Hig

I see your point that all are 100% losses, however, IMO DRYS is a good speculative trading vehicle that could easily double or triple in a decent bear market rally which would be nearly impossible for a $50 stock. So I think the risk/reward of DRYS is better.

Of course when speculating it's important to spread risk and here's a way of doing it that I haven't seen much discussion of... trading pairs in the same industry but NOT in the usual long abc/short xyz manner.

Despite what the talking heads on CNBC say, airlines have been one of the easiest ways to make money in this market... just pull up daily charts of AMR and LCC for the last 6 months which is about how long I've been actively trading them. Right now I'm long both AMR and LCC for about $7 total, which is a price I believe it's highly likely BOTH will exceed but even if one goes bankrupt I think the other will easily more than make up for the other's loss.

This is a trade I have on now and I'm NOT recommending that anyone else take it... just brought it up because some on this thread seem to like beaten up stocks like I do and this is a way of reducing risk when trading them.

 

Exactly my thought. I've already made $1200 on tiny DRYS position between the Nov low to a pullback from the recent high. I'm back in around the same price as Nov, only this time a larger position (four IRA accounts instead of two). If DRYS were to suddenly announce bankruptcy, each of the IRA accounts loses $700. If I had 200 shares of a $50 or $100 stock that suddenly announced bankruptcy, I'd be down $10K or $20K in each account. Big difference.

The other thing about DRYS: It's hands down one of the most volatile movers in existence. If DRYS survives, when the economy rebounds, it will be a 20-bagger from this level.

 

Just finished going through my emails. My sources indicate that The Hartford will file for Chapter 11 in the next few weeks.

By the way, this guy named Alan Jacobs handled a claim on my car in the Los Angeles area. This guy was such a jackass.

 

Already short!

 

I hate claims adjusters, especially bastards whom solicit bribes. BTW, Port I like your Autozone call, so I'm going to take what you say at face value and keep quiet.

 

Aww crap, just realized that was your one and only post under that nick.

I was hoping to get some real dirt.

You win buddy.

 

Hartford Said to Discuss Sale of Life Unit to Canada’s Sun Life

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aGqK7vvaprI8&refer=home

March 4 (Bloomberg) -- Hartford Financial Services Group Inc., hammered by three credit-rating downgrades and a 72 percent stock drop this year, is in talks to sell most of its unprofitable life insurance unit to Canada’s Sun Life Financial Inc., said three people with knowledge of the matter.

Breaking Hartford in two and selling most of the life division, which has $247.9 billion of assets, is among the options being discussed and an agreement may not be reached, said the people, speaking on condition of anonymity. Hartford held separate talks with MetLife Inc. that ended last month, two of the people said.

Hartford Chief Executive Officer Ramani Ayer is being forced to consider a breakup of the 199-year-old insurer after slumping financial markets led to a $2.7 billion loss in 2008. Standard & Poor’s cut the rating to BBB yesterday and said losses at the life unit threaten the other half of the company, which sells property and liability policies.

“The uncertainty of this financial stress could erode Hartford’s brand,” Standard & Poor’s analysts led by Shellie Stoddard said in a statement yesterday. Hartford’s corporate icon, a stag, has been in use since at least 1861.

Hartford, which as recently as 2007 was relying on the life business for most of its revenue and profit, is getting stung by costs to cover minimum-return guarantees on variable annuities linked to the performance of stock markets. The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index closed yesterday below 700 for the first time since October 1996.

Negative Value

“Without commenting on any particular situation, Sun Life’s commitment to business growth includes actively looking at all potential opportunities,” Michel Leduc, a spokesman for Toronto- based Sun Life, said in an e-mail yesterday. Shannon Lapierre of Hartford, Connecticut-based Hartford declined to comment, as did New York-based MetLife’s John Calagna.

Sun Life CEO Donald Stewart said in November that Canada’s third-biggest insurer was weighing potential acquisitions in the U.S. The company freed up funds for acquisitions in December, when it sold 37 percent of fund manager CI Financial Corp. to Bank of Nova Scotia for about C$2.3 billion ($1.8 billion).

Sun Life, which trails Manulife Financial Corp. and Great- West Lifeco Inc. by assets, has a U.S. unit that sells annuities, group and individual insurance products and accounted for 25 percent of the company’s C$15.6 billion in 2008 revenue.

Hartford’s property and liability business is worth $4 billion to $8 billion, implying that the life business has a negative value, Joshua Shanker, an analyst at Citigroup Inc., estimated last month. The whole company’s market value was about $1.5 billion yesterday.

Variable Annuities

In considering a breakup, Ayer is heeding analysts and investors including Jon Bosse, a portfolio manager at Los Angeles-based NWQ Investment Management who urged a review of the option on a Feb. 6 conference call. NWQ is Hartford’s fourth- biggest shareholder, according to Bloomberg data.

Founded in 1810 as a fire insurance company, Hartford entered the life insurance market with an acquisition in 1959.

In addition to offering traditional life policies, Hartford was the fourth-biggest U.S. seller of variable annuities as of 2007, according to a Fitch Ratings report citing Morningstar Inc. data. Variable annuities typically allow a customer to invest in the market, with the insurer charging a fee in exchange for promising a minimum rate of return.

As the S&P 500 lost about half its value in the last 12 months, sellers of variable annuities saw their potential obligations to customers mushroom. With the S&P at its current level, those guarantees absorb almost all Hartford’s excess capital, said Randy Binner, an analyst at Friedman Billings Ramsey Group Inc., in an interview yesterday.

Government Aid

Hartford is also seeking government aid under the Troubled Asset Relief Program. Ayer, 61, has said it may qualify for as much as $3.4 billion from the U.S. Treasury and agreed to buy a Sanford, Florida-based savings and loan to qualify. The U.S. hasn’t said whether it will include insurers in the program, which has ladled out hundreds of billions of dollars to banks.

Ayer raised $2.5 billion for Hartford in October by selling preferred shares and debentures to Allianz SE that gave the Munich-based insurer rights to buy more than 20 percent of Hartford. At the time, Michael Diekmann, Allianz’s chief executive officer, described the stake as a “pure financial investment” and said he didn’t plan to increase it.

 

Wow something happened there at 8.35am ET or so.

Unfortunately my news service is not working. Can someone fill me in?

 

HIG is going under. Thats what happened.

 

Out at an average price of 11.08