Tonight we took down, CFC-Countrywide at $9.50, ETFC-E-Trade at $5.03, and shares of GES-Guess at $44.89.

We feel like with Hedge Funds year end tomorrow, this gives us the green light to get into the Financials as the selling is mostly complete by these funds.

Wall Street loves their bonus, they have 4 weeks left to get it, so December is favorable to the bulls. Last historical technicals are over sold, and short ratio is high.

All these things combined to us green light a portfolio virtually void of any short positions. We will re-examine these positions on Dec 10-11th.--Jon

The key to this game is knowing the playbook a head of time, then plotting out at least 2 possible scenarios, and your plan of action should one of those happen.

First thing we need is data on past historical time lengths between number of down days, verses back to back up days.

The longest such streak (since 1999) was the 24-down day run that ended on 9/21/01 before back to back up days. The second longest streak was 22 days, which ended on 3/21/01. There have been two other down streaks of 21 days each, ending on 10/3/00 and 4/29/02, respectively.

Except for the post 9/11 streak, which marked a climactic V-bottom low in the equity market, these other spans seemed to define the first leg of a downdraft that "paused" anywhere between 4 and 14 days before it resumed.

The Trademechanic gave months of warnings that the end of the 5 year bull cycle would likely start the last few months of 2007.

Lets keep in mind, the typical 1st leg down of a bear campaign is 20% to 25% decline from the top.

Before today, the markets had already given up 10%.

Assuming the FED cuts rates by 50 basis, we expect the bear counter trend can run for 14-20 trading days.

However, on Dec 11th if the FED does not come out strong in favor of a continued rate cutting campaign, we believe the bear will come out of hiding, and quickly send the market lower to the 20-25% correction level.

If we play our cards right, the ups and downs provide the chance to earn 2xs as much, with the right playbook.—Jon

We took down shares of EBAY this morning before the market opened at $32.70 per share. This is a selection from our inversion list, that has not yet righted the ship.

However, we felt the market conditions and the great results over the shopping holiday, warranted a purchase now.

While Wal-Mart sells many hot items below their cost, Ebay sells them for a profit. We see these shares easily reaching $40, with most analyst sitting at $44 price targets.--Jon

Remember we are keeping a list of stocks that are doing great, but whose stock prices have inverted, closing at least a 5 week low and the current price is now gone above the 30 day ago price.

We feel like these potential winners provide an entry level that has taken out all the weak hands that no longer can stand to hold the shares, thus leaving behind the true believers.

Next is the list of shares that are currently moving higher, closer to a potential buy signal.

AJG, AMZN, CNH, DIOD, GLF, GME, ROH

We are monitoring a total of 52 stocks right now for buy signals.—Jon

Anil and Mukesh Ambani, who control the Reliance group of companies, are now worth close to $100 billion. Elder brother Mukesh, age 50, is worth more than $45 billion on paper, while Anil, age 48, is worth $35 billion or more.

This summer, the Wealth Report brought news of a new titleholder for richest man in the world: Carlos Slim, the Mexican telecom tycoon. Aside from toppling the longtime leader Bill Gates, Mr. Slim’s asccendancy also heralded a new age of wealth sprouting up in emerging markets.

The U.S. may be the capital of Richistan for now, but not for long. Increasingly, the production of millionaires and billionaires — as with the production of most goods — is moving abroad. Other countries’ economies are growing more quickly than that of the U.S. and creating wealth at a faster pace. The weaker dollar also plays a big role.

As with Britain in the 1800s, the U.S. may soon become “old money” — doddering aristocrats on the world stage watching younger, richer upstarts in India, China and Brazil eclipse their fortunes. And some Americans may even become butlers at the Ambani house.—Wealth Report

All of our timing indicators are pointing to extreme bearish sentiment. To that end, we are looking to profit from a possible reverting to the mean trade by adding in shares of USD, UYG, and additional TQNT.

We added half of our share position in USD Wednesday on the close. The semi stocks did not participate in the NASDAQ 100 rally in a broader sense, thus we feel the risk/reward here is favorable.

