One of the Chinese drug companies I’ve been following for almost a year is Sinobiopharma, Inc. (OTC:SNBP).

by J. Christoph Amberger

Baltimore, MD: Last June, in a small ceremony in Guangzhou, China, U.S. and Chinese officials signed three agreements that will change the face of the global pharma industry. At face value, it was the most boring bit of news of the day.

But when the ink had dried into a deep royal blue, the United States government had committed to a huge strategic blunder. Like Napoleon selling Louisiana to President Thomas Jefferson… or Russia selling Alaska for $7,200,000…

Only bigger!

But here’s the good news: The “Guangzhou Agreements” have created an enormous investment opportunity! It could be like getting a second shot at investing in Chinese A-shares… in 1997! But let me give you an idea of the full scope:

In 2006, global spending on prescription drugs topped $643 billion. The United States accounts for almost half of the global pharmaceutical market. That’s more than the annual GDP of Venezuela… Greece… or Argentina! With one crucial difference: All these countries operate at a loss.

But profits for U.S. pharma companies actually grew as other top industries began to stall. In Fortune magazine’s annual survey, the pharma industry regularly tops the list of the most profitable industries, with a return of 17% on revenue.

Those Guangzhou Agreements mean one thing: The U.S. pharma companies will be shipping their profits abroad! And U.S. taxpayers will pay for them to do it!

Giving away the pharm

Here’s what went down: On June 18, the U.S. Pharmacopeial (USP) Convention reached three new cooperative agreements with Chinese drug control authorities.

You’ve probably never heard of the USP. It’s a scientific organization that sets standards for the quality of prescription and over-the-counter drugs. These standards are enforced by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in the United States. This was only the first wave in what Kiplinger magazine calls “a sea change in food safety regulation.”

Sidetracked by “health” reform, Congress is about to pass sweeping new legislation to overhaul of the nation’s food safety laws. Sources report there’s a “broad consensus” among consumers, industry groups, scientists, President Obama and members of both parties in Congress. It’s easy to understand why consumer groups and politicians are in it:

Remember the recent FDA investigation into the “Baxter heparin scare”… which uncovered a contaminated ingredient obtained from a Chinese manufacturer?

Or the 2008 scandal of melamine contamination in Chinese-made powdered formula, which sent 60 babies to the hospital?

Or how about the 2007 case when Chinese pet food ingredients killed and sickened thousands of dogs and cats in the United States…

It’s easy to see why politicians want to make sure Chinese food and drug exports are as safe as can be. U.S. companies are all for it, too. They want to avoid costly recalls. (The recent salmonella outbreak alone cost the peanut industry more than $1 billion.) Not to speak of billions in possible litigation awards! But there’s another reason for their enthusiasm:

Lack of reliable quality standards is the single major hurdle that’s kept the U.S. pharma industry from moving abroad!

And it’s been killing them!

U.S. politicians now demand that U.S. pharma companies make their products available at minimal profit margins. Nationalized healthcare threatens to undercut the profits needed to maintain vital research and development. But the industry hasn’t been able to offset increasing cost and shrinking revenues.

Over the next few months, U.S. pharma’s facing a rapidly declining return on investment as thousands of blockbuster drugs lose patent protection. Since 2007 the industry has laid off thousands of workers to cut costs.

There’s only one way out of this looming debacle: Follow the toy, textile, electronics, shoe, furniture, solar, and computer industry. And move to China!

Congress is now speeding up the process. This legislation will give the FDA more authority to enforce strong quality standards. Companies will have to verify that foreign supplies are safe.

Most importantly, there’ll be a bigger FDA presence abroad for more on-site inspections in more countries.

Especially China!

This is what the U.S. and Chinese pharma industry has been waiting for. You see, these days, 75-80% of all active pharmaceutical ingredients used by U.S. drug manufacturers are imported, mainly from India and China. So are 40%of finished dosage forms. But a recent government audit revealed that the FDA was unable to provide inspection records for a full two-thirds of the 3,250 facilities currently supplying the U.S. with pharmaceutical ingredients:

Right now, the FDA only carries out inspections of around 7% of the total number of foreign drug manufacturers a year. U.S. drug makers are subject to surprise inspections every two years. But foreign manufacturers are even given advance warning before an inspection takes place… and can provide the translators! China, which has the largest number of drug manufacturers eligible for FDA inspection (714), is scheduled for only 13 regulatory visits by the FDA this year.

That’s less than 2% of the country’s drug exporters!

Global competition

In a global economy, countries compete for manufacturing business via their labor cost and their currency. The country with the cheapest labor, pricing output at the most advantageous exchange rate, tends to get the order. But cheap labor is only good if it produces equal quality.

