Cisco is off 3% in pre-market and the irony of ironies is that Ike Sorkin, former SEC chief and now Madoff’s attorney, got whacked by Madoff. Note to Bernie, try not to screw the only living human that has your back and doesn’t want to stab you in the back. Did you ever see a celebrity get interviewed and you are surprised because you honestly though that he or she had passed away? I honestly felt that way when I saw the CEO of Eastman Kodak on CNBC this morning. I don’t mean the man but the company. It feels like they went belly up years ago, doesn’t it?
We are waiting for retail sales for January shortly, and the numbers could be a disaster. An interesting factoid is that much of the existing retail space has NOT been cancelled yet and probably won’t be until the second half of 2010, so good news for all you SRS longs or IYR shorts. It’s coming, it’s just been delayed. The commercial real estate bulls will get their faces raked, it’s just a matter of time.
Tomorrow is the unemployment number and as usual I expect the longs to get out of the way in front of the number, so today could be a challenge. Good luck.