Wednesday, December 12, 2007

The Dow down 290 or Money Honeys?


I thought about talking about the plunge the averages took after yesterday's quarter point federal funds rate cut by the Fed. Since it's not really that important to me, I will only give it a cursory treatment. The stock market is reacting like a spoiled teenager who was expecting an Audi R8 for their birthday, but instead got a Mercedes C300. They are both beautiful cars, but the former will cost you about $70,000 more. The Fed even threw in lowering the discount rate, the interest rate at which banks lend directly to each other from 5% to 4.75%. Additionally, they didn't leave out the possibility of another cut in the future. Still, Wall Street pouted and whined. In this morning's Wall Street Journal, Morgan Stanley economist David Greenlaw was quoted as saying that clients and traders he'd talked to felt that the Fed had 'fallen way behind the curve.' Then I read Martin Feldstein's interview with Maria Bartiromo in BusinessWeek. Wall Street is calling for a bailout from all corners of the land. Well it appears that the stock market's rich Uncle Ben will provide the cheap money/liquidity it is crying out for.

I am reminded of the words of Colonel Jessep from A Few Good Men as Lt. Kaffee is cross-examining him just before the movie's climax. He said:

"I have neither the time nor the inclination to explain myself to a man who rises and sleeps under the blanket of the very freedom that I provide, and then questions the manner in which I provide it. I would rather you just said thank you, and went on your way, Otherwise, I suggest you pick up a weapon, and stand a post. Either way, I don't give a damn what you think you are entitled to. "

This is probably how Bernanke feels about Wall Street right about now.

Personally, I'd rather write about the beautiful women talking stocks and finance, however. I decided that it was time to review my previous list of top ten money honeys. After all, Fox has debuted its business channel and I need to incorporate worthy members of their team. That said, here is my new revised money honey list:

1. Liz Claman
2. Erin Burnett
3. Bambi Francisco
4. Alexis Glick
5. Maria Bartiromo
6. Jenna Lee
7. Farnoosh Torabi
8. Brittany Umar
9. Shibani Joshi
10. Sandra Smith

Fox has made a really strong debut, as far as putting attractive women on TV. Liz Claman has made a Mike Huckabee-like surge if you will. Their reporters make up half my list, pushing out the babes of Bloomberg TV. Also, please don't look at these rankings as indicative of a loss of attractiveness on anyone's part. Farnoosh Torabi has fallen in my latest rankings to seventh from third. She is no less beautiful. This merely reflects the strength of the new entrants to the field.
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