Major stock indexes got worked on Monday.  They fell by more than 2 percent... the Dow Jones industrial average plunged 201 points, after the World Bank estimated the global economy will shrink 2.9 percent in 2009. It previously predicted a 1.7 percent contraction.  How can you be that off on your previous prediction.  I've been saying this is going to happen the whole time.  Take a look at my Twitter from 32 days ago!  I had to take a break until the correction finally came because the market was going up for no reason.

People are blogging, writing, and talking about how this has eroded hopes that the economy was starting to emerge from recession... there was never any sign of recovery.  It was all smoke and mirrors during earnings season in the first quarter.  People were just sick of negative news, so they started to buy and pushed the market up without the performance to back it.  Things weren't improving... they were going from absolutely terrible to pretty damn bad.

Here's some advice you should take.  Stocks are going to go back down.  The market can't run up like this without some sort of correction.  How do you make money when stocks go down?  Short individual stocks that have run up 50 or 100 percent in the last month.  The market went up too far too fast and will come back to reality shortly.  The DOW hit a low of 6440.08 in March and we may not re-test that low, but 7,000 is surely ahead.  Read about how to short a stock and look into it.  Read more here.

Click the graph for the interactive Yahoo chart (which will be more clear since it wasn't drawn on in Paint).

Nike (NKE) closed today at $53.27.  The athletic giant hit a 52-week low of $38.24 and 52-week high of $70.28.  They pay an annual dividend of 1.92 percent... If any company is going to come out of this downturn with more market share than before it's Nike... even if their commercials have less clothing.  So buy some stock, forget the clothes.  Nick Symmonds, 800m American running machine, rocks the Nike Free in the spot below.

Check out more here.

Citi had losses for the first quarter of just under $1 billion, beating expectations.  Those are some pretty low expectations.  I'm sure my dog could run successful company if the expectations were simply NOT TO LOSE $1 billion per quarter. 

General Electric's earnings were off 36 percent but they beat expectations as well, a much more respectable performance.  GE has more than doubled after it hit a 52-week low of $5.87 in March.  If the worst is behind GE, it's starting to look like a great long term play with a great yield.  If you're young, buy some. 

Check out more here.

Google does it again... or did they?  The internet giant increased profit by 9 percent in the 1st quarter, but much of this was due to cost savings rather than robust growth.  Google is the proud owner of youtube.com and also Android software for mobile phone devices... neither has been a profit machine thus far, but the long term potential of these applications is unlimited.  Google's growth has slowed with the rest of the economy, but when things start picking up the internet search almost monopoly will be at the forefront.  Check out previous article on google.

It is now time for companies to report on the first 3 months of 2009.  Boeing has already disappointed after lowered guidance and GM is headed for bankruptcy even after the government stimulus.  Wells Fargo somehow managed to have record earnings, probably due the fact that they've stopped allowing fee reversals if you call and complain.  The banks are advancing on hopes that Citi and others will report similar profits.  I don't see the rest of the non-banking Blue Chips (large proven companies like Intel, Johnson & Johnson, and General Electric) being so fortunate.  Only time will tell, but this bear market rally could quickly come to an end.  I hope everyone had a Good Friday, because it's not looking like a Good Monday.

10,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,  000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 

 How big is a google?  I mean a googol?  It's this big (see above).  A googol is greater than the number of atoms in the observable universe (courtesy of Wikipedia).  And google.com basically is the observable universe, receiving around 3.6% of all global page views on any given day.  Check out more google facts here.  (Hopefully everyone reading this also knows about the ability to text google for answers on the go... if you don't click here.)

In case you were wondering, Google pulled in $4.1 × 10^7 ($4.1 billion) in revenue in the first quarter of 2009 (or $4.95/share).  That's a lot of ad money. 

Note: Thank you very much to Descartes for inventing scientific notation... he very well may have invented the mullet as well.

Hansen Natural Corp’s (HANS) Monster Energy drink has bullied its way to the leading energy drink in the United States.  It’s now focusing on Europe and trying to take some market share from Red Bull’s 75 to 80 percent stake.  Red Bull was introduced in 1987, giving it almost a 15 year head start in the US where it still holds a 25 percent market share.  Monster has a lot of room for growth and has teamed up with Coca-Cola Enterprises (CCE) to get the drink to more stores faster than otherwise possible.  Past performance does not guarantee future results but Monster seems destined to succeed in the European market.  Hansen’s stock has increased 75 percent since October. 

Another player getting into the Energy Drink business is Vitamin Water.  Under the Vitamin Energy name they’ve released an array of flavors that provide a similar energy boost for those days you feel like passing out around noon.

There’s a reason for all these players getting into the energy drink business.  Rapper 50 Cent has made more from his investment in Glaceau than he will ever make from rapping.  When Coke bought Glaceau for $4.2 Billion in 2007 he netted a reported $400 million.  50 Cent doesn’t drink alcoholic beverages so it was obviously a fitting investment. 

Don't think Citi or Bank of America big... think regional.  Did you know a that a quarter isn't even an inch in diameter?  Small.

Glacier Bancorp, Inc.

Unless you were shorting WaMu when it was at $40/share (so you know what you're doing), there is no reason to be investing in big banks right now.  You might as well head to Vegas and throw it all down on the Roulette table.  However, there are some small banks that actually have strong balance sheets and will end up in great position after this financial mess shakes out (not any time soon).  One to look at is Glacier Bancorp, Inc. (GBCI).  It does a lot of its lending in Wyoming and areas that do not have the 10% unemployment rates seen in California and other struggling states (Wyoming has a lot of cash).  It may fall a little more based on news from the banking sector (which will be bad again, like today) but it pays a healthy dividend and has plenty of capital to stay afloat without government help.  It was recently downgraded but do these people really know anything?  The answer is no.  I don't currently have a position.