Investing time...PLEASE GO TO LAS VEGAS SANDS...

I'm being pretty bold this week, Las Vegas Sands, (ticker symbol LVS) has been just hammered lately. I've been reading reports that a big volume of April calls have been being purchased at substantial volume. Normally I would stray away from crazy Las Vegas, Macao, Riverboat, etc. but I became compelled to trade this stock because of the technical side of option calls. Now I love Vegas and I like gambling but I'm obsessed with the Venetian. I mean that place has got everything, art galleries, Banana Republic, a freaking awesome club, and a few years ago was ranked the #1 spot for bachelorette parties to stay at. What a combo...it's like a #3 at Jack in the Box large sized...hmmm...Jack in the Box...oh...sorry....okay so Las Vegas Sands. So why did I pick this stock?

Well out of all the layers involved in Vegas Casinos, Las Vegas Sands is still building...and is on schedule? Huh, a Las Vegas Casino building on schedule in where? Singapore...yes, pictured above is the brand new Las Vegas Sands Singapore casino. The concept for this casino was is supposed to resemble a stack of cards, anyway, it's almost done and is slated to be done by August of 2008 this monster is going to have 1,000 gaming tables along with 1,400 slots. Three 55 story towers are going to be hovered on the Bay and the hotels will open this summer. The actual casino will be slated to open early 2010, now there was a report that tourism was down 15% in Singapore but that's okay and expected. What we're banking on is the completion of the project which is good for both Singapore and LVS. 75% of the labor are locals which was an agreement with the government.

So next time you're in Vegas you gotta lose your money at the Venetian or shoot stroll on over to the Palazzo. please!!!

Style...the dress shirt

Summer time is near and for a lot of us that means some new cloth investments. Pants are easy stuff so we'll start from the top to get you started so here's my taste for summertime dress shirts.

When you are purchasing dress shirts it's always good to know what you're going to wear with it. You want to choose a dress shirt that can fit with casual dress, work time, after work, etc. Shirts that go well with dress slacks or a nice pair of jeans...dress shoes or sneaks you should always picture in your mind how your dress shirt is going to look with the whole outfit. Obviously you gotta have a white shirt, a nice crisp clean oxford or poplin shirt is going to realy be versatile, you can wear one with some nice dress slacks or relax it out with some jeans. But you want to invest in a nice quality dress shirt that keeps its form. The one pictured here is by Salvatore Ferragamo, a name affiliated with...classic.

Jive it up a little bit too, I like the blue pastel color because well blue is my favorite color and it goes along with a lot of things. You can pair it up with black slacks or blue jeans, sneakers or dress shoes, and if you're trying to impress the boss suit it up with a tie. The one pictured here is by Banana Republic and comes at a very reasonable price (ranging from 39.99-59.50). I forgot to mention to know what cut you want, personally I like the slim fit cut because it's the cleanest one. You want to be able to be versatile and slim cuts you can wear tucked in or not.

Lastly go with a season for the summer...a couple years ago I was wearing a ton of green. A friend of mine said that was her favorite color and it soon became mine for that year. This year I'm going with lavender, yeah I know it seems pretty prissy but shoot I can pull it off...I think...Anyway, I like the Hugo Boss Slim Fit. I decided to go with a regular cuff and not the French Cuff cuz I didn't want to be to Gotti. The cut is really nice and it fits snug, you can wear this with grey or black at any summer outing. I decided to go to a wedding dressed up in lavender and got some nice compliments. Guess I'm doing something right, this shirt was reasonable at around $95.00. Not exactly the upwards of the $295 price of the Ferragamo shirt but I was happy with the suggestion...thanks Nordies...

Jordan Phat IV...I bought yo

I haven't done a fashion piece in a while and this is a bit of a repeat but what ever hopefully you'll like it...