Shares of UYG present a nice way to play a FED rate cut, which will happen, despite what we are hearing from them.

Bottom line, the FED can not afford for institutions like Freddie and Fannie to go belly up, so they will need to step in with decisive action.

Financial stocks are the most oversold of any group, thus a FED induced Santa Rally will be most pronounced and profitable in shares of UYG, which move at 2xs the rate of the underlying shares. We will add shares of UYG closer to the time of the FMOC meeting.

Only here at the Trademechanic have you found a place that told you to buy, buy, buy at DOW 12,000 when everyone was saying sell, and against all Wall St pros, in the face of Presidential cycle, and the typical most bullish months of the year, we warned you the bull was over, and the bear was in charge starting at DOW 14,000.

For a lot of people, this is not what they wanted to here, and to their own peril, decided to ignore the warnings and trade anyway.

Everyone has to decide for themselves, do I want to learn this game, and possibly do it for a living, or do I want someone to tell me what I want to hear so I feel good.

Its my job to teach, and to help everyone make a buck. Not my job to make friends and hand out feel good information like they do on TV.

I don’t need ratings, and I don’t charge for this site, so I don’t owe anybody anything. Thus you can count on what I tell you as the truth, the way I see things from a long time of experience.

If I don’t give Daily Setups for a while, its because you shouldn’t be trading in that manner at that particular time. Not because I am being lazy, it’s to protect everyone from losing money.

You can chose to learn, or chose not to, up to you. But keep in mind, if this game was easy, everybody would be doing it. It is not easy, and I strongly recommend everyone check their baggage at the door, and follow a long with an open mind and a willingness to learn.

This is the only way to becoming the professional trader your looking to be.—Jon

Ok the market has gotten to that point of extreme bearish sentiment.

Based on the oversold technicals that we follow at the Trademechanic, we will be attempting entry into the following long positions:

UYG-This is Ultra Bull Financials. Top holdings Citigroup, American Express, Jp Morgan, Goldman. This is a way to play the big names at a lower cost, getting a greater bang for your buck, while limiting your downside exposure to any one single company.

USG-Semi ProShares. Top holdings INTC, WFR, NVDA, TXN, BRCM. This has been in a nice trading range over the last 6 months, any rev up in the market, this one will add on point’s fast.

TQNT-We are doubling our position in this gem. Look for this one to move another 25% from here.

Keep in mind these are all short term plays.

The Trademechanic continues to say we are in, and will remain a bear market through 2008. However, that does not mean, from an oversold position, backed by a FED half point rate cut, we cant see DOW 14,000 in a hurry.—Jon

Stocks reversed higher in brisk trade as Friday's options expiration drove volume higher.

The Nasdaq rose 0.7%, erasing an early 0.8% loss. That action contrasted with the prior two sessions in which stocks started higher only to sell off in the afternoon.

The S&P 500, NYSE composite and Dow industrials all climbed 0.5%. Small caps continued to sputter, though, as the S&P 600 slipped 0.4%.

Volume picked up across the board, thanks in part to the monthly expiration of stock and index options. Trading jumped 9% on the Nasdaq and 12% on the NYSE compared with Thursday's levels.

For the week, the Nasdaq and S&P both gained 0.4%. The Dow picked up 1%. On the downside, the NYSE composite and S&P 600 both shed 0.3%.

Those results followed a huge round of losses the previous week. The Nasdaq's 6.5% plunge that week, paired with sharp drops among leading stocks, signaled the start of a correction for the stock market.

For that downtrend to end, we'd need to see renewed signs of strength, namely a major price gain in heavier volume in at least one of the market indexes. Top-rated stocks also would have to reassert themselves.

Until then, remember that three out of every four stocks will fall during a market correction. In that kind of adverse environment, caution is king. Don't make any new buys. Sell your laggard stocks. Take profits if you see a winning stock run into trouble.

You can try to hunker down and ride out the storm with one or two top stocks. Just be aware that the leaders have suffered too.

Is the worst damage evident in the credit and mortgage markets? Are there signs that conditions in financial markets have bottomed?

