Technical Difficulties, Saturday Morning Open

Technical Difficulties, Saturday Morning Open

by coldwarrior ( 48 Comments › )
Filed under Open thread at May 19th, 2012 - 9:21 am

Technical Difficulties

Sorry,There was no OOT or Lecture. I had no internet yesterday or last night. It’s back on now.

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48 Responses to “Technical Difficulties, Saturday Morning Open”
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coldwarrior

1 | May 19, 2012 9:37 am

strange day on he markets yesterday:

SEC will probe Nasdaq glitches, Facebook closes slightly above IPO open
By Hayley Tsukayama, Published: May 18

Technical glitches and chaotic trading marred the stock debut of Facebook on Friday, disappointing investors and company officials who had planned for a festive first day of trading, people familiar with the matter said.

Many in New York and Silicon Valley had called Facebook’s stock sale on the Nasdaq the initial public offering of the year. The size was enormous at $16 billion, the third largest in U.S. history. And the images of newly minted billionaires Zuckerberg and his senior executive team hugging and high-fiving filled cable television shows screens early in the morning before the markets opened. Crowds gathered around Nasdaq’s glass-enclosed showroom in Times Square to watch the first trade of the stock symbol “FB.”

But for the first two hours of regular trading, nothing happened to the share price. “Unchanged,” read the screens on Nasdaq’s exchange and on cable channels which had prepared special segments. When trading finally began at 11:30 am, applause broke out at Facebook’s headquarters.

The stock shot up.

Then chaos ensued.

Traders couldn’t get basic information such as the stock price or even whether their requests for shares were going through Nasdaq’s systems, industry officials with knowledge of the matter said. The stock gyrated wildly. Some investors ran for the exits, selling off or canceling what they had ordered, said the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk about these events.

FB tumbled and hit its offering price of $38.

The shares almost certainly would have gone lower, except Facebook’s banks, which had put the deal together, stepped in to prop up the share price. That may have saved Facebook, the banks and Nasdaq from an embarrassing loss on the first day of trading. The practice is legal, but unusual for such a celebrated stock offering.

Throughout the day, the banks — which included Morgan Stanley, JPMorgan Chase and Goldman Sachs — had to bail out the stock several times, the people familiar with the matter said.

By the close of regular trading, the stock had barely scraped out a gain of 23 cents. To top it off, the Securities and Exchange Commission said it would review the incident with Nasdaq to determine what caused the trading glitches.

Facebook declined to comment on the stock trading. Experts noted that the company was still able to raise a massive amount of money through the stock sale. And analysts said the day’s events were hardly a failure for the Menlo Park, Calif company.

Rather, the letdown was on Wall Street.

Industry officials said that most involved in the deal had expected about a 5 percent to a 10 percent gain. In interviews, they pointed the finger of blame at Nasdaq.

“It was just chaos this morning and that put a bad sentiment on the entire day,” said one official, speaking on condition of anonymity. “It’s certainly egg on [Nasdaq’s] face. This was the offering of the year and you needed to have your systems in order.”

Nasdaq declined repeated requests for comment. The parent company of the exchange, Nasdaq OMX Group, saw its stock drop 4.4 percent.
MacDuff

2 | May 19, 2012 9:39 am

You really should store some “bottled Internet” for these emergencies. I rotate my supply so as to ensure Internet freshness…it doesn’t have an indefinite shelf life.
coldwarrior

3 | May 19, 2012 9:42 am

@ MacDuff:

i could have used my phone for service i suppose, but i didnt think of that till you said that.
mawskrat

4 | May 19, 2012 9:45 am

MacDuff wrote:

You really should store some “bottled Internet” for these emergencies. I rotate my supply so as to ensure Internet freshness…it doesn’t have an indefinite shelf life.

yeh…if you do have some that is
out of date how do you dispose of it?
MacDuff

5 | May 19, 2012 9:47 am

coldwarrior wrote:

@ MacDuff:

i could have used my phone for service i suppose, but i didnt think of that till you said that.