I went down to Champs' Sports the other day and finally I got my Jordan Phat IV's in a nice black color. Went home hella stoked and tried them on with a pair of jeans. To my dismay I wasn't really happy with the way they looked, actually I was pretty upset at the similarities they had to skater shoes. If I wanted skater shoes I would've got globe's...so I went back to Champs and exchanged them for the much cleaner white pair. Bingo a success, my little nephew even tried to put them on when I went to visit him and I even got comments from an old lady on the bus on my way to downtown.

If you're going to be an urbanomical type of person you have to get a nice clean pair of sneakers. White ones are tough to keep clean but if you take real good care of them you should be square. Remember to use a common sneaker cleaner at your local shoe store or if you're old school like me spray them down with windex and an old shirt...

you can wear low tops with jeans or some plaid shorts during the summer time. If you're gonna sport them while going out try wearing a retro jacket or spice it up with a sweater vest and tie. You can wear a hat to go with it but I prefer to do with out the hat but that's just me do up how ever you like.

As far as brands you can never go wrong with retro nikes but I also like puma's line and could go for Adidas (that is if the store downtown was still alive). Pony's on the comeback as well so you might give them a shot.

Toxic Asset Plan...Today's moves

Today was the announcement of Treasury Secretary Geithner's plan to buy some $1 Trillion in toxic mortgages off bank balance sheets. This purchase will come from the $700 billion bailout program, private investment sources, and FDIC insured funds. With the tax payer taking a majority of the risk if the investments go sour which is a possibility. A typical transaction will go like this: private investor puts in $7, another $7 comes from the bailout funds, and the left over $86 would be covered by a government loan. This is one good step in the right direction and could work out how ever some issues still need to be addressed:

1. How do we price the toxic assets? This was one issue with Republican Whip Eric Cantor that raises some questions. Will the toxic assets be market priced or come at the original price when these assets were taken out.

2. What happens if the funds go sour? Well, Armageddon, this will definately bankrupt the US and could lead to a definite depression.

3. Can the move be profitable for the American taxpayer? Yes, and in the end Obama will become a national hero and we can look beyond this horrid time in our economy.

With all this in mind it seems investors liked the move but I myself am still optimistic on what's going on here. It's a scary thought if this doesn't work but if history repeats itself I believe this will be good for the economy. If you take into consideration the Swedish Banking crisis of 1991-92 we saw a "bad bank" established that bought toxic assets at a discounted price and also had government stakes taken into these insolvent institutions. This did wipe out shareholders how ever but in the end the assets were sold at a profit and eventually helped the Swedish banking system. So what stocks or sectors do you put your money in now?

Commodities- Anything in regards to Copper, oil, steel is a good play right now especially if you are in fear of inflation.

Tech- Tech has been leading the way since this whole thing began and I like the big names: Apple, HPQ, Microsoft, Cisco, and Oracle.

Retail-Big pricey retail is where you want to go because it's investors with big consumption that will lead us out of the recession: Tiffany, Nordstrom, Best Buy to name a few.

Cheap stocks? To invest or not to invest?

Cheap stocks, the real question here to know when to put your money in on a company or once great company that has come crashing down (much like this graph you see before you). Well, it's hard to say, there are so many companies that are incredibly "cheap". But is this true or not? What exactly is a "cheap" stock versus an expensive stock. Just because CitiGroup, once a 300 billion dollar company is trading at $1 a share does that mean I invest in it? Yes, but only if you see healthy balance sheets, growth opportunities, a strong board, and if you can stomach volatility. It's hard to know when or when not to put faith in a stock that you view as a great bargain just because the price is so low. Take Las Vegas Sands for example, this casino Company once traded at $130/share in early 2007. Now it stands at around $2.00 a share or so, so do I buy it? Well, I'd say not now, Las Vegas Sands has a huge amount of debt and slowing growth in all their industries. The Board is well...a crapshot and there's no real guidance of where the company is headed. How about say...DryShips...company traded near $112 a year ago but now it trades at a horrid $3.90/share. Again, could be good in a year or so but balance sheet is questionable. I have no idea who's on their board and they have a lot of debt obligations.

