Dreamy date dresses
Every woman needs a go-to date dress for planned and spontaneous dates and more than one option is always desirable. Since fall is upon us, cute summer dresses won't cut it this time of year. Dress styles in blue, burgundy, gold and black are the perfect colors for fall date nights. Don't have a date, you say? Well, with one of these numbers, you'll have one in no time!
New Look, $40
What date dress collection is complete without the classic LBD?
Consider this number a LBD update with lace sleeves and a sexy-but-not-too-revealing collar bone cut out.
Pair it with pop color heels, a metallic clutch and accent drop earrings.
Debenhams, $40
Black and blue becomes instantly attractive with floral and peplum additions.
Wear this beautiful dress with nude patent heels, a nude clutch and silver accents.
Sling a grey wool poncho-style jacket on for warmth and style.
A|Wear, $42
Work with the gold metallic and sheer material of this beautiful dress.
A cropped, textured blazer and black cage heels would contrast well with the colors and style.
Pair it with a statement cocktail ring that will start a conversation.
River Island, $48
Sweet and flirty, this dress is the perfect choice for a date at a wine bar.
Wear it with black platforms, a belt with a bow and a long gold necklace.
Be inspired by its rich color and try a new vino variety!
New Look, $40
This dress combines Greek goddess with dark mystery.
Give the bodice the attention it deserves with nothing more than metallic heels and an accent arm band.
Wear it for a wild date at an exotic restaurant.
The U.S. Presidential Election and its impact on the stock market
President Obama has seen the stock market at its best since World War II during his time in office. But it appears that regardless of the result on November 4, the stock market will soar. This is not disregarding the fact that the tight race is causing a lot of uncertainty in the stock market. The point is that when looking at history, Democrats have outperformed Republicans with regards to the stock market.
Furthermore, when the incumbent wins re-election, the stock market does extremely well and this is more so if the incumbent wins in a landslide. This will not be the case, unfortunately, this time. The presidential race is a dead heat.
There will be a lot of interest in U.S. equities from investors on the other side of the Atlantic as the U.S. economy recovers. Anyway, according to a study by fund manager Ken Fisher of Fisher Investments, either scenario of a Democrat being re-elected or being replaced by a Republican will lead to a rise in the stock market.
I would recommend right now to go ahead and invest in the wider stock market. A low-cost tracker fund can do this for you or you could step up your investing game with an actively managed fund like Findlay Park American. The problem is that actively managed funds have struggled to outperform the stock market as a whole and it might be a better idea to opt for a passive index-tracking fund.
The stock market has been a good predictor of 'who will win the U.S. presidential election' and at this moment it points to a Barack Obama victory.
U.S. Presidential Election: Is now the time to buy stocks?
Regardless, of which candidate comes to office, equities will rise. The issue is not whether stocks will rise, but when they will. Stocks won't rise significantly this time because it does not seem likely that the incumbent will have a landslide victory.
The tight race points to a pattern where equities will adjust to the news of the election results on November 4 and then gradually rise a year from the date. Investors should capitalize on this important timeline of the U.S. presidential elections that more often than not increases portfolio sizes.
There is a lot of stuff out there with analysts harping that it is the economy and not the stock market that will show who will win. Nonetheless, the S&P 500 performance three months prior to the election has been a reliable indicator of who will come to power. If it performs well, the incumbent (in this case, President Obama) will win and the reverse is true if the S&P 500 declines.
Vote Democrat?
Going back to 1965, the yearly compounded S&P 500 gain on average with dividends included was 10.9 percent with a Democrat in the White House. In contrast, a Republican President saw a 7.3 percent gain. It can be seen that there is considerable volatility across each four-year presidential terms. Then it is definitely difficult to predict exactly the stock market performance in the coming presidential term. Nevertheless, voters can keep this in mind when casting their ballot.
Game Plan
Investors should look to pick stocks with great fundamentals preferably in the Dow and the S&P 500. Google, Microsoft, IBM and FedEx among others have had disappointing earnings reports, but there are bank stocks (Citigroup excluded) that look promising.
What should President Obama do now?
It is crunch time now with the tight race that is on. Fresh off an impressive third debate, the President will look to capitalize. As for the last debate, it is quite obvious that at this time it was only important to sway undecided voters.
The question is how many of those who are undecided actually watched? There was Monday Night Football and playoff baseball airing at the same time. There was also cleaning to be done and the kids' homework to be finished.
For Obama to win he needs to make sure he gets more Americans to cast their ballots. This is not going to be easy as we 'the world's most successful democracy' had a 57 percent voter turnout in 2008 which was actually the highest since 1968. Republicans are charged up as opposed to Democrats and it seems likely that the low-income earners (Obama voters mostly) may need to be really convinced to exercise democracy's greatest privilege.
President Obama has been aggressive and has criticized the Romney campaign quite a bit. But Democrats might want to urge the President to not come off sounding so desperate. This has cost incumbents in previous elections.
