The Kirk Report

HSH Associates

Another resource I've been finding helpful these days to monitor the consumer loan market and interest rates is HSH Associates. In fact, their free market trends newsletter is something I look forward to reading each and every week.

Just you know, I recently added their blog to the news I read page and I encourage you to visit it frequently to get a good understanding on what is happening in this key part of the economy right now. For example, if you've wondered why mortgage rates are going up as interest rates go down (this morning they are above 7% for a 30 year mortgage), you'll find a quick explanation that will help you understand why. In a credit-focused economy, websites like this can prove very helpful to sort through all of the noise.

Keeping Tabs On Insider Buying

Over the past few days I've been looking over my trading notes from the last bear market to understand what I should be doing with my money right now. In doing so, I noticed the following statement that I wrote back in 2002:

"After major market corrections/bear markets, keep close tabs on insider buying activity especially among stocks that have really been beaten up and which future prospects look dim. Stock screens that utilize insider buying activity as a criteria have outperformed significantly especially over six month time frames."

I recently discovered a very helpful website that allows me to track insider activity with ease. J3 offers excellent insider screening tools, up-to-date insider info, key ratio analysis, and even sends daily insider activity summaries directly to my email. The cost? Right now it is completely free for nonprofessionals and, based on what I've seen so far, I really like what they provide. Check it out!

FINVIZ

A few months ago I linked to FINVIZ and since then I keep hearing positive comments about the website. Upon further review, I like this website even more.

Among the many neat features include a simple and easy-to-use stock screener, maps that allow you to see sector and stock rotation, and insider trading info. In fact, they even offer a blog that offers tips on how to take advantage of the website. They also get a thumbs up from me for not having ads all over the place. All in all, FINVIZ is a great resource and one you'll want to bookmark and use often.

Insider Buying & Selling

There are a ton of resources out there to track insider transactions. Recently I came across a website, Insidernewswire, that I thought I'd share with you. The website is free, updated daily, and more importantly offers no nonsense approach to providing insider data!

You can also search for insider buys and sells through this search engine and they even offer a quick lesson on how to use SEC filings for those who have never used this data before. This is a great website!

Earnings Central

Following the last mailbag post, a number of members have suggested resources and tools that they use to track earnings reports and guidance through earnings season and beyond.

One recommendation I received was for CNBC's Earnings Central. I've been using this free tool for the past week and I like it.

Though it is not a comprehensive resource, I like the layout and the built-in screens. For example, they offer a tool that you can find companies that recently made upward or downward EPS revisions that are 20% higher or lower away from consensus:

For casual investors who don't care to run earnings screens on their own, I think this tool is useful. Check it out when you have time.

Blogs I Read

On days I'm not posting frequently, you may want to visit the blogs I read page. Just a quick scan provided the following links:

• The reason behind yesterday's late day rally

• Money flows in the Dow

• All eyes on the 200 DMA in the S&P 500

• Percentage of stocks above 50-days

• It's easy to see why consumer discretionary spending is under pressure

• Home insurance inflation?

• A payroll employment forecast

• The Market Speculator's primary long watchlist

• Abnormal Returns provides some interesting links before going on hiatus

SEC Info

SEC Info is a website I find that I'm using more and more.

For example, over the weekend I was doing some background research on John Dorfman (formerly of Bloomberg) ahead of this month's Q&A that will focus on stock screening. To find out what John's investment firm has been holding recently, SEC Info made it quite easy. All I did is type in "Thunderstorm Capital" (the name of John's firm) and take a look at the 13F filing (which provides information on the firm's quarterly holdings). Here's what SEC Info provides:

My only complaint is that they do not provide the ticker symbols of the stock holdings which causes me to look them up if I don't already know them. But, it is still a very useful website for research. If you don't use it already, SEC Info is one to bookmark.

The Age Of Information Overload

Whenever I take time away from the market, I suffer a serious case of information overload on my arrival back. There are just so many websites, screens, tools, databases, etc. that when I miss a couple of weeks, my first instinct is to try to do everything that I usually do every day in a matter of just a few days which, in reality, is just impossible. It takes time to get back into the groove. So, if you've been taking time off, do yourself a big favor and take the time you need to get back in the swing of things. There's no need to rush it.

On another note, I have to say that the Wall Street Journal's new markets data center is really useful. At one simple page you can access just about everything you need to keep tabs on the market. I suspect that it will soon become a favorite for many investors (that is, until Google creates a better mouse trap).

Here are some of the WSJ data center's useful links:

• Commodities & Futures Overview


• Reversals and Moving Average Crossovers


• Volume Percentage Movers: NYSE, NASDAQ, & AMEX


• Stock Scan: Small Stocks


• ETF Gainers, Decliners, & Most Actives


• Money Flows: Buying on Weakness & Selling on Strength


• Late Trading: Most Active Issues

Kiplinger's Must-Read Bloggers

In the October issue of Kiplinger's, I was named as one of the "must-read bloggers." I'm honored to receive that designation and congratulations to all of the other 15 who received similar honors below:

• The Buffett Blog


• Consumerism Commentary


• Controlled Greed


• Cramerwatch.org


• Dear Economist


• Footnoted.org


• Freakonomics


• Fund Alarm


• Mad Money Machine


• PFBlogs


• Random Roger's Big Picture


• Seeking Alpha


• Stockblogs


• 10Q Detective


• Thoughts From The Front Line

Bloggers give tremendous amounts of time and effort to produce these blogs and receive very little in return. It is a labor of love for most of us and I'm humbled that so many visit this website daily with so many wonderful choices out there.

Investopedia

As you can imagine, I receive a lot of email and some of the questions I receive routinely border on the ridiculous side. I think some readers like to play "stump the chump," figuring they'll ask me a weird question just to see what my reply may be just to have a little fun or test my market intelligence. It comes with the territory I suppose.

Truthfully, it isn't all that difficult to stump me as I'm not an expert about everything in the market. However, when I don't know something I think I should know, one of the first websites I start at is Investopedia.

Their search engine is one of the best I know if you're looking for some investment or trading related term you've never heard of versus doing an ordinary search on Google. For example, last night one reader asked me to define what is known as a crack spread. Having absolutely no idea what he was talking about, I did a simple search at Investopedia and found that it is a spread created when purchasing oil futures and offsetting the position by selling gasoline and heating oil futures. Sure, I could act like a know-it-all and just reply back with that info, but that's not what I'm about. VISIT