Now if you take a company like, Navistar International. A great buy...it's trading at half of its 52 week high right now and it's just because the stock was inflated in my opinion. It pays a dividend and has little short-term debt, the company is making moves and deals (just thwarted off their Ford relationship) and I predict that industrials are going to be the 2nd leader out of this bear market.

Nordstrom, another great company that could be a steal right now. The last bear market saw Nordstrom hit $8/share but it bounced back in the last bull market to touch around $45. Nordstrom has great leadership in the company and they are still expanding. A loyal customer base and they own their own debt through Nordstrom banking. The stock is trading above the $6 low and is standing at $15. Of the big retail luxury giants Nordstrom is a safe bet and I think you can ride it for some time. Don't expect big returns but know that it's far from bankruptcy.

So if you're ever going to invest in a "cheap stock", don't. Cheap is what you buy at the grocery store for lunch. Inexpensive is what you buy when you see a bargain in something with value.

The Fedora: Can you pull it off?

The other night I was doing my thing at the old downtown Banana Republic. Slaving away at folding chinos and making them look real pretty. One of my favorite co-workers, who are never see none the less, Mark happened to be closing with myself. Now this Guy Mark is a fashion guru, I ask him all the time about fashion advice. He can break it down for you and tell you what works and what doesn't work. One piece of advice he told me is you can wear the tightest suit from the most expensive designer but it's the shoes you wear with the suit that make the outfit. If there is one article of clothing to spend your money on spend $300.00 on a pair of shoes because they will make or break your outfit. It's true this guy has the tightest collection of shoes I've ever seen. Shiny shoes, black shoes, blue shoes, you name it guys got them all.

So I was wondering how a fedora could be pulled off and I wanted to use his advice to advise yeah all:

Step 1: pick a fedora for each outfit...if you're going with a grey outfit get a grey fedora. Black outfit go with a dark fedora. Cream colored v-neck sweater and and tie go with a light colored fedora (see above).

Step 2: Your hair is important because you will want it to look good when you take it off. Make sure to either part your hair or slick it back so it fits well when you put your fedora back on...which leads to step 3.

Step 3: Never wear a fedora in doors, the fedora must only be worn outside on a nice spring/summer day. Don't offend your public...they appreciate it.

Step 4: Tilt the fedora near your eyebrows...the brim should be covering your eyebrows and almost covering your eyes to give it a little bit of the swagger because you are making a statement when wearing one.

Step 5: Have fun with it, whether it be walking down the street or going to a summer time party. You'll look dumb if you're pretentious about wearing one so just let go and have some fun...

Beat Freaks...the true champs...

I just watched the freaking Beat Freaks on youtube a minute ago and dang man those girls are ridic...I thought Quest Crew was pretty cool but man these girls were awesome. Watch this video at the end you will see one of these girls do helicopter spins for like 2 minutes. She did it for so long that she almost fell over after she was done. That's sexy dude...

The new Ipod Shuffle? dang it's small

Today Apple announced their introduction of the brand new Ipod Shuffle. Again the shuffle comes in two formats, one that plays 1,000 songs and another that plays about 1500. It comes in black and white and is about the size of a Double A battery. One interesting feature is the volume and ipod controls on the headset rather than the ipod itself. Interesting, is this going to get market share for Apple or is this just another updated version of a product that did not necesarilly need updating. I think Apple is just doing what they think is right and that is upgrading superior products that needed an update. It's a good move, they're going to keep customers wanting more and that's the key to Apple success. They have good products that not only work well but look "cool" and are incredibly trendy with people that have money to burn.

Anyone have any thoughts?

Trading in Uncertainty...buy Dividend yielding stocks

Alright so the market opened up horrible today, traders are still uncertain to where this market is going to go and we traded on fear not logic today. Regardless of the bounce back in financials and the Merck and Schering-Plough merger as well as the Dow/Rohm merger. We saw a negative ending day in the Dow as well as the Nasdaq. No real good news didn't help the tech sector either which as of late has been doing fairly against the Dow 30. One bright side of news was that BAC was seeking private funding, any news of private funding for banks is good news. It shows the less dependence our financial firms will have to deal with which could show signs of light. So, what do you do if you want to get into the market but are so uncertain you don't know whether to by WalMart or Walgreens? Best Buy or Gamestop? Johnson and Johnson or Proctor and Gamble? I'll tell you, invest in high dividend stocks, here are my 5 picks.

