Apple propaganda and problems

On the day of iPhone 4's debut, more, more and more Apple news.

(new) Apple responds to iPhone 4 reception issues Engadget (Joshua Topolsky)
iPhone loses reception when you hold it by the antenna band? Gizmodo
> Includes solutions by users, still no response by Apple
Analyst predicts Verizon iPhone in 2011 eWeek.com (Nicholas Kolakowski)
iPhone 4 review: The best smartphone ever? Fox News (Clayton Morris)
My excellent SIX HOUR iPhone 4 adventure SAI (Dan Frommer)
Video: iPhone 4 is out, complaints are in CNET (Erica Ogg)
New iPhone isn't broken, iOS 4 is SAI (Nick Saint)
Apple iPhone 4 antenna problems confirmed via tests PC Mag (Mark Hachman)
Are you killing iPhone 4 reception with your bare hands? CNET (Jessica Dolcourt)
That iOS 4 reception issue is looking more and more like a software bug Boy Genius Report (Micheal Bettiol)
Yellow spots on iPhone 4 screens could be due to rushed manufacturing SAI (Jay Yarow)
iOS4 upgrade breaks iPhone-to-car stereo connection SAI (Nicholas Carlson)
Yes, if you drop your iPhone 4 several times on asphalt, it will shatter SAI (Nicholas Carlson)
Is HP the Next Apple Motley Fool (Rick Munarriz)


Watch CBS News Videos Online

Russian play?

Russia getting play on Fast Money as its president (Medvedev) visits Silicon Valley en route to the G20 conference. The country wants to diversify rather than be so dependent on exporting energy. They're probably years away from becoming a tech player, but RSX, the Russia ETF, might be worth a look short term. Or not.


Here's a cool story about Medvedev meeting Steve Jobs and receiving an iPhone 4. He visited Apple and Twitter headquarters. He also says Russian tech hub-in-waiting Skolkovo isn't trying to become Silicon Valley.

President Dmitry Medvedev does not think Skolkovo should be an exact replica of Silicon Valley. The idea is to draw on U.S. experience to create an attractive environment for companies to develop high-tech innovations. “No one is going to simply copy Silicon Valley, it is impossible," he said at a meeting with Russians working in California.

Capitol Hill compromise?

Fast Money reporting that the Volcker rule has been "strengthened" ... but it sounds more like a compromise that will allow finnies like Goldman Sachs to retain some ties to hedging. GS moving up a skosh on this news.

Turnover Thursday

Dow Jones 10,152.80 -145.64 -1.41%
NASDAQ 2,217.42 -36.81 -1.63%
S&P 500 1,073.69 -18.35 -1.68%

Regulations, schmegulations. There's no doubt that without turmoil from Capitol Hill, the Eurozone, the Gulf and iPhone 4 buyers planetwide, the market would be just fine and dandy. (RIMM is collapsing after hours due to a so-so earnings report.)

The pullback was expected from a technical perspective. Is a further drop coming? With Q2 coming to a lose in less than a week, I'm not so sure fund managers will stay completely out. If they get scared and refuse to dip their toes back into the oil-infested waters, that'll be a surprise to some extent.

I'll still wait for selling pressure in AAPL to wane before I walk into that territory. To the brave who grabbed VXX shares below 25 and 26 recently, bravo. When AAPL draws down, VXX pops 99% of the time.

Overall, though, the market was simply red.

TECH KINGS
AAPL wavered between 269 and 272 on the day of its iPhone 4 release. Shares closed at 269.69, down 0.73%, or 10 bucks less than its all-time high last week. Signal issues with the new phone could sit on AAPL for a few days, which makes it a buying opportunity, maybe. I'd rather just wait.

GOOG petered out and lost 1.44% to 475.10. Entry point is looking better all the time now. I might just wait for the first report of mobile ad sales before I test Google waters.

BIDU lost 3.14% to 73.80 after beating down bears for several days.

FINANCIALS
GS (134.98 -0.07%) and C (3.78 -2.83%) facing issues thanks to legislators. I haven't liked finnies for months precisely because of this kind of uphill battle. Fuck it. Too much work, too much pain involved. Unless GS hits 100 and C swoons to 3.00. Then I won't resist.

EURO ZONE
FXE up 0.14% (122.86), which normally is good for the US market. UUP (US dollar) was flat at 28.35.

