Thursday, January 29, 2009

update on stocks

Apologies to anyone who might have followed my stock picks of last fall and is, like me, still long Sherritt or Huntington Bank. Both are down from the prices at which I bought them --I did not follow my own advice to trade them, not hold for a long time. Will they come back? I'm betting yes, but no guarantees. Huntington's dividend cut was to be expected, but is still disappointing. As a recipient of TARP funding, it cannot use that money to pay dividends.

Teck Cominco is up a little bit since I last wrote about it, but still faces a big financing bill in March for Fording Coal. Approach with caution.

How long the mess will last is anyone's guess. The new Administration seems to have some good ideas, although having the Treasury headed by someone who cannot figure out how to pay his own taxes does not inspire confidence.

For the moment, cash still seems to be king, although I believe there are some opportunities in real estate in highly distressed US markets. More on this later.