Burger King (BKC)

Fast food giant Burger King (BKC) Burger King Holdings, Inc., through its subsidiary, Burger King Corporation, engages in the franchising and operation of fast food hamburger restaurants. Burger King also offers soft drinks and other food items. As of August 23, 2006, it operated approximately 11,000 restaurants in 65 countries worldwide. The company was founded in 1954 and is headquartered in Miami, Florida.

While Burger King (BKC) has jumped a up to 41% in the second quarter, and has declared it's first ever dividend as a public company. Check out the Stock Chart for Burger King (BKC)




Also you must notice that Burger King is currently the #2 burger chain, only to be behind McDonald's (MCD). And how can you like but like those Burger King commercials, but not only that. Though the fact that they had the best selling video game of the holiday season with the Xbox game collection they offered this past Christmas selling 3.2 million copies.

Stock Market Closes High on Tuesday

The Closing was a very and high this Tuesday evening, since the Dow Jones industraial closed adding 33 points, or .3%, to 12,523, and the Nasdaq Composite was also up 8 points, or .3%, at 2449. Even better the S&P added another 8 points, or .6%, at 1429. Not a bad Tuesday after all.

Though, we don't feel as if anyone is ready to make any really big bets, considering tomorrow starts a two-day Federal Reserve meetting. Some major talk for the next few days will be taking place in Washington, D.C., where the Fed is gathering for the first day of a policy meeting. The central bank will meet again Wednesday before wrapping up its initial conference of 2007.

While no one is expecting change in the fed funds for the 5th straight time, though this will be interesting to see how it place out on the market. While, so many are looking for some type of rate cute something this year, it will probably not happend in the next two days.

Learn Something New Every Day

Here is a thought for your, failing to prepare and plan financially is preparing to fail in the financial world. But, with that said, in today's world their is so much out their and where do you begin to prepare. Well, we are here to help you get started on preparing and planning for financial freedom. Web sites, books, magazines, and newspapers offer a wealth of information at your fingertips and usually their free.

We would also suggest in checking out investing focus (www.investingfocus.com), yahoo finance, and stock charts. We would suggest not only to read through these sites, to bookmark the site and make it a daily habit to read what's new and what's going in the stock market.

Also, we would suggest that reading one good money article a day, could keep the bankruptcy calls away. This kind of reading can quickly help you understand where your money is going, how you should invest your money, and what's hot on the street and what's not. This kind of knowledge, and understanding how to spent your money can improve and change your lifestyle forever.

3 Biggest Assests

So every one is telling you to save more money this year. Well, let's take a closer look into where or how to people keep making money. In what areas do people keep making money from?

While checking out the markets and everything. We have came to noticed three major areas that just kept popping up everywhere we looked. These were the 3 biggest assests we saw:

401(k) retirement plan
stocks, investments, bonds, cd, ETF's and etc
house, real estate, home renting, end etc

So here are some thoughts from this. We have learned that buying assets not liabilities will increase your net worth. With all this said and done. Here are some examples that we would suggest that could help you out.

For your 401(k) - Maybe try paying yourself alittle extra each month, maybe just put in a few extra % each month. If you can not handle it for a the whole year. How about trying it for just a few months out the year to increase your 401(k) retirement plan.

Stocks - Try putting in an extra 5% for 3 months, and invest an extra 5% for a month and then drop everything back to normal.

House - If you own your home, then concentrate more on other investments. If your still paying off your house, try paying one extra principal payment a month. Or just doing one extra mortgage payment a year could do your net worth wonders!

Currency ETF's

Currency ETF's

While the decline of the US dollar continues, the raise for a potential for currency moves. So we thought this was a good time to write about the currency affecting your stock portfolios. Here are some ideas and thoughts for the average investor, not to go run and open up an forex exchange account, while still having a little investment in currency.

With this scenerio that we have we decided to look up some basic ETF's that could be a good something to look for in long term investing. These ETFs are the CurrencyShares Euro Trust (FXE), CurrencyShares British Pound Sterling Trust (FXB), CurrencyShares Canadian Dollar Trust (FXC), CurrencyShares Australian Dollar Trust (FXA), CurrencyShares Swiss Franc Trust (FXF), CurrencyShares Swedish Krona Trust (FXS) and the CurrencyShares Mexican Peso Trust (FXM).

These are all exchange trade funds worth looking into while the decline of the US dollar continues.

NIike (NKE)

Nike (NKE)

Nike activities are to design, produce, develop and market high quality sports and fitness footwear, apparel, equipment and accessory products. It mainly markets athletic footwear and athletic apparel worldwide. The Company also caters its products to tennis, golf, soccer, baseball, football, bicycling, volleyball, wrestling, cheerleading, aquatic activities, hiking and other athletic and recreational uses. The trademarks of the Company include NIKE(R) and Swoosh Design(R) and are sold under the brand names Cole Haan(R), Bauer(R) and NIKE(R). The Company operates 21 distribution centers in Europe, Asia, Australia, Latin America, Africa and Canada. On 11-Aug-2004, the Company acquired Starter Properties LLC and Official Starter LLC.


The Air Jordan is a brand of Nike basketball shoes named after Michael Jordan. Its considered to be the best basketball shoe brand ever. EVER.

Pacific Ethanol, Inc. (PEIX)

Here is a little look of what you could have played on Monday with the whole President deal. You could have bought Pacific Ethanol, Inc. (PEIX) on Monday at 15.94 and Sold out on Wednesday it reached a high at 18.79. If you do your math you could have made in two days off of one stock $2.85 a share! Now that's not a bad little profit!

Coin shortage could turn pennies to nickels

Talk about pennies from heaven.

Who would have ever thought that those pennies saved up would be worth more in the long run. Well, with a potential shortage of coins in the United States could help out with this matter. Which means all those pennies in your piggy bank could be worth five times their current value soon, says an economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago.

Sharply rising prices of metals such as copper and nickel have meant the face value of pennies and nickels are worth less than the material that they are made of, increasing the risk that speculators could melt the coins and sell them for a profit.

Such a risk spurred the U.S. Mint last month to issue regulations limiting melting and exporting of the coins.

But Francois Velde, senior economist at the Chicago Fed, argued in a recent research note that prohibitions by the Mint would unlikely deter serious speculators who already have piled up the coinage.

The best solution, Velde said, would be to "rebase" the penny by making it worth five cents rather than one cent. Doing so would increase the amount of five-cent coins in circulation and do away with the almost worthless one cent coin.

"History shows that when coins are worth melting, they disappear," Velde wrote.

"Rebasing the penny would ... debase the five-cent piece and put it safely away from its melting point," he added.

Raw material prices in general have skyrocketed in the last five years, sending copper prices to record highs of $4.16 a pound in May. Copper pennies number 154 to a pound. Prices have since come down from that peak but could still trek higher, Velde said.

Since 1982, the Mint began making copper-coated zinc pennies to prevent metals speculators from taking advantage of lofty base metal prices. Though the penny is losing its importance -- it is worth only four seconds of the average American's work time, assuming a 40-hour workweek -- the Mint is making more and more pennies.

