http://selectdl.smartmoney.com/stockscreen/index.cfm?story=20070214intro&src=fb&nav=rss20&rl=1

IRAQ HAS A population of about 27 million, according
to a CIA estimate. Through 2008 America will spend a half trillion
dollars on its war there, reckons the Congressional Budget Office.
That's around $18,500 per Iraqi citizen. How much is $18,500 to an
Iraqi? Income data is sparse at the moment, but the most optimistic
assumptions suggest it's about 18 years' worth of average pay — akin to
more than $800,000 for an American household.

Far be it from this column to opine on whether all that money
is being well spent. We merely stand in awe of America's
money's-no-object approach to defense. Accordingly, defense contractors
have been steadily recommended in recent years. Those calls have worked
out well for investors. Raytheon (RTN: 55.05, -0.24, -0.4%) has doubled in price since an October 2003 endorsement. Northrop Grumman (NOC: 75.01, +0.05, +0.1%) is up 34% vs. the broad market's 21% since we recommended the stock in June 2005. Anteon International was bought by General Dynamics (GD: 79.25, -0.24, -0.3%) for $55.50 a share in December 2005, about a year and a half after we suggested readers buy it at $30.

Satellite specialist ViaSat (VSAT: 33.68, -0.22, -0.7%) looks even more promising today than when we called
it a bargain, but just barely, in June 2004. This despite the stock's
45% increase since then. The company stands likely to cash in on
Department of Defense spending in coming years. More on that in a
moment. ViaSat turned up recently in our Small-Cap Growth screen.

GDP: Overview Economists’ forecasts were raised to 2.5% growth for the first quarter of this year from the previous estimate of 2.2%. Estimates for the second and third quarters of 2007 held steady at 2.4% and 2.7%, respectively. Fourth-quarter growth was seen at a 3.0% rate, rising a bit from a previous 2.9% forecast.

Forecasts for... Q1 2007 53% were lifted; 12% were cut

Forecasts for... Q2 2007 46% were lifted; 26% were cut

Forecasts for... Q3 2007 39% were lifted; 25% were cut

Forecasts for... Q4 2007 37% were lifted; 23% were cut

The Lowdown

Stocks ended mixed on Friday afternoon on a bleak housing outlook and
concern over a tech blue chip. The Dow Jones Industrial Average
reversed early losses to gain 3 points to 12768, leaving the index
positive for the fourth straight session. The Nasdaq lost a point at
2496, and the S&P 500 slipped 1 to 1456.

Mixed economic data left stocks largely stagnant. The
Producer Price Index fell 0.6% in January and core inflation remained
in check at 0.2%. That seems to be in line with Fed testimony earlier
this week that inflation is moderating. However, housing starts and
building permits fell by more than economists had expected, renewing
apprehensions about a housing market some thought had found a floor.
The latest reading on consumer sentiment fell below economists'
estimates.

Shares of Microsoft declined after the chief executive told
analysts late Thursday they may have been overly optimistic about sales
of the Windows Vista operating system. That put a damper on techs.

Crude prices climbed into Friday afternoon. Shortly after 4:30 p.m., oil traded at $59.23 a barrel.

Corporate News

More unnamed sources said General Motors (GM: 36.34, -0.10, -0.3%) is holding talks to acquire the Chrysler unit of DaimlerChrysler (DCX: 73.33, +3.08, +4.4%). Niether company would confirm the latest report, which was published Friday in Automotive News.
The potential buyout was first reported Wednesday in the German
magaizine magazine Manager Magazin, which also cited anonymous sources.
GM and Chrysler are already colaborating on a new sport utility vehicle.

Steve Ballmer, the chief executive of Microsoft (MSFT: 28.74, -0.72, -2.4%),
said late Thursday analysts were being a bit too bullish on sales of
Windows Vista, the company's new operating system, for the fiscal year
beginning in July. Shares of the company declined in trading Friday.
Ballmer called analysts' revenue estimates "overly aggresive" for the
year and said he expected sales of Vista to remain largely tied to
sales of new PCs. TRANSCRIPT

Boeing (BA: 90.94, -0.77, -0.8%) is going to give the commercial satellite business another shake, according to an article published Friday in The Wall Street Journal. Perhaps taking a page from NASA's "better, cheaper, faster"
campaign, the new satellite program at Boeing promises greater
flexibility and less expensive launches. The new design is expected to
be completed this year, according Howard Chambers, the head of Boeing's
Space & Intelligence Systems division, who was cited by the Journal.

