4.5 year – 2.45% + MORE Jul 22nd

This GIC rate is offered by Outlook Financial and was updated on 2013-03-14. Click on the link above to get more details or apply online.

GENEVA – The U.S. government has reached “an agreement in principle” to settle its lawsuit against Swiss banking giant UBS AG that seeks to recoup more than $900 million in losses from mortgage-backed securities, the bank announced Monday.
In 2011, the U.S. government sued UBS and 17 other financial firms for selling some $196 billion worth of mortgage-backed securities to housing financing agencies Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. However the securities turned toxic when the housing market collapsed.
Among the major U.S. banks targeted by the lawsuits were Bank of America Corp., Citigroup Inc., JPMorgan Chase & Co., and Goldman Sachs Group Inc., but the action extended to other large European banks including The Royal Bank of Scotland, Barclays Bank and Credit Suisse.
Fannie and Freddie, which are overseen by the U.S. Federal Housing Finance Agency, buy mortgage loans and securities issued by banks so that the lenders use the money to reinvest in the property market. The two agencies invested heavily in residential mortgage-backed securities, which bundled pools of mortgages into complex investments that collapsed after the real-estate bust and helped fuel the financial crisis in late 2008…

TOKYO – After winning control of both houses of parliament, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s government has the potential to be one of Japan’s most influential and effective administrations in years.
Abe devoted the first seven months of his premiership to convincing a public weary of revolving door prime ministers that he has the wherewithal to lead a revival in the world’s No. 3 economy and deserves a strong legislative mandate.
He now faces the challenge of adding substance to a recovery that so far amounts to little more than the smoke and mirrors of a surging stock market and one quarter of improved economic growth.
If it were easy, the reforms Japan needs would have been executed long ago.
Preliminary results from Sunday’s election show Abe’s Liberal Democratic Party and its coalition partner the New Komeito took a combined 76 of the 121 seats up for grabs in the 242-member upper house. Together with the seats they already held, they now have a combined 135 seats…

Well after a few better picks, my 2013 long & short picks are looking better. There is one very poor result that I am unfortunately closing out this morning as I’ll be closing out my Long LinkedIn ($LNKD) and Short Zillow ($Z), my worst long & short pick of the year, currently down 38%, ouch! You can always take a look at my results here:
-My 2013 Tech Stock Long & Short Trades
This morning, I am opening a new trade on 2 of the major travel web companies out there. They have been battling for years now and while Orbitz has made a turnaround, I fully expect Expedia to end up the winner. Before going further here are the numbers on these two companies:

TickerNamePriceEPSPE RatioPE Next YearReturn YTDSales GrowthAnalyst ratingBook ValueBetaRevenue/ShareSales 5Y GrowthEPS 5Y Growth

YHOOYahoo! Inc25.683.3127.8816.8128.590.053.7213.030.834.18-8.432.69

GOOGGoogle Inc893.4932.9725.4516.6125.3132.374.28228.720.93153.3422.2321.67

And the quarterly Y/y revenues growth:

EXPE Revenue Quarterly YoY Growth data by YCharts
Long Expedia (EXPE)
I’ve had a tougher time getting a clear view of Expedia since the TripAdvisor spinoff but I do think it’s fair to say that Expedia has been looking like one winning players in the online travel industry and I do think it’s a solid bet for years to come, especially when compared to competitors such as Orbitz…

This GIC rate is offered by Outlook Financial and was updated on 2013-03-14. Click on the link above to get more details or apply online.