Velde said that since 1982 the Mint has produced 910 pennies for every American. Last year there were 8.23 billion pennies in circulation, according to the Mint.

"These factors suggest that, sooner or later, the penny will join the farthing (one-quarter of a penny) and the hapenny (one-half of a penny) in coin museums," he said.

Ethanol stocks rally ahead of State of the Union speech

Ethanol stocks rally ahead of State of the Union speech

Shares of ethanol producers rallied on Tuesday ahead of President George W. Bush's State of the Union speech tonight in which he's expected to urge for a big increase in the amount of ethanol that refiners mix with gasoline.

The president might call for a rise of over 60 billion gallons of ethanol annually by 2030, according to reports. The ethanol industry received a significant boost after Bush advocated alternative fuels in his 2006 State of the Union address.

Ethanol, an alcohol-based alternative fuel produced from starch or sugar-based
feedstocks, has gained popularity in response to rising oil prices and concerns that the United States is overly dependent on imported oil.

Ahead of tonight's presidential speech, the stocks of ethanol producers surged.

Shares of VeraSun Energy Corp. (VSE, Trade ), one of several ethanol producers to go
public last year, were last up 5.21% to $18.80.

Pacific Ethanol (PEIX, Trade ), a California-based refiner of corn-derived ethanol, jumped 6.24% to $17.87. FBR upgraded the stock to Outperform from Market Perform citing positive expectations based on an increasingly favorable regulatory environment, particularly in California, as well as the company's recent operational achievements.

"We believe that the stock is now ideally positioned for upward movement and recommend investors take positions in the stock ahead of Tuesday night's State of the Union address," said analysts Jacques Rousseau and Eitan Bernstein in a research note on Tuesday.

The analysts added that while most of their colleagues rate the stock a hold or a sell, that sentiment should be reversed.

Shares of Xethanol Corp (XNL, Trade ), an ethanol maker, rallied 17.41% to $3.17.

Shares in Aventine Renewable Energy (AVR, Trade ) gained 2.63% at $20.33.

Shares of Archer Daniels Midland (ADM, Trade ), the largest producer of fuel ethanol in the U.S., went up 3.39% to $32.90.

Shares of Monsanto Co. (MON, Trade ), which sells corn seed to farmers, were up 2.03% to $54.38.

Green Plains Renewable Energy (GPRE, Trade ) was up 1.07% to $23.70.

Shares of MGP Ingredients (MGPI, Trade ), a producer of ingredients and distillery
products, including ethanol, added 7.27% to $23.30.

The Andersons Inc (ANDE, Trade ), which has an ethanol division, was up 2.89% to $41.67.

Despite today's rally, some analysts urged caution. While alternative energy stocks
eventually have to become a bigger part of the world energy mix, these stocks "are
momentum plays with generally mediocre financials and high valuations," said Dan
Pickering, an analyst with Pickering Energy Partners in Houston, in a note on Tuesday.

Alternative energy stocks have declined between 30% and 60% since they last gained
momentum last spring, Pickering added.

On Wednesday, Bush will visit E. I. du Pont de Nemours & Co.'s (DD, Trade ) biofuels
programs in Wilmington, Del., said DuPont CEO Charles Holliday in a Tuesday conference call. Bush will visit three programs: one on higher-yielding grain ethanol; one on cellulosic ethanol, which makes fuel from stalks and non-food crops and other parts of the corn plant; and a program partnering with BP Plc (BP, Trade ) to make biobutanol.

Ethanol is produced by converting crops into simple sugars. Crops include corn, sugar
cane, barley, wheat, and biomass. Ethanol is blended with gasoline to improve its
emissions quality. One blend, called E85, contains 85% ethanol and 15% gasoline. Several car manufacturers make flexible-fuel vehicles, which run on E85.

Six Flags and the Wii

Amusement park operator Six Flags Inc. (SIX) is stating that they have entered into a sponsorship and marketing agreement with Nintendo Co. Ltd. unit Nintendo of America.

Under the agreement, Nintendo's Wii video game system will become the official gaming console of Six Flags parks. Six Flags will also offer complimentary game-playing at Wii gaming stations at select theme parks.

This one could be fun standing in line playing a little of the nintendo wii, and then have some more fun on some awesome roller coaster! Great idea six flags great idea!

What can Brown do to your Portofolio

United Parcel Service, Inc. (UPS), a package delivery company, provides specialized transportation and logistics services in the United States and internationally. It offers a range of supply chain solutions, such as freight forwarding, customs brokerage, fulfillment, returns, financial transactions, and repairs. The company operates through three segments: U.S. Domestic Package, International Package, and Supply Chain and Freight. The U.S. Domestic Package segment's operations include the delivery of letters, documents, and packages in the United States.

UPS has been continued to raise their dividends, doubles it's cash flow, and continues to grow international. We feel with all these factors,that UPS would be a good stock to look into. And even The Berkshire Hathaway Portfolio has some UPS and states they feel positive on this one for a long term.

So maybe you should start looking at this one for yourself alittle more.

Always improving, learning, watching videos, the life of a Pro

That's what Jermaine O'Neal did and does in the offseason. We recently found a great article talking about Jermaine O'Neal working hard in the offseason especially in the department of keeping his hands straight and up just like what Hakeem Olajuwon, a 12-time All-Star who was a force in the paint would do.

Hard work does pay off. Jermaine O'neal aka JO, worked extremely hard during this past summer and hopes of a great season, and to make the All-Defensive team. Well, JO is doing just that, he is currently leads the league in blocks with 3.1 swats per game, up from 2.3 bpg last year and 1.8 bpg over his career.

Working to expand his game during the summer, JO made an effort to raise his defensive play with his sights set on the All-Defensive team. Sounds like Larry Joe Legend has had an impact on how his talent views what truly great players bring to the game. One of the keys to his improvement in blocks is explained here:

O'Neal, who spent the summer in Indianapolis working out with the team's training staff, spent part of the off season looking at a tape of Hakeem Olajuwon, a 12-time All-Star who was a force in the paint, that older brother Clifford gave him.

The average basketball fan may not notice the difference, but what caught O'Neal's eye about Olajuwon helped him block more shots.

Olajuwon started his shot blocking motion with his hand up. O'Neal routinely started his motion with arm down by his side.

"Simple hand placement," O'Neal said. "The difference between a guy getting a shot off and you blocking a shot is merely a second. That's a difference from you having to come from your waist to up high. It makes it easier to block a shot when your hand is already up."

Here is another great example of how you videos, and working on your individual skills and through hard work can pay off and make dreams come true.

Make succes simple and making success simpler

Make succes simple and making success simpler

How to break the cyle of being in debt, or once you've broken the cylce. Then start taking steps of paying back the amount already owed. You have to have full plan of attack to make and continue any progress. And one major importance is sticking to your plan of attack.

A very good strategy for this is, it the spread of your interest rates on you debts:
First strategy attack should be to pay off your highest-rate debt first.
Second strategy attack is to making the maximum monthly payment you can afford on that card.
Third strategy attack is to be paying the minimum required on the rest of your debt.

