Apple Crushes It, Concerns In Europe, Groupon New Leadership, And Zuckerberg Upsets Wall Street!-

It is only two days into the week, and already the see saw mentality of the financial markets is on display. Yesterday, the market sold off on the political ramifications of new elections in France and the Netherlands. It seems as if austerity is not loved by Europeans, as if that is a surprise. Ten minutes ago, Apple reported huge numbers, again what a shock. The company has been a machine for 10 years, and if you walk by a store in a mall anywhere in the world, you cannot get in. If you want to download a cool application for your son or daughter, they are the first destination. Hard to see this changing any time soon. As for the topsy turvey nature of Wall Street, ditto. If you have a hard time with volatility, this is a tough market for you. Try and use it to your advantage- or as they say, roll with the punches.

Nice to see things on the political front slowing down. I am sure Mitt is out pounding the pavement for donations, as he should be. In looking at our government, we have Medicare warning they are going busted sooner than they thought. We have the GSA scandal where tax payer funds are used for conferences for an entity designed to make sure tax payer funds are used correctly. We have the Secret Service hiring prostitutes when they go outside the country. We have a Senate which has not passed a budget in three years. Not going to even bring up the huge deficits we consistently run. Any wonder why people are a little fed up?

Groupon had a material deficiency in their accounting- which is a terrible operational no no for a public company. Most professionals say when you see that, you sell- no questions asked. Some think Groupon is going to be a bankruptcy candidate. I strongly doubt that, especially with Howard Schultz as a director. http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-04-24/groupon-is-said-to-seek-new-directors-after-revenue-restatement.html

Here is some more information on the concerns from Europe and the selloff yesterday- http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/businesstechnology/2018049439_apuswallstreet.html

Wall Street is upset at Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg- http://www.nypost.com/p/news/business/facebook_deal_surprised_bankers_HHuWwRbV6DE55tIpScowxI#ixzz1rkSom1uw

I hope everyone is enjoying their spring and looking forward to the NBA Playoffs. Naturally, there will be some upsets, but the teams that defend and do not make mistakes are usually going to be around at the end. It also helps if you have a great player who can bail you out from time to time.

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