Apple COO Tim Cook is executive search firm Spencer Stuart’s first choice for the open CEO spot at General Motors, a reader tells us. We have no idea whether this is true or not, but it makes sense. Tim would be a bold choice for GM and a clean break with the car company’s past.  Cars are vastly different than gadgets, but the magic Apple...

Zero Hedge It was only fitting that a year marked by irrational and erratic trading, saw a substantial volume selloff in the last 15 minutes of trading after there was absolutely no volume done all day. What sparked it? Only a few momentum chasing quants know, even as the bid seemed dangerously close to getting unglued. Suddenly all the big-cap liquidity...

by Tyler Durden With every deep-thinking pundit looking out at 2010 and predicting this and that, the irony is that virtually all investment decisions will be derivatives of one simple outcome: do we have inflation or deflation. Numerous opinions have been set forth recently, each of which presenting more convincing and detailed theses on why [stag/hyper]...

Courtesy of The Pragmatic Capitalist We’ve compiled many of the very best outlooks from various analysts, gurus, hedge funds and investors.  We hope you find the list helpful in mapping your successful 2010: Wall Street Banks Goldman Sachs 2010 Investment Outlook Deutsche Bank 2010 Outlook Credit Suisse Is Cautious Morgan Stanley’s 2010 Outlook UBS...

Courtesy of Karl Denninger at The Market Ticker Let’s score the 2009 edition first: The economy will NOT recover in 2009: I’ll take this one, although some would argue I only deserve half (I said 8% unemployment U3, we actually got 10%.) Deflation, not inflation, will become evident well beyond housing. Miss.  Valid if you look at energy, but...

Mike Mandel of Money Game Economic statistics don’t get enough recognition for all of their hard work. So, I’ve decided to offer an “Economic Statistic of the Decade” Award. The three criteria are simple. First, we want to reward the economic statistic that best reflects the decade (both the good and the bad). Second, we want to recognize the...

CalculatedRisk Note: For fun, see the reader polls on the right sidebar for 2010 economic outlook. Polling ends today at 3 PM ET. The DOL reports on weekly unemployment insurance claims: In the week ending Dec. 26, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 432,000, a decrease of 22,000 from the previous week’s revised figure...

Well, here we are with only hours left before the year is over. Virtually every investment is up other than the US dollar. Not much has changed since my last gold market trends report. But I have provided some interesting charts that show us what is possible in the coming weeks for the dollar, gold and natural gas. US Dollar Trend Analysis – Resistance...

Karl Denninger of The Market Ticker Someone smelled a bit of smoke yesterday, but the real fire sale was this morning….. To put this in perspective that issue traded nearly 8 million shares today, against a normal volume of 1/10th that. PHK is a closed-end PIMCO fund.  What’s in there?  As of September 30th, Pimco disclosed the holdings...

Crude oil closed higher for the sixth day in a row on Wednesday as it extends the rally off this month’s low. Tighter crude oil inventories were the primary factor behind today’s strength in the crude oil market. The high range close sets the stage for a steady to higher opening on Thursday. Stochastics and the RSI are becoming overbought...

According the Energy Information Administration’s (EIA) latest energy outlook, while world energy consumption is expected to grow in 2010, it will only be adding 1.1 million barrels of consumption and will remain below its past peak consumption. This tepid demand growth will butt against production increases for many non-OPEC oil producers, which...

Origin Agritech announces completion of the second notes repurchase agreement (SEED) 9.53 -0.15 : Co announced that it completed its Second Notes Repurchase Agreement of the remaining portion of the Company’s outstanding 1% Guaranteed Senior Secured Convertible Notes due 2012 by full repayment in cash of the agreed upon purchase price due to Citadel....

Courtesy of Joe Weisenthal and John Carney at Clusterstock Deputy Editor Joe Weisenthal and Managing Editor John Carney look back at the year that was 2009. Here are some of the highlights: 2009: The year of the great reversal “The market proved that everybody’s an idiot” Reasons for the turnaround What might happen in 2010? People...

H/T Business Insider The suspicious van in Times Square has prompted the evacuation of the NASDAQ, according to Fox News. This is unlikely to be impacting trading however, as the location is not central to trading.