American Airlines (AMR: 38.97, +0.92, +2.4%) could be an acquisition target for a group of investors that includes Goldman Sachs (GS: 216.92, +0.10, +0.1%) and British Airways (BAB: 112.65, +0.02, +0.0%), according to an article
published in the Feb. 26 issue of BusinessWeek. A proposed bid for AMR,
the parent company of American, is between $9.8 billion, or $46 a
share, and $11.1 billion, or $52 a share, anonymous sources told the
magazine. The acquisition of AMR would represent another move in a
trend toward consolidation among airline firms.

Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria (BBV: 25.57, -0.66, -2.5%), Spain's second largest bank, has agreed to buy Compass Bancshares (CBSS: 70.70, +4.33, +6.5%)
for about $9.6 billion, the banks said Friday. The acquisition, which
has not yet been finalized, would give BBVA a larger presence in Texas,
where it hopes to capitalize off the traffic of funds across the
Mexican border. The bank also acquired Texas Regional Bancshares last
June.

Goodyear (GT: 25.18, -0.23, -0.9%)
posted fourth-quarter net loss of $358 million, or $2.02 a share, down
from a loss of $51 million, or 29 cents a share, in the year-ago
period. Goodyear was hurt by the effects of a three-month strike by the
United Steelworkers union. Excluding one-time items, the company would
have earned $35 million, or 20 cents a share. Street estimates had
pegged the quarterly loss at 40 cents a share.

The Economy

The Producer Price Index, a meausre of inflation, fell 0.6% in
January, down from an increase of 0.9% in December, according to a
report released Friday by the Labor Department. The core PPI, which
excludes volatile food and energy prices, rose 0.2% last month,
consistent with a comparable increase in the prior month. The numbers
were in line with economists' expectations and lend credence to Federal
Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke's testimony this week that inflationary
pressures are easing. REPORT

Housing starts fell in January to an annual rate of 1.408 million,
down from a revised annual rate of 1.642 million starts in December,
according to a report released Wednesday by the Commerce Department.
Meanwhile, building permits, more of a leading indicator, fell to an
annual rate of 1.568 million in January, down from a rate of 1.613 in
the prior month. Economists had expected housing starts to fall to an
annual rate of 1.590 million in January and building permits to drop to
a rate of 1.570 million. REPORT

The Index of Consumer Sentiment fell to a February reading of 93.3,
down from 96.9 in January, according to new data released Friday by the
University of Michigan. Economists had predict sentiment would dip
slightly less to a reading of 96.5 for this month.

Asok's Methods

Assume the Best - Look for short-term responses in the human psyche, to stimulae from the markets, for instance, AAPL has people really jacked up by the Ipod, now comes the question of how to play it, Once a stimuli is perceived, and considered in it's various ramifestations, Pause, we have to deal with the incredulous part of the mind again, Possible sources of stimuli, price action, law suits, earnings announcements, new products, for setting up the stocks of interest. Only Avg, Daily Volume of 500k and above, remember, you're not looking for your own personal interest, but the interest of a large number of people, anybody who is interested in spending money, Look at Ford and Viagra

As things stand, there are two distinct groups of chipmakers for the
wireless industry: U.S.-based market behemoths Texas Instruments Inc.
(TXN) and Qualcomm Inc. (QCOM), on the one hand, and everyone else, on
the other.

NXP belongs to the second group, alongside rivals such as Freescale
Semiconductor Inc. (FSL) and Broadcom Corp. (BRCM), both of the U.S.,
Germany's Infineon Technologies AG (IFX) and Switzerland's
STMicroelectronics NV (STM).

In all, that group currently consists of more than a dozen companies,
each selling $2 billion or less worth of wireless chips a year, less
than half the total of Texas Instrument or Qualcomm.

Sales ^ over last 5 yrs, market maturity, hot-to-trot.

These exercises are meant as milestones to be appl...

These exercises are meant as milestones to be applied when appropriate, the beginning of a trading session is to become still, relaxed, and open. Then, when appropriate, an exercise is practiced. They are "preparations", and also markers, when all the exercises have spontaneously been applied, then all that remains is the trading part of the afternoon. Yes, afternoon, it is a good time.

First Performancing post and SIR

This is the Notes tab in tradingjournal.xls. Also, the first page put on the blog with Performancing addon for Firefox.

1/11/2007 General trading notes, and analysis of possible positions. I'm using TOS so will have stuff from there.

1/13/2007 Think that there is a large influx of capital into the stock mkt. from bonds, r.e.. Also, Jan and Feb have something to do with IRA funding.

1/15/2007 Sense, Intuit, Record (SIR), a good enough method for establishing positions.