Tuesday, December 22, 2009

Almanacs “The Almanac - Dec. 22 - Post Chronicle” plus 4 more

Almanacs “The Almanac - Dec. 22 - Post Chronicle” plus 4 more

The Almanac - Dec. 22 - Post Chronicle

Posted: 22 Dec 2009 04:40 AM PST

Today is Tuesday, Dec. 22, the 356th day of 2009 with nine to follow.

This is the first day of winter.

The moon is waxing. The morning stars are Venus, Saturn and Mars. The evening stars are Mercury, Jupiter, Uranus and Neptune.

Those born on this date are under the sign of Capricorn. They include opera composer Giacomo Puccini in 1858; former Philadelphia Athletics' Manager Connie Mack, the "Dean of Baseball," in 1862; former first lady Claudia "Lady Bird" Johnson, wife of U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson, in 1912; TV game show host Gene Rayburn in 1917; actress Barbara Billingsley in 1922 (age 87); actor Hector Elizondo in 1936 (age 73); TV personality Diane Sawyer in 1945 (age 64); Robin Gibb (age 60) and twin brother Maurice Gibb in 1949, members of the Bee Gees pop group; and actor Ralph Fiennes in 1962 (age 47).

On this date in history:

In 1785, the American Continental Navy fleet was organized, consisting of two frigates, two brigs and three schooners. Sailors were paid $8 a month.

In 1864, after his Civil War march across Georgia, Union Gen. William T. Sherman sent U.S. President Abraham Lincoln this message: "I beg to present you as a Christmas present the city of Savannah."

In 1894, French Capt. Alfred Dreyfus was convicted of treason by a military court-martial on flimsy evidence in a highly irregular trial and sentenced to life in prison for his alleged crime of passing military secrets to the Germans.

In 1944, ordered to surrender by Nazi troops who had his unit trapped during the Battle of the Bulge, Gen. Anthony McAuliffe of the U.S. 101st Airborne Division replied with one word: "Nuts!"

In 1956, the first gorilla to be born in captivity arrived into the world at the Columbus Zoo in Ohio.

In 1971, the U.N. General Assembly chose Austrian diplomat Kurt Waldheim to lead the United Nations.

In 1972, 5,000 people died when a series of earthquakes left the Nicaraguan capital of Managua in ruins.

In 1984, "subway vigilante" Bernard Goetz shot four would-be hold-up men on a New York City subway. He ended up serving eight months in prison for carrying an illegal weapon but was cleared of assault and attempted murder charges.

In 1986, political dissident and Nobel laureate Andrei Sakharov and his wife, Yelena Bonner, were allowed to return to Moscow after seven years of internal exile.

In 1989, Romanian President Nicolae Ceausescu, the last hard-line communist holdout against East Bloc reforms, fell from power in the face of continuing massive demonstrations.

In 1992, all 158 people aboard a Libyan Boeing 727 died when the jetliner crashed, apparently following an in-flight collision with a military plane.

In 1993, the daughter of Cuban President Fidel Castro was granted political asylum in the United States.

Also in 1993, South Africa's Parliament gave a strong endorsement to an interim constitution that ended centuries of white-minority rule.

In 1994, Italy's Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi resigned after seven months in office, following corruption charges against him.

In 1997, members of a pro-government militia attacked the village of Chenalh, Mexico, killing 45 people, including a number of children.

In 2001, American Airlines passengers and attendants overpowered a man trying to light a match to detonate powerful explosives hidden in his sneakers on a flight from Paris to Miami.

In 2004, 13 U.S. soldiers and nine others were killed in a suicide bomber attack on a U.S. military dining hall near Mosul, Iraq.

In 2005, Wal-Mart was ordered to pay more than 100,000 California employees $172 million for depriving them of breaks to eat.

In 2006, rape charges against three former members of the Duke University lacrosse team were dropped after the alleged victim said she couldn't be sure she had been raped.

In 2007, the U.S. Air Force reported finding major structural flaws in eight models of its F-15 fighter jets, grounding some U.S. air defense capabilities.

Also in 2007, 2 million children in Iraq faced malnutrition, lack of education and threats of disease and violence, the U.N. Children's Fund said in a report.

In 2008, a federal jury in New Jersey convicted five Muslim men of plotting to attack soldiers at Fort Dix, a plot prosecutors say was inspired by al-Qaida. The defendants were acquitted of attempted murder.

Also in 2008, an earthen retraining wall ruptured at a Kingston, Tenn., power plant, allowing 5.4 million cubic yards of coal and sludge to spill from a storage pond, blocking roads and rail lines, polluting 500 acres of land and contaminating the Emory River.

A thought for the day: James Dewar has been quoted as saying: "Minds are like parachutes. They only function when they are open." (c) UPI

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Santa Claus rally could still show up this year - Associated Press

Posted: 22 Dec 2009 05:52 AM PST

Skeptical kids can doubt whether Santa Claus exists. But for stock-market statisticians, there's not much debate: The year-end lift known as the Santa Claus rally is no myth.

The stock market typically posts modest, but reliable, gains in late December into the beginning of early January.

"It's pretty much like clockwork," says Jeff Hirsch, editor of the Stock Trader's Almanac, which tracks market trends. "And when it doesn't happen, it can be a very helpful warning of impending trouble."

This year the stock market began December in somewhat typical fashion with a stagnant first half of the month. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index is up just 0.6 percent so far in December, and the Dow Jones industrial average is down 0.2 percent.

That leaves room for the market to snap back by the end of the year, although stocks are still facing headwinds from lingering doubts about the economy as well as trepidation among investors about the huge gains logged so far this year. The S&P is already up 22 percent in 2009, the Dow 18 percent.