A DVD player, a car, a complex chemical “Made in China” can only compete if its quality is indistinguishable from counterparts made in Japan, Germany, or USA. It’s that quality differential that we owe the remaining American automotive and industrial manufacturing jobs to. The new wave of drug legislation will make sure that the risk of supply chain contamination is reduced drastically.

The Chinese love it! They’ve already committed $1.7 billion to improve the quality of the food and drugs manufactured fro export.

Now the Americans will not only show them how to apply quality controls. They’ll do the work for them… at U.S. taxpayers’ expense! It’s a classic Win-Win situation!

Uncle Sam, on his own nickel, is removing the last obstacle to shifting not just raw materials production but the manufacture of complex pharmaceuticals to China: If the quality of output is identical, manufacturers will go with the cheapest labor and the most advantageous business climate.

Here’s the inevitable outcome:

Once rigorous quality controls are in place, U.S. pharma manufacturers will follow their colleagues from the the toy, textile, electronics, solar industries to Guangdong, Shenzen, Shanghai. The benefits are unbeatable: Political culture in the United States is by now fully anti-business and pro-entitlement.

At home, the U.S. pharma industry’s being painted as a major obstacle to “affordable healthcare”. It’s a prime litigation target. High taxation and government-mandated unionization of many aspects of the labor market have already reduced the attractiveness of the United States as a manufacturing location for other industries.

China, however, loves business. The massive domestic market in China is just the icing on the cake!

Starting in early 2010, American drug makers will increasingly shift production abroad. They can do so safely: The U.S. government will make sure drugs can be manufactured at equal quality — but for a fraction of the cost. Plus, the Chinese government has initiated a $124 billion spending stimulus on healthcare for 2009-2011!

But to operate effectively within the Chinese system, foreign companies require well-connected partners. Merger & acquisition activity involving American and Chinese pharma companies will start picking up as early as this fall… and come to a boil by Spring 2010!

The most likely take-over candidates are not the large corporations… with whom American companies have partnered for manufacturing and distribution since the 1990’s.

It’s small but well-established Chinese companies with existing high-quality manufacturing capabilities and a foot in every door that counts in Beijing

One of the Chinese drug companies I’ve been following for almost a year is Sinobiopharma, Inc. (OTC:SNBP).

Read on right here…

Article first published on Today's Financial News

The Big Picture for Sinobiopharma, Inc. (SNBP)

It’s Keynesian economics at its finest: Govenment CAN spend a sector out of a slump… as long as it keeps paying people to spend! Could home builders like Beazer Homes (NYSE:BZH) and Hovnanian Enterprises (NYSE:HOV) be rising on anticipated subsidies?

By J. Christoph Amberger

Baltimore, MD: Let’s hear it for government spending the economy out of recession!

Sales of existing homes plunged by more than 40 years in December — more than 12% last year. That’s the sharpest fall since the Great Depression.

Total sales for 2009 ended up about 5% over 2008 levels. And that was with the beefed-up tax credits for first-time buyers.

Of course, just like its brother-in-spirit, the Cash for Clunkers program, the government’s decision of having my taxes subsidize other people’s home purchases on a larger scale than before created its own numerical distortion in the statistics: It condensed sales within the application time frame, setting up the steep collapse right when the expectations of meeting filing deadlines withered.

(Strangely enough, the shares of homebuilders like Beazer Homes USA, Inc. (NYSE:BZH) and Hovnanian Enterprises, Inc. (NYSE:HOV) were trading up over 3% today!)

They may have extended the program, buying further “success stories” of government intervention in the weeks ahead. But another expiration deadline is already lurking in the background. On March 31, the Federal Reserve will end its program to buy mortgage securities to keep home loan rates low. Mortgage rates could rise. They should — since in the era of rampant unemployment, the risk inherent of granting a mortgage even to the gainfully employed is certainly worth more than 6% p.a.

The second round of home buyer tax credit is scheduled to run out at the end of April.

Artificial demand for homes generated by the tax credit and low mortgage rates thus far has prevented real estate prices in many areas from collapsing entirely. Or better, it has delayed that progress.

My suggestion to the White House: Instead of tinkling the money away piecemeal, cut the red tape and purchase the most annoying tracts of defaulted McMansions out right. Then have the Corps of Engineers run a fleet of bulldozers over them, sprinkle some top soil on top — and call it the Obama National Park system.

*** Could anyone be taking him seriously?

Obama has been dangling discretionary spending cuts as a symbol of how opposed he is to the unchecked growth of U.S. debt. The line items he’s talking about don’t amount to a hill of beans when compared to his overall largesse.

But still, silver and precious metals keep ticking down.

I’ll stick with my favorite short-term silver play, Canadian miner Liberty Mines Inc. (TSE:LBE).

