22%)

Laramide Resources - 7m (10%) (also was former developer and owns a net royalty of 2.5% I want to say)

Martin J. Walter - CEO (and exec vp of nearby aquiline AQI.to) - 1.9m (2.7%)

Other officers of the company - 2m (2+% quickly gleamed and not precise)

So approximately 2/3 of the company held by officers and 2 large investors.

At current share price of $.30 there is a market cap of $21.2m CAD.

I have studied what little material there is on this company thru quarterly reports and MD&A. There is very little if any materials on this company aside from their website:

www.sierraminerals.ca

They are doing some exploration on surrounding areas including some recent drilling. Political risk seems small as there mine is in Sonora, Mexico). One blemish I know of is that they suffered 2 mine robberies last year that set them back on cash and had to take some penalties on their outstanding debt recently. They are also in the market for some financing in the near term.

Stock trades no volume some days and is very thin otherwise. I am jsut surprised at the lack of interest or coverage anywhere, whatsoever. Are there lots of $21m market cap gold companies producing 20,000 oz/yr?

If anyone cares to look and provide an opinion - thanks in advance!

disclosure: I own 5,000 shares that I bought last week at $.30

Re: Noront Resources Ltd. & Probe Mines Ltd. Enter Discussion Regarding McFaulds Lake Area

Does anyone have an opinion on if/why this news is dragging down NOT.V in the last few trading days ?

The gold supply just got a little tighter and will tighten even further...

"South Africa's gold production fell by 15.6% to 52,228kg (1.68 million ounces) in the first quarter of 2008 on fourth quarter 2007 as the sector experienced a power shutdown in January and battled with lower electricity supply during the rest of the quarter.

The Chamber of Mines said the rate of gold decline on a year-on-year basis was 16.8% in the first quarter, after the Chamber had warned that a 15-20% decline in production was probable due to the lower power supply.

South African state power utility Eskom cancelled a briefing on its power plans for winter season in the country today.

The Chamber of Mines could not yet comment on production expected in the next quarter."

http://tinyurl.com/3g5b8p

BC
Short Interest 19,399,700
Short Percent of Float 22.34 %
52-wk high 34.90
52-wk low 13.35
today 14.09

21 Day Put/Call
Volume Data
Date P/C Vol
Ratio
6/2 1.57
5/30 1.70
5/29 1.58
5/28 1.52
5/27 1.48
5/23 1.33
5/22 0.80
5/21 1.23
5/20 1.22
5/19 1.24

2nd

added more IBN
sold all air line
also sold FXP and DUG
will be out rest of the week for traiing

2nd

did put order to buy BC at 13.00
I wish it gets filled

vinod- thanks for bringing BC to our attention...nice exits on DUG/FXP/airlines...personally, still holding
DUG/SMN/QID/airlines/+red chip on DCR...

gas prices hit my threshold monday...normally fill up at 1/3 to 1/2 full-> so accustomed to seeing $35-45 at the pump...last weekend i got distracted and let it run down near the E line->pulled into my usual station and it was >$70 (@ 4.27/gal for regular) to fill the tank...now i like to drive, but at those prices i'm starting to think about it...

Curiously, the Russell 2000 did not break down yet, unlike the S&P and Dow.

Studying the volume on the hourly charts for IWM it looks like the selling is marginally higher than the buying. WSJ says the money flow was very positive, but they also see positive flow into Lehman, which was killed today.

Until the Russell breaks down I'm short but wary.

ALOHA !!

2nd-ave ... HA! I laughed when I read your post about gasoline! That's exactly what I do to pretend the gas prices aren't so bad. I keep refilling my tank when it gets to 1/2 ... I have yet to actually have to fill it up completely! How long before MOPED franchises get popular and states and cities have to put in special freeway lanes for mopeds and small motocycles?

I saw in the GM news out today they are looking to sell the HUMMER brand. Buyers must be lining up, right? Maybe Exxon could buy it as a hedge.

The morons at GM killed their popular electric car program when they bought Hummer. They actually physically destroyed the electric cars that were working fine and loved by those using it (they were lease only). Typical American corporate behavior - make money in the short term, the hell with the long term.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Motors_EV1#Controversy

"According to GM Chairman and CEO Rick Wagoner, the worst decision of his tenure at GM was "axing the EV1 electric-car program and not putting the right resources into hybrids. It didn’t affect profitability, but it did affect image."[42] According to the March 13, 2007, issue of Newsweek, "GM R&D chief Larry Burns . . . now wishes GM hadn't killed the plug-in hybrid EV1 prototype his engineers had on the road a decade ago: 'If we could turn back the hands of time,' says Burns, 'we could have had the Chevy Volt 10 years earlier.'""

