Positioning into 2010 as We Look Back at Q1'09

Third Party Feed: Media Tech Analyst submits: Baidu (BIDU) enjoys a near monopoly position in online search in China due to Google's (GOOG) de facto exit. Couple that with its success in transitioning advertisers to its new platform named Phoenix Nest, the company is positioned to capture upside to current growth expectations.

The Lebanese-American poet Kahlil Gibran observed that sometime a mountain is clearer to a climber from the plain rather than the summit.  In this spirit, we take a step back this week.   Given the sizable moves in the foreign exchange market, we thought it might be useful to look at the long-term technical picture of the major currencies.  Rather than provide analysis using the daily bar charts, we look at the weekly and monthly charts.  

Soos Global Capital submits:“What a difference a day makes." No, it's not just an expression, but the title to the age-old song. I suppose many market participants could have sat back yesterday (Wednesday, December 1, 2010), grinning at their screens and humming the melody that goes with the song’s lyrics: What a difference a day made, twenty four little hours.

As we sit down at the trading desk for another week of action, I’m struck with a sense of urgency… No, the urgency isn’t really centered around our own trading approach.  We take each trading day with a certain sense of “importance” but also an air or “reserved detachment.”

Vienna, Austria

Market Folly submits:David Einhorn's hedge fund firm Greenlight Capital has returned 21.5% annualized net of fees since inception in May 1996. For 2010, his various hedge funds returned 12.5%, 14%, and 15.9%. You can see how that compares to other managers in our 2010 hedge fund returns summary.

Amit Chokshi submits:The following is excerpted from Kinnaras Capital Management's recent shareholder letter:

As we head towards 2010, we invited ten top Seeking Alpha contributors, most of whom are professional money managers, to share their thoughts and predictions for the new year.Click through below to learn how they are now adjusting client and personal portfolios; are they protecting 2009's gains, or preparing to be more aggressive? What stocks, ETFs and other instruments do they think will perform best in 2010?