Additional European Matters

The new head of the European Central Bank signaled on Thursday it stood ready to act more aggressively to fight Europe's debt crisis if political leaders agree next week on much tighter budget controls in the 17-nation euro zone. The ECB it is under huge political and market pressure to massively step up purchases of euro zone government bonds or lend money to the IMF to support ailing Italy and Spain.
As previously discussed, Europe is under serious political pressure to improve their economic standing, especially from Obama as well as other European leaders.

American Airlines

American Airlines filed for bankruptcy in order to cut labor costs in an era of high fuel prices and decreased travel demand. 
American plans to operate normally while in bankruptcy, but the Chapter 11 filing could punch a hole in the pensions of roughly 130,000 workers and retirees. It is said that they have adequate cash reserves to get through this. Shares closed tuesday at 26 cents, typical of bankrupt companies while rival companies' (such as Delta and United) shares boosted as competition went down. 
This follows the Australian airline company who filed for bankruptcy. It is important to note the correlation of fuel prices not only on cars and car purchasing habits, but also on the airlines. 

MetLife

People shy away from insurance companies because theyre volatile and risky. But in this downturn MetLife insurance company has dropped below its actual value. So if investors invested by looking at the tangible book value they will see they could make a profit of about 50%. The P/E ratio is currently at 8.5 so there is definite potential to make a lot of money because the company is worth a lot and has good values and a good direction. The only concern is that it has a high level of long term debt but that is only because they purchased American life insurance ocmpany from AIG but it is is still a strong company and it should add to its earnings. Should not expect a dividend release because most of the earning will be going towards the debt  but overall will see future growth. Should at least return to its tangible book value after the downturn is is overturned. Most analysts rated it as a strong buy.

Facebook IPO

Many estimates have been made as to Facebook's IPO valuation, ranging frmo $70 billion to $100 billion(http://www.cnbc.com/id/43378490/Facebook_IPO_Valuation_Could_Top_100_Billion_Sources). These are outrageous estimates but i do not doubt at all that they will follow through. Only a few years ago, Microsoft valuated Facebook at $250 million, and people looked at this and called Bill Gates insane (including Rupert Murdoch, who watched MySpace crumble down to nothing as Facebook grew its empire). But the impending question that all future stockholders should be considering now is what exactly will become of Facebook in the future? How will they expand their profits and growth in order to ensure steady returns for its stakeholders?
The answer may lie in the many industries/fields Facebook is currently looking to expand into or has already started expanding into. These include the video and photo uploading and sharing, online tv show and movie streaming, online advertising, search, social graph, apps (platform), article sharing, and many others. If Facebook could successfully expand into all these areas and take over their respective markets, it might truly become the next internet 'king', owning the majority market share of many online functions. If this the true future, I would recommend everyone to invest, and invest fast. But without being too hasty, I would also recommend a deep analysis of the future possibilities of failure. What if Facebook only lasts for another 5 years, then what? Although i personally do not believe this to be true, i wouldn't want people to invest their life savings and retirement money and then lose it all in a couple of years.

European Chaos

Italy, the world's eighth largest economy, is now the prime threat to the stability of the Euro zone, as the two year-old crisis continues with no foreseeable end in the near future. Italian 10-year bond yields rose to their highest since 1997 -- approaching levels regarded as unsustainable -- with political turmoil in Rome threatening to drag a fourth European economy after Greece, Ireland and Portugal. Jean-Claude Juncker, the chairman of Eurogroup finance ministers, said the European Central Bank would take part in monitoring Italy's promised economic reforms along with the European Commission and the International Monetary Fund, effectively putting the country under full surveillance. Greece's outgoing socialist prime minister and conservative opposition leader rushed to put in place an interim national unity government for just long enough to save their country from imminent default by implementing a new bailout program. Finally he is beginning to act rationally, promising to resign if the bailout package is approved. 

France announced new austerity measures designed to preserve its wobbly AAA credit rating, without which the euro zone might no longer be able to bail out its weakest members. It will be interesting to see where this goes in the next couple of weeks.

European economic situation and the stock market

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/11/01/us-markets-stocks-idUSTRE7A01NM20111101
Due to concerns about Greece and their impending bailout (which will be decided by the people through the referendum), stocks have dropped substantially. This referendum is holding up the bailout process, which is urgent and necessary not only for Greece but for the entire European market. Sarkozy and Merkel will hold an emergency meeting with Greece on Wednesday to push for the bailout to go through. Without the bailout, Greece will definitely default, causing a dangerous decrease in markets all over the world.

Gupta the next Rajaratnam?

Next big hedge fund manager to be convicted for insider trading(maybe). The SEC is working alongside the FBI to find these powerful businessmen who are doing side-deals and informing each other of potential opportunities. With the new technology available, the SEC is making it harder for such transactions to occur, however it also increases the flow of information that the traders are receiving, expanding their market knowledge into possible illegal grounds. However, they could make the case that any information that came into their hands was acquired by the internet so it was already public knowledge and therefore could not be pursued in court.
I'm interested in seeing the direction into which this case goes.