When exactly is this going to happen?

I say look for the Q4/FY2009 earnings to come out.

Read more about this in my blog right here!

Article first published on Today's Financial News

Beazer Homes USA, Inc. (BZH) and Hovnanian Enterprises, Inc. (HOV) up despite horrid housing news

Pharma companies MannKind (NASDAQ:MNKD), Roche Holding (OTC:RHHBY), and Acorda Therapeutics (NASDAQ:ACOR) have seen stock price moves on FDA news. Will the magic work for Spectrum Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:SPPI) on January 30?

by J. Christoph Amberger

Baltimore, MD: On Dec. 30, TFN posted a list of upcoming FDA announcement dates: Upcoming FDA decision dates… and the companies that may benefit.

As you well know, a yea or nay from the FDA can sink a stock… or propel it upward — completely independent of the relative worth or value of the underlying drug or medication. So far this year, the stocks we listed have validated FDA approval as a catalyst of trading activity:

* FDA decision Jan. 16, 2010: MannKind Corporation (NASDAQ:MNKD), regarding preliminary approval an inhaled insulation device called Afresa.

Share price as of 12/30/2009: $8.55; closing price last Friday (1/22): $10.27. Gain: 20.11%

* FDA decision due Jan. 18, 2010: Roche Holding Ltd. (OTC:RHHBY), regarding approval for the use of Taceva for the treatment of lung cancer in patients already responding to chemotherapy. Share price as of 12/30/2009: $42.18; closing price last Friday (1/22): $44.05. Gain: 4.43%.

* FDA decision due Jan. 22, 2010: Acorda Therapeutics (NASDAQ:ACOR), regarding new drug application review for Fampridine-SR to be used to improve conduction in nerve fibers when the insulating layer (myelin) has been damaged. Share price as of 12/30/2009: $25.39; closing price as of Friday (1/22): $28.12. Gain: 10.75%.

What’s next?

FDA decision due: Jan. 30, 2010: Spectrum Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:SPPI), regarding the results of a meeting with the FDA to discuss the viability of continuing to seek approval for Fusilev for the treatment of colon cancer will be announced. Share price as of 1/22: $4.81.

Follow our continued free coverage at my blog!

Similar Posts:

• Upcoming FDA decision dates… and the companies that may benefit – December 30, 2009
• Three picks for a weak dollar – October 15, 2009

Article first published on Today's Financial News

The FDA catalyst: 2010 moves in MannKind (MNKD), Roche Holding (RHHBY), Acorda Therapeutics (ACOR) show it still works!

The Dow’s experienced the steepest drop since Feb. 2009. What lies ahead?

by J. Christoph Amberger

Baltimore, MD: The weeks started on such a promising note I was fantasizing about a Dow 11,000, giddy at the prospects that Brown would do for you what he did for re-establishing a semblance of balance of power in the United States Capitol.

U.S. stocks fell off a cliff on Friday, finishing a week of heavy losses that erased all gains for 2010. The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) closed down 4.1% for the week… the S&P was down 3.9%. The Nasdaq was down just 3.6%.

These are big numbers. Reminding uns of the post-Inauguration Meltdown of 2009!

Again, it’s earnings and “uncertainty”. But this time around, it’s especially the ham-fisted handling of the financial industry through the Obama Administration.

A global Bloomberg poll of investors and analysts (who are Bloomberg subscribers — and accordingly appear to have skin in the game of the markets) shows that a whopping 77% of U.S. respondents believe Obama is anti-business. 80% believe only somewhat confident or not confident of his ability to handle a financial emergency.

That sounds like a pretty darn good reason for “uncertainty”!

Meanwhile, Obama keeps blaming the “mess he inherited” — reminiscent of the man complaining of the smell of his neighbor’s dog’s droppings that he painstakingly hid under a truckload of fresh manure…

And again, this meltdown is affecting most asset classes. If you were thinking you were safe holding gold, look at the chart below.

The coming two weeks will be crucial. Again the “January Effect” has been truncated by politics. Tread with caution, hedge to the downside… and use what could be a protracted sell-off to below 9,000 for target buys at depressed prices.

I don’t pretend to know what’s ahead. But I distrust Obama and I distrust the market. Still, last year, my team and I managed to create almost 80 double-digit gainers for members of TFN’s subscription-only service, Hot Stock Confidential.

These days, I try to apply my 20-plus-year experience in the markets to my own blog. Check it out if you will!

Article first published on Today's Financial News

Steepest drop since Feb. 2009: Here we go again!

