easy money investment info

Treasury debt prices climbed Wednesday on gathering doubts that the Federal Reserve’s latest move to unblock credit markets goes far enough to jump-start a stalled global financial system.

Bargain hunting took hold in Treasuries, as aggressive traders decided the Fed will still make bold interest rate cuts to forestall an increasingly fragile economy, which some economists consider is already in a recession.

“There is a realization that the Fed’s move yesterday wasn’t a silver bullet. They are still sort of playing catch-up,” said Carl Lantz, U.S. interest rate strategist at Credit Suisse in New York.

“It helped, but fundamentally things haven’t changed and the economy is still facing a lot of head winds and the Fed is still going to have to ease quite a bit. So I think people were inclined to buy the dip” in Treasury prices, Lantz said.

The Fed said Tuesday that it would exchange up to $200 billion of Treasury securities to banks for an extended 28-day span for a range of collateral including riskier mortgage-backed securities, which has been at the epicenter of the current credit crunch.

Stocks and riskier assets rebounded on Tuesday after the Fed measure was announced, but late on Wednesday stocks slipped as market euphoria cooled.

“We are not through with the negativity in the housing market, credit turmoil and bank balance-sheet write-downs,” said Andrew Richman, managing director of SunTrust’s personal asset management division in West Palm Beach, Fla.

The pessimistic outlook renewed safe-haven bids for Treasuries, analysts said.

The benchmark 10-year Treasury note’s price, which moves inversely to its yield, rose 1 8/32 for a yield of 3.45%, vs. 3.60% late Tuesday.

That’s within 20 basis points of the 10-year note’s Jan. 23 yield trough of 3.285%, the lowest level since 2003.

The two-year Treasury note’s price was up 8/32 for a yield of 1.61%, vs. 1.75% late Tuesday.

According to interest rate futures, traders saw a 76% chance of a 75-basis-point rate cut at the Fed’s March 18 policy meeting, compared with a 60% chance Tuesday.

for an archive of Cramer’s “Mad Money” recaps.

The top member of the “Mad Money” foreign legion is Toyota Motor ™ , Jim Cramer told viewers of his TV show Thursday.

In fact, Cramer likes it so much he owns it for his charitable trust, Action Alerts PLUS, he said.

Today, Ford (F) announced $12.7 billion worth of losses for 2006 from trying to sell cars, he said.

Both it and General Motors (GM) are “suffering” and can’t seem to stop losing money.

Ford and General Motors “can only slash production to stop losing money,” Cramer said, adding that even when these companies have been profitable, it hasn’t been from their car sales.

However, what’s bad for General Motors is good for Toyota, which in turn is good for the U.S., because Toyota provides a lot of job opportunities for Americans, Cramer went on to say.

“Toyota doesn’t just make cars — it makes mad money” and is on its way to becoming the biggest auto producer, he said. Even though the auto business is as cyclical as you can get, Toyota is more of a secular story, which means it doesn’t depend on how the economy is doing, Cramer said.

Nonetheless, he urged viewers to do their homework, which in this case should tell you to buy the stock.

Cramer said that although Toyota has issues regarding recalls of some of its cars, the problems aren’t as bad as those of the competition.

The stock might seem expensive to some, but it dropped nearly $4 Thursday to $131.70, which people should consider taking advantage of, he said.

“If you want to stick with the best, stick with Toyota,” said Cramer. Food for Thought

Cramer welcomed Danny Meyer, restaurateur and author of Setting the Table: The Transforming Power of Hospitality in Business to the show.

Because the book’s theme is service, Cramer asked Meyer how he believes people who run small businesses should be treating their customers.

The first thing Meyer said he notices about companies that are performing well is that they’ve distinguished between service and hospitality. “Hospitality is how you make people feel,” he said.

Cramer agreed and said that “the hospitality question is what’s driving a lot of the higher multiple brands.”

He showed Meyer to a table where food from several different restaurant chains was laid out and asked him which stood out on a food-quality basis.