Merck- Well today there was a little merger action with Merck which shows good financial strength in the company. It may be volatile but the 6.30% dividend payout ain't bad...

Dow Chemical- Another merger stock today and a cheap play at around 7 bucks a share. This company has been hit hard but looks to be caught on an upswing. Pays a 8.40% dividend.

Goldman Sachs- Ahh, now this stock has been hammered and keeps going back and forth but a 2.0% dividend is huge for our bank stocks and again I see an upswing here from 77 to 1000.

Shipping Financial- Holy cow a 27% dividend? This stock is at a 52-week low and was darling for dividend players a while back. If rates go back up so will Shipping Financial.

Waste Management- Trading at a cool 20 bucks a share this garbage company pays a nice 5.00% dividend and yeah know what...peeps always got garbage.

So there you have it, I personally think I am going to dive into Shipping Financial tomorrow if there is some good positive feedback from research...keep on trucking

Complex Magazine...Kobe Bryant Issue

So I was at Best Buy the other day looking for some blu-ray discs when I picked up an issue of Complex magazine. If you've never read it before it's a pretty cool read. The magazine is by Marc Ecko and it's basically a GQ for the urban lifestyler. Anyway, I skipped along the pages and found the mid-section Kobe Bryant interview. I really could careless about Kobe or the NBA but would I could care about was this slick new Nike Windbreaker he was wearing. It's navy blue but I'm sure it comes in a bunch of different colors. Good stuff man, Prop this up with a nice pair of baggy jeans and some Nike High Dunks and you're good to go regardless of where that destination is. Be it the club or to a hip hop dance class, haha...that's funny because I went to one this week. I haven't found this jacket online yet but it's fairly new so I'm sure it'll pop up somewhere.

Sperry Topsider time? NO...but soon

So the other day I was shopping with a friend for new dress shoes, actually she was a co-worker not really a friend...haha j/k Pham. Anyways I noticed displayed in the shoe section of Nordstrom's front table were our Spring time topsiders. Yes, they are back friends but dang it's still like 30 degrees outside. Now unless you live South where the weather is in the 70s please do not whip out your topsiders and white khakis with our blue polo. It's not time yet peeps, how ever if you do have that type of weather keep these combos in mind.

Casual day in the city- Pair these up with some nice relaxed fit jeans or straights which ever you prefer. Either wear a light colored long sleeve t-shirt or a nice polo like one by Burberry. Match it up with a brown belt for that preppy frat boy look and tuck in your shirt partially to show the buckle.

Boating- Ahh, now you can wear your white khaki pants, if you're daring wear those crazy blue khaki pants from David Lawrence. You can probably wear a navy blue windbreaker as you set sail. Just don't go over board but if you do at least you'll be in style.

Also always remember, do not wear socks with these you will look and feel stupid...

China's announces stimulus...so what to invest in now?

Today we saw an announcement of China coming out with their own stimulus package. So what we saw today was the market reacting very positive to this announcement. This may lead to a stimulus of stocks in the US and now we're wondering how to play this announcement. Well, here's what I think you should invest in...

Caterpillar- If we are ever going to see a positive climb in stocks soon then we're going to have to invest in the companies that will drive industry. Caterpillar is near incredibly low historical levels and it makes sense to invest in this company.

Alcoa- Same deal with Caterpillar, now steel is an obvious driver for industry again and it's trading below 7 bucks a share. It's a steal if you have money to play with and I don't forsee it going any lower.

Tech-The one sector that has not been hit hard by the recession and looks to be a bull for both corporate and consumer spending. The likes of Hewlett Packard, Electronic Arts, IBM, Apple, and Microsoft are going to see this recession through.