Also, remember once the interest buildup on that card goes down, you'll automatically start paying down principal faster. Repeat the process with the next highest rate card and so on.

If the rate spread among your loans isn't big, pay off your smallest debt instead. The results will feel rewarding, and knowing that your finally going somewhere. completely.

Retirement procrastination

Retirement procrastination

We all do it rather it's investing, retirement, or just with work everyday. Or maybe it's even putting off cleaning the house. Well, here is a losing scenerio for you wait until you are 45 or 50 years old to start saving for retirement. This is what we would call retirement procrastination and your going to be having a pretty short retirement. Consider that someone who starts socking away $300 a month at age 45, and earns an average annual return of 8 percent, will have about $178,000 at the age of 65. But if you start saving at 25, you'll have $1,054,000.



Yes, it's true you invest more of your own money ($144,000 versus $72,000) when you start saving at the age of 25, but look at the payoff: you end up with about $875,000 more because you played the time card so well.

Make Your Mortages Your Friend

Make Mortages your friend for your future

Well, we hope when you looked into choosing the right mortgage for you did your homework, research. You probably learned about which you should go with rather it was fixed rate, a hybrid, or an ARM. Though, did you forget about something. How long are you wanting this mortgage?

It's pretty much a reflexive move that we always opt for a 30-year mortgage. For my money, if you know you're going to be staying in that home for at least the next 10 years, a 15-year mortgage is the smartest move if you can handle the higher payments.

First, the interest rate on a 15-year fixed rate mortgage is typically about a half a percentage point below a 30-year fixed. Right off the bat, then, you have a better deal. But the real payoff is that you'll pay so much less in interest payments over the life of the loan.

On a $200,000, 15-year fixed-rate mortgage at 5.5 percent, the total interest payments are about $94,000, compared to more than $231,000 on a 30-year fixed-rate at 6 percent. Clearly, the time you take to pay off your mortgage has a huge financial cost.

Obviously, the 15-year loan also requires a higher monthly payment ($1,634 versus $1,200 in the example above). If that's not doable, then at least try to send in an extra payment or two a year on your 30-year mortgage. Just one extra payment a year will shave 5 years off your mortgage, which is going to save you plenty of interest.

You do the Math

You do the Math

You really have to think, research, and know your investment options before you go diving into something blindfolded. To illustrate this, pick the offer below that seems better:

1. I'll give you $1,000 a day for 30 days.

2. I'll give you a penny on day one and then double your money every day for the rest of the 30-day month.

So which would you pick?

Well, some of you might think this is just another trick question, and really don't know what to pick. Other may have heard this one before, while some are saying I want my $30,000 screw that penny stuff.

Well, let's just do the math shall we. The first option plays on our impatience, because it takes no time at all to do the math on it: You'll have $30,000 at the end of the month. The second option doesn't seem so great at first glance, plus it takes time to do the math. But it'd be time well spent: Choose the second option and you'd have more than $5 million at the end of a 30-day month.

This winter reduce your heating cost and save money

Reduce Heating Costs With These Money Saving Tips

If you live in a region that is cold in the winter, heating costs take a big bite out of your monthly budget for 25 - 50% of the year. Due to the rapidly escalating costs of home heating oil, propane, and kerosene, you may be paying twice as much to heat your house as you did just a few years ago. You can cut your heating costs significantly by following these money-saving tips.

Enrolling in load management programs and off-hour rate programs offered by your electric utility may save you up to $100 a year in electricity costs. Call your electric utility for information about these cost-saving programs.

Do an energy audit of your house, identifying areas where heated air is leaking out. Check around doors, windows, fireplaces, and other areas that may feel drafty. Use caulk, weather stripping, door sweeps, plastic, and other appropriate means to close off these leaks. If your house is poorly insulated, adding additional insulation will pay for itself in reduced heating costs. Ask your electric or gas utility if they audit homes for free or for a reasonable charge. If they do not, ask them to refer you to a qualified professional.

Minimize your use of ventilation fans such as bathroom fans and kitchen hood fans in winter. Reduce your heating billUse reflective insulation To reduce your heating costs

A bathroom fan can suck all the heated air out of the average house in little more than an hour. Over the course of the winter, ventilation fans can increase your heating costs by a surprising amount.

Don't heat areas of your house you don't use regularly, such as guest rooms. Close the doors, heating vents, or turn back thermostats in those areas.

Turn down the heat and use space heaters to heat the room you spend time in.

Keep your furnace, heat pump, or other heating equipment in top operating condition. Dirty filters reduce the efficiency of your furnace or heat pump. Poorly tuned units are inefficient and use more fuel. An annual maintenance agreement is well worth the money to ensure that your equipment is properly maintained and will last as long as possible.

Don't turn your thermostat up above the desired temperature. It won't heat up any more quickly and will make your furnace work harder. Also, while it makes sense to turn the heat back when you're sleeping or not at home, turning it down too low can actually cost you more because the contents of the house have to be re-heated in addition to the air. 68 to 70 degrees while you're home and awake, and 60 to 65% while you're asleep or not at home are reasonable temperatures.

Consider a programmable thermostat to raise and lower the temperature at pre-set times.

Check the temperature setting on your hot water heater. If you have a dishwasher, your water should be heated to 120%. Otherwise, it can be somewhat lower.

If your water heater is in an unheated space like an unfinished basement, wrap it in an insulation blanket available at hardware stores to prevent heat loss.

Wash clothes in cold water whenever possible.

Try to cut your shower time in half and this could cut your water heating cost in about a third. Try it really works.

In winter, try to get as much sun light as possible by opening the blinds and curtains or at the least the the sunny side of the house (the south-facing side), but it's important to close them all as soon as the sun goes down to retain the solar heat. Close curtains on the shady side of the house (north-facing side). Also, If you don't have curtains, consider installing some. Curtains made from heavy fabric with lots of folds (fullness) can prevent cold air from seeping in and warm air from seeping out, which reduces your heating costs.

Master Limited Partnership (MLP)

What is Master Limited Partnership (MLP):
A master limited partnership (MLP) is a limited partnership but it's still publicly traded. Each share of ownership is referred as a units. MLPs generally operate in the real estate markets, the natural resource, and financial services.

How do Master Limited Partnership (MLP) work:
Unlike a corporation, a master limited partnership is considered to be the aggregate of its partners rather than a separate entity. It combines the tax benefits of a limited partnership with the liquidity of publicly traded securities.

MLPs allow for pass-through income, meaning that they are not subject to corporate income taxes. Instead, owners of an MLP are personally responsible for paying taxes on their individual portions of the MLP's income, gains, losses, and deductions. This eliminates the "double taxation" generally applied to corporations (whereby the corporation pays taxes on its income and the corporation's shareholders also pay taxes on the corporation's dividends).

