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While Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) has had relatively smooth going in Europe introducing the iPhone, things are apparently less so in China (and Russia) where it is being reported: China Mobile to Buy Out iPhone in China.

The negotiations between China Mobile Ltd (NYSE: CHL) have led to many compromises on the part of Apple. To get the deal done it agreed to have no more sharing from toll revenues of cooperative carriers, and the Wi-Fi function of the multimedia smartphone is to be deleted.

Although it has been widely reported the Chinese anxiously want to sell iPhones to their hundreds of millions of potential customers -- something Apple has been vigorously pursuing -- it took several rounds of negotiations after which Apple got the short end of the stick.

Just one more company bending to the will of the Chinese. I wonder how long it will be before they reverse engineer the phone using Apple as another pawn in the game of technology transfer? I wonder if there is anything that should or can be done about it?

I'm sure after all is said and done Apple got the best deal it could. I just hope it works out as well as it envisioned.

Sheldon Liber is the CEO of a small private investment company and the principal for design and research at an architecture & planning firm. He writes the columns Chasing Value and Serious Money. Disclosure: I do not own shares of AAPL.

It has become apparent to my colleagues and I that Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) is perhaps the most popular company to write about and should you have the slightest question about its products, service, or stock price you are bound to get a few flaming comments from the Apple faithful.

The stock is slightly up from last month when I posted Chasing Value: Apple -- two rights and one wrong closing at $160.18 Friday.

However, this is down about 20% from its high of $202.96, so it is under performing the market by about 5%. No big deal for a stock with a beta of 2.36. Actually, a few of the faithful probably made some good money buying when Apple was down earlier in the year, under $120.

This is one company that people are in love with and that is where some caution is warranted. Just like you might overlook a friend or loved ones idiosyncrasies you might have a tendency to do the same with this stock. Discipline (and perhaps some luck) is required by successful investors and the feedback we get is that some Apple investors have been blinded by the light.

There will come a day when the blockbuster products and features disappoint.

Apple's forward looking P/E of 28 has come down some with the stock price as earnings growth continues, even if Apple says that might slow too. On that I say -- who knows? It has been accused of downplaying its future earnings just to have us marvel at the upside after reporting. We shall have to wait and see.

It has been about six weeks since the 3G iPhone found its way into my 15-year-old's growing hands and he loves it (but owns no stock). All of the features advertised have met his expectations, but, and it is a big but, the battery charge does not last very long unless you consciously conserve by using less of the features.

Perhaps someone can enlighten me and other readers as to why Apple cannot make a removable battery that users can replace themselves. Apple would make more money by selling back-ups that iPhone owners could swap out themselves extending the usefullness of the phone. I carry an extra battery for my phone. If Apple did this I think even a few more people would use it for business.

Sheldon Liber is the CEO of a small private investment company and the principal for design and research at an architecture & planning firm. He writes the columns Chasing Value and Serious Money. Disclosure: I do not own shares of AAPL.

I just had to share this tidbit from Barrons which some of you may have read but Barrons is expensive, so many have not. For those of you that missed it or did not see it elsewhere here is an anonymous quote summing up this years election: It pits a candidate who should have been president eight years ago against a candidate who should be president eight years from now.

Credit is due Alan Abelson (September 1, 2008) and in turn Tom Gallagher of ISI Group for sharing with him.

Ah yes, timing, is so very important. If you were buying stocks last July you probably were getting into the market too late as it hit its highs and right before optimism slammed its big grin smack into a brick wall -- the demise of housing and the subprime market, derivitives with "Triple A" ratings and all. This was rapidly followed by billions and billions of dollars of mark-to-market write downs by most major finanical institutions that left the whole finanical world in dire straights.

This included the collapse of Bear Stearns early on and the current basket cases Fannie Mae (NYSE: FNM) and Freddie Mac (NYSE: FRE) as discussed by my colleague Peter Cohan yesterday.

So if last July 2007 was a bad time to get into the market at its highs, was this past July 2008 also a bad time to get into the market at its recent lows? Perhaps we will not know until next July 2009 when either the slow starter John McCain or early riser Barrack Obama occupy the White House and the first 100 days (that timing thing again) are old news.

Sheldon Liber is the CEO of a small private investment company and the principal for design and research at an architecture & planning firm. He writes the columns Chasing Value and Serious Money.

For several years I held Washington Mutual (NYSE: WM) stock, happy with some slow growth and a very sizable dividend yield. It was so stable for so long that I and others included it in our 'safe havens' selections. This eventually turned into a disaster with the collapse of the financial sector and WaMu along with it.