Meyer said that while restaurant chains might not always serve the best food, many do excel when it comes to their staff and service. That said, Meyer has been very impressed with Chipotle (CMG) , not because it’s necessarily the best burrito he’s going to get in the country, he said, but because he’s seen how the company’s businesses are run.

“They hire for emotional skills and train for technical skills,” he said.

When Cramer expressed his surprise that Meyer picked the Chipotle burrito instead of the Ruth’s Chris Steak House (RUTH) steak, Meyer said, “I am fan of Ruth’s, as well.”

However, its stock might be valued less because in terms of the steak business, there is not a huge amount of great beef in this country, Meyer said.

Moreover, Meyer said he has no idea what has turned McDonald’s (MCD) around from a food perspective.

It’s likely, Meyer said, that McDonald’s was able to turn around not from a burger-and-french-fries standpoint but from a business-and-operations angle. “It has consistently been great at what it’s done,” he said.

Regarding Darden Restaurants (DRI) , Meyer said the company has operates its restaurants with a high degree of consistency.

However, in a place like New York City, where there are hundreds of fine Italian restaurants, he doesn’t believe Darden’s Olive Garden, for example, can compete.

Sell Block

In his “Sell Block” segment, Cramer said that although Goldman Sachs (GS) , which he owns for his charitable trust, Action Alerts PLUS, is down, he’s not selling it here.

In fact, Cramer said he got it wrong when he said the company would earn people $15 a share because it ended up earning $19 a share. He said he got the multiple wrong, as well. Currently, the multiple is at 11 and should go to 15, which in turn should cause the stock to earn investors $25 a share, Cramer said.

The best kind of story, he said, is one in which earnings go up and the multiple lags. But in the case of Goldman Sachs, it will catch up, Cramer said.

Further, he urged viewers to do a little schnitzel on Rite Aid (RAD) and Blockbuster (BBI) , which are both up significantly since he recommended them.

For all you home gamers, a schnitzel is when you sell some, but not all, of your position in a stock and play with the house’s money, Cramer explained. He said that out of 1,000 shares, he would sell 200 and take the gains.

Cramer also advised taking a little — maybe a quarter of a position — of eBay (EBAY) off the table if market players bought it at his recommendation on Dec. 7. Constellation Brands (STZ) is a stock, he said, that doesn’t deserve anyone’s trust. Right here, down $2 from where he likes it, Cramer gave the stock a triple sell.

“If Constellation Brands sold cheap scotch, I wouldn’t be caught dead drinking it on my linoleum floor,” he said. Mad Mail

In his “Mad Mail” segment, Cramer told a mailer he considers Genentech (DNA) a better stock than AstraZeneca (AZN) .

Responding to another viewer, he said he is sticking with his judgment that Hasbro (HAS) is still a good stock.

Cramer also told another viewer that he doesn’t want to own an index fund, and he suggested owning Southern Co. (SO) and Consolidated Edison (ED) instead.

During his “Sudden Death” segment, Cramer was bullish on Reliance Steel & Aluminum (RS) and bearish on First Data (FDC) . Lightning Round

Cramer was bullish on Harley-Davidson (HOG) , China Mobile (CHL) , Corning (GLW) , Allegiant Travel (ALGT) , Acuity Brands (AYI) , Apple (AAPL) , Illumina (ILMN) and ABB (ABB) .

Cramer was bearish on Navteq (NVT) , Garmin (GRMN) , AsiaInfo (ASIA) , Shaw Group (SGR) , Palm (PALM) and Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) .

For more of Cramer’s insights during the Lightning Round, click here.

Want more Cramer? Check out Jim’s rules and commandments for investing from his popular book by http://www.thestreet.com/tsc/cramerbook.

The volatility troubling U.S. markets has migrated south and hit Latin American markets even harder. While the S&P 500 has fallen 7% from its October high, Mexico’s and Brazil’s stock indexes are off by 16% and 10%.

A slowdown in the U.S. could threaten Mexican exports and delay the economy’s recovery. But Brazil remains the most attractive destination for investors. Its GDP is expected to grow about 5% this year and at least 5% next year, according to Moody’s Economy.com. That’s after a 3.7% gain in 2006.