Investors got their answer late in trading on Wednesday when Barron’s Online reported a $5 billion money market fund run by General Electric Co.'s (GE) Asset Management unit offered a handful of outside investors—who put money alongside GE's assets (primarily from GE's pension trust and other GE employee benefit plans)—an option to redeem their holdings at 96 cents on the dollar.

Ironically, prior to Wednesday, shareholders thought that ongoing turmoil in the mortgage markets would no longer have a material impact on GE’s Money Segment unit. As a result of pressures in the U.S. subprime mortgage industry, GE previously committed to a plan to sell its U.S. mortgage business.

In connection with this exit, the Company had recorded an after-tax loss of $43 million in the third quarter of 2007 (which represented the difference between the net book value of the business and the projected sale price). For the three months-ended September 30, 2007, segment profits from GE Money were $942 million, or 13.8 percent of total segment profits.

Barron’s exposed that in a Nov. 8 e-mail to institutional holders of the fund, GE Asset Management cited "extreme conditions in the credit markets" and told investors that "it would soon begin to sell certain securities held in the Fund which would result in realized losses and likely bring the Fund's yield to zero."

GE's fund is slightly different than a traditional money market fund because it is an “enhanced” cash fund, taking on more risk to provide a slightly higher yield. Unlike money market funds, too, the GE Asset Management's GEAM Trust Enhanced Cash Trust never promised to preserve what was invested—i.e. maintaining an asset value of $1 per share.

Still, letting any money fund lose principal is a rare event—given the importance of protecting the financial institution’s reputation and all. Recently Legg Mason (LM), Wachovia (WB), and Bank of America (BAC) ($600 million in reserves!) have all shored up ailing money market funds with their own funds to prevent them from sliding below the dollar-per-dollar-invested level.

That GE is not stepping in—and letting institutional investors eat the 4 percent decline on principal—suggests to us that these initial losses are just the “tip of the iceberg.” Like a floating Bergy Bit—where about 90% of mass lies below the surface of the water—how much GE will book in realized losses and asset impairments in coming quarters is still anyone's guess right now.

Author David J. Phillips

Yesterday a lot of traders were caught off guard with the perfect storm of good news. Wal Mart delivered better numbers then expected, housing numbers better then expected, Goldman said no write downs of subprime. These 3 things following the biggest decline in 5 years last week, set up an over stretched rubber band snap back reaction that was fuled by the good news all day long.

Given this back drop, we reduced our position in the QID for now.

Remember, the market is heading for a 20% decline, but that doesnt mean we cant be range bound, for some time swinging from peaks to lows on what ever the news of the day is.

We are using a balance scale approach to our portfolio where we are over balanced towards longs at times, over balanced on the short side at times, and other times 50/50.

Because I believe yesterdays action can move us back to say DOW 13,500 or 14,000, we are under on the short right now. However, this can change quickly.--Jon

I have been saying this for while but its worth repeating, We are in a bear market. Once one can wrap his/her mind around that fact, then money can made.

Now, I will let Bill look under the hood for you.-Jon

When the index hit the August low I said if the rally could exceeded 12 trading days the index was going up to test the July high and create a large sideways movement or large distribution pattern. There is now a secondary high in place and the index is going to do the normal first leg down in a bear campaign at 20% to 25% or 1260 to 1180. In this chart I have divided the range of the bull trend into 1/8 and 1/3 as this is the best way to view support and resistance levels. The normal correction in a bull trend is 1/3 to 3/8 or between 1307 and 1273. This first leg down will likely run down to that level or marginally below it to the 20% mark at 1260 and bounce. The “pattern of trending” that occurs during that bounce will tell us what the next two years will look like.-Bill M.

As we have said here many times before over the last few months, this time is different.

Not only do we have the 5 year bull cycle that we have told you about, also in the past when we have had issues that have brought the FED to the rescue, it was of a nature that was favorable to FED easing.

This time we have a bursting bubble of the housing market, combined with a global economy that is sucking up all the earths resources.

