Thursday, November 6, 2008

Les Bourses replongent ce matin.

That's French for "the markets are plunging again this morning." To find practical current terms in French to describe the stock market actions, I turned to Le Monde at http://www.lemonde.fr/ because just simply translating American idioms might not have made sense. But I read this morning that French does use terms like "red" aka "rouge" and "green" aka "vert" to characterize gains and losses.

Did I mention that I am learning French ? I've been doing this from about six weeks now and have made fine progress.

Why ?

Simple, I need more culture and often good writers include some French phrases without translation. And the French language has innumerable works of great literature, unlike Spanish which has had little for four hundred years since Cervantes wrote Don Quixote. And one even comes across French in fine TV shows like the old "The Avengers" series with Diana Rigg as Mrs. Emma Peel. Last evening while watching some shows from that series [I bought the entire series on DVD], I understood the French that John Steed spoke.

And a bonus, research shows that learning a language helps one improve and retain memory skills as one ages. And I am aging. After 40 years of cramming science and finance into half of my brain, the verbal, literature and language side is "relatively" empty. After a session of French, I can actually feel that my head is "pumped" like a muscle after lifting weights. So this does work to "exercise" one's mind.

My guess is that since language skills were certainly a critical ability in the development and evolution of human beings from apes, to exercise and develop one's mind fully really requires learning languages.

Learning more words and usages in one's native language is one way to that. But I think learning a foreign language is another, complementary way.

By the way, English borrowed so many words from French that learning French vocabulary gets a huge boost. And so far, I think much of the grammar is a bit similar, too. I had learned some Latin and Russian in the past. To me, French is far easier and also far more rewarding.

PS: I see that web site for Le Figaro has helpful writing about stocks in French, too. See http://www.lefigaro.fr/

Markets

What will the ECB to today ? And the Bank of England ? Both central banks have base rates far too high for conditions. They need to cut rates in large steps.

PS: Bank of England cuts 150 bps from 3% to 1.5% ! Good move. Will "The Ostriche" awaken ?

PPS: I see the Sgeve Leisman on Babblevision reads this blog. He just said that there never was any inflation ... just a commodity bubble.

Actions

None. Two shippers (DRYS and EXM) posted fine earnings. Both benefit from having a majority of ships under long term contracts at good rates.

Word of the Day

"Argosy" - noun [$10] poetic
Argosy means a large merchant ship, originally especially one from Dubrovnik (aka Ragusa) or Venice.
Sentence: Every voyage of an argosy in world trade among nations requires financing the goods being transported for the duration of the voyage until delivery. This is a critical corner of credit that is having problems in recent weeks according to recent articles in FT and WSJ. Governments looking to help cure the credit crisis need to focus some resources and / or verbal suasion here.

46 comments:

Bud said...

more culture ??? huh ???


Bman you live in the f'ng woods in a bunker surrounded by barbed wire

Bud said...

good move by BoE


does Trichet need to cut more Bman ??? how do you say 'another rate cut sir' in french

Bud said...

i don't recall anyone of substance ever arguing that we were not in a beefer-induced commodity bubble


inflation......pffffffffffft

Bunkerman said...

all those inflation hawks were saying that.

Bunkerman said...

In the past I didn't have any culture. I was a money-making machine. I'm working to redress that now.

Doing CD & DVD courses on literature, art, music; travel to Europe, trips to museums, etc.

Learning French fits the program very well.

Bunkerman said...

Trichet need to cut at last 100 bps.

Bunkerman said...

ECB cuts too small ... just 50 bps.

nitwits.

mfl59 said...

Sarah Palin apparently thought Africa was a country...and couldnt name the other countries in North America? does anyone really believe that besides mern?

Bud said...

the only reason obama is president is because of all the stupid africans


this is hilarious.....and sad


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SCcHzUmVP5c

mfl59 said...

lmaoooo Bud that is comedy....

mern said...

gud god thats funny bud.

id bet a straw penny that if u went into most trailer parks in texas, u cud have done the samething, however, but to white t.

its truly amazing how retarded this country really is, no matter what color u r.

http://www.nbc.com/Late_Night_with_Conan_O%27Brien/video/episodes/?vid=812801#vid=812801

if u goto the last clip, 38 minutes in, phil lesh was on conan. hes doing 16 shows at the nokia theatre. they took a nite off last nite, and played for conan. i really like this band. its hard to do much with 4 minutes, but u can see what they are capable of. pissed he didnt come to florida on this tour.