I don’t think I have the attention span for dial-up any more
MacDuff

6 | May 19, 2012 9:49 am

mawskrat wrote:

yeh…if you do have some that is
out of date how do you dispose of it?

I upload it at The Swamp, there’s so much toxicity, they don’t even notice. Even the EPA gave up on that place.
coldwarrior

7 | May 19, 2012 9:49 am

@ MacDuff:

nah…my cell phone is 4g and i could have used it like a cable modem.

its pretty fast.
huckfunn

8 | May 19, 2012 9:52 am

If you don’t read anything else today, read this. Mark Steyn at his searing satirical best: Eternally shifting sands of Obama’s biography.

“Barack Obama, the first African-American president of the Harvard Law Review, was born in Kenya and raised in Indonesia and Hawaii.”
So the lunatic theory that Barack Obama doesn’t meet the minimum eligibility requirements to be president of the United States was first advanced by Barack Obama’s official representative. Where did she get that wacky idea from? “This was nothing more than a fact-checking error by me,” says Obama’s literary agent, Miriam Goderich, a “fact” that went so un-”checked” that it stayed up on her agency’s website in the official biography of her by-then-famous client up until 2007: “He was born in Kenya to an American anthropologist and a Kenyan finance minister.”
[...]
After all, if your first book is an exploration of racial identity and has the working title “Journeys In Black And White,” being born in Hawaii doesn’t really help. It’s entirely irrelevant to the twin pillars of contemporary black grievance – American slavery and European imperialism. To 99.99 percent of people, Hawaii is a luxury vacation destination and nothing else.
Whereas Kenya puts you at the heart of what, in an otherwise notably orderly decolonization process by the British, was a bitter and violent struggle against the white man’s rule. Cool! The composite chicks dig it, and the literary agents.
[...]
And where’s the harm in it? Everybody does it – at least in the circles in which Obama hangs. At Harvard Law School, where young Barack was “the first African-American president of The Harvard Law Review,” there’s no end of famous firsts: As The Fordham Law Review reported, “Harvard Law School hired its first woman of color, Elizabeth Warren, in 1995.” There is no evidence that Mrs. Warren, now the Democrats’ Senate candidate, is anything other than 100 percent white. She walks like a white, quacks like a white, looks whiter than white. She’s the whitest white since Frosty the Snowman fell in a vat of Wite-Out. But she “self-identified” as Cherokee, so that makes her a “woman of color.” Why, back in 1984 she submitted some of her favorite dishes to the “Pow Wow Chow” cookbook, a “compilation of recipes passed down through the Five Tribes families.”
The recipes from “Elizabeth Warren – Cherokee” include a crab dish with tomato mayonnaise. Mrs. Warren’s fictional Cherokee ancestors in Oklahoma were renowned for their ability to spear the fast-moving Oklahoma crab. It’s in the state song: “Ooooooklahoma! Where the crabs come sweepin’ down the plain.” But then the white man came, and now the Oklahoma crab is extinct, and at the Cherokee clambakes they have to make do with Mrs. Warren’s traditional Five Tribes recipe for Cherokee Lime Pie.

Brutally hilarious.
MacDuff

9 | May 19, 2012 9:54 am

coldwarrior wrote:

@ MacDuff:

nah…my cell phone is 4g and i could have used it like a cable modem.

its pretty fast.

Nice. That’s the only problem with my iPhone, even though it’s a 4S, it only has 3G which is a lot like dial-up.
Kirly

10 | May 19, 2012 10:02 am

@ coldwarrior:
So, FB had to be bailed out within 2 hours??

How does FB make money again? On those ads that I have NEVER clicked on?
MacDuff

11 | May 19, 2012 10:03 am

Kirly wrote:

@ coldwarrior:
So, FB had to be bailed out within 2 hours??

How does FB make money again? On those ads that I have NEVER clicked on?