The entire period around the end of the year, though, has a bullish track record.

Consider:

- November through January tends to be the best three-month span for stocks. Over the past four decades the average gain from Nov. 20 through the end of January has been 4.2 percent, or an annualized rate of 23 percent, according to James Stack, president of InvesTech Research in Whitefish, Mont.

- December is the best single month, with the Standard & Poor's 500 stock index averaging a 1.6 percent gain. The first December after a bear market ends performs even better, averaging 3.1 percent.

- The S&P has increased an average of 1.5 percent during the seven trading days that start with Christmas Eve and end with the first two days in January since 1950. That's the widely recognized period for the Santa Claus rally, as first identified in 1972 by Stock Trader's Almanac founder Yale Hirsch, Jeff's father.

- Stocks went up in 12 of the last 15 of those year-end periods.

To better understand what drives the Santa Claus rally, let's look at the variety of positive factors for the stock market that usually come together around this time of the year.

The holidays are the strongest retail season of the year, giving a boost to the economy while also generating positive headlines. Year-end investment reports also tend to offer upbeat outlooks for the coming year, and often plug hot stock picks just as investors are repositioning their portfolios.

And since lots of investors are already in a good mood this time of year anyway, more people tend to be buying rather than selling around the holidays.

"It's one of the most reliable rallies of the year," says Scott Marcouiller, senior equity strategist for Wells Fargo Advisers. "The probability is very high that we get a move up before the end of this year."

Also, investors who might normally sell stocks for tax purposes late in the year could be more likely to hold off this time around. Since this stock market rally is only nine months old, any gains from stocks bought this year would be considered short-term profits by the IRS. That would mean a much higher tax rate than gains on assets held for more than a year.

Even those who aren't interested in buying stocks during the holiday season would do well to keep an eye on the market. In years when there hasn't been enough enthusiasm for a Santa Claus rally, it's often been a sign that turmoil lies ahead.

After 1999, for example, when there was no Santa Claus rally, the market tanked in 2000. And a late-year drop two years ago was a forerunner to a disastrous 2008.

Some market experts take dim views of trends based on the calendar. But the Santa Claus rally still has plenty of believers on Wall Street.

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9 Items to Watch in the Last Week of '09 - Seekingalpha.com

Posted: 22 Dec 2009 04:40 AM PST

by Derek Hoffman

1) 3% of the daily volume on the NYSE is now under scrutiny: Stevie Cohen is being hawked by the master FBI regulator B.J. Kang 'The Conqueror.' A knockout punch to SAC Capital Advisors could send a shock wave of volatility through the global financial markets.

2) The Santa Claus Rally: Since 1950, the S&P has increased an average of 1.5 percent during the seven trading days that start with Christmas Eve and end with the first two days in January. That's the widely recognized period for the Santa Claus Rally, as first identified in 1972 by Stock Trader's Almanac founder Yale Hirsch.

3) Health Care: Insurance companies stand to heavily profit from the new bill being passed soon.

4) Tech: Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) and Amazon (Nasdaq: AMZN) are the new long standing powers.

5) Bank Crash: Total no. of bank failures hit 140 this year, compared to 25 last year.

6) Brand Name IPOs: Rosetta Stone (NYSE: RST) has sunk from $28 to $16. Meanwhile, Vitamin Shoppe (NYSE: VSI) has risen from $18 to $21.

7) Cheap Mortgages: Mortgage Rates are hovering around 5%, the lowest since Freddie Mac (FRE) began its weekly interest rate survey since April 1971.

8) Gold: Near-term pullback in effect with shorts covering their dollar trade.

9) Black Gold: U.S. Oil Fund (NYSE: USO) is range-bound between $30-40 since May '09. If snowstorms galore continue, look for USO to steadily rise and break above the $40 level again.

Disclosure: Long Gold.

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Is 2010 Sequel Time? Jerry Brown and the Return of the Former ... - Politics Daily

Posted: 22 Dec 2009 04:33 AM PST

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Alabama casinos go upscale to rival Mississippi - Biloxi Sun Herald

Posted: 21 Dec 2009 08:55 PM PST

Alabama's casinos don't have slot machines and table games like the casinos in Mississippi do. Instead, they are filled with electronic bingo machines, which resemble slot machines with their flashing lights and quick play. The experience can be much the same as slots.

Gambling expert Bill Eadington of the University of Nevada at Reno said Alabama's new attractions have a lot of potential because they are situated on major travel routes, and their opening is likely to be felt next door in Mississippi, with its Gulf Coast casino row.

"The more supply you have, the more difficulty you have capturing customers," Eadington said.

The Alabama developers' multimillion-dollar gamble is not just about pulling customers away from Mississippi. Courts in the state are hearing lawsuits challenging the legality of electronic bingo in some counties, and Eadington, director of UNR's Institute for the Study of Gambling and Commercial Gaming, said some counties are on shaky legal ground.

But that hasn't stopped the growth in Alabama.

Milton McGregor cut the ribbon Dec. 9 on a 300-room luxury hotel at this Victoryland complex in Shorter, about 20 miles east of Montgomery on Interstate 85. His Oasis hotel will be followed in the new year by a 1,500-seat entertainment center and convention complex.

The hotel and its additions are a $100 million investment in a gambling complex that started with a dog track 25 years ago.

Victoryland opened a modern casino in 2005 and kept expanding until it now houses 6,400 electronic bingo machines — more than any single casino in Nevada, New Jersey or Mississippi has slots, according to Casino City's North American Gaming Almanac.

McGregor said he built the hotel — and has two more in the planning stages — because visitors demanded Victoryland be more than a stopover for a few hours.

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