The list reads like wind chills in Chicago on a cold winter day: Coeur d’Alene Mines Corporation (NYSE:CDE), Silver Wheaton Corp. (NYSE:SLW), Alto Group Holdings Inc. (OTC:ALTO), Hecla Mining Company (NYSE:HL), Endeavour Silver Corp. (AMEX:EXK) all close down dramatically for a second day. What to do now?

by J. Christoph Amberger

Baltimore, MD: The price decline in metals stocks — and especially silver miners — continued on Thursday.

Coeur d’Alene Mines Corporation (NYSE:CDE) closed down another -6%;

Silver Wheaton Corp. (NYSE:SLW) down -7.26%;

Alto Group Holdings Inc. (OTC:ALTO) down -11.63%;

Hecla Mining Company (NYSE:HL) down -8.89%;

Endeavour Silver Corp. (AMEX:EXK) down -6.57%.

Some of them (HL and SLW) are currently showing mildly bullish aftermarket activity. Some have reported, or are about to report, record crops of silver. EXK, for example, announced on Jan 14. that it set a new record for silver production in Q4, 2009, up 12% quarter-on-quarter to 779,345 oz silver. (Gold production also jumped to a new quarterly high, up 90% to 4,591 oz gold in Q4, 2009.)

Looking at the price charts, it bears pointing out that, apart from volatile penny shares such as ALTO, most silver stocks haven’t fallen past their quite high early-January levels — despite substantial corrections.

I see no imminent change in U.S. monetary policy: Interest rates will continue to be low — reducing the comparative opportunity cost of owning precious metals. Neither will there be a let-up in the push of green technologies, many of which could boost industrial silver demand.

The next few days may be a good chance to stock up on silver shares — maybe with a hedged “insurance policy” short or long-term put option on iShares Silver Trust (ETF) (NYSE:SLV).

My favorite silver portfolio constellation is:

Well, just click through to my blog!Similar Posts:

• Dip in metals miners could spell buying opportunity – January 20, 2010
• Silver Wheaton (SLW), Coeur d’Alene (CDE), Hecla Mining (HL) are racking up gains… who’s next? – October 15, 2009
• Cup half full: Silver Wheaton (NYSE:SLW) packs on gains as gold prices rocket – November 11, 2009
• Top Precious Metal Stocks – December 10, 2009
• TFN eNews 11/11/2009: We’re happy to profit from this asset bubble… as long as it lasts! – November 11, 2009

Article first published on Today's Financial News

Is the silver run over? Coeur d’Alene Mines (CDE), Silver Wheaton (SLW), Alto Group (ALTO), Hecla Mining (HL), Endeavour Silver (EXK) close down

Bill Bonner, editor of The Daily Reckoning

Former TFN publisher J. Christoph Amberger is reaping rave reviews for his conspiracy thriller, The Lazarus Smile!

By TFN staff

Baltimore, MD: Praise from high places. Agora Inc.’s president and editor of The Daily Reckoning has reviewed J. Christoph Amberger’s The Lazarus Smile. Here’s what he had to say:

“The Lazarus Smile is engaging, fast-paced and intriguing. It cut into my sleeping time as I tried to figure out how Epaphroditus — Nero’s right hand man and executioner — figured into the storyline. Bravo! I don’t read fiction, but I enjoyed reading Christoph Amberger’s thriller.” — William Bonner, author of Financial Reckoning Day: Surviving the Soft Depression of the 21st Century, editor of The Daily Reckoning

By now, you know where to get it!Similar Posts:

• Financial Publisher turns Thriller Author – December 30, 2009
• TFN eNews 01/04/2010: A cyclical anomaly – January 5, 2010
• Best Books to Fight H1N1: 5 Great Reads to Beat the Swine Flu – November 4, 2009
• Where is the End for Gold? – November 17, 2009
• Major breakthrough in the Commodity Carry Trade – September 21, 2009

Article first published on Today's Financial News

“Engaging, fast-paced and intriguing. Bravo!”: Bill Bonner on The Lazarus Smile

Sinobiopharma, Inc. (OTC:SNBP) has been rising pretty much out of the blue. How to play a stock that’s as volatile as this?

by J. Christoph Amberger

Baltimore, MD: One of my favorite Chinese drug manufacturers, Sinobiopharma, Inc. (OTC:SNBP), is up to above $0.31 — from a low near 21 cents on January 8. That day, I last recommended this stock as a short-term speculation to readers of TFN’s now “retired” high-end trading service, Penny Stock Confidential.

Now, the last spike above 30 cents — on my last day at TFN, Jan. 15 — occurred on excellent earnings and revenues growth news.

I see no clear indication where the current interest is coming from. But in the first hour of trading, volume has already reached half of the average daily trading volume.