“Strong domestic demand is a main engine of growth, supported by falling interest rates, improving labor conditions and price stability,” economist Alfredo Coutino said in an outlook on Brazil. “We do not foresee any major inflation problems in the short or medium term, since monetary and fiscal disciplines are expected to be maintained.”

Latin American Leader

In the past 12 months, the iShares MSCI Brazil Index () vaulted 87% vs. 16% for the iShares MSCI Mexico Index. () The IShares S&P Latin America 40 Index () surged 55%. The benchmark MSCI EAFE index rose 15%, while the S&P 500 edged up 5%.

IShares MSCI Brazil is heavily weighted in materials at 34% of assets and energy at 22%.

The state oil company, Petrobras, () accounts for 22%, and metals and mining giant Companhia Vale do Rio Doce () is 13%. The third-largest sector, financials, takes up 16% of the portfolio.

Petrobras shares shot up 26% to an all-time high last Thursday upon announcing the discovery of a new oil reserve with as much as 8 billion barrels of crude. The find could increase the company’s reserves by 40%, according to Deutsche Bank, which gave the stock a buy rating.

It’s set to launch two rigs this month. One can pump 100,000 barrels a day and the other 180,000.

Dollar Slide

Third-quarter earnings fell 9% year over year, while sales jumped 20%. Part of the profit losses were blamed on the appreciation of Brazil’s currency against the U.S. dollar. It holds large foreign investments in dollars, so it was negatively affected by the greenback’s decline. Oil extraction costs in Brazil leapt 15% as a result of higher oil equipment prices. Refining costs advanced 3%.

CVRD’s third-quarter earnings popped 37% from a year ago as sales darted 63%. Results of the past three quarters were a hard act to follow. Over those periods, earnings jumped 32%, 143% and 110%, while sales soared 100%, 114% and 104%.

Deutsche Bank rated the stock a buy on the proposed merger of BHP Billiton, () the world’s top mining firm, and Rio Tinto, () the third-largest.

CVRD stands to benefit if the global iron ore industry consolidates from three to two main players, given its high leverage in iron ore, which is estimated to make up 52% of 2008 revenue, analysts said in a client note.

Two U.S. senators have written to the prime minister and three cabinet ministers askingthe government”to crack down on video and audio piracy, specifically banning the recording of movies before they are released to video.”

“Walking into a cinema and surreptitiously videotaping a movie is clearly wrong, clearly inappropriate, and something that should clearly be prohibited,” Senators Diane Feinstein and John Cornyn said inthe March 1 letter.

They said that since the U.S. introduced tougher rules, the business has simply moved north:Camcordings made in Canadarose 24 per cent in 2006, compared with 2005.

The illegal recording and sale of movies will “continue to mushroom” unless the government passes a new law to “help end this most egregious form of copyright piracy,” the senators wrote.

The Conservative government is reportedly trying to develop a new copyright law. A bill proposed by the previous Liberal government diedbefore itcould be passed.

Canadian law today allows patrons to copy movies in theatres, as long as it’s for personal use. It’s illegal if the copy is to be resold, but once the copier says it’s personal, all theatre owners can do is throw them out, the senators said.

In a posting on his blog, University of Ottawa law professor Michael Geist questions the claims. He said reports that Canada is a haven for piracy “invariably present a distorted picture.”

Movie camcording affects onlythree per cent of Hollywood films, he said. In another post, hesaid the economic impact of camcorded DVDs “is little more than a rounding error in a $45 billion US industry.”

The senators also wrote to three ministers who would be involved indeveloping anew copyright law: Justice Minister Robert Nicholson, Industry Minister Maxime Bernier and Heritage Minister Bev Oda.

Watch today’s Markets Desk video.

Stocks made it into positive territory midday Thursday after battling back from morning losses.

At 12:55 p.m. ET, the Nasdaq and Dow were up 0.2%, while the S&P 500 inched up 0.1%. The small-cap S&P 600 trimmed a 0.9% loss to a 0.2% decline. Nasdaq volume was tracking 7% higher and NYSE volume was 3% lower.