Euro banks fell in spectacular fashion. Banco Santander (STD) dropped 3.81% to 10.87, IRE got squashed (3.63 -8.1%) and NBG (2.28 -3.8%) took a blow to the scrotum. I like STD below 9. Could happen. STD was below 9 less than two weeks ago.

SAFE PLAYS
Predictably, GLD (121.30 +0.29%) was up in a down market. So was SLV (18.26 +0.44). TLT, surprisingly, fell 0.59% to 98.65. But TLT had been hot lately, so it's not a shock.

ENERGY
US Oil (USO) gained 0.44% to 34.39 despite BP's plummet. BP gave back 3.14% to a new low of 28.74.

Nat Gas continued to fart incessantly. Only two of the 40 on my list closed positive today, though FTK had a nice 5.26% gain. As crude oil prices gain with greater demand, natural gas needs a definitive catalyst from the White House, something more than oral salutations from President Obama. Otherwise, nat gas is looking dead.

WPRT, once the beacon of the post-Obama clean-energy speech explosion, lost big again. Shares tumbled 3.81% to 16.40, and now WPRT is up only 11.64% since Obama's speech. WPRT had been up more than 30% at one point.

There are arguments to every sector of alternative energy. Wind has opponents because turbines kill thousands of birds. Solar has issues because of cost and the way certain endangered bugs (I'm not kidding) are instinctively attracted to panels and essentially fly until dead. The reasons are innumerable, surely "discovered" by pro-oil interests as well as well-meaning environmentalists.

Come on, people. We've got to do more than bitch and moan. Solutions?

HEDGES
VXX rocketed 6.14% to 28.35 and FAZ leaped 6.11% to 15.97. They're both explosive and both good ways to protect against losses if you're long the market, whether it's AAPL or financials.

Or you could just sit out and watch the circus from the bleachers like I have. Still 100% cash.

Schwarz takes his swings at Soros

At some point, the uber-bears will be right and the preachy bulls will be wrong. Or will it be the other way around? Apple devotee Jason Schwarz explains why "Grandpa" George Soros is so wrong about the impending doom of modern civilization.

How 'bout them Apples

So far ...

• The jobs report was released at 8:30 am Eastern (2:30 Hawaii) and was relatively positive. AAPL, which had traded above 269, moved up to 270 and continued to move, lifting above 272 in premarket trading.

• After the opening bell, with the market down, AAPL opened at 271.12, sold down below 271, then racheted up. Shares hit 273.19 just seven minutes after the bell.

• AAPL then sold off quickly, down to 269.66 and was poised to join the rest of the market, which has shown overbought signs for a few days now.

• Since fluctuating in the 270.00-270.40 range, AAPL rose back up to 272. It seems like an even tussle between bulls and bears as AAPL moves along with the stochastics and MACD.

Though the Dow (-77), NASDAQ (-21) and S&P (-9.71) remain negative, AAPL's iPhone 4 release today, plus the customary live TV coverage of the hordes camping out at Apple Stores, seems to be working in its favor. Instead of a sell-on-the-event decline, AAPL is holding its ground to an extent.

I'm still willing to wait until AAPL sells off with the rest of the market. If I can re-enter a position below 260, fantastic. 250 would be better.

AAPL up, BIDU upper, GOOG not so up

So, Apple unveils* its iPhone 4G in mere hours and Planet Earth will (mostly) rejoice. Don't lie. If if you hate Apple, you'd probably keep an iPhone 4 if someone gave it to you as a gift. So would I.

It's interesting that Google's move into smartphones (Android) and mobile advertising (via AdMob) hasn't particularly helped the stock as much as it should have. Or maybe there just aren't as many believers, being that the mobile ad business is still in its infancy. But more pertinent was Google's decision to depart from China. The charts below show how potent BIDU shares have been and continue to be. With the FXI bolstered lately, rising ahead of the US market and showing its force as a premier leader, BIDU simply rises higher and higher.

AAPL vs. BIDU vs. GOOG (1-year chart, daily)

AAPL vs. BIDU vs. GOOG (6-month chart, daily)

AAPL vs. BIDU vs. GOOG (2-month chart, daily)

AAPL vs. BIDU vs. GOOG (10-day chart, 15-minute bars)

AAPL 6-month chart
Candlestick analysis: Sell Confirmed (American Bulls)

GOOG 6-month chart
Candlestick analysis: Hold (American Bulls)

BIDU 6-month chart
Candlestick analysis: Buy If (American Bulls)