CHESSNOID

Awhile back many bloggers were upset with Google PR rankings of their sites being dropped because of the type of links or ads they had on their site. Tomorrow, disenchanted bloggers and webmasters may get some karma payback. Tonight after the bell, Google came out with its earnings and of course they made a ton of money. The only problem for investors is they had higher expectations and were looking for numbers that blew away whatever analysts were predicting. The analysts’ forecasts were not met and many investors started unloading their shares which caused the stock to initially shed off 9% of its price.

The stock closed at an all time high of $747 a share a few months ago and has been steadily dropping on the fears of recession and other tech stocks getting hammered. Today it closed at $564 up $16 a share. Tomorrow, it is going to open in negative territory. Either many investors will start buying it at the beaten up price thinking it is a good buy at this price or many investors will sell it trying to lock in their profits before it falls further. There is no way to predict what the outcome will be, but it will be decided by whether there are more buyers than sellers, or vice versa. Regardless, it will make for an exciting first day of the new month.

January 2008 was a tough month for investors even though we finished up on a positive note today. According to CNN.Money:

The Nasdaq’s January loss of 9.9% is the worst January on record for the tech index, going back to its inception in Feb. 1971, according to the Stock Trader’s Almanac.

The Dow lost 4.6% in the month, its worst January since 2000, when it lost almost 4.9%. The S&P 500 lost 6.1%, its worst Jan. since 1990, when it fell 6.9%.

We had two rate cuts in January and now my bank is paying me less in interest for my savings. On the flip side, interest rates should drop on all other types of loans and credit cards. I wonder if my credit cards will just do it automatically out of good will.

We are still having record number of foreclosures and this will continue for at least another year. For more insight on this you can read my old posts or check out Dr Housing Bubbles’ blog which I frequent. He has an excellent grasp on the effects of the recent federal reserve decisions on interest rate reductions and was one of the early commentators on the Housing Bubble when it was still taboo to mention it and popular TV shows like Flip this House was driving the speculating fever frenzy.

Rates are extremely attractive again for mortgages and I will see if I can still qualify for the AAA loan. My credit is perfect but I know lenders will be more tight with their underwriting, since they are all under the microscope to make better loan decisions or else they will become the next suspect in the FBI mortgage fraud probes of 14 companies. I keep getting redfin emails of housing updates and I like what I see. Housing prices seem to be adjusting to more affordable ones and with more rate cuts probably to come from the federal reserve, this housing bust might be over in a year or two.

I watched the Democratic debate between the last two candidates standing Barack Obama, and Hillary Clinton. I think Hillary Clinton actually won the debates based on her answers, but I will vote for whoever wins the democratic nomination. One thing they both have in common is they want to end the Iraq War and withdraw our troops. This is actually contributing to the recession we are experiencing right now. The resources we are wasting and draining from our country needs to stop. Of the 4 GOP candidates remaining, only Ron Paul on the Republican side wants to end the Iraq War. What is wrong with the other 3 candidates?! Seriously? They all seem like nice intelligent guys, but they think we are actually winning. One of them even thinks we won the Vietnam War. I heard one of the candidates wants us to be ready to stay in Iraq for the next 100 years. Ludacris!! I am not talking about the rapper either; although, I do enjoy some of his music. I hope we are all in agreement regardless of our political inclinations, the troops need to come home and the senseless invasion needs to end. This is just common sense. I don’t think there is any legitimate argument you can make for the USA to stay there.