They sell your information to marketing companies.
Macker

12 | May 19, 2012 10:04 am

@ Kirly:

Doesn’t this remind you of a previous Dot-Com Bubble in some way?
coldwarrior

13 | May 19, 2012 10:07 am

Kirly wrote:

@ coldwarrior:
So, FB had to be bailed out within 2 hours??
How does FB make money again? On those ads that I have NEVER clicked on?

yeah…revenue???

odd how that works. i think they are going to get smoked over the next month.
mawskrat

14 | May 19, 2012 10:09 am

The Man With the Goodies
coldwarrior

15 | May 19, 2012 10:11 am

MacDuff wrote:

Kirly wrote:
@ coldwarrior:
So, FB had to be bailed out within 2 hours??
How does FB make money again? On those ads that I have NEVER clicked on?

They sell your information to marketing companies.

that isnt 16billion worth of data.

the only way to expand is to get new users because the old users are pretty much mined out within a year of use. after that its a repetitive pattern. that said, FB is not attracting users as it once did. it is ubiquitous, yet becoming ‘the last big thing’
coldwarrior

16 | May 19, 2012 10:14 am

the ‘dumb money’ didn’t bite on the hook this time, they didnt buy the hype.

This time the expected frenzy didn’t materialize. What accounts for the disappointing showing? A few things come to mind. Among the downsides of becoming a public company is that your dirty laundry gets a public airing. In the run-up to the IPO, Facebook’s linens were out on the clothesline for all to see.

There was broad coverage of the company’s slowing growth, and its difficulty in placing advertising on mobile devices, through which more than half its users access the website. It didn’t help that General Motors announced just days before the offering date that it was withdrawing all its paid advertising from Facebook out of doubts that the site is an effective advertising medium.

Wall Street prognosticators dismissed some negative leading indicators for the Facebook IPO, including news that institutional insiders such as Goldman Sachs had increased the number of shares they would sell into the IPO, and that allocations of shares to brokerages to push to their clients were also increased at the last minute. Normally, these are signs that interest is lagging, but many on the street figured that the public excitement would prevail.

Facebook may yet be overpriced. Morgan Stanley and its fellow underwriters of the IPO undoubtedly spent millions of dollars, maybe hundreds of millions, propping up the stock Friday so it wouldn’t fall below the $38 offering price, as that would have been a huge embarrassment. No one knows how long they’d continue to do so.

Additionally, in about a week the shares become eligible for short-selling, which could place more pressure on the price. A few months from now, insiders prohibited from selling their own share will have the green light, and millions more shares will enter the marketplace. The question in coming weeks may no longer be how high Facebook can soar, but how low can it go?
huckfunn

17 | May 19, 2012 10:19 am

@ MacDuff:
@ coldwarrior:
I have an FB account but the only thing I use it for is located people that I can’t otherwise find. For instance; I’ve been looking for a guy who inherited a small mineral interest in 1981. The day before yesterday I found his wife on FB. I sent her a message telling her that I was trying to locate her husband or his heirs. She replied back that she, too, would like to find him. She hasn’t seen him in 3 years. Funny thing; on her FB page she says that she’s engaged to some other guy and I’m pretty sure that she’s not divorced from the guy she’s currently married to.
MacDuff

18 | May 19, 2012 10:21 am

coldwarrior wrote:

the only way to expand is to get new users because the old users are pretty much mined out within a year of use. after that its a repetitive pattern. that said, FB is not attracting users as it once did. it is ubiquitous, yet becoming ‘the last big thing’

Yeah, here’s an interesting piece on Yahoo Finance…

There’s a reason one of the inventors wants to take the money and run. Personally, had I made any money on Facebook yesterday (as Bono apparently did), I’d be dumping on Monday. But that’s just me.

Aside from the finical aspects, FB is starting to have a creepy feeling that I can’t put my finger on. I’m seriously thinking of vacating, myself.
Buckeye Abroad

19 | May 19, 2012 10:26 am

Bomb explosion at school in Brindisi, Italy

A bomb has exploded in front of a school in the southern Italian city of Brindisi killing at least one girl and injuring six others.