Campaigns in Ohio and Wisconsin next week
The President needs to get to 270 Electoral College votes and the state of Ohio is crucial. This is why he is planning another campaign stop on Wednesday after successfully campaigning all across the Buckeye state yesterday.
The time in Ohio makes a lot of sense, but the campaign stop in Wisconsin may not. But the Badger State has emerged a key battleground state. Wisconsin might be a lost cause for the President after Romney named Paul Ryan as his running-mate. The strategy might be to try and level the playing field.
There is really nothing much the President can really do now except hope that his slight lead in the early-voting and other polls will continue until Election Day.
Tech stock tips
I have been long on Google, Apple, Microsoft and Yahoo for quite some time. However, my aim with this post is to bring to light a few tech stocks that could be great bargains and may take you to the promised land.
Despite the disappointing earnings reports of tech favorites, the recommendation should be to buy up these stocks going into the U.S. presidential election. Tech stocks have tended to increase during election years and investors will have to take advantage of the low levels that they are trading at.
Seagate (STX)
The hard disk manufacturer is currently trading at $28. One excellent reason to buy Seagate stock is its juicy 4.51 percent dividend yield. PC sales may have slowed, but there is always going to be demand for hard disk and extra space. Moreover, Seagate is vastly undervalued.
Lam Research Corporation (NASDAQ: LRCX)
Whether you like the man or not, I thought I should include one of Jim Cramer's tech picks here. It has an attractive $6.5 billion market cap and it manufactures semiconductors. Despite, the stock declining as of late, Wall Street analysts along with Jim Cramer are convinced that it is a good buy going into next year.
Zynga
I know, I know, Zynga has been falling and falling since its IPO. The thing is that it is considerably undervalued. Analysts at Piper Jaffray and BMO Capital have been criticizing the Internet games company, but I am here to point out that any company that has an annual revenue of $1.2 billion and is profitable is worth taking notice of.
The bottom line: Zynga has franchises like Poker and Farmville that have an audience that would be willing to play on a Playstation or Xbox if needed. Additionally, Zynga has become a reputed brand name for social gaming.
Zynga had a good Q3 earnings report and its stock surged 15 percent.
Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT)
The reason this tech giant makes this list is because it is a significant holding of many hedge funds such as Carl Icahn's Icahn Capital, George Soros' Soros Fund Management, John Paulson's Paulson & Co. and David Einhorn's Greenlight Capital. Hedge funders pick stocks for a living and so everyday investors like you and me should jump on this boat.
Making education fun can spark a generation
Going into Election Day, both candidates recognize how vital education is and the role it plays in the growth of the U.S. economy. The funding for education has to be increased, but money may not be the answer all of the time.
Every so often, kids get tempted with the dream of quick money and stuff that seems easy. Like the misconception that business degrees mean flashy cars. Government and the media plays a big role in this. Kids can usually name several movie stars and musicians, but almost no physicists. Herein lies the problem. Talking about physicists, let's look at a STEM field like physics, for example.
I abandoned my dream of becoming a physicist to focus on something that would supposedly prepare me for a lucrative career. After graduating college, I hear about a guy in my graduating class (physics major) making $250K in California. With tears in my eyes, I consoled myself in the hope of becoming a 'rocket scientist' on Wall Street or write for sites like this as a 'cough cough' lay person.
Michio Kaku and Carl Sagan inspired me along with Einstein who inspired generations. The problem was it made me a nerd in high school to study up E=MC2 as opposed to catching passes from the star high school quarterback. The Obama administration needs to provide money to make stuff like physics popular. Trust me, Michelle Obama and Ann Romney can make anything seem glamorous.
More physicists should go on David Letterman to make it cool. Shows like 'Big Bang Theory' should have existed when I was in high school! At the end of the day, a famous physicist remarked that it was curiosity and drive that is more important rather than any mathematical genius.
Studying hard sciences like this sparks innovation. A lot of technology that is responsible for much of the globe's GDP was invented by physicists like the Internet for example. It'll make us competitive and we don't have to rely on foreign workers. Although I agree how immigrants are important to this country as they bring diverse perspective and unique ways of thinking that can create the Googles of the world.
What I want to highlight here is best exemplified by the life of Michael Faraday. He did not let the lack of money and 'formal education' deter him from creating electric motors and dynamos that have transformed modern civilization.
Apple by the numbers
The FQ4 revenue was a staggering $36B that beat Wall Street estimates by $200M. There were as many as 26.9M iPhones sold which were above expectations. But the 14M iPads and 5.3M iPods sold were below expectations.
Apple stock halted trading as the earnings report for Q4 came through. When they did resume trading, they were down 2.5 percent. When looking at the earnings report, the thing that sticks out is the EPS of $8.67 that just missed the estimate of $8.75. The EPS bodes well for Apple.