MLPs make distributions that are similar to dividends, and these are generally paid out on a quarterly basis. It is important to note that cash distributions are not guaranteed, and every unitholder is responsible for the taxes on his or her proportionate share of income, even if the MLP does not pay a cash distribution. In practice, MLPs pay their investors through quarterly required distributions (QRD), the amount of which is stated in the contract between the limited partners (the investors) and the general partner (the managers). Failure to pay the QRD may constitute an event of default.

Generally, investors can purchase MLP units from brokers. A unitholder's initial tax basis in MLP units is generally the amount he or she pays for the units. The unitholder's basis is usually then decreased with each distribution and allocation for losses or deductions, and the basis is increased for each allocation of income. A portion of certain distributions may qualify as a return of the investor's capital, thereby reducing the unitholder's taxable basis.

When an MLP pays more in distributions than it earns in taxable income, the unitholder's tax basis is decreased by the difference between the cash received and the MLP's taxable income. When the unitholder sells his or her units, any gain on the sale is taxed at the unitholder's ordinary income tax rate.

MLPs must mail an IRS Schedule K-1 to each of their unitholders every year. This Schedule K-1 reports the unitholder's allocated income, gain, loss, deduction, and credits. If the unitholder's taxable partnership income for the year is negative, then this is considered a passive loss under the tax code and may not be used to offset income from other sources. Instead, the passive loss may only be used to offset future income from the same MLP.

Although unitholders are generally limited in their liability, similar to a corporation's shareholders, creditors typically have the right to seek the return of distributions made to unitholders if the liability in question arose before the distribution was paid. This liability stays attached to the unitholder even after he or she sells the units.

Why Master Limited Partnership (MLP):
The fact that master limited partnerships (MLPs) are not subject to income tax means that more cash is available for distributions than would be available had the company incorporated. This generally makes MLP units worth more than similar shares of a corporation.

The size of an MLP's cash distributions generally drives the value of its MLP units. With this in mind, it is particularly important for investors to carefully evaluate whether an MLP is able to meet its current distribution obligations and whether it will be able to continue (and possibly even raise) its future distributions. If a particular MLP sports a distributable cash flow coverage ratio of 1:1, then this generally indicates that the MLP has adequate cash to meet its cash distribution requirements.

As a side note, the American Jobs Creation Act of 2004 added MLP income to the list of acceptable sources of income for mutual funds, with some conditions, including that mutual funds may not invest more than 25% of their assets in MLPs, nor may they own more than 10% of any one MLP.

Here is a good example of how not to invest your life savings

Here is a good example of how not to invest your life savings! Brit Ashley Revell bets $136000 on one spin of the roulette wheel in Las Vegas after selling everything he owned. This is what happened..

Be wise investing with your money

Be Wise with your money starting now!

Where is your money going? Yes, we know that you have probably read all those articles of just cutting out that cup of coffee at Starbucks, or the big fountain drink at the gas station. But, for most of us that might last maybe the first week of the new year, but rely does not last nor have much of an effect on your savings.

So why not take a look at a bigger look at things. Just like anything along with saving money, it takes hard work, discipline, and more hard work. So let's start of with taking a look at what kind of cars or vehicles do you have or are you driving in your family?

Consider the fact that once you purchase any new car and drive it off the lot it's going to start depreciating right away. Meaning if you purchase a 2007 car at $30,000, you will never get that amount back when you sell or trade it in. But, you will get a nice car. But, let's take a closer look at this. Why not look into different options in cars. Sometimes Just giving up leather seats, sunroof, and a few horse power could save you up to $10,000, and now that's a lot of cups of coffee or fountain drinks!

We estimate if you drive less expesive cars saving say $10,000, in a life time you could save well over $150,000 in YOUR LIFETIME!!

How about this one for saving more money. Plan and send your children to public schools and universities. We know that some are really wanting to send their youngsters to Yale or Harvard, but you look into sending them to State schools. The stats don't lie either stating that students with similar academic abilities earn the same whether they attend top schools or less selective ones.

Also looking taking vacations in the offseason or taking a trip to South American or Canada instead of Europe. This kind of vacations can save you well over $1,000 per vacation.

After checking out your vacation spots, than take a long hard look at your house and what you really need. Just some things to really think about helping you save and being wise with where you put your money.

The success of strategies like this will obviously depend on what you want to do with the all the extra savings! One simple way of doing this is estimate how much money you could save in a year off of this stragety and the increase your 401(k) or even better automatic IRA contributions by that amount. We really like this idea that automatically forces you to start saving each month.

Level 3 (LVLT)

Level 3 (LVLT)

Level 3 is look good to me. The facts are in and Level 3 is now trading in debt for
equity. Yes, that's right! How many companies would like to be doing that?

Well, get this Level 3 takes $490 mln of Level 3's 10% Convertible Senior Notes due 2011 for a total of approx 160.1 mln sh of LVLT's common stock, equivalent to approx 326.78 shares per $1,000 note. As a result of the exchange, co expects to reduce its 07 cash interest expense by approx $47 mln. The notes are callable by the company on May 1, 09.

With this kind of news, this stock could move just about anywhere and the estimates will probably keep going up. Now if Level 3 could just get a few more quick deals like this and this company could be a cash flow before this year is up...okay maybe more then just a few, but still at the moment looks good to me for Level 3.

Business Week

Business Week! You have to check this one out! Or you are even just looking for your Free Business Magazines check it out today!

Warren Buffet Interview

Here is a great interview with Warren Buffet! The Oracle from Omaha visits Israel. Special interview on TheMarker TV.

Warren Edward Buffett Biography : Famous American Investor - Stock Market Guru
Famous for : The successful Berkshire Hathaway Company, 2nd Richest man in the world, & Philanthropist
Buffet details : Born - August 30, 1930 Omaha, Nebraska / Lives - United States of America - Omaha



Buffet Quotes, Warren Buffet Quotes, investing quotes, business quotes

"Wide diversification is only required when investors do not understand what they are doing."
Warren Buffett - Stock Market - Investing - Knowledge

"Only buy something that you'd be perfectly happy to hold if the market shut down for 10 years."
Warren Buffett - Stock Market - Long Term Investing

"We simply attempt to be fearful when others are greedy and to be greedy only when others are fearful."
Warren Buffett - Greed - Fear - Investing

"Why not invest your assets in the companies you really like? As Mae West said, "Too much of a good thing can be wonderful"."
Warren Buffett - Investing - Assets

"Your premium brand had better be delivering something special, or it's not going to get the business."
Warren Buffett - Branding

"Our favourite holding period is forever."
Warren Buffet - Long Term Investing

For more Buffet Quotes, Warren Buffet Quotes, investing quotes, business quotes check this out.

Warren Buffet Interview

Here is a great interview with Warren Buffet! The Oracle from Omaha visits Israel. Special interview on TheMarker TV.

