Notes from Labor Day 2007

Catching up on reading this week. Here are some things to check out

www.barrons400.com - Barrons came out w/ an index of 400 stocks they feel should do better than the market

Christopher Wood

• Writes a weekly letter called Greed & Fear, which might not be publically available, but can be found here: http://ftalphaville.ft.com/blog/?s=christopher+wood
• Called the subprime alarm in 2005.
  
• Saw the Nasdaq crest in early 2000.
  
• Currently works for CLSA (HK brokerage).
• Has a booked called "Boom and Bust: The Rise and Fall of World Financial Markets".
  

Bond Insurers might be a good buy. WSJ. People extrapolate (lack of transparency) current bad news really far into the future (similar to RE stocks after Katrina)

• Assured Guaranty (AGO)
• MBIA (MBI)
• Ambac Financial Group (ABK)

Banco Compartamos -

• Mexican bank w/ an ROE of 50%;
  
• Specializes in Microfinance
• Listed on the Mexican exchange. Maybe can be bought on pink sheets.