Overall, I continue to recommend SNBP as a worthwhile — if extremely volatile! — speculation. Revenues growth year-over-year is bound to level off as the numbers get better each quarter. The past year has proven that this is a very news-sensitive company: Even the publication of an approved product list can set the price of the ADR soaring.

Protracted periods of no news, however, have a tendency to erode the value of the shares. Use these inevitable pullbacks to near a quarter per share as buying opportunities.

Please be sure to sign up to my email and blog updates on this and other high-potential stocks!

Similar Posts:

• Turnaround for Sinobiopharma (SNBP) – October 21, 2009
• Interesting jump for Sinobiopharma (SNBP) – January 18, 2010
• The Top Investing Strategy for 2009 – September 23, 2009
• Technical Analysis: OraSure’s big move – September 25, 2009
• Why biotechs like CombinatoRx (CRXX) make the best penny share speculations – November 20, 2009

Article first published on Today's Financial News

Sinobiopharma, Inc. (SNBP) soars on — what exactly?

Precious metals and mining stocks took it on the chin yesterday. Mining penny share Alto Group Holdings Inc. (OTC:ALTO) posted the steepest drop, losing almost 40% in a single session. My old favorite Silver Wheaton Corp. (NYSE:SLW) closed down -4.6%.

by J. Christoph Amberger

Baltimore, MD: Whatever effect the anticipated breach of the liberal deadlock on power had on Tuesday, it sure didn’t carry over to Wednesday. My anticipated knocking of the Dow on the 11,000 level simply didn’t materialize.

Chinese officials hinted that the world’s biggest metals consumer would be reining in loan growth and slowing spending… on infrastructure, construction, and the on-spec hoarding of metals and resources.

Precious metals and mining stocks took it on the chin. Mining penny share Alto Group Holdings Inc. (OTC:ALTO) posted the steepest drop, losing almost 40% in a single session. My old favorite Silver Wheaton Corp. (NYSE:SLW) closed down -4.6%.

I think this pullback especially of the silver sector will be temporary. As we approach the release of Q4 2009 earnings, I think a number of precious miners will surprise with their numbers: Plenty of them will be seeing the positive effects of having re-opened dormant mines starting summer 2009… and as mines started producing, revenues will have taken impressive jumps.

One of my favorite mining penny shares in this regard is a canadian miner who has plenty of new revenues coming in…

I’ll tell you that stock right on my blog site!

Similar Posts:

• Is the silver run over? Coeur d’Alene Mines (CDE), Silver Wheaton (SLW), Alto Group (ALTO), Hecla Mining (HL), Endeavour Silver (EXK) close down – January 21, 2010
• Cup half full: Silver Wheaton (NYSE:SLW) packs on gains as gold prices rocket – November 11, 2009
• Top Precious Metal Stocks – December 10, 2009
• Silver Wheaton (SLW), Coeur d’Alene (CDE), Hecla Mining (HL) are racking up gains… who’s next? – October 15, 2009
• TFN eNews 11/11/2009: We’re happy to profit from this asset bubble… as long as it lasts! – November 11, 2009

Article first published on Today's Financial News

Dip in metals miners could spell buying opportunity

Anheuser-Busch InBev (NYSE:BUD) investors get a taste of European medicine

by J. Christoph Amberger

Baltimore, MD: People wonder why companies leave Europe for Asia. I wonder why that would still come a a surprise.

Today, Reuters reported that Anheuser-Busch InBev NV (NYSE:BUD) announced its Belgian production i(home of the gluttonous Inbev, which gobbled up American idol Anheuser-Bush without as much as a belch last year) had ground to a complete standstill after nearly two weeks of blockades over job cuts at its breweries.

Belgian workers have laid siege to InBev’s breweries in Leuven and Liege for 13 days and for a week at Hoegaarden protesting plans to lay off less than 10% of its Belgian workforce. No hops, no malt, no barley can come in, no empty bottles and crates and other packaging. Beer storage is at 100% capacityl.

InBev is wobbling: It has frozen its restructuring plan. I believe it eventually will cave in to union demands.

Shares of NYSE:BUD have shed only 2%-plus in early morning trading. The rewards of globalism: By acquiring non-European companies, InBev has prudently reduced the risks of being a large fish in a high-cot, entitlement-fed pond.

The stock is still trading near its pre-merger highs. We see an additional downside to $47.50. Resolution of the dispute may be good for a 10% rise from that bottom.

