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MICROSOFT ON THE SURFACE NEEDS OFFICE TO SURVIVE APPLE

June 20, 2012

Microsoft’s trump card against Apple(AAPL) is a suite of productivity software aptly named Office. In my own research, more than half of the corporations my employees have surveyed are reluctant to deploy Apple iPad widely because it does not run Microsoft Office natively. Our research also shows that about 20% of consumers have been reluctant to buy iPad because it does not run Office. Office is so ubiquitous in the corporate world that Microsoft’s new Surface tablets may gain traction not because they are better than iPad, but because they run Office. There are several excellent competing apps that run well

MICROSOFT SURFACE SURE IS NO APPLE IPAD KILLER

June 19, 2012

On Monday, Steve Ballmer, CEO of Microsoft (MSFT), revealed much anticipated tablets from Microsoft. The tablets, to be called Surface, are a much stronger entry than most analysts expected. Speculation by analysts ranged from eBook reader to an Xbox focused tablet. Microsoft shares are up better than 3% on the news. Surface includes tablet features that are now deemed standard but offers a big screen at 10.6 inches. The biggest innovation is the cover of Surface. The cover flips to become a cool keyboard. A built-in kick stand and a pen that clicks into the tablet are likely to prove popular. Surface

HOW TO PROFIT FROM THE GREEK ELECTION

June 19, 2012

As of this writing, the wire reports are that the New Democracy party may be able to form a governing coalition. If this turns out to be true, there is a conservative way to make money from Greek elections. The New Democracy party is the pro-bailout party and is committed to honoring the agreements Greece made. If this party succeeds, there will be more stability. Read: Pro-bailout party leads in Greek election tally The conservative way that I favor is to buy a basket of stocks in the largest European multi-national firms such as Siemens /quotes/zigman/279102/quotes/nls/si SI +1.24% , Royal

HOW TO TRADE THE FED MEETING

June 19, 2012

The Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) of the Federal Reserve System holds eight scheduled meetings in a year. The results of these meetings provide not only trading opportunities, but also extremely valuable data points for investments. The June 19 to 20 FOMC meeting is upon us. As always, there is a wide variance among expectations by experts as to what the FOMC will do. The fact is that nobody other than perhaps the FOMC members knows the likely results of the meeting. Experts are simply guessing. It pays to make an attempt to figure out how a majority of participants

DON’T WEEP LIKE A WILLOW: BENDABLE GLASS NOT LIKELY FOR IPHONE 5

June 19, 2012

Imagine a phone wrapped in curved glass. If done right this is the next revolution in the industrial design of mobile devices including phones. There is no one better at implementing sleek, new industrial designs than Apple (AAPL). Apple iPhone 4s came under criticism because its shape and form did not change from iPhone 4. There is much speculation about the look of iPhone 5. As attractive as the innovation of completely encasing a phone in curved glass from front to back, in my opinion this innovation will not likely be there in iPhone 5. Corning (GLW), the maker of popular Gorilla Glass,

WEEKLY MARKET DIGEST: CENTRAL BANKS READY TO COUNTER FALLOUT FROM GREEK ELECTION

June 16, 2012

(The Weekly Digest reproduces the morning capsules made available every morning before the market open in the Real Time Feeds to the paying subscribers.) CENTRAL BANKS READY TO COUNTER FALLOUT FROM GREEK ELECTION June 15, 2012 Mario Draghi says ECB is ready to flush banks with liquidity to counter any adverse effects from Greek election. The Bank of England unleashes an aggressive program to shield U.K. against fallout from Greece. The Bank of Japan holds a policy meeting but fails to ease causing volatility in forex. Now our sources are indicating that the pro-bailout party the New Democracy is pulling ahead in

GREEK ELECTION IS A NEGATIVE FOR GOLD

June 15, 2012

The Greek election is this Sunday, and no matter what the outcome, the election is negative for gold and silver in the medium-term. I believe this conclusion flies in the face of conventional wisdom. Not many will have the conviction to publish an unpopular view against conventional wisdom right before the election. I draw inspiration from the well documented fact that our adaptive algorithms have correctly called every major turn in gold and silver since 2007. In Greek elections, on one side is the leftist Syriza led by Alexis Tsipras. Syriza is campaigning on the promise that it will renegotiate

APPLE CONFERENCE WINNERS AND LOSERS

June 14, 2012

At its Worldwide Developer Conference in San Francisco, Apple AAPL made a series of announcements that will provide significant investing and trading opportunities both on the long and the short sides, over the coming weeks and months in the derivative plays. Below are thumbnails of 14 companies worth paying attention to in light of Apple’s revelations. Winners Yelp YELP Yelp is a big winner. It has already been the main source for recommendations by Siri on restaurants. In the future, search for restaurants will make reviews from Yelp appear on Apple devices. Yelp will also be integrated with Apple Maps.