Tick tock.
huckfunn

20 | May 19, 2012 10:28 am

MacDuff wrote:

Aside from the finical aspects, FB is starting to have a creepy feeling that I can’t put my finger on. I’m seriously thinking of vacating, myself.

Besides being creepy, it’s mostly goofy. Millions of people swapping nutty pics and silly crapola. I just don’t get it. An old adage comes to mind… “Fools names and fools faces…”. I have an account, by my face isn’t on it.
coldwarrior

21 | May 19, 2012 10:28 am

@ Buckeye Abroad:

they suspect the mafia???

that really isnt their style.
coldwarrior

22 | May 19, 2012 10:32 am

@ coldwarrior:

ahhhh…that school is run by judge falconi’s wife…

wow, the mafia just stepped on it this time. wrong move guys.
huckfunn

23 | May 19, 2012 10:37 am

@ Buckeye Abroad:
Speaking of bombs going off, this guy better watch his back:
WI UNION MEMBER SUPPORTS SCOTT WALKER OVER ‘MARXIST’ UNION LEADERSHIP

There are other signs that suggest a groundswell of support for Walker. Today, the Hudson Star-Observer published a letter from Gerry Lancette, a longtime union man who is backing Scott Walker:

Dear Editor,
Scott Walker supporters are repeatedly accused of being “anti-union.” This union member of 45 years, son of a union organizer and supporter of Gov. Walker and his policies, is not anti-union. The real anti-union sentiment, which is opposed to the genuine, bottom up, pro free-market type of unionism that the Greatest Generation produced, is coming primarily from the corrupt and illegitimate leadership of the national union organizations. Leadership gained through deception and outright union election fraud.
Marxist factions within the labor movement were soundly defeated in 1955, when the recently merged AFL-CIO formally banned Communists from holding office within the union. It didn’t deter the Marxists and their fellow travelers in academia, they just stayed low and kept advancing their revolution. Leftist author Paul Buhle, in his book “Taking Care of Business” confirms that “…many ordinary Communists and Socialists acted heroically…to bring new blood into a tired labor movement.” And that they did.
In 1995, the “New Voices” stole the AFL-CIO national election. Buhle, matter-of-factly reports the theft: “…more than twice the usual number of delegates registered to attend the October AFL-CIO convention….these were not, in large part, ordinary union members or even chosen by union members, but…counted nevertheless.” The newly elected Marxist leaders promptly rescinded the bylaw that banned Communists from holding office.
coldwarrior

24 | May 19, 2012 10:41 am

huckfunn wrote:

The newly elected Marxist leaders promptly rescinded the bylaw that banned Communists from holding office.

my dad starting warning about this about 8 years ago when he was still active int eh IBEW.

commies…aint that just freakin’ grand.
Buckeye Abroad

25 | May 19, 2012 10:43 am

@ coldwarrior:

Dead kids tend to piss people off enough to toss fear aside. South Italy has a basket of problems.
Macker

26 | May 19, 2012 10:45 am

@ huckfunn:
@ coldwarrior:

Filthy Communist Bastards….
Kirly

27 | May 19, 2012 10:45 am

I declined when my advisor asked if I wanted to own FB. I just can’t figure how they expect to make money other than the IPO. But, just like everything else, FB is what you make of it. It is not just people swapping pix for me even though it is a good way to stay in touch with the goings on of my friends around the world. It is far more for me since I get a great batch of links to news that doesn’t quite make it into the MSM. I could just check every one of the many websites everyday but seeing them all in one place is convenient. And, the only info that FB got from me to sell was a name, an email I use for that purpose, and the general location of Phoenix, AZ. I have another account attached to this nickname with even less info. I doubt they made more than a penny or two off me.
coldwarrior

28 | May 19, 2012 10:45 am

Buckeye Abroad wrote:

@ coldwarrior:
Dead kids tend to piss people off enough to toss fear aside. South Italy has a basket of problems.

big mistake there. i would bet that the other mafias in italy are running away from these guys right now because that was cowardly, uncalled for, savage, and well…just not done.
huckfunn

29 | May 19, 2012 10:47 am

coldwarrior wrote:

commies…aint that just freakin’ grand.

