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I was 'holding the bag' (underwater) on some short term (I'm talking 3-4 hours) Cisco Systems call options today and had determined my best chance of profiting on this speculation was to wait for Aunt Janet at 1 pm to come to my rescue--she didn't disappoint as Cisco moved higher by 35 cents in 2 minutes and I exited my…

While it has become relatively rare in recent years for us to write outside our website we have written an article on Seeking Alpha on the topic of baby bonds ($25 exchange traded debt issues).Our article is here. Free registration is necessary on Seeking Alpha.

Another day to be wasted in the markets watching the Fed for their 2 pm (EDT) announcement. What crap. Of course like other 'news' one has to pay a bit of attention to it as everyone on Wall Street is placing heavy emphasis on it. Let's face it--we aren't doing one darned thing either before the announcement or after the…

Just a few quick housekeeping items from readers.Doug asks about the significance of grey shaded entry on the spreadsheets.  We color all monthly paying issues with a grey outline--that is all.Bryon asks if there is a phone number to talk to someone.  No there isn't. This is our hobby and really we just try to present some information in a format that is usable.…

Property and casualty insurer AmTrust Financial Services (ticker:AFSI) has priced a new preferred offering. The company has priced a new offering at 7.50%. This is a non-cumulative issue, as all insurance and banking issues are, and is perpetual--although it has a potential redemption on 3/19/2020 at par. You can compare this new issue against the 3 other issues that AmTrust…