Warren Edward Buffett Biography : Famous American Investor - Stock Market Guru
Famous for : The successful Berkshire Hathaway Company, 2nd Richest man in the world, & Philanthropist
Buffet details : Born - August 30, 1930 Omaha, Nebraska / Lives - United States of America - Omaha



Buffet Quotes, Warren Buffet Quotes,

"Wide diversification is only required when investors do not understand what they are doing."
Warren Buffett - Stock Market - Investing - Knowledge

"Only buy something that you'd be perfectly happy to hold if the market shut down for 10 years."
Warren Buffett - Stock Market - Long Term Investing

"We simply attempt to be fearful when others are greedy and to be greedy only when others are fearful."
Warren Buffett - Greed - Fear - Investing

"Why not invest your assets in the companies you really like? As Mae West said, "Too much of a good thing can be wonderful"."
Warren Buffett - Investing - Assets

"Your premium brand had better be delivering something special, or it's not going to get the business."
Warren Buffett - Branding

"Our favourite holding period is forever."
Warren Buffet - Long Term Investing

Stock Holdings of Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.B)

Stock Holdings of Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.B)

New Investments and Additions?

In Berkshire Hathway last filing with the SEC showed that he has gone with some new investments and additions. Looking into this one, we saw that Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.B) did receive shares in Western Union (WU) which was spun off from longtime holding First Data (FDC). Berkshire also increased its stake in five of its existing holdings: Iron Mountain (IRM), Lowe's (LOW), Nike (NKE), and USG (USG).

We see that the Western Union was added, and it sort of draws our attention as well being the most dominate monery transfer market. Western Union looks to have some upside, but we would suggest doing you own homework and research on the matter.

Also, check out that Berkshire invested more into USG, a manufacturer of gypsum wallboards, which emerged from asbestos-related bankruptcy last June. Berkshire has owned USG since 2001, and more recently backed a rights offering from the company in mid-2006. Given Buffett's experience with asbestos liabilities via Berkshire's insurance operations.

Though, while you look at what Berkshire is adding you must also look at what they are getting or letting go of. Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.B) is taking a less position on beer maker Anheuser Busch (BUD), continues to sell off tax adviser H&R Block (HRB), continued to let go of more shares of Ameriprise Financial (AMP), and appears to have sold a fair amount of its mass-market retailer Target (TGT).

To check out Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.B) current holding today!

Japanese Stocks

Japan and the Asian Market is worth taking a look at we think. We would suggest starting with funds (rather it's tradition mutual fund or ETF that is up to you) while trying to target and break into this Japan market. Note that Japanese stocks most regular appear in a lot of the most diversified international funds. And one more interesting fact is that a majority of large-cap foreign funds keep just about one fifth of their assets in stocks from Japan. With those to factores in mind we though it was worth talking alittle more look into some funds targeting Japan. And your wanting a true diversified portfolio its probably worth checking in and seeing if you have any investments targeting Japanese stocks.

Well, if you do you don't it might be the right time to start researching a few and we would like to help you out and start you with alittle pre homework. You have several options when looking to the Japanese stocks and Japan ETFs. Starting with Matthews Japan (MJFOX) and T. Rowe Price Japan (PRJPX), though they are not looking really bright as of right now. Another option is going the ETFs way of things while looking at iShares MCSI Japan Index (EWJ), which cost about half as much as those conventional near-picks and provides exposure to 85% of the Japanese market. These seem to play pretty heavy on these two Japan stocks Toyota (TM) and Sony (SNE), these two stocks could also be in some of your other foreign funds you own something you might want to look into.

While this one is so fresh, we really don't know what to think about it yet. Though, with that said, maybe you could give it a good hard look and figure out for yourself. WisdomTree Japan Total Dividend (DXJ) new ETF offering mid-cap to larg-cap Japanese stocks that are dividend pay outs instead of focusing on the actual market money matter. No one will know how the divinded playing stocks will play out this year, but it's low cost and diversification we seem is well worth the look.

Investing Goals

Write down why you invest in what you do. Or write down your Investin goals!

That's right, writing down your investing goals, or what you want out of your investments, or why your investing in what you are doing currently will help:

focuse your investing goals
organize your investments/investing goals
organize your focus and strategy towards your investing goals

They say this can work with anything. Rather your goal is investing more, getting healthy, or even just simple things as relaxing more.

But the idea is simple and easy. Write down why your wanting to invest in something new, or why you invested in that stock in the first place, and lastly what are you wanting to get out of that investment. So with these written down you can then stay more focused and on task with all your investments. But, you must have discipline as well to know if those investments are not reaching your goal or purpose that are written down then it's time to move on. For example if you say I would like to make a 45% return on this investment in a year. Well, and that year is up and you have not made that return well, then it's probably time to cut your loose.

Noting why you bought the fund--to get large-cap growth exposure and consistently above-average returns from a manager who has been in charge for several years, for example--will help to instill discipline and eliminate some of the emotion that so often gets in the way of smart investing.

For example you purchase iShares Dow Jones Select Dividend Index (DVY) to cover the costs of your son's education in 15 years. After much research you chose this EFT because the number look good and the dividend is pretty much unbeatable. After reflecting a good combination of returns and risk; its expenses were lower than the category average; and the fund ­didn't risk a lot on the technology stocks that so many other growth funds were feasting on. Those are all good reasons. So you ­shouldn't even consider selling the fund unless it falls short on these points.

To take the opposite case, maybe you bought DWS International (SCINX) because you wanted some international exposure and you were attracted by its long-tenured management and consistent performance. But since 1999, the fund's performance has been erratic, and it has also undergone a few management changes. Because the fund is no longer meeting your main reasons for buying it, selling would be a reasonable choice. Other legitimate reasons to sell would be that a fund has hiked its expense ratio or assets have gotten so bloated that performance starts to suffer. But remember reading all this, and action are two different things. It really comes down to you taking control, discipline, and writing down your investing goals.

Stock Losses, Stock Gains

Here is a scenerio that I am sure we have all seen or heard of before. So you purchase a stock and it goes up a little bit after you buy it, but then say it drops 4%-5. The question is what should you do in this scenerio?

Well, we will try to break it down for you. Before really breaking it down lets talk about the bad news scenerio or different cases. Such as, you purchase a stock that never reaches a selling gain level that you like say 15% or higher. Well, then we would look into allowing that stock to decline as low as 8% before selling (unless there is bad news thinking it could only get worse then we would look into selling at any point).

Next say a stock that is purchased goes to a 7% loss and a 29% gain, meaning your target is you start selling shares at a 30% gain and/or 8% loss. Then no matter what we suggest to stick with your guns and sell all share at the 8% loss stop.

Next case, if I have sold the stock once at the approximately 30% appreciation point. In this case, if you choose to only sell partially out at the 30% level we would then ride it all the way out for either a higher gain or sell completely out of it at a break even point.

Their are many other types of strageties out there about this kind of topic and where and when to let go of your stock. But, the biggest keys we suggest are stick to your guns no matter what. If you have a 8% stock loss than stick with that. And overalll you will see the benefits in the long run!

Exchange-Traded Funds

Exchange-Traded Funds

As assets in exchange-traded funds top $325 billion and the number of ETFs climbs near 300, investors now have indexed-based choices that cover everything from the S&P 500 to foreign currencies. That has some people wondering if there aren't already too many options. Lower fees, better tax efficiency and the ability to trade at will have been cited for ETFs' popularity. Also, note that the big run for ETFs was right with the scandals of the 2003 of all the mutual fund companies.