The FED can cut all they want, but that doesn’t sell houses. The bottom line, prices have to come down to a level, that people will feel comfortable buying because the deal is so good, thus clearing out the inventory.

The second problem, trying to clear out the inventory is hard to do, if the FED is cutting rates. Reason is the rate cuts are driving up the cost of goods to American consumers, everything from Gas to Milk.

In other words, the FED is left with a choice, try to pump up the stock market, or attack inflation and pump up the average Americans checking balance.

The problem in choosing the market, is the average Americans daily needs are not met by their stock returns. Second, the only part of the market that is up substantially is tech, and its slightly to extremely overvalued at this point.

RIMM as an example at 90xs earnings, would have to sell a blackberry to every person on the planet to justify its valuation.

Most other industry sectors that make up the S&P, have long been in a sideways to downtrend, and FED rate cuts will not solve their problems.

Problems that stem from a one party rule in Washington, which gave the green light for lack of oversight and thus bad loans and risky off book investments such as SIV were done that shouldn’t have been done.

So, don't be surprised in the short run to see a FED cut in the 11th hour on a non-scheduled meeting day in an attempt to keep the market from collapsing. But just know that the affect will only be temporary, the problems will not go away until, we clear out everything.

If one goes back and studies asset bubbles over the last hundred years, starting with the Ponzi scheme and selling Tulips, when these bubbles burst, as we saw with tech shares taking the NASDAQ from 6000 to under a 1000 in 3 years, the damage last a while and stocks go down a lot further and longer than anyone anticipates.--Jon

China Nepstar Chain

Drugstore Ltd.

Shenzhen, China

(86)755-2643-3366

nepstar.cn

Lead underwriter:

Goldman Sachs

Offering price: $11.50-$13.50

Expected date: week of Nov. 5

Ticker: NPD

THE BUZZ

Another week, another round of Chinese companies set to detonate on U.S. markets. If their executives are getting headaches from the strains of all this IPO-ing, they can always pop over to the nearest Nepstar drugstore.

Nepstar is aiming to become the Walgreen (WAG) of China, going from one store 12 years ago to nearly 1,800 today. This has made it the leading player in the Middle Kingdom's rather fragmented drugstore market, made up mostly of independent shops and other chains with a few hundred stores apiece.

Nepstar seems to still have growing room. Government data say the country's drug spending doubled between 2002 and 2006 to $47.3 billion. Frost & Sullivan thinks that by 2011 that will reach $126.8 billion.

Frost also expects that drugstores will take an ever-greater share of those sales. Recently, the Chinese government has made anti-corruption rules separating hospitals (which are generally government owned) from drug dispensing. It has also tightened quality standards and limited direct advertising, both of which favor established retailers.

THE COMPANY

Nepstar was founded in 1995. It targets good locations in big cities, and runs its stores directly rather than through franchisees.

Up until recently, it sacrificed virtually everything for growth, including profits. Operating expenses ballooned from 29% of sales in 2004 to 33.5% last year. The leaders say it takes about three years for a new store to reach "maturity," so per-store sales haven't been so hot either. Not surprisingly, the firm lost money in its first decade.

In the last two years, however, Nepstar's leaders have turned their attention to margins. In 2005, the firm launched a line of private label products, mostly over-the-counter drugs and nutritional supplements. This his proven quite lucrative. Private labels provide about 18% of sales but 31% of gross profit.

More recently, Nepstar has also cut back on its lower margin products. Preliminary results for the third quarter show that this nearly flattened sales growth, but boosted operating income by nearly 39%.

Finally, the firm has made some effort to control costs. After years of growth, the ratio of operating expenses to revenue dipped slightly in the first half of this year compared with last year.

Still, Nepstar is keeping up its aggressive store-opening plan. It expects to open more than 1,000 of them next year, focusing on China's largest, most developed cities.

RISKS/CHALLENGES

This type of growth plan is not for the faint-hearted and places huge demands on Nepstar's infrastructure. The firm doles out its inventory through 11 regional distribution centers, run through a detailed computer system, and a natural or human disaster to any one of them could be very harmful. The company also has to keep hiring large numbers of people to staff its stores.