ALOHA !!

GROUND REPORT
One our best customers here at the nursery, an art gallery in Sausalito, California, has downgraded her order sizes. She used to order these BIG tropical custom bouquets that she sent to her clients who purchased paintings, but now she is ordering on our website which does not offer large custom bouquets. I have been to her gallery many times on Bridgeway Ave and the average painting sells for around $20,000USD, so her high end clients may notice she has cut back on her "thank you bouquests"!

I always liked Sausalito when I lived in the Bay Area. I wonder what its like now. Are the real estate prices still pricey? Is it still as artsy as ever? I used to put my mountain bike on BART(Walnut Creek)and get off at Embarcadero and ride through the Presidio and across the Golden Gate Bridge through Sausalito and up to Mill Valley and Mt. Tam back down and take the ferry from Tiberon(at Guaymas restaurant)back to Embarcadero and take BART back home! A very cool but hard bike ride for the day that circled all of the most expensive real estate on Earth!

todd harrison on crude and the market:

http://tinyurl.com/3en4qu

" While on my West Coast business trip, I had dinner with Bill Fleckenstein in Seattle. I shared my view that three ingredients could conceivably combine to create a significant market melt.
The first is a sustained rally in the dollar, the second is a meaningful decline in crude and the third is the break of KBW Bank Index 75, which would be fresh lows for the financials.
He agreed with my view with one notable -- and potentially very important -- distinction. The Pavlovian response to lower oil might create a knee-jerk upside reaction before market forces prevail and reality sets in."

kaimu- i have a colleague who recently retired at 65...he bought his home in tiburon in 1971, and was fond of saying "if only i'd bought two of them, i could have retired a long time ago!"

Mopeds -

I've seen a couple of beautiful Aprilia Italian mopeds around town, which - with 49cc engines - don't even require a license plate. Tank looks smaller than 1 gallon. Probably lasts a month.

Personally I ride a bike most days, and don't take the car out at all. I'm lucky that supermarket, movies, a major park and "Sasha's Wine Bar" are so closeby ! -

2nd_Ave -

Is Fleckenstein in person as much of a "broken record" as in his columns? I don't remember him ever not being bearish ... And from 3/03-10/07, bearish wasn't the place to be.

Kaimu: real estate prices in San Francisco seem to be holding. My mother is a realtor in the East Bay and she says the high end houses near the UC Berkeley campus are doing well. Some of the nicer houses in SF (not even that impressive when you walk through them, really) are still going for 2.5M or more. It's really the outlying areas that are suffering (Concord, etc). Also, condo prices are soft. I do notice a lot of food inflation. A small basket of cherries cost me $5 at the ferry building today. But I'm happy to support the organic farmers. And yes, "the coldest winter I spent was the summer I spent in San Francisco" still holds.

http://tinyurl.com/6hukah

One chart you can trade? Volatility...

Best to all.

jock- Herb Greenberg first brought 'Fleck' to my attention in the mid-nineties when Herb was writing for the Chronicle...those two have much in common->natural short selers...i shorted 1000 shares of DELL around that time on their call, and if i had held on to that short until 1999 i would have been looking at a negative 6000% return...

..but broken records are like broken clocks...

Purplejacket, I dunno. I live in the Berkeley area and I see a lot of homes languishing on the market. Sure, prices are not falling as fast or as far as other places, but they are coming down.

You're right about the outlying areas faring worse. Vallejo, for example, which is enjoying infamy right now for declaring bankruptcy. But I believe it is just a matter of time before the crisis pinches in closer to the city.

Regular gas is about $4.35/gal in SF now, btw. That's a 40 cent rise in three weeks.

I also had dinner at a Chinese restaurant last night to celebrate my wife's birthday. Prices were higher and the rice bowl was noticeably smaller.

LOL! I believe the "warmest winter" comment was written by Mark Twain about the northwest.

Seattle/Puget sound and San Francisco share those weather distinctions this time of year.
50's at night, high 60's maybe 70's during the day, partial sun/clouds.

A maritime climate.

Craig, Twain was reported to have said "The coldest winter I ever spent was a summer in San Francisco."

There's some dispute about whether or not he actually said this. But it remains no less true, as anyone who lives here can tell you. ;)