They scarcely even hide it any more. 40 years ago to be a communist, or even to be associated with a communist was bad voodoo. Gee, we fought 2 real wars and numerous proxy wars against those bastards. Now they sit at the top of our government and the labor unions.
Buckeye Abroad

30 | May 19, 2012 10:49 am

@ huckfunn:

I am beginning to think Walker is going to ride this out and come out on top. The unions reek of desperation and their days, I hope, are numbered. I know a lot of people back home who work for Ford or GM and they even say aloud that the unions are making them non-competitive and things need to change (if they want to have a job in the future. Self interest is the key).

We’ll see how many people and jobs they take down with them.
Macker

31 | May 19, 2012 10:50 am

@ huckfunn:

How soon can we play Cowboys and Communists™?
coldwarrior

32 | May 19, 2012 10:50 am

@ Buckeye Abroad:

the dem national committee pulled all funding out of WI.

they have given up against walker.
huckfunn

33 | May 19, 2012 10:54 am

@ Buckeye Abroad:
Things are really looking up for Walker and I believe he’ll win. Scott Walker leads new Wisconsin recall poll
Buckeye Abroad

34 | May 19, 2012 10:54 am

Have fun all!

Gotta go mow the lawn and get the grill ready. Just me and the girls today. Seems their is a bit of a soccer game between Bayern München vs London Chelsey in Bavaria tonight-- wife wants to watch.

Ugh. When does NCAA football start?
huckfunn

35 | May 19, 2012 10:54 am

Macker wrote:

@ huckfunn:

How soon can we play Cowboys and Communists™?

Anytime suits me. We need to start with the Occuturds.
coldwarrior

36 | May 19, 2012 10:56 am

Buckeye Abroad wrote:

Ugh. When does NCAA football start?

september.

enjoy your ‘soccer’ match. *YAWN*
huckfunn

37 | May 19, 2012 10:57 am

Buckeye Abroad wrote:

Ugh. When does NCAA football start?

Only 3 more months.
huckfunn

38 | May 19, 2012 10:58 am

huckfunn wrote:

Buckeye Abroad wrote:

Ugh. When does NCAA football start?

Only 3 more months.

Ooops! I’m 2 years ahead of myself.
huckfunn

39 | May 19, 2012 11:01 am

The great outdoors beckons.

Later
MacDuff

40 | May 19, 2012 11:08 am

The chasm between union membership and leadership resembles that between citizens and government. At some point there has to be a reckoning. The socialists have, for decades, attempted to drive a wedge between the “haves” hand the “have nots”, two groups that have coexisted remarkably well in this country. What’s happening now, however, is that these two disparate groups are finding they’re not that disparate after all and they have many of the same goals and that’s what being an “American” is all about in the forst place.
MacDuff

41 | May 19, 2012 11:15 am

Have a good weekend!
Mike C.

42 | May 19, 2012 11:30 am

“Ooooooklahoma! Where the crabs come sweepin’ down the plain.”

BWAHAHAHAHA!!!
Zimriel

43 | May 19, 2012 12:02 pm

I think what the “haves” / “have-nots” are coming around to understanding is that the real “haves” are those with access to the Democrats, and the real “have-nots” are everyone else.

Most of the “Occupy” people are patsies.
Zimriel

44 | May 19, 2012 12:03 pm

And I sent another email to the blogmocracy email address. (The first one seems to have gone nowhere.)
coldwarrior

45 | May 19, 2012 12:10 pm

@ Zimriel:

i missed it…sorry.

when would you like this to be posted?
coldwarrior

46 | May 19, 2012 12:13 pm

@ Zimriel:
@ coldwarrior:

monday at 1130 AM
Zimriel

47 | May 19, 2012 1:21 pm

thanks :^)
coldwarrior

48 | May 19, 2012 1:32 pm

Zimriel wrote:

thanks :^)

thank you!

i wanted someone to take a look at that topic. i have zero time right now until mid june