We think the continue growth and demand for exchange-traded funds will continue though 2007. Enough with the growth, ETFs will hold to be in popular trend in investing. While we thinkg more smart investors will jump on the EFT band wagon, and understand that most mutual funds can not beat indexes. Due to this factor smart investors will come a running to ETFs. Again, though some old school investors will still not give in and try to fight back with traditional mutuals funds, but don't be fooled this upcoming year.

The truth of a growing stock options.

At the end of 2006 we look back and see that this was another hit year for the total of options continue to increase. It is stated that the the total option volume hit a recored 2.02 billion contracts. That's even a 35% increase over 2005 and marks the fourth consecuive yea of 30% plus volume growth.


If history continue to repeat itself in this area of stock option contracts. It might be worth a little more of your time to check into, and read a little more information about stock options.


This big increase player is the role of the hedge funds, these hedge fund are making up nearly 25% of trading volume in both options and equities. Plus the fact that traditional mutual funds use options to reduce risk, help investing, and generate income. The most evident of it all is the covered-calls and buy-write funds, which continue to raise and have risen over $100 billion the past two years.

With all this information, it's worth a look to see how much of stock options are coming down the pipe lines. In a recent survey by Schwab of 2,000 of its stock option clients revealed that more than half use options for income generation and some 46% are using options as part of their retirement-planning portfolio.


Plus the growing fact of mainstream brokers such as OptionsXpress, Schwab, E*Trade, and others. All these brokers are seeing this trend in stock options and continue to provide great resource, educational tools, trading tools, and even more option eductional tools. It seems as if finally investors have put a side the idea that we have been hearing for years which is "stock options are to risky" and "options are just to hard to learn". Plus, add the factor that all across the board commission rates have dropped which adds helping the stock options market overcome these myths.


Finally, we have to throw in the exchange-traded funds that continue to grow and will provide another great way to utilize stock options. For example, ETFs such as the Spyder Trust (SPY), the Nasdaq 100 Trust (QQQQ ) and iShares Russell 2000 Index (IWM) are typically the most-active options, trading collectively an average of more than 350,000 contracts a day.

ETF Corner

ETF Corner

Here some big winner in the ETF corner. Let's first check out the iShares Silver Trust (SLV) this EFT was a big winner when the Silver Trust (SLV) rose 1.9% reaching now $124.48.


Also, this ETF rose 1.2% based from the holdings of Apple (AAPL), and with the new of the new Apple iPhones and Apple TV. The EFT corner takes a loook at the Internet Architecture HOLDRs (IAH) which boosted up 52 cents to $44.46.


The B2B Internet HOLDRs (BHH) was rising as Checkfree (CKFR ) gained 1.2%. The ETF was ahead by 2 cents, or 0.9%, to $2.23.


On the flip side, the Wireless HOLDRs (WMH) was a big loser. Component Sprint (S) was falling 10% after the big telco said it lost 306,000 subscribers in the quarter ended Dec. 31 and disclosed plans to slash 5,000 jobs. The ETF was falling by $1.24, or 2.1%, to $59.16.


The Internet Infrastructure HOLDRs (IIH) was also declining. Holding BEA Systems (BEAS) was losing 1.6%. The ETF was down 6 cents, or 1.1%, to $5.49.

Stern and Sirius

Stern and Sirius

Stern and Sirius are still talking dirty these days. Though, Howard Stern just received another stock bonus from Sirius Satellite Radio -- this one worth $89 million. Stern's racy radio show helped Sirius end 2006 with 6 million subscribers -- 2.5 million more than analysts projected before Stern came aboard with a five-year, $500 million contract.

Investing Proves Popular in 2007

Investing strategies that counter recession prove popular

Rather what all the 2007 predictions on the ecomony are. We still have a worrisome culture going on. But, let's remember the stories of 2006 that could help us look into more of where or what 2007 could bring us. We are hear to tell you...Forget what economists predict and forget the hype you get from Wall Street. Whether there is a recession or not in 2007 there is likely to be a flight to more-conservative investments among mainstream portfolio savers. You don't have to search too hard around the globe to find a flashpoint, and you can assess for yourself the chances that one of them will ignite next year. Lots of people were hot on commodities in 2006; the hot commodity in 2007 might just be fear. Oh, the No. 1 Personal Finance story this year:

Investment using automatical withdrawal

Investment using automatical withdrawal

You know how you pay your gas bill, your phone bill, each month using electric billing automatically? This saves on not having to write a check address the envelope each month. Well, why not invest the same way?

There's an addictional benefits to investing small amounts say $50 on a regular basis (also called dollar-cost averaging): You may actually invest more than you would if you plunked down a lump sum, and at more opportune times. When you're dollar-cost averaging, you're putting dollars to work no matter what's going on in the market. You have effectively put on blinders against short-term market swings: Whether the market is going up or going down, $100 (or whatever amount you choose to invest) is going into your fund every month no matter what. That's discipline. Would you be able to write a check for $100 if your fund had lost 15% the previous month? Maybe not. But that would mean $100 less working for you when your investments rebounded.

For example, an investor who put in $600 up front in January would have gotten 60 shares at $10 per share. Those shares were worth $12 in June, so her investment was worth $720. If she had dollar-cost averaged her investment, putting in $100 per month, she would have purchased some of her shares on the cheap and wound up with 62.1 shares in June. At $12 per share, she would have had $745.20--$25 more than if she had invested a lump sum at the beginning.

Be careful about using a dollar-cost averaging program if you use a broker or advisor to buy and sell shares, however. If you're paying a front-end load, you'll pay that amount on each and every investment. Perhaps more important, by making smaller purchases you might not be eligible for sales-charge discounts that are frequently available to those who are investing larger sums.

Shaq is into investing check this out!

You have to check this out! That's right Shaq's selling his pad! And it's only selling for $35,000,000. That's right this beautiful 19,440 square feet, 8 bedroom, 11 full and 3 half baths! Why you want or need more bathrooms than bedrooms we still don't know.

This house was bought through a trust in 2004 for $18,800,000 according to public records. He then tried to turn around and listed the property less than one year later for $32,000,000. A short time later, the house was taken off the market. And then it was put back on the market in late 2006...for $3,000,000 more than before! Yes children, this man thinks he's entitled to a $16,000,000 profit after less than three years of owning the home. We know the real estate has been insane in Miami the last few years, but it has not been this insane. And who knows if Shaq will get is investment or money back. Read the more of the story!

Apple just keeps going!

Apple Just Keeps Going

Apple Computer CEO Steve Jobs on Tuesday made the company's long-awaited jump into the mobile phone business and renamed the company to just "Apple Inc.," reflecting its increasing focus on consumer electronics.

The iPhone, which starts at $499, is controlled by touch, plays music, surfs the Internet and runs the Macintosh computer operating system. Jobs said it will "reinvent" the telecommunications sector and "leapfrog" past the current generation of hard-to-use smart phones.