Nepstar is also fairly new to the profit concept. Due to seasonality, it still hasn't had a year with all four quarters in the black, though it notched an annual profit in 2006.

The company's strategy leans heavily on the Nepstar brand, which it hopes will become as recognized as Walgreen and CVS (CVS) in the U.S. It still has a long way to go though; it only has 4% market share in the cities where it operates. It also has to defend its copyright and trademarks from infringement.

The prospectus says almost 40% of Nepstar's leased properties have defects in their legal titles. The company does not expect it will cost much to fix this, or that it would result in loss of property, but failure to remedy this could bring fines.

Nepstar expects that buyouts will be part of its future growth strategy. That brings expense and integration risks.

THE RESULTS

Sales in the first half of the year grew 18.4% over a year ago to $124.3 million. Net income was $5.7 million, vs. a loss last year.

USE OF PROCEEDS

Nepstar expects net proceeds of about $231.7 million from its offering of 20.6 million shares, or $267.7 million if the underwriters exercise their options in full. The firm plans to spend $52 million to open new stores, $27 million to build two new distribution centers, and $11 million to upgrade its computer system. It will reserve the rest for general corporate purposes.

THE MANAGEMENT

Simin Zhang
Chairman

Founded Nepstar in 1995 and also chairs Neptunus Group, which he founded in 1989. Earlier he worked at CITIC Group and at the PRC Space Administration. He holds a B.S. in precision instruments from Harbin Institute of Technology.

Jiannong Qian
Chief executive and director

Joined in August 2006 after managing at Wumart Stores, Germany's OBI Heimwerkermaerte, China Resources Vanguard and Metro AG. From 1983 to 1987 he taught economics at Shanghai University. He holds a master's in the subject from the University of Essen in Germany.

Andrew Weiwen Chen
Vice president, chief financial officer

Joined in August after a year as CFO of YRC Worldwide's China International Transportation Operations. Before that he spent seven years at Honeywell. (HON) He's also worked for Coca-Cola (KO) and PricewaterhouseCoopers. He holds an MBA and a master's in accounting from the University of Alabama.

Attached I have a chart from Vector Vest called Market Timing Indicator. This Indicator combines all there market timing measurements into this one composite chart.

As you know, I have been going against the conventional wisdom and historical norms when it comes to bull markets calling for the end of the bull, and the begining of the bear into 2008.

Just last night, I think the CEO of GROW in their earings report summed up the broader prevailing thought by other Wall Street pros, he said, "We believe the odds favor a further drop in interest rates and that markets will return to the historical pattern of being up in the third and fourth years of the four-year presidential election cycle,” Mr. Holmes says. “A century of data shows the presidential election cycle to be one of the most reliable market barometers"

So, as you can see, calling the end of the bull since DOW 14,000, has probably cost me some viewers, but I am only interested in helping those who really want to do this job for a living, and not those who need to be on the feel good, pump'em band wagon all the time.

CNBC has plenty of shows on TV one can watch to feed that need.

If we look at the Market Timing chart, remember here at Trademechanic, we look at actual data to determin our investment course, the chart clearly shows a double top in place, confirmed by a 3rd lower high, and if todays down open holds into the close, confirmed by breaking the neckline.

As stated many times before, when trading, you have to adjust your style to fit the market, not try and make the market fit your style.

In other words, people have asked me, why are you not swing trading? If you have seen the time bombs go off in shares of CROX, AMZN, EBAY, etc, etc, against the back drop of what I believe the end of the bull market in conjuction with the 5 year bull cycle, then one realizes the risk/reward ratio is not favorable enough to warrent that type of trading.

In good bull times, you can count on getting back to square on your swing trades, should an entry go against you. In these times, the folks that have bought into the lie that tech is a safe haven, and bought into the false premise of the presidential cycle, are going to painfully find out that paying $76 for CROX this time as an example, is going to cost them a lot of money, for a long time.

Stocks that get hammered are unlikely to recover, anytime soon.