There was a rally in stock markets across the globe with the imminent earnings report release of the largest company on this planet by market capitalization. But the lackluster earnings reports from tech stocks have made investors nervous as we head into a tightly contested U.S. presidential election on November 4.
By contrast, Apple has done a pretty good job as demonstrated by its earnings report.
Apple's tablet market growth
The tablet market that was pioneered by Apple is a highly segmented market. Apple was able to grow really fast in this new tech market and early challenges by competitors Research in Motion Limited (NASDAQ: RIMM) and Hewlett-Packard Co. (NASDAQ: HPQ) resulted in total failure.
However, other competitors sensing a new way of winning the tablet war have strategically taken market share away from Apple. Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN) with its Amazon Kindle is a tablet that is great for shopping and reading. The Microsoft Surface has provided consumers with a tablet that is as close to a laptop as possible.
Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) has outdone Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) with its 7" tablet that appeals to kids and offers a lower cost version of Apple's iPad.
There is a lot more comprehensive coverage out with a live blog where you can follow along and a webcast that you should check out as an Apple investor and fan.
Neil Young and Crazy Horse are still electrifying live
After decades of fandom, I finally got the chance to see Neil Young live last night. Even better? The show was in my own hometown of Tuscaloosa! In short: Neil Young and Crazy Horse put on an amazing, blisteringly awesome two hour show that left me in total awe. And I have to also say that the opening act, the Alabama Shakes, should be on your radar, rock and blues fans.
I've got some videos I shot from the (so-called) cheap seats, and while they aren't quite as great as the clips I took at other recent shows (Avett Brothers, Gotye), you can definitely tell Neil Young is perfectly on point. Let's start with the song that nearly had me levitating with joy, "Hey Hey, My My (Into the Black)":
Sorry it was so shaky in the beginning, but I was SO excited.
We also got a few new songs last night, including "Twisted Road," which I really liked. The song, by the way, is on the new Neil Young/Crazy Horse album, Psychedelic Pill. I'd highly recommend checking this tune out ASAP.
Other huge highlights for me included "Cinnamon Girl," delivered with typical, unimaginably awesome power. And guess what? I got that video too:
I realize that I'm no professional videographer, but I'm sure you get the idea. Just, wow. At 66, Neil Young is absolutely still at the top of his game musically. His live show is an unforgettable experience!
Thanksgiving activities
The weather is turning colder in many parts of the country. Thanksgiving is also drawing nearer. This is the ideal time to gather the children and maybe the adults of the family together and take part in some traditional Thanksgiving craft activities. After the crafts are completed, they can be used to decorate the house and be put on display for the big Thanksgiving Day itself.
Where do you begin? Why not begin by having the littlest ones of the group make a nice Thanksgiving Day turkey. This can be done easily by using some construction paper in the following color shades: dark brown, light brown, yellow, red and orange.
To begin, draw a round circle on the dark brown paper. This will be used for the body of the turkey. The head can be drawn with a smaller circle on the light-brown paper and the neck can be drawn as a rectangle on the light brown circle. Finally, the legs can be drawn on the yellow pages. The feathers are the fun part. They can be drawn by tracing the hands of the child on the red paper. Now everything can be cut out, decorated and glued together.
While the young children are making the turkeys, the older children or adults can be making strings of leaves. These are simple leaves of many shapes and sizes that are attached to a string (preferably a brown one). The string can be strung anywhere in the home where it can be seen.
Remember leaves can be made of any shades such as: reds, oranges, yellows browns and can even be mixed shades. Of course, if you want to be really creative, you can gather your own leaves and try to glue them onto a string, without crushing them.
"Benji"- A reflective short film
Ben "Benji" Wilson was a 17-year old high school star who was one of the most talented basketball players from the Windy City.
It was a great watch - as are most ESPN 30-for-30 films - with interviews given by ESPN's Michael Wilbon, rap stars R. Kelly and Common and former NBA star and member of the Fab Five Juwon Howard. These celebrities were all neighbors of the late Simeon High School star athlete.
We know about the Michael Jordans of the world, but it always is nice to pay homage to these unsung heroes. If you are a basketball fan, you will watch this ESPN films production that is one of the better ones in the documentary series.
Kids and adults alike need to see what life is like in the inner-city. A lot of NBA stars both past and present have seen this life growing up. It is a hard life and its perils must be shown on TV. The gang warfare in Chicago was rampant and this was at a time when black pride was just on its way up after the Bulls drafted the freakishly talented Michael Jordan and Harold Washington was made Mayor of the city of Chicago.
It was a senseless death that came as a result of some angry words. Mr. Wilson loved basketball and was not into gang life or drugs and robbery. When he was shot, the hospital did not operate on Ben Wilson for over two hours. It was a hard story to see being told.
It's always nice to have stories that end well like Nelson Mandela. It's so hard to hear about stories that end with a dream unfulfilled like this one. My heart goes out to the family and the people of Chicago that knew him and were unable to see him do great things.