There is quite a lot of debate as to whether it is time to get back into financial stocks or if we are in for years of more torment in the sector. The bad news and write-downs certainly have not abated recently.

My colleague Zac Bissonnette posted Value investors leap out of financials: sign of a bottom? raising the issue of capitulation by those who might have been hanging on to a shred of hope for a turnaround. Now they are taking their losses. Perhaps they will take advantage of the 30-day rule and get back in next month after booking the losses.

I was out all morning and returned to my desk to find employment and retail numbers sent the Dow Jones Industrial Average tumbling down 345 points today. That made me think it was important to check out how stable my stable stocks -- stocks with the ability to ride out this bearish run -- were doing in bad times.

This update is a spot-check of my earlier post Serious Money: Five stable stocks for troubled times, to see how my picks are holding up so far. Closing prices are for today.

The standard for comparison is the Standard & Poor's 500 Index, which closed on June 30, 2008 at 1,280.00. The S&P closed today at 1,236.82, down 3.37%. The percentage gains do not include dividends. Four out of five of my picks beat all the indices; CB was close.

1) Johnson and Johnson (NYSE: JNJ) -- when recommended the stock closed at $64.34 and paid a 2.89% dividend yield. It finished at $70.45 -- up 9.5%

2) Teva Pharmaceuticals ADR (NASDAQ: TEVA) -- when recommended the stock closed at $45.80 and paid a 1% dividend yield. It finished at $47.92 -- up 4.63%.

This charming pic-toon of moderation comes from one of my talented long time friends, Ron Overmyer, who has allowed me to share it with our readers. He does a weekly email blast and this is one of his tamer commentaries, one that might give us pause to consider what it means to be objective.

I thought I would take a moment to shout out to any moderates in the audience and say that I too have worried that some of my colleagues may have sacrificed their reputations for objectivity by writing some posts that could be viewed as borderline paid political announcements. Some readers have quipped that this should be included in the disclosure. However, on the occasion that this is true, it is usually so blatant that I would characterize such disclosure as redundant.

Several of my posts contain political commentary but I think our posts should be about investing, not swaying voter opinion. I especially avoid one-sided rationalizations that appear to have a specific agenda -- although I readily admit that on occasion the dividing line may be very fine indeed.

I still have not made up my mind about the upcoming election because I find some merit in the positions of each candidate. But to me the real question on our site remains: where do you put your money in the case of either candidate's success?

It has been five weeks since I posted Serious Money: Tempting fate with 10 financials. The results of buying into the following pool of financial stocks at a time when the "hate 'em" factor was at a peak has been tremendous. The over all return has has been 26.3% with eight stocks up and two down.

For investors this might have been too speculative; for traders, they are probably grinning from ear to ear. For me -- we will see where we stand next year. As one of my colleagues reminded me, this is the real test, although I think there is reason for optimism.

The leader of the pack was MBIA Inc (NYSE: MBI), up 228%. In the absence of that gain the appreciation would have only been 3.5%. That beats all the indices but is not as dramatic.

• Citigroup Inc. (NYSE: C) -- $18.45 down 63% from its 52 week high of $49.90; closed yesterday at $19.11, UP 3.57%
  
• Lehman Br Holdings (NYSE: LEH) -- $16.88 down 75% from its 52 week high of $67.73; closed yesterday at $16.13, down 4.44%
• Merrill Lynch (NYSE: MER) -- $26.25 down 67% from its 52 week high of $79.72; closed yesterday at $27.75, UP 5.7%.
• MBIA Inc (NYSE: MBI) -- $4.92 down 93% from its 52 week high of $68.98; closed yesterday at $16.14, UP 228%.
• E*TRADE (NASDAQ: ETFC) -- $3.06 down 84% from its 52 week high of $19.39; closed yesterday at $3.25, UP 6.2.
• East West Bancorp (NASDAQ: EWBC) -- $12.46 down 67% from its 52 week high of $20.88; closed yesterday at $13.01, UP 4.4%.
• Gramercy Capital (NYSE: GKK) -- $6.72 down 77% from its 52 week high of $29.45; closed yesterday at $6.80, UP 1.2%.
• Newcastle Investment (NYSE: NCT) -- $5.88 down 72% from its 52 week high of $20.88; closed yesterday at $6.89, UP 17.18%.
• Wachovia Corp. (NYSE: WB) -- $15.70 down 70% from its 52 week high of $53.10; closed yesterday at $16.65, UP 6%.
• Washington Mutual (NYSE: WM) -- $4.43 down 89% from its 52 week high of $39.48; closed yesterday at $4.24, down 4.29%

In my original post I emphasized that you had to buy the pool for safety. During the last month, we have seen many stories about Lehman Brothers' demise or the collapse of a major bank like WaMu or Wachovia, and if that had happened the gains in MBIA would have made up for the total and complete collapse of any one of them. I have no reason to believe this is immanent. I do have reason to believe the opposite. During the last month I bought additional shares of WaMu, one of the two down stocks at $3.50 per share.