Monsanto- I love this company because they don't let anything get in their way. It's a bit pricey at around 70 but fertilizers are going to be needed if biofuels and farming are going to get off the ground.

The 3-piece suit...the new power suit

In quite possibly the greatest movie of all time Michael Corleone is the central figure of this historic trilogy. His slicked back hair and fiery gaze was symbolic for the ultimate power figure in mafia cinema. Tag lines like, "Fredo, you're my brother and I love you...but don't ever speak against the family again, ever" and "don't ask me about my business". Make for one astonishing movie, how ever regardless of his fiery gaze or his stone cold voice Michael Corleone would not have the same conviction if it were not for his attire. I mean imagine him in suspenders and a wife beater (Sonny Corleone pulled this look off and look what happened to him). The 3-piece says, "look at me, I'm better than you and I don't even have to say anything, just look". It's an automatic attitude adjuster, it can make a frail shy kid into a powerful and overconfident man.

Now how do wear this sucker, well you can wear it to just about any formal gathering. I wouldn't wear it to the office unless you mean business but it's a powerful statement to wear a 3 piece so unless you're going to wear one every day wear for special occasions. Black is the preferred choice but with Spring coming up you can wear a grey one. I prefer the 2 button jacket to go along with it but you can spice it up with a 3 button. If you're going to wear one to a wedding make sure it's not black. Go with a brown or grey because more than likely the groomsmen are going to be wearing your outfit and you will look dumb. Nice priced 3 pieces can be found at Men's Wherehouse or Banana Republic. If you want to step it up go to Mario's or Nordstrom or Italy which ever one is closest.

DOW Hits below 7,000...is this the end?

Today I saw something that I have not seen since 1997, the Dow hovered around 7,000 points. Back then I was about 16 years old and was right in the middle of the tech bubble. I was invested in Amazon.com and I'm guessing around that time it was in the 3 digit mark. Back then Dow 7,000 was a great thing, now that strikes Armageddon. Today's investors look at this as horrible, disgusting, unspeakable...etc. On top of that the government gave another 30 billion to AIG, so now we're broke and in more debt what does this all mean? Does it mean we are going to hit Dow 6,000, 5,000, 4,000? I think not, I think the market is incredibly over sold and we are in a panic mode. Which is understandable, housing has yet to stabilize, employment numbers (which are out next week) are not looking any better and the there is no clear sign of direction with the market, except for down. So what do you do with your money now.

Well the are two scenarios I like to think of:

1. You are in the market and have been for the past 2 years or so and don't know whether to cut your losses or stick with you "underwater stocks". I say stay with your holdings if you can stomach the losses and are invested in well balanced innovative companies. Companies such as Apple, Goldman Sachs, Hewlett Packard, Coca Cola, Jack in the Box, to name a few. It will take time and we will see positive strength in a year or so from these great value companies.

2. You have about 10K in your investment portfolio and are ready to invest but are scared shitless to throw your money out there. Well, you probably have no experience investing period so your stomach is probably, "light" at this moment. Keep saving your money until after March, then start looking at good investments. Starters like, Exxon Mobil, Phillip Morris, Apple, Caterpillar, US Steel, General Electric. These are great buys now but will take time to stabilize themselves again.

-Now if you can stomach upswings then trade in these companies now but set goals for

yourself. Do not, I repeat do not get greedy with your gains. If you want to make a gain

of 2 points a share then hit that point and sell. This market is too volatile to be playing

around with 10K.

This is truly what I believe and foresee happening in the next month or two. So bare with the market but do not become a bear...get it? If you don't email me...haha

The Watchmen is coming out on Friday and I have been waiting for this day to happen for about five years ago. I read the Watchmen TPB oh I would say 5 years ago or so and was just astonished at how awesome it was. So political and so ahead of its time, what a great read. Alan Moore is totally against the film but who cares about him. Mo-fo's getting paid regardless, anyway I will definately watch this film...and I hope you do too. It won't come even close to the actual comic but it will be pretty darn close I think.