Now the strategy we are involved with now is 3 fold, looking harder at undervalued assets under $10 per share, where your obvious downside risk is 10 points or less, continuing to add to our short position on market rallies, and waiting for high value, high growth stocks, that have pulled back for at least 5 weeks, to invert back to the current price being higher then the 30 day ago price.

These are the trades we are doing until further notice. However, I will continue to provide swing trade set ups as always, for those active high rollers on the daily set ups page when warrented.--Jon

The CEO of High Risk play STEC has purchased 119,000 shares on the open market at around $6.50 per share.

Fundamentals for the company are good, including no debt, a quick ratio of 7, which shows their ability to cover short term cash needs is fantastic.

Company operates in the flash memory storage segment, which is hot right now.

Some new institutional buyers of last report include;

Bear Stearns, Goldman, Public Employees Retirement of Ohio, Barclays, Teachers Advisors, Royal Bank of Canada.

All of these folks are on record as of 6/30, of which since that time the stock has held its ground.—Jon

Headline, “Nov 5 (Reuters) - China-based media and advertising company Xinhua Finance Media Ltd (XFML.O: Quote, Profile, Research) raised its third-quarter revenue outlook, citing stronger-than-expected growth in its business and contribution from acquisitions. The company now expects third-quarter revenue of $38 million to $40 million. It had earlier forecast revenue of $35 million to $37 million for the quarter. Xinhua expects earnings to be 11 cents to 13 cents per American depositary share for the quarter. On an adjusted basis, it expects to earn 20 cents to 21 cents per ADS. (Reporting by Ratul Ray Chaudhuri in Bangalore) “

We have not taken this one down yet but will on pull backs. I wanted to make sure we don’t get hit with any surprises.—Jon

With the ousting of Citigroup CEO Chuck Prince, and the sure to follow Wall St pump and dump machine that will be set in motion, including some participates like Cramer who just dont realize they are being suckerd, I wanted to show you a few things to give you pause, and hopefully steer everyone clear of trying to make some Fast Money in this financial space.

Attached I have two charts of two companies most have probably never heard of. As you look at these charts, ask youself, do these charts look like a strong buy?

Now, you wont hear anyone on Wall Street talking about these two companies. Here is what they do as told by Yahoo Finance;

MBIA-MBIA, Inc., through its subsidiaries, provides financial guarantee insurance and credit protection products, as well as investment management services to public finance and structured finance issuers and investors, and capital market participants

ABK-Ambac Financial Group, Inc., through its subsidiaries, provides financial guarantee products and other financial services to clients in the public and private sectors worldwide

In other words, these guys basically insure all kinds of loan deals made by banks like Citi. They collect fees from the companies they are providing the insurance for, and they package those deals in the form of bonds, then sell those to the investing public.

These guys assign these bonds a rating based on their inherit risk. As long as they assign the bonds AAA ratings, then they keep collecting fees, and selling bonds to investors such as Pension funds, retirment funds, teacher funds, State and local city investment treasuries, etc, etc, all looking to get some safe, guaranteed conmfortable yearly return with less risk then investing in commodites or stocks.

Thats all well in good as long as the lending institutions, and the insureres follow their own guidlines and do not cut corners.

In walks the FED reserve, since Allan Greenspan, printing money like crazy, no longer tied to GOLD, but simply tied to the US Consumer and investors williness to assume risk.

Under pressure by Wall Street, and Hedge funds to continue to out perform historically normal returns, guess what, bad loans, and in accurate debt ratings got done. Under a all Replublican administration which sees government oversight of rich people or corporations as the root of all evil, this time bomb kept moving unchecked until the housing market bubble burst.

Now, lets look at where we are today. Everyone is running for cover and trying to figure out who we can dump what could be one of the biggest financial melt downs in US history on.

Credit derivative traders are valuing bond insurers Ambac Financial Group (ABK) and MBIA Inc (MBI) as deep junk credits, belying the companies' strong "Aa1" ratings, according to data by the credit strategy group at Moody's Investors Service.