"Every once in a while a revolutionary product comes along that changes everything," he said during his keynote address at the annual Macworld Conference and Expo. "It's very fortunate if you can work on just one of these in your career. ... Apple's been very fortunate in that it's introduced a few of these."

He said the name change is meant to reflect the fact that Apple has matured from a computer manufacturer to a full-fledged consumer electronics company.

"I didn't sleep a wink last night," he said. "I was so excited."

During his speech, Jobs also unveiled a TV set-top box that allows people to send video from their computers and announced the number of songs sold on its iTunes Music Store has topped 2 billion.

Apple shares jumped more than 6 percent on the announcements, while the stock of rival smart-phone makers plunged.

Jobs demonstrated the iPhone's music capabilities by playing "Lovely Rita, Meter Maid," from the Beatles' "Sergeant Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band," as the album's psychedelic album art graced a wide-screen monitor.

IPhone uses a patented touch-screen technology Apple is calling "multi-touch."

"We're going to use a pointing device that we're all born with," Jobs said. "It works like magic. ... It's far more accurate than any touch display ever shipped. It ignores unintended touches. It's super smart."

The phone automatically synchs your media -- movies, music, photos -- through Apple's iTunes Music Store. The device also synchs e-mail content, Web bookmarks and nearly any type of digital content stored on your computer.

"It's just like an iPod," Jobs said, "charge and synch."

The phones, which will operate exclusively on AT&T Inc.'s Cingular wireless network, will start shipping in June. A 4-gigabyte model will cost $499, while an 8-gigabyte iPhone will be $599, Jobs said.

IPhone is less than a half-inch thin -- less than almost any phone on the market today. It comes with a 2-megapixel digital camera built into the back, as well as a slot for headphones and a SIM card.

In a demonstration Tuesday, Jobs slid his finger across the display to reveal a home screen and then scrolled through a list of songs.

To make a call, users can tap out the number on an onscreen keypad or scroll through their contacts and dial with a single touch.

Apple is also introducing what it calls "visual voicemail," so users can jump to the most important messages rather than have to listen to all of them in order.

The phone supports Wi-Fi and Bluetooth wireless technology and can detect location from Global Positioning System satellites. It also can send and display e-mail and text messages. Apple is partnering with Yahoo Inc. on Web-based e-mail and Google Inc. on maps.

With a few finger taps, Jobs demonstrated how to pull up a Google Maps site and find the closest Starbucks to the Moscone Center. He then prank-called the cafe and ordered 4,000 lattes to go before quickly hanging up.

"My initial reaction is that this product actually lives up to the extensive hype, and I'm not easily impressed," said Avi Greengart, mobile device analyst for the research firm Current Analysis.

Also Tuesday, Jobs said Apple will begin taking orders immediately for the $299 video box called Apple TV. It will ship next month.

The gadget is designed to bridge computers and television sets so users can more easily watch their downloaded movies on a big screen. A prototype of the gadget was displayed by Jobs in September when Apple announced it would sell TV shows and movies through its iTunes online store.

The product could be as revolutionary to digital movies as Apple's iPod music player was to digital music. Both devices liberate media from the computer, allowing people to enjoy digital files without being chained to a desktop or laptop.

"It's really, really easy to use," Jobs told the crowd at San Francisco's Moscone Center before demonstrating the system with a video clip of "The Good Shepherd." "It's got the processing horsepower to do the kinds of things we like to do."

Apple TV will come with a 40-gigabyte hard drive that stores up to 50 hours of video. It features an Intel Corp. microprocessor and can handle videos, photos and music streamed from up to five computers within the wireless range.

Jobs also said Apple has sold more than 2 billion songs on its popular iTunes music download service, catapulting the company into the top ranks of music sellers worldwide. Apple, which sells 58 songs per second, or 5 million songs a day, sells more songs than Amazon.com and ranks behind only Wal-Mart, Best Buy and Target as a music retailer.

"We couldn't be happier with the growth rate of iTunes," Jobs said.

He said Apple will sell digital movies from Paramount. Apple has partnered with Disney for several months, offering about 100 movies on iTunes. With Paramount's selection, it will have 250 movies available for downloading on the site.

With Tuesday's launches, it remains to be seen whether the leading seller of digital music players can take will find it as easy to jump into the phone business. Apple could use a megahit along the lines of its iconic iPod to divert investors' attention from the stock options-backdating scandal that has tainted its reputation.

The backdating of stock options, which has been widespread among Silicon Valley companies, involves pegging stock options to favorable grant dates in the past to boost the recipients' award. It isn't necessarily illegal, but securities laws require companies to properly disclose the practice in their accounting and settle any charges that may result.

In a December filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Apple said Jobs was aware of, or recommended the selection of, some favorable grant dates but he neither benefited financially from them nor "appreciated the accounting implications."

Apple shares were up $5.71 to $91.18 in afternoon trading on the Nasdaq Stock Market. The stock has traded in a 52-week range of $50.16 to $93.16. Meanwhile, shares of other smart-phone makers slid: Treo-maker Palm Inc. dropped 4.7 percent, BlackBerry's Research In Motion Ltd. lost 6.4 percent and Motorola Inc. shed 1 percent.

GPS for 2007

GPS units for 2007
What will be next with all this tracking of the GPS for 2007.


This holiday and even into the 2007 GPS technology is on the radar for lots of people, teens, and even families. Noting that GPS sales were up 66% last year and we think they will continue to rise. Check out what some of the leading GPS companies are offering these days:


Garmin - Garmin we believe is on top of the GPS game and now has just released the Astro Dog Tracking System. This sleek design is targeting hunters which is a handheld GPS unit combining a 5-inch antenna and a dog collar. This is allowing dog owners to track their dogs' anywhere and everywhere. So no matter if your duck hunting or racoon hunting you will know where you dog is at all times. While this is first targeted at hunters the dog industry and dog lovers could be a hot idea this upcoming year. Garmin is stating it should be ready in June 2007 and will come out costing right around $649.

Garmin also released the Nuvi 680 ($999), and this is the top of the line GPS unit. This GPS unit is first ever to have MSN Direct Service providing up-to-the-minute traffic, weather, real-time gas prices, and movie times. The Garmin Nuvi 580 provides the services, too, for $799.

Magellan - This company is coming out with the first pocket-size Crossover GPS. This new Crossover GPS unit is handing and can be used for just about anything. Things such as hiking, on-foot outdoor travels, in-car navigation and etc. The Crossover GPS contains topographical maps for all 50 states, Canada, Puerto Rico, and Mexico and retails for $549.

TomTom - They products continue to drop as now the TomTom One is now currently only $399.

The 10 Hottest-Selling Mutual Funds to be looking at this 2007

The 10 Hottest-Selling Mutual Funds to be looking at this 2007

American Funds Growth Fund of America (AGTHX)
American Funds Capital World Growth & Income (CWGIX)
American Funds Capital Income Builder (CAIBX)
American Funds EuroPacific Growth (AEPGX)
Dodge & Cox International Stock (DODFX)
Vanguard Total Stock Market Index (VTSMX)
Fidelity Diversified International (FDIVX)
PHarbor Bond (HABDX)
American Funds Fundamental Investors (ANCFX)
Davis New York Venture (NYVTX)
Selected American (SLADX).