Sheldon Liber is the CEO of a small private investment company and the principal for design and research at an architecture & planning firm. He writes the columns Chasing Value and Serious Money. Disclosure: I own shares of MBI, NCT & WM.

The Democrats have nearly wrapped up their national convention making history by nominating Barack Obama the first African-American, or person of any color for that matter, to lead a major party in pursuit of the presidency. Tonight they put a big bow on the whole affair and start the next leg of the race.

Speaking of big bows it might be in order for Barack to be giving thank-you gifts to the women in his life, Michelle and Hillary -- a little blue box might be just the 'ticket'. In her daily Before the Bell post my colleague Melly Alazraki reported about Tiffany's super quarter:

• U.S. jeweler Tiffany & Co (NYSE: TIF) posted double the quarterly profit from a year ago on Thursday, benefiting from strong international sales and solid tourist spending at its New York flagship store. Net profit was $80.8 million, or 63 cents per share, in its fiscal second quarter, up from $40.5 million, or 29 cents per share a year earlier, and beating estimates of 55 cents per share. Revenue grew 11%. Tiffany also raised its 2008 profit outlook on strong sales in Europe and Asia and expected improvement in the U.S.
  

TIF has been up and down this year, like most stocks, since I wrote about it last February in Serious Money: Pondering: Home Depot, Tiffany & Wells Fargo. Shares have jumped this morning by almost 10%, trading as high as $44.45 after closing yesterday at $39.61.

In the margins of Barron's this week there was a smallish note about the government of Venezuela nationalizing Cemex's (NYSE: CX) operations in that country. For some reason the government of Hugo Chavez thinks that stealing all of the private companies in 'his' country will lead to greater prosperity for 'his' people.

While it is a long journey from Venezuela to Zimbabwe, with its exponential inflation rate and a near-total economic breakdown, every journey begins with a first step. Mr. Chavez will move much closer to this inevitable outcome if he continues on his chosen path.

Motley Fool has a good write-up on the subject in which they detail the sour relations between Chavez and foreign businesses. Chavez recently offered to re-open negotiations with Cemex, but since he has already decided to take the company, that offer is suspect -- you can't negotiate with a gun pointing at you. To date, Chavez has nationalized the telecommunications industry, electricity, and oil. How many steps down the road is that? Why would anyone want to invest in Venezuela?

Since several banks have been taken over by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), many depositors who had limited their accounts to the $100,000 guarantee have been taken by surprise to find the funds are not immediately available for withdrawal, sometimes only learning that fact after waiting hours in line.

It is a peculiarity of government to sometimes punish the innocent with a very logical bureaucratic nuance. In this case, depositors should be aware the FDIC will indeed make good on its promise. The problem is that all accounts with more than $100,000 are frozen until they can sort out who is due what.

Since a $100,000 account can become larger due to collected interest, access to money is held up even if the overage is by a small amount. However, if the account is smaller, then there is no question and the money can be released.

So although funds are not at risk in the long run, in the short run, access may be restricted. Therefore, you may find it safer to keep $99,000 in your account than $100,000, or you should have all the interest automatically deposited in another account so you do not go over the limit.

All of this is not material except in the most extreme of circumstances. On the other hand, that is when a delay in access to your funds is also the most critical.

Sheldon Liber is the CEO of a small private investment company and the principal for design and research at an architecture & planning firm. He writes the columns Chasing Value and Serious Money.

This is a continuation of Serious Money: Choose these 5 stocks over CDs -- DEO, GE, HNP, JPM, MRK, which listed the first five stock ideas. Below are the other picks rounding out the ten.

Nucor Corporation (NYSE: NUE) - This is one of the world leaders in the idea of mini-mills. This smallish steel producer prides itself on running a tight ship, pays a dividend and has a P/E under 9. The steel industry has been volatile in recent years with many mergers and acquisitions. NUE could be a takeover target as the industry continues to consolidate. In the mean time, at Friday's closing price of $51.6, it was paying a 4.05% yield and is near its 52 week low, having dropped from a high of $83.56.

