Animal Collective, "Grass"

Have a good weekend.

The RO Report, "Recovery" Edition

After the mass "ass-mangling" that the office suffered through yesterday, traders were tentative today, but largely profitable.

Oh, and speaking of "ass-mangling," did you see that close on AIG? How about LEH? Yeah, yesterday's close was tape painting at its very finest. Well done, PPT. Oh, and MER... it's gonna be a tense weekend in Washington.

Anyway, so I took it easy. How can you trade when Ike is torturing those poor CNN anchors down in Texas. I love it. MSM shitheads getting pummeled by hurricane-force winds.

"The winds are really picking up down here... it's raining so hard that my it feels like my face is being whipped by thousands of tiny, tortuous devils."

Out of 19 traders, 13 were profitable, or 68%. Probably about average. I was number 10 of 19.

Here's the top 5:

1. Trader H, $3,815 on 5,900 shares traded.
2. Trader B, $3,542 on 467k shares traded.
3. Trader D, $2,007 on 25,400 shares traded.
4. Trader A, $1,250 on 159k shares traded.
5. Trader L, $897 on 39,800 shares traded.

And the bottom:

1. Trader N, -$3,551 on 17,600 shares traded.
2. Trader 1, -$2,841 on 31,600 shares traded.
3. Trader F, -$1,186 on 45,200 shares traded.
4. Trader V, -$418 on 35,000 shares traded.
5. Trader E, -$207 on 15,800 shares traded.

Art Cashin on CNBC

I just caught the tail end of his comments...

Traders aren't just looking at the financial companies now, but they're looking at any company run by a CEO that can even spell "finance." Even GE.

Everybody believes "there must be a LEH deal" this weekend.

Problem with AIG in addition to all the rumors, are all the storms going around. They could have a lot of claims, which will adversely effect earnings.

It's gonna be a weekend to watch, and we're going to see what happens Monday, Tuesday and listen to what the FOMC says.

The Democrats Are Spineless

I've voted for third party candidates before and I may be forced to do it yet again.

It has been easy to hate on the Republicans these last eight years since they are led by Bush and Cheney and they basically ruined our country. The Democrats though are a little more subtle. They're kind of like the guy who appears to be your friend, but then tries to sleep with your girlfriend whenever you're not around.

Expand offshore drilling to lower to price of gasoline? Really? Have they taken a peek at the price of oil in the last few weeks? Did we start fucking up ANWAR and the sandy Hamptons in order to create this drop? No.

They "reluctantly" gave in? Who the fuck cares if they gave in "reluctantly," they gave in and that's all that matters. They gave in to a party that should be in tatters and without any kind of influence for all the shit that has happened under their watch.