You Are What U Read...

Time to play "What the Headlines Tell U"! Again I think reading is definitely fundamental and taking a look at the latest headlines can give you some insight into what's going on in the market and what direction it may be headed. Here are some headlines from today:

Parsons is in as Citigroup's Chairman
GE's earnings results are expected to drop
UK, US having thoughts of nationalizing banks
State Street downgraded
AIG losing key employees
Commercial Real-Estate could begin collapsing
Satyam could be sold
UK Pound hits 23 year low
Cold Weather makes Orange Juice and Nat Gas Prices Rise
Microsoft Earnings to Take a Hit
Dow Gains 280 pts, but at 8200

After going through some of the larger stories of the day. Here is what they mean to me. Citigroup, GE, State Street, and UK & US nationalizing banks all mean that the financial sectors is still heading lower. Note some of these banks received money from the government already through the Troubled Assets Relief Program (TARP). And if there earnings are still dropping then the outlook doesn't appear good.

Microsoft earnings to take a hit cannot be a positive sign for the technology sector. This will affect PC makers, chip makers, and retailers. A mainstay in the home like Microsoft is having softer sales and that can't be a good sign either.

Satyam is exploring options of selling themselves and this further highlights that transparency is needed and greed is bad. This Indian company's CEO managed to distort their earnings for years and billions of dollars were reported incorrectly.

The Dow was up yesterday, however notice the level is at 8200. Let's flashback to my post in November which called for the Dow to fall under 8000...like it did the other day and possibly see some resistance at the 7700 level.

Dow Prediction


Staying the course:

I have purchased the Direxion Financial Bear 3x, (NASDAQ: FAZ) because for a small investment I will be able to mimic the returns of shorting the financial markets...TIMES 3!

With Microsoft sales softening, I think again investors should consider owning the Exchange Traded Funds (ETF):

Proshares Ultrashort Semiconductors (SSG)