5 Numbers That Should Scare Facebook Investors

The fact of the matter of the matter is that Facebook shares will almost certainly disappoint investors who participate in the IPO, because the prices being bandied about simply don’t reflect the numerous risks that are also part and parcel of the business. Here are five numbers that highlight some of those significant risks:

Make Money Selling Money

Consider trading foreign currencies, which just a couple of decades ago was an option mostly restricted to big money investors. Now, it’s widely available to the general public, and generating increasing interest.

Healthcare Stocks Are Headed Higher

Three days of arguments before the Supreme Court have made it abundantly clear – “Obamacare” is in danger of being gutted or completely wiped off the books.

Only one thing’s for sure. Investors will want to keep buying healthcare stocks -especially as 10,000 baby boomers a day turn 65 years old for the next 20 years.

But there’s one segment of the healthcare sector that will be sitting in the driver’s seat when it comes to delivering healthy profits and investment returns – no matter how the court rules.

The European Central Bank is indebted to the hilt

The European Central Bank is indebted to the hilt and is beginning to look like one of the banks it has done so much to save.
Having subsidized the European banking industry with its 1 trillion euro ($1.29 trillion) long-term refinancing operation (LTRO), funds that were distributed at well below market prices, the central bank is leveraged to levels Bear Stearns and Lehman Brothers might have felt comfortable with in early 2007.

Crude Oil: The Best Commodity Play for 2012

Crude oil may not only be the best commodity play for 2012, it could prove to be the best commodity play of the next three to four years, soundly beating both gold and silver. I’m not talking about oil producers, refiners or drillers…or any individual stock — but the real thing: crude oil itself.

we believe crude has a better chance of doubling from its current $100 per barrel level than gold has doubling from its current levels of $1,575 per ounce. It’s not that we hate gold. We don’t. Some of the same conditions that favor crude will also favor the shiny stuff. But for “bang for the buck,” we feel crude oil is the best opportunity on the board right now.

Bank Order Led to Losing Trades

J.P. Morgan’s Efforts to Shield Itself From European Market Fallout Prompted Disastrous Bets
J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. told traders several months ago to make bets aimed at shielding the bank from the market fallout of Europe’s deepening mess. But instead of shrinking the risk, their complicated bets backfired into losses of as much as $200 million a day in late April and early May, people familiar with the situation said.