April 15, 2009 (FinancialWire) -- Investrend's newly-launched InvestrendWeblogs.net has now been added to FinancialWire(tm)'s "Blog Watch" list for regular financial blogosphere reports. Recent reports originating from Investrend Weblogs have cited companies such as Charter Communications Inc. (NASDAQ: CHTR), Six Flags Inc. (NYSE: SIX), Citigroup (NYSE: C) and the First Trust NASDAQ Clean Edge Green Energy ETF (NASDAQ: QCLN). Blog entries noted in those reports have included titles such as "Nasty Surprises May Be Lurking" by Dr. Joe Duarte, "Is Geithner's Plan Saving The Economy?" by Genevieve Hawkins, "FINRA Rules Regarding Research, Rumors, Frontrunning And Fiduciary Duty" by Peter Chepucavage and "Alternative Energy Thumbnail Sketches" by Bud Burrell.

Here are excerpts from (and links to) those entries:

Nasty Surprises May Be Lurking

Citing Charter Communications, Inc's (NASDAQ: CHTR) recent bankruptcy filing, Six Flags, Inc.'s (NYSE: SIX) contemplation of doing the same, as well as layoffs by tech giant International Business Machines (NYSE: IBM), a blog entry post by Dr. Joe Duarte at Investrend Weblogs cautions that rosy economic rhetoric may be just that: rhetoric — at least as it applies to the not-so-distant future. (continued at http://www.financialwire.net/2009/04/02/blog-watch-nasty-surprises-may-be-lurking/).

Is Geithner's Plan Saving The Economy?

Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner's toxic clean-up plan for the U.S. financial system, involving the creation of a public-private partnership to bid on up-to one trillion dollars of previously unsellable mortgage backed securities, is being framed by many as a vehicle to shovel public funds to banks and insurance companies. Reaction has been in the same vein as public outcry against American International Group (NYSE: AIG) bonuses, and funneling of bailout money to AIG's counter-parties.

At Investrend Weblogs, Genevieve Hawkins has posted an entry offering some pointed as well as sobering perspectives on the situation. (continued http://www.financialwire.net/2009/04/02/blog-watch-is-geithner%e2%80%99s-plan-saving-the-economy/)

FINRA Rules Regarding Research, Rumors, Frontrunning And Fiduciary Duty

On March 23, 2009, FINRA (the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority) brought findings and finings totaling $2,145,000 against 25 broker-dealer firms, for failures related to their completion of FINRA's (then NASD's) firm self-assessment of mutual fund breakpoint discount compliance. Less than a week prior to that, on March 17th, Citigroup Global Markets, a subsidiary of Citigroup (NYSE: C), incurred $2 million in FINRA fines for a range of trading violations. And on March 25th, two days after the mass broker-dealer levies, Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS) took a $7 million hit from FINRA charges relating to misconduct in an early retirement investment promotion.

Consequently, FINRA has been the subject of much recent discussion in the financial community, and an entry posted Monday at Investrend Weblogs by Peter Chepucavage (a securities attorney with Plexus Consulting Group in Washington D.C.) offered a broad range of insight regarding FINRA. (continued http://www.financialwire.net/2009/04/02/blog-watch-finra-rules-regarding-research-rumors-frontrunning-and-fiduciary-duty/)

Alternative Energy Thumbnail Sketches

In the last 50 days of trading, the NYSE Composite Index has gained 0.55%, the Dow Jones industrial Average has lost 2.36% and the S&P 500 has gained 0.73%. In the same last 50 days, and in sharp contrast to those major indexes, the First Trust NASDAQ Clean Edge Green Energy (NASDAQ: QCLN) has gained 5.41%, the iPath Global Carbon ETN / Claymore LGA Green ETF (NYSE: GRN) is up 5.03% and the PowerShares Cleantech Portfolio ETF (NYSE: PZD) is up 6.96%.

We recently came across a blog post at The Sanity Check web site by green energy veteran, Bud Burrell, which offers a detailed breakdown of the alternative energy industry. (continued at http://www.financialwire.net/2009/04/02/blog-watch-%e2%80%98alternative-energy-thumbnail-sketches%e2%80%99/).

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