For more of Amberger’s continuing market commentary, click right here!Similar Posts:

• Harley Davidson: A pig in pain? – October 14, 2009
• No bailout needed: Good news from the rags – September 29, 2009
• Harley’s “reverse” strike pays off – November 25, 2009
• Three Monday morning movers – October 19, 2009
• Pigs infected! Get ready for a slaughter – October 19, 2009

Article first published on Today's Financial News

Beer Wars: Anheuser-Busch InBev (BUD) Belgian breweries are high and dry

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) is firing up the hype generator. Its new iTablet may be introduced officially as early as this week. Is it worth looking at the stock?

by J. Christoph Amberger

Baltimore, MD: Taking my clue from the prevailing political culture, I decided to nourish my own feeling of entitlement to one of the new Apple tablet computers.

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) is carefully fueling the hype machine, sending out a press invitation via email to “come see our latest creation”.

Now, with the various phones and BlackBerrys out that have more RAM, features and functionality than a roomful of desktop computers 20 years ago, the splash may not be quite as big as anticipated. Then again, who had thought that the launch of the iPhone three years ago completely re-configured the concept of mobile phones.

I wouldn’t mind playing AAPL just on this news. The cost of a share, at $206 a share before market open today, is a bit off-putting. Then again, both AAPL and Google Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) have shown that the sky is the limit.

Read Amberger’s full blog entry here!

Article first published on Today's Financial News

Apple’s (AAPL) iTablet may debut this week

Sinobiopharma (NASDAQ:SNBP) ended last week on a 20%-plus upswing! A dollar short and a week late… but some of our readers might be sitting pretty!

by J. Christoph Amberger

Baltimore, MD:  Sinobiopharma (NASDAQ:SNBP) was my last pick for TFN’s Penny Stock Confidential trading service. I recommended it on 1/08 at around 22 cents. HSC members, however, remember it as one of our more epic losses. But PSC members had taken substantial short-term profits on this stock before.

Friday, SNBP soared to 31 cents on earnings news… just as predicted in my last update.

SNBP announced earnings of $1,073,550 for the three months ended November 30, 2009, compared to a net loss of $1,045,239 during the same period a year ago.

Revenues increased 120% to $2,137,471 and gross margins that improved 182% to 80% of sales. Operating expenses decreased 63% to $596,154 due to a decrease in stock-based compensation and a reduction in general and administrative expenses. However, research and development expenses rose to $189,396 from $33,015 a year ago….

Read on right here, at Amberger’s blog…Similar Posts:

• Turnaround for Sinobiopharma (SNBP) – October 21, 2009
• Sinobiopharma, Inc. (SNBP) soars on — what exactly? – January 21, 2010
• HSC double-digit gainer #70: 32% on Silvercorp. (SVM) – November 18, 2009
• TFN eNews 11/17/2009: The Okies are heading back to the Dust Bowl – November 17, 2009
• TFN eNews 10/08/2009: How much gains on this silver miner? – October 8, 2009

Article first published on Today's Financial News

Interesting jump for Sinobiopharma (SNBP)

TodaysFinancialNews.com merged forces with Money Map Press on January 13, 2010. The TFN eNews is being absorbed by Money Morning. So what do you do when you start missing J. Christoph Amberger’s daily take on the world?

by J. Christoph Amberger

Baltimore, MD — TFN: Looking back over the past two years, I think I’ve never worked as hard in my life. Our aim with TFN was to create a “Purple Cow” of a financial publishing business… with products and service levels that we could look back on with pride.

If I had to do it over again, I’d be doing some things a little differently. But my TFN team — Laura Cadden, Andrew Snyder, Lauren Smith, and Tara Useller — would be my first choice. I owe all of them a lasting debt.

All of them are moving on to bigger (literally!) things. Even I should be sitting pretty — I even have a TFN reader who wants to write a reference for me if I ever need it!

Other TFN and HSC members have written in with very kind words about our efforts:

“I am heartbroken! I just started making some money and hoping to make some more this year by buying your HSC recommendation! You, Laura and Andrew are so thoughtfull and caring and now who is going to look after small investor like me!! I enjoy reading your articles and learned a lot of new words. Wish you all the very best. Hope one day you will reconsider to come back.” – Manashi

“Wish you guys all the best. Thanks for your outstanding service. I will give New China Trader a chance and look forward to continue enjoying Andrew’s recommendations through Strategic Trader. So long and God Bless you.” — Dion V.

“Enjoyed an alternate pragmatic approach to the market(s). You will be back.” – David E.

“So sorry to be losing your commentary and your thoughts on a daily basis. You are a great asset to our culture and to the daily routines of so many of us. You are learned, thoughtful, faithful, and clear thinking. All the best to you.” – Robert S.

“Although I haven’t written to you before I have read every single one of your email / notices / updates since, well, since they began. I have thoroughly enjoyed your work and I can honestly say that I have always considered your ideas and thoughts to be of the highest caliber even on those rare times when I didn’t entirely agree. I will miss you and your daily communications and I wish you and your family the very best in the future. (And good luck with your fencing endeavors, I myself was once a fencer (although not an outstanding one, at the University of Arizona).  Again, you will be missed, I am sorry to see you go.” – Harry M.