MBIA Inc's default swap spreads, meanwhile, are trading as though they carry a rating of "B2," five levels below investment grade, and 12 notches below the company's "Aa2" rating, according to Moody's data.

"We have increasingly lost confidence in the financials of Merrill," Deutsche Bank equity analyst Mike Mayo in New York wrote in a note to clients today. "Our concern is relying on a company's statements that has no CEO and is facing a potential SEC investigation and may have engaged in questionable private transactions."

Ambac Financial Group Inc. and MBIA Inc. shares fell, along with other bond insurers, as Morgan Stanley said the industry may face a "downward spiral" and Goldman Sachs removed its "buy" rating on the two companies.

The bond insurance industry has guaranteed more than $1 trillion of bonds issued by U.S. cities and states as well as bonds backed by mortgages, credit cards and other assets, and the guarantee allows borrowers to use the insurers' AAA rating. A loss of confidence by investors in the insurers' credit quality threatens the survival of the industry and the price of the thousands of bonds it guarantees.

"As the credit market continues to weaken, our confidence that guarantors will survive the credit meltdown is waning, prompting us to take a more conservative view of the financial guarantors," said Ken Zerbe, an analyst with Morgan Stanley in New York.

Zerbe said a worsening of defaults on mortgage, home equity loans and credit card balances "could prove to be the proverbial straw that starts the downward spiral in the viability of the guarantors' business model."

Because of the "guarantee", god only knows what kind of garbage got rated as AAA. What we do not know is how much of that "AAA" paper banks are holding is really deserving of "AAA" status as opposed to being rated "AAA" because someone "guaranteed" it.

Despite the numerous people on T.V. that Wall Street will parade out to convince you to buy shares of Citi, for my money, looks like the bump in price might make a good short of a company who no one knows what off the books bad loans are out there yet to be discovered.--Jon

The rich, as the saying goes, have a tough time “finding good help.”

Today it’s especially hard, given all the new millionaires looking for household managers, maids, nannies, chefs and personal assistants.

And keeping staff members has become even tougher than hiring them: Turnover in the household-staffing business is notoriously high. The reason? Studies show that the No. 1 reason staffers walk is overzealous meddling by their employers. I’ve heard plenty of estate managers say they walked out of the mansion for good because the lady of the house (or the man) nitpicked everything they did and interrupted them in the middle of a job to show them the “right way” to comb the Oriental rug or groom the Shih Tzu.

To offer some guidance, the magazine Celeb Staff has come up with its “six rules for keeping your household happy.” The list could also be called “Six rules commonly broken by today’s rich employers’”

They include:

Clarify — Be very clear about your likes and dislikes.

Beware the Expanded Job Syndrome — Weekly hours should average no more than 50.

Living Quarters — According to the magazine, “it is increasingly customary in this profession to provide living quarters.”

Changes in Schedule — It is important to notify the staff of changes in schedule as soon as possible.

Proper Equipment — Make sure your staff has all the right gizmos to fix that Etoile faucet and smart-home system.

Benefits — “If personal loyalty and long-term commitment to your home and family are important, then provide all the benefits that any other high-skill level career would provide: salary reviews, bonuses, health-insurance, 401k, and paid vacation.”

I would add two more:

Mind the Clock — Do not send your household manager an email at 3 a.m. and expect to be answered immediately.

Gratitude — Say “thanks” once in a while. Rich employers think it’s all about the money, but it’s also about being a decent person and showing appreciation for a worker who, after all, spends his or her time worrying about your every need. –Robert Frank

On the upside was Hornbeck Offshore (HOS - Cramer's Take - Stockpickr - Rating), which jumped 12% after its earnings and guidance topped forecasts. The oil-services company posted a third-quarter profit of $28.9 million, or $1.09 a share, on revenue of $94.7 million. Analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial expected earnings of 83 cents a share and revenue of $88.9 million. For all of 2007, Hornbeck expects earnings of $3.28 to $3.52 a share, above its prior view of $2.46 to $2.93. Analysts target earnings per share of $3.15. Shares of Hornbeck were up $4.77 to $43.87. –Jon