The Stimulus Bill

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Buy Cisco, Intel, U.S. Technology Shares, Faber Says

(Bloomberg) Feb. 6 (Bloomberg) -- Investors should buy U.S. technology stocks after prices fell near the lows reached after the dot-com crash in 2000, investor Marc Faber said.

Cisco Systems Inc., Intel Corp., Microsoft Corp. and Oracle Corp. shares will outperform U.S. Treasuries over the next five to 10 years, Faber, managing director of Hong Kong-based investment firm Marc Faber Ltd. and publisher of the Gloom, Boom & Doom Report, said in a Bloomberg Radio interview today.

“You could make a case that in the U.S. some equities have come down a lot and are inexpensive,” Faber said. “In Nasdaq stocks, in high-tech companies, we have a base-building period.”

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Buffett’s Buy Metric

(Ritholtz.com) .....Fortune first ran a version of this chart in late 2001 (see “Warren Buffett on the stock market”). Stocks had by that time retreated sharply from the manic levels of the Internet bubble. But they were still very high, with stock values at 133% of GNP. That level certainly did not suggest to Buffett that it was time to buy stocks.

But he visualized a moment when purchases might make sense, saying, “If the percentage relationship falls to the 70% to 80% area, buying stocks is likely to work very well for you.”......

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Obama to Limit Executive Pay at Companies Getting Aid

Obama hitting them where it hurts!

(Bloomberg.com) President Barack Obama will announce today that he’s imposing a cap of $500,000 on the compensation of top executives at companies that receive significant federal assistance in the future, responding to a public outcry over Wall Street excess.

Any additional compensation will be in restricted stock that won’t vest until taxpayers have been paid back, according to an administration official, who requested anonymity. The rules will force greater transparency on the use of corporate jets, office renovations and holiday parties as well as golden parachutes offered to executives when they leave companies.

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Wells Fargo Cancels Mortgage Meeting in Las Vegas Amid Crisis

(Bloomberg) Wells Fargo & Co., one of the nine banks to receive funds in the first round of the Treasury’s bailout, canceled a four-day corporate event in Las Vegas as financial firms cut perks amid criticism from lawmakers.

“We had scaled back the mortgage event, but in light of the current environment, we have now decided to cancel,” the San Francisco-based company said today in a statement. The lender said it had already abandoned plans for other functions.

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Quote of the Day: Blaming Short Sellers

(ritholtz.com) There is a fascinating article about John Paulson in this month’s Portfolio.

What is so intriguiging is not the billions Paulson made on the collapse, but this exchange between short fund manager Jim Chanos and Bear Stearns CEO Jimmy Cayne.

Chanos, for one, is tired of the blame-the-shorts litany, and he recalls a conversation with Bear Stearns’ Schwartz to make his point.

The day before the Fed’s rescue of Bear Stearns, Chanos says he was walking to the Post House restaurant in New York City, when, at 6:15 p.m., his cell phone rang. He saw the Bear Stearns exchange come up on his caller I.D. and took the call.

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Buffett buys HOG debt!

(Bloomberg.com) Billionaire investor Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc. agreed to buy $300 million of debt from Harley-Davidson Inc., the biggest U.S. motorcycle maker, adding to holdings of corporate debt as yields rise.

Berkshire will get 15 percent interest on the senior unsecured notes, Milwaukee-based Harley said today in a statement. Davis Selected Advisers LP, the largest holder of the company’s stock, also committed to buy $300 million of debt. Harley, which is raising cash to lend to customers, rose the most in more than two decades in New York trading.

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