“I’ll miss HSC…for example your attitude towards customer feedback was very refreshing compared to other Agora services.” — Hans B.

“As you know, I have been reading your written investment material for years. If at some point someone would like to get an outside opinion as to your written work,  I would be happy to serve as a reference for you for that, assuming I have not become ill or disappeared permanently due to old age. What follows is in essence what I have found to be true of you.  The  strength that you possess from my perspective is that you are able to bring your global knowledge of both geopolitics and financial markets including both real time knowledge and detailed historical perspective to bear to find a security in which to invest and convey the story to the reader in a concise actionable manner.”  – Robert W.

I will certainly miss my team… but I will also miss all of my readers who’ve accompanied me over the many years of writing a daily e-letter. (I think only Bill Bonner and his Daily Reckoning are ahead of me in sheer volume of messages written.)

And just on the offhand chance that you really, really, really start missing my daily rants, I have decided to continue publishing my rants and thoughts on a smaller stage. I’ve set up a blog that I’ll start populating this Monday, January 18. If you like, check it out — and sign up to its updates.

All the best to you!

Click here and bookmark Amberger’s New Blog!

Article first published on Today's Financial News

The Day After: Where to turn now for Amberger’s snarky comments?

In today’s TFN eNews:

* Continued success

* New perspectives

* Quality recommendations

Dear TFN eNews reader,

This is the dawning of a new era.

For me at least. You see, TodaysFinancialNews.com is getting acquired by another publishing company.

As you recall, we’re a small start-up. We blazed a trail for online publishing with our Internet video shows from 2006 to 2008. But we probably picked the worst time in recent history to launch a new investment information business.

Not that people aren’t looking for solid, reliable investment recommendations. But creating a market for them is a costly undertaking these days!

Despite us hitting target after target — and creating some of the most successful products in my 20-year career! — TFN’s investors have turned as conservative as bailed-out investment bankers.

They pay the piper. They call the tune.

For us at TFN, it was heart-rending news. After all, we built TFN as the “Purple Cow” of investment information services — a business built on personal service, quality products, and editors who feel personally accountable to their readers.

But there’s good news in this for you.

You see the TFN eNews has acquired quite a following over the past year. And the publishing company we’re merging with is eager to keep you covered when it comes to profitable investing recommendations. So starting tomorrow, your daily dose of today’s financial news will be emailed to you from our colleagues at Money Morning.

(Keep your eyes out for their e-letter tomorrow morning — and don’t forget to white-list it immediately… so you enjoy uninterrupted service!)

Another bit of good news is that TFN’s associate publisher Laura Cadden will be transferring to the new group. She’s been the heart and soul of TFN’s operations. And she promises to make sure that the service you receive at Money Morning is exceptional.

Now, mergers and acquisitions are a hurry up-and-wait kind of thing. We had some time to take some precautionary measures regarding our open TFN positions. Laura and I summarized our opinions on our remaining dozen or so of open recommendations. If you’re still in them, take the steps outlined right here: http://www.todaysfinancialnews.com/international-investing/tfn-open-recommendations-update-10603.html

Thank you for providing a patient ear to my daily rants. Thank you for your kind and often brutally honest feedback on our recommendations, analysis, and political opinion. I speak for all my colleagues at TFN when I say you’ve made the last two years the best professional experience of our lives.

I will be retiring to tend my crops, raise my kids, and maybe turn my fencing club into the premier competitive youth fencing facility on the East Coast. Once the facial tics subside I got from dealing with our board of investors, maybe I write a sequel to my recent book, The Lazarus Smile.

They’re simply not enough middle-aged white males writing thrillers these days!

But I will remain at your disposal as your personal satisfaction advocate: If you have any complaints that you feel are not taken seriously, please let me know via email at amberger63 [at] gmail [dot] com and I will be placing calls with “the right people” on your behalf.

A heartfelt “thank you” from Laura, Tara, Andrew and the rest of your TFN crew — and the best best of luck with the investment recommendations provided by our colleagues of Money Morning — starting tomorrow morning!

*** Quote of the Day:

“The Democratic game of electing moderates in conservative districts who then vote to keep liberals in power is over. It over-reached. By collapsing so completely and so publicly, it has become self-evident to the most gullible of voters that there is no such thing as a moderate Democrat. You are either an Barack Obama, Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid clone or you are a Republican. That’s the new two-party system.” — Dick Morris, Creators.com

Recommended Reading:

What not to do for economic success

Top Precious Metal Stocks

Financial Publisher turns Thriller Author

Today’s Top 3 Financial News Stories:

Telegraph.co.uk – US must cut spending to save AAA rating, warns Fitch “Fitch Ratings has issued the starkest warning to date that the US will lose its AAA credit rating unless acts to bring the budget deficit under control, citing a spiral in debt service costs and dependence on foreign lenders.”