At noon, the Philadelphia Fed index, a survey of factory activity in the tri-state area, came out showing a reading of 0.2 in April or unchanged from March. Bond yields rose on the news, to 4.67% on the 10-year note.

Railroads, staffing and container groups traded higher. Gold/silver, hotels and food groups were lower.

Silicon Motion Technology () jumped 1.38, or 6%, to 22.58, regaining its 50-day moving average. Late Wednesday, the company said it would buy Future Communications, a South Korean maker of integrated circuits, for $90 million. Silicon Motion expects the deal to add to 2007 earnings.

Medtox Scientific () added 0.80 to 19.66, bouncing back from two days of losses. On Tuesday, the laboratory services provider delivered a 100% surge in Q1 earnings, easily beating views.

Zumiez () reversed losses after it neared its 50-day moving average. Shares climbed 0.73 to 39.49. The action-sports apparel retailer was still 3% above a 38.04 buy point of an eight-month cup-with-handle.

On the downside, Smith Micro Software () gapped down and dropped 2.33, or 11%, to 17.39. Jefferies & Co. cut the stock to hold from buy. The California-based firm makes software for the wireless industry. It reports earnings on May 2. Analysts see profit rising 31% to 17 cents a share.

Seaspan () slipped 0.74 to 29.01 on huge trade after it priced a secondary offering of 5 million shares at 29.45 each.

11:00 a.m. ET update: Stocks Slump On China News

The major stock indexes were down early Thursday, but were off session lows. Stocks opened sharply lower on fears that the Chinese government may have to raise interest rates to slow down the country’s blistering economy.

At 10:45 a.m. ET, the small-cap S&P 600 lost 0.5%. The Nasdaq fell 0.4%, bouncing back from a 0.8% decline. Meanwhile, the S&P 500 slipped 0.2%. %. Nasdaq volume was tracking 3% higher and NYSE volume was tracking 8% higher.

China’s gross domestic product bolted 11.3% in the first quarter, beating estimates of 10.3% and up from 10.4% growth in the final quarter of 2006. The mainland’s consumer price index jumped 3.3% on a year-over-year basis, above China policy makers’ comfort zone of 3%.

The Shanghai composite tumbled 4.5% Thursday, the biggest decline since Feb. 27’s 9% plunge.

On the downside, Alliance Data Systems () gapped down and dropped 3.80, or 6%, to 62.49. Late Wednesday, the provider of transaction and credit services delivered a 12% rise in Q1 earnings, beating views. It had grown earnings 30% to 63% in the past four quarters. The company also lifted its full-year earnings outlook ahead of analysts’ estimates.

Logitech () gapped below its 50-day moving average and tumbled 2.33, or 8%, to 26.03. Before the open, the computer peripheral maker reported fiscal Q4 earnings above views. However, its sales disappointed. The stock was nearing its 200-day moving average.

On the upside, Reliance Steel & Aluminum () reversed early losses and ran 2.20 to a record high of 54.04. Before the open, the metal service firm said first-quarter income grew 36% to $1.46 a share, beating views. Sales leapt 86% to $1.84 billion, thanks to strong demand and recent acquisitions. The company projected Q2 profit of $1.45 to $1.55 a share. Consensus estimates are for $1.46.

Drug maker Schering Plough () gapped up, rising 2.20 on huge volume to 30.75. It reported sales of Remicade, for rheumatoid arthritis, and an allergy medication, Nasonex, helped push Q1 earnings up 50% to 36 cents a share. Revenue rose 17% to $3 billion. Both results topped views by a wide margin. Thursday’s rise pushed the stock, which broke out of an eight-week flat base in March, to a five-year high.

Faro Technologies () gapped up and gained 1.01 to a two-year high of 29.70 after A.G. Edwards upgraded the maker of 3-D measurement systems to buy from hold. The stock cleared a 29.55 buy point of a three-weeks-tight pattern. Volume was tracking more than seven times average.