Carl Cameron talking to Bill O'Reilly just now on Fox reveals that McCain aides were truly "shocked" at the "gaps in knowledge" Sarah Palin displayed once they were stuck with her. He said that, in the most startling shortcoming, she actually didn't "understand that Africa was not just a country, but a continent." This led, among other things, to her asking how, in that case, South Africa could be a separate country. She also could not name all of the countries in North America, he said, not even the NAFTA partners. And she did not know many of the basics of civics and local/state/national duties. O'Reilly pooh-poohed all of this.


if true, truly hilarious, way more funny than finding some retarded nga's in harlem. retarded dark meat, in harlem, no fucking way? really?!? huh, who wud have thougt that?

i guess we go long the kools, old e and blow. blow becuase bush is leaving in 75 days.

who wants this reality show?

called "the bus"

starting john daly and dubya.

its a story about the worlds biggest bender and whoever doesnt die first, wins a million bucks.

mern said...

Where do you think you're going? Nobody's leaving. Nobody's walking out on this fun, old-fashioned family Christmas. No, no. We're all in this together. This is a full-blown, four-alarm holiday emergency here. We're gonna press on, and we're gonna have the hap, hap, happiest Christmas since Bing Crosby tap-danced with Danny fucking Kaye. And when Santa squeezes his fat white ass down that chimney tonight, he's gonna find the jolliest bunch of assholes this side of the nuthouse.
Hey. If any of you are looking for any last-minute gift ideas for me, I have one. I'd like Alan Greenspan, right here tonight. I want him brought from his happy holiday slumber over there on Melody Lane with all the other rich people and I want him brought right here...with a big ribbon on his head! And I want to look him straight in the eye, and I want to tell him what a cheap, lying, no-good, rotten, four-flushing, low-life, snake-licking, dirt-eating, inbred, overstuffed, ignorant, blood-sucking, dog-kissing, brainless, dickless, hopeless, heartless, fat-ass, bug-eyed, stiff-legged, spotty-lipped, worm-headed sack of monkey shit he is! Hallelujah! Holy shit...where's the Tylenol?

Spin-em said...

just answer the question..Did Trinidad and Tobago give you the boot???

mern said...

the only reason obama is president is because of all the stupid africans.

for someone with a great tan, with or without sun light, thats pretty bad.

look at the states mccain won, even better the counties.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:2008_General_Election_Results_by_County.PNG

a lot of white t went for the maverick.

ill give u south texas becuase of the latinos. but if u look at the map, a lot of votes came from the ivy league areas.

the northeast is just better educated, pure and simple. and the left coast isnt far behind.

almost every white person i know in philly voted for obama, id say 80%.

my cousin in scranton sent me this, and he is not a dumb guy. he doesnt have cable, and is rather successful coffee roaster after being a engineer for 20 yrs.

It's awesome he took these states ...

i admire Barack Obama

he makes me feel proud to be a U.S. citizen

(with respect to florida and VG)

Bud said...

how long obama in the white house before the moon-crickets start talkin about reparations


a few weeks my guess

Bunkerman said...

sheesh DRYS selling 25M shares. Ugh. Gotta be getting pressure from their banks.

Spin-em said...

almost every white person i know in philly voted for obama, id say 80%.

your junky pals you always write about???..lool

mern said...

no, spin. the 23 yr old digs me.

i am trying to put some distance on that deal.

im really, probably, moving to costa rica.

getting hell bitch off deed sux!

i did basically lose my job yesterday. i still work there, get paid, but am not allowed to really do anything.

i thought i wud just get fired. i had today off, and go back on friday, to what i dont know.

this was an IT job, which i never did before. if u remember the way i got hired was by closing the boss that i had no ambition or IT skills. well he quit 6 weeks after BSC blew up.

then my boss became this women that is ivy league smart. then another dude quit. so she ended up taking over a lot of the office, but was supposed to train me.

i maybe got 10 to 20 minutes a day of face time with her and usually that was while she was typing emails have listening to a CC on mute.

i know going in the 2 guys that i worked with had no desire to help me, becuase i was told that by the recuriter who used to work in the same office before becoming a recuriter. she knew exactly what i was walking into, except she didnt think bear wud blow up in a week, ken wud quit..........

so for 7 months, ive just been trying to do my best. come in early, leave late, work hard. no matter what i did, it was wrong. a couple weeks ago some women were clearing out the fridge and found some bad meatloaf. everyone got all pissy. i said to the guys i work with "well that is one thing boss man cant blame me for, i never eat in here" there was a slight pause and the guy in front of me turns and says "trust me, before its over, boss man will figure a way to blame u for that"

we all laffed, but i think that about summed it up.

she is upset becuase she has never trained anyone and not have it work. i keep trying to point that i received practically 0 training. i showed her my notes. every two weeks she has me doing something new, and just when i am getting it, she changed my role.

the office is changing constantly and peeps been there 10 yrs r slamming heads.

i was there 5 days before the shit hit the fan.

and ive been looking around for a month or 2.

geesh, nada out there.

costa rica, here i come!

mern said...

your junky pals you always write about???..lool


i dont talk to junkies anymore havent for sometime. the biggest one has been in rehab for almost 6 months with 3 more to go.

no im talking about my family. upper middle class white people in the burbs of philly and my cousin in scranton. all earn 6 figures, some even over 250, and they church goers. the war was more important to them than the economy. the 20% were the family i had to call and tell them to sell at 9800. the love their bibles and guns.