MoneyNews.com — Atlanta Fed Chief: Rates to Stay Low, Inflation Tame “Ten months into President Barack Obama’s first economic stimulus plan, a surge in spending on roads and bridges has had no effect on local unemployment and only barely helped the beleaguered construction industry, an Associated Press analysis has found.”

Bloomberg.com — U.S. Economy: Trade Gap Grows as Oil Prices Jump; Exports Climb “The trade deficit in the U.S. widened in November more than anticipated as imports climbed faster than exports, pointing to a rebound in global demand that is fueling growth.”

Cordially yours,

J. Christoph Amberger

Executive Publisher, TodaysFinancialNews.com

Article first published on Today's Financial News

TFN eNews: More with Money Morning

Holding on to a free TFN recommendation but wondering what your position should be for 2010? We’ve got the answer right here…

by Laura Cadden, TodaysFinancialNews.com

Baltimore (TFN): We’ve accumulated a good number of free recommendations for TFN readers. Many have written in requesting an update, so here’s our take for what to do with these positions in 2010:

Aastrom Biosciences (NASDAQ:ASTM): Aastrom is down from levels it was enjoying at the time we issued our free Report, Four Biotechs Set to Soar. We haven’t gotten out of this position because the anticipated results of the company’s current clinical trials are so promising. We’re expecting double-digit gains but be prepared to exit if the price drops back down below $0.28. You can always get back in later.

Capital Gold Corporation (OTC:GCLD): This penny stock is up 5% since we recommeded it in November. We still expect 30% gains by mid-year. To be safe, set a trailing stop at -10%. If you got in at our entry price of $0.92, that target would be $0.83.

Evergreen Solar, Inc.(NASDAQ:ESLR): Set a stop loss at -25% below our entry price of $2.19 — that would be $1.64.

ThermoGenesis Corp. (NASDAQ:KOOL): We’re still at breakeven on this one. Set a -10% trailing stop at $0.539.

Stewart Enterprises, Inc. (NASDAQ:STEI): Since we first recommended STEI in 2008, this stock has taken us on a roller coaster. After a stupendous drop last year, this undertaker to the South has clawed back from the dead. We’re not expecting to break even any time soon, so unless you are a resurrectionist, let’s close this one out at a -25% loss. That would be triggered at $4.80.

Gushan Environmental Energy (NYSE:GU): Let’s just call it quits on this one and sell!

GigaMedia Limited (NASDAQ:GIGM): Sell now.

Radient Pharmaceuticals Corporation (AMEX:RPC): Let’s use today’s 10% spike and sell now!

Vical Incorporated (NASDAQ:VICL): Let’s i a -10% stop loss at $3.14.

Geron Corporation (NASDAQ:GERN). This is a long-term hold. But establish a -10% stop loss at $5.90.

Marshall Edwards, Inc. (NASDAQ:MSHL): Today’s drop has put us in the red figures. We cry uncle at -10%… or $0.675.

Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C): Set a -10% stop loss at $3.51.

Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:MTU): A cautionary -10% stop loss at $4.80 should put a bottom on what we think will be a great long-term hold.

Capital Gold Corporation (OTC:CGLD): Limit your downside with a -10% trailing stop at 83 cents.

Heartland, Inc. (OTC:HTLJ): Set a -30% stop loss on this penny speculation. That’ll get you out at 19 cents.

Silver Wheaton Corp.(NYSE:SLW): Consider this stock Obama-insurance. Establish a 15% trailing stop on this one!

Article first published on Today's Financial News

TFN open recommendations update

Our gold stock pick, Great Basin Gold (GBG), is up 20% from our entry price in just over a month – take the gains!

by Laura Cadden

Baltimore (TFN): In early December, we told TFN readers about our favorite gold stock, Great Basin Gold Ltd. (AMEX:GBG). Today that stock has climbed to its 52-week high.

If you got in at our entry price of $1.66, you should be up around 20%.

We recommend you sell your shares of Great Basin Gold Ltd. (AMEX:GBG) and enjoy those gains!Similar Posts:

• Sell Great Basin Gold Ltd. (GBG) for 19.2% gains: HSC cashes in on record gold prices – December 3, 2009
• Best Gold Stock: Buy this junior gold miner under $2 – December 4, 2009
• Top Precious Metal Stocks – December 10, 2009

Article first published on Today's Financial News

Take gains on Great Basin Gold (GBG)