Monday's Stock ideas

Check out the stock rumors...10 Rumors That Could Rock Stocks

Here another 7 stocks ideas for today. Check them out here.

The only stock they both have up is Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL - News). AAPL's PowerRating is 5. Apple will announce that Steve Jobs will be taking a leave of absence from the company.

In a recent polls at thestreet.com

In a recent poll at thestreet.com they asked over 2500 people three simple questions that everyone in today's market wants to know.

1. What would best describe your stance heading into the coming week of trading?

Bullish 44.85%
Bearish 26.44%
Neutral 28.7%

2 Which of these sectors do you think is set to move up in the coming week?

The top several sectors were as followed:

Integrated Oil 8.86%
Biotechnology 8.51%
Energy Equipment & Services 7.2%
Airlines 4.43%
Computers and Peripherals 6.69%
Energy Equipment & Services 7.2%
Internet, Software Services 6.92%
Investment Bankers and Brokers 5.85%
Pharmaceuticals 5.5%
Precious Metals 5.5%


3 Which of these sectors do you think is set to move down in the coming week?

Integrated Oil 16.58%
Homebuilding 13.89%
Precious Metals 11.52%
Energy Equipment & Services 10.09%

Herbalife (HLF)

After last weeks ending of Herbalife (HLF) stock getting hammered by what was a piece of news that's not even all bad compared to what other companies have gone through as of lately. Though, Herbalife (HLF) was amont the NYSE's biggerst losers and not we are not talking about the Biggest Loser on NBC sorry! We are talking about stock market losers of a stock that lost 20% due to a cut in sales for 2007.

For the recently ended fourth quarter, Herbalife said it expects sales of $482.7 million to $484.7 million, in line with Thomson First Call's average analyst estimate of $488.3 million. The company expects earnings to be within its previously announced forecast of 52 cents to 55 cents a share.

Looking ahead, Herbalife lowered its 2007 sales growth forecast because of slower-than-expected growth in Mexico. The company expects sales to rise 6% to 10%, compared with an earlier projection of 10% to 15%. Herbalife still expects earnings of $2.40 to $2.47 a share for the year. Shares were trading down $7.95 to $31.35.

Is Herbalife still a buy? Well, that's the question, but we would like to bring this up to at least look into this stock alittle deeper.

We feel that here are some facts that make it still an interesting stock. The company Herbalife (HLF) is reaffirming its previous guidance of $2.40 to $2.47 in earnings per share. However, those results would reflect sales growth of between 6% and 10%, combined with improved operating margins and a lower tax rate. The company previously expected a 10% to 15% increase in sales.

Looking at current sales trends, the company predicts slower sales growth in Mexico than it previously estimated. Those results should be partially offset by sales growth in the U.S. and several other countries, the company says.

Herbalife (HLF) expects to earn 50 cents to 55 cents a share in the first quarter of 2007, excluding expenses related to its so-called realignment for growth initiative. Analysts surveyed by Thomson First Call were expecting the company to earn 58 cents a share in the quarter.

What do you think? Buy? Sell? Hold? Keep looking for a different stock?

Markets Closed to Honor Gerald Ford

U.S. Stock Markets Are Closed Today for National Day of Mourning for Gerald Ford

NEW YORK (AP) -- U.S. stock markets are closed today to observe the national day of mourning for former President Gerald Ford.

The first trading week of the year may be a short one, but it may help determine whether the stock market's record-breaking run will continue or melt down in 2007.

The three days will be filled with data on employment, the manufacturing and service sectors, and sales figures from retailers and automakers. These will provide clues to Wall Street's big question: Is economic growth still cooling, or starting to heat up?

During the last trading week of 2006, despite thin holiday trading volumes, the Dow Jones industrial average rose above 12,500 for the first time after a promising report on new home sales suggested the economy may be turning around. If the first week of January brings good news, the Dow could hurtle further into record territory, extending its fourth-quarter rally.

Hearty economic growth may not line investors' pockets, however, if it leads the Federal Reserve to believe Americans can withstand an interest rate hike. Such a move by policy makers has the potential to stop the market's rally because of fears that higher rates will crimp consumer spending and deal a further blow to the housing market by making mortgages harder to pay off.

ECONOMIC DATA

The first trading day of 2007 will kick off with the Insitute for Supply Management's December report on the manufacturing sector -- an area of the economy that cooled in 2006 due to a slowing housing market and struggling automakers, but that didn't faze the stock market.

The market expects the ISM's manufacturing index to come in at 50, indicating neither expansion nor contraction. That's above November's reading of 49.5; that was the first time the index showed contraction in nearly four years.

Investors will also be reading the Federal Open Market Committee's minutes from its meeting on Dec. 12, when the policy makers decided to keep interest rates unchanged. The markets widely believe the Fed will leave the benchmark rate steady again at 5.25 percent, as it's done since August, when it meets Jan. 18. But expectations of a hike later in the year could rise if the minutes released Wednesday express heightened optimism about growth and concern about inflation.

Wednesday will also bring November data on construction spending and factory orders, as well as December auto sales figures. The market expects 2007 to be the year that Toyota Motor Corp. usurps General Motors Corp.'s title as the world's largest automaker.

On Thursday, the country's largest retailers announce their sales figures for December -- the biggest shopping month of the year, and a bellwether for consumer spending. Investors may be in for a disappointment; retail analysts brought their holiday predictions down a notch after Christmas, saying that while online and luxury item sales surged, most retailers saw shoppers spending conservatively.

The ISM will also release its December report on the service sector on Thursday. The index is expected to come in at 57.0, slightly below November's reading of 58.9. The service sector stayed strong relative to the manufacturing sector in 2006, suggesting that economic weakness is fairly isolated to the housing- and auto-related industries.

The Labor Department caps the week with its reports on December nonfarm payrolls and the unemployment rate. The market expects the data Friday to show payrolls rose by 110,000 and unemployment held at 4.5 percent. The U.S. jobs picture has remained fairly stable in the face of an economic slowdown, which has helped buoy the stock market's confidence in Americans' spending power.

EARNINGS

After taking a holiday vacation last week from releasing financial results, major corporate earnings will start trickling in again on Thursday.

Wall Street expects Constellation Brands Inc., the world's largest wine maker, to report earnings Thursday of 60 cents a share for its fiscal third quarter. Constellation Brands closed at $28.98 on Friday, after hitting a 52-week high of $29.14 earlier in the session. Its shares hit a 52-week low of $23.32 in April.

Meanwhile, analysts predict herbicide and biotech seed producer Monsanto Co. will report earnings Thursday of 58 cents a share for its fiscal first quarter. The maker of herbicide RoundUp closed at $52.53 on Friday, at the upper end of its 52-week range of $37.91 to $53.49.