Spin-em said...

I did try to buy some coffee from your boy..my bro in law luvs that kind of thing but he wasnt open...it was like on a Sat at noon..lol

mern said...

ya. he had to shut down and get the garage where he roasts up to code. when i went up in march i help with the finishing touches. removed trash and what not.

i cant believe what he did, all by himself. he is old school valley. he is big tough guy, and very smart, but a complete asshole. i guess thats why he is the only person i really talk to on my dads side. but really a lot of them are all dead.

once he got the building done, he then shut his website down and worked on that. i think he is back up and running.

his name is tony 570 262 5760. call him and tell him u know MERN, and he may give u a gud deal. i dont drink coffee, but anyone i have given it to, is a repeat customer.

he is totally OCD about coffee roasting. but he is funny, he will cut u off if he dont like u. u cud be his biggest customer and piss him off once and "NO SOUP FOR U!"

im gonna start calling him the coffee nazi.

ROFL

Bud said...

Bman there is no question in my mind that the market is nervous about the obama-pelosi-reid administration


higher taxes......protectionism......cap and trade


i can't see big money.... uhhh...i mean the real buyers getting in stocks in the face of that headwind

Spin-em said...

sugar BA,MMM,UTX

Frosty said...

Bunky...dark sugar most accross the board...what is your top 3 to buy now, Mrs B please don;t be shy...thx in advance kind sir.

Bud said...

huh?? what are talkin about spin ??


you are covering those stocks.........hmmmmmm........i don't recall seeing a post on the initial trades


oh yeah.........must have been a 'private f'ng email'



gimme a break

Spin-em said...

Bud 24/7/365 douche

tuesday sorry you didnt understand that..pffttt

Bunkerman said...

I saw spin post that those were at the 50 dma, a frequent shorting point.

Bunkerman said...

Mrs. B is at sheep herding.

I buy for LT ... more than a day / week/ etc.

None of my stocks are at buy points. GOOG is close.

I'd like the ship companies, but that DRYS offering is pressing them and probably will for awhile.

Frosty said...

fair enough Bunky...thanks.

Bud said...

'i buy for LT'


lmaooooooooooooooooooooo


a week is long-term for me

Bud said...

spear-chucker to address the nation tomorrow



where's my barf-bag

Bud said...

i have a source tellin me bootlip is in there tellin the PPT to go in and buy emini's


' YES WE CAN !!!! '

Bunkerman said...

imvho, that stingy ECB rate cut caused this today.

mfl59 said...

real buyers must be salivating at a 100 SPX drop in 2 days....

What say you bunkerman?

Bunkerman said...

well, I'm not. Mrs. B is not. Warren Buffet - don't know.

That's all the real buyers left.

disgusted.

On individual stock basis, mine aren't nearly as low as they were, except shippers.

So why buy when I did much lower ?

This should really make the rich pull more money out.

Just insane volatility. This is not a market, it's a casino.

Beefers are destroying it.

Bunkerman said...

derivatives, ETFs, beefers are destroying the stock market as a place for capital to be raised for business.

Bud said...

lmaoooooooooooooooooooo



PS.....don't forget the uptick rule

mfl59 said...

I guess you aren't a fan of the triple levered etf's then bunkerman?

Bunkerman said...

uh ... correct, mfl.

All those short ETFs should be banned.

If they want to short, get a borrow.

Bunkerman said...

of SEC knaves give market makers an exemption from naked shorting so they can short stocks to create those ETFs without actaully borrowing it. A perversion.

SEC is completely in the tank and lost. I hope Barney reforms it.

Frosty said...

uh Bunky...double triple juice dark ETF's utilize the options market, not common stock borrows...provides the common man a means to headge utilizing a familiar method at a reasonable cost.

Bunkerman said...

lololol "hedge"

surrrrrrrrreeeeeeee/

roflmaoooooooooooo

Same issue - market makers can short underlying stock without borrows - print shares at will.

If one wants options, buy them.

Bunkerman said...

"bet" is the correct term

Frosty said...

touch them all Bunky...MVP MVP MVP

Bud said...

atta boy Bman

defender of the common man


teddy roosevelt indeed

Spin-em said...

lololol "hedge"

surrrrrrrrreeeeeeee/

roflmaoooooooooooo


...its good to laugh