Precision Drilling TR (NYSE: PDS) - This Canadian supplier of gas drilling equipment and manpower is probably the least well known of the companies in this group. It has dropped off its highs with the recent sag in gas prices and may well be a bargain again although not the bargain it was when I posted Chasing Value: Precision Drilling for 10% yield. At Friday's closing price of $21.35 it was paying a 7.1% yield and that is still a wonderful bounty even it the stock only appreciates a little.

The following two-part article puts forth ten stock ideas that I believe would be better off in your investment portfolio than one comprised primarily of Certificates of Deposits (CDs) or bonds, or even government treasuries. This is not to say that CD's do not have value or offer some level of security, but they are long term losers.

A basket of high yielding-high quality stocks can offer a higher return, better tax advantages, and the potential of significant appreciation for those with a long time horizon. Five year CD earning 4%, or a utility stock? I pick the utility every time.

My wife sent me the following quote from Ambrose Redman that I thought would be worth sharing with readers: "Courage is not the absence of fear but rather the judgment that something else is more important than one's fear."

It seems that might be extended to one's view on investing as well. What is really important, the short term or the long term, growth or value, the promise of riches or the hope for stability? In each case I would favor the latter over the former and this brings to mind one of my pal Warren's lessons: Do not buy a stock unless you would be happy to own it even if the market was closed for ten years.

Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE: BRK.A and BRK.B) is certainly a candidate. Take a look at last week's Chasing Value: Considering Berkshire Hathaway... again. However, it does not pay a dividend. The following five quality stocks do:

Every trade publication made mention this week that Huaneng Power International, (ADR) (NYSE: HNP), following the decision by China's National Development and Reform Commission to lift power price tariffs, said it's increased prices by 5.67% in a move effective Aug. 20.

The stock is down from $41.75 in December when I suggested adding it to your watch list, to about $35 ten weeks ago when I last wrote at length about it in Chasing Value: You want power, buy power -- Huaneng Power HNP. It closed today at $28.36, up $0.31 (+1.11%) and is paying a 5.78% dividend yield.

The Motley Fools recently reported that the Chinese goverment will be increasing their efforts to clean up the environment. Along those lines Huaneng Power is in the procees of building the first zero-emissions coal-fired power plant. HNP also announced that it is raising generating capacity to 36,993 MW.

HNP remains one of my favorites for the next few decades as China continues to develop. As long as the dividend remains secure it is a very compelling stock to include in a long term diversified portfolio as a core holding.

Sheldon Liber is the CEO of a small private investment company and the principal for design and research at an architecture & planning firm. He writes the columns Chasing Value and Serious Money. DISCLOSURE: I currently own shares of HNP.

My very first post on bloggingstocks was Microsoft: What are you thinking about? where I ranted that Microsoft Inc. (NASDAQ: MSFT) stock was going nowhere. Over the last 29, months that is exactly what it has done. It closed yesterday at $27.62.

This is not to say it has not had it's moments rising at one time to a 52-week high of $37.50 on a lot of hopes and prayers. Nevertheless, I felt then and do now that MSFT would be better off in pieces Micro'soft' vs Micro'hard' -- Break it up fellas!

If Microsoft wants to compete against Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) and be a dominant player on the web, it should split out its web services as a separate company. That new company would be the right merger partner for Yahoo! (NASDAQ: YHOO). There is no reason to tie the web services business to the future of the Zune (if it has one) or the XBOX entertainment game player and other equally unrelated business.

Over the summer, my twelve-year-old son proclaimed that he was going to be the world's first zillionaire! I had to explain to him that if he achieved that lofty goal he would be the only one because that is more capital than exists today; unless he meant Zimbabwean dollars. I suggested that long before he owned the whole planet there might be a few objections here and there.

This got me thinking about my pal Warren, a frequent topic of conversation in business and investment circles, and how he amassed such a great fortune over the past five decades.

He is a long way from owning the world but he has started to expand his horizons to the international scene. He has bought and sold PetroChina (NYSE: PTR) for a tidy $4 billion dollar profit and he has been hedging against the dollar for the last few years with mixed results. He bought an Israeli metal fabricator and he has splashed about in Europe and Asia.

If you read Berkshire Hathaway's (NYSE: BRK.B) annual reports you will find the chairmans letters, where Buffett discusses both his successes and his failures. It is his failures and the fact that he does not make the right call every time that I wish to draw attention today. BloggingStocks promotes much debate, sometimes name calling, and sometimes worse. However, it is important to understand that even the best investors make mistakes.