A Little Sleuthing Can Lead to Big Profits

Putting the down-card theory to work myself, I spent the past few days prowling obscure news Web sites for down cards and found a few interesting ones right away. Here were three:

In F.A.Z. Weekly, the English-language online edition of the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, a major German paper, I learned that Japanese multinationals are increasingly moving their European headquarters to the Netherlands from Dusseldorf. Bicycle components supplier Shimano, for one, has moved across the border to Nunspeet. "Lower taxes and rents as well as living costs made the move advantageous," Frank Pfeiffer, the company's marketing chief, told FAZ. The item suggests that Germany's current economic troubles are structural, not ephemeral.

In the online edition of a Malaysian newspaper, I learned that retail sales are down in that country for the same reason they are down in the U.S.: war fears. The item suggested that a quick resolution of the war could help the global economy, not just the U.S. economy.

In the online journal Euractiv.com, which covers European Union news, I learned that the alliance's so-called small countries -- Austria, Belgium, Finland, Ireland, Luxembourg, Portugal and The Netherlands -- would meet in a minisummit today to discuss their joint opposition to the way that the EU is run by large countries Germany and France. The item suggested that the very fabric of the European Union was under attack from the inside at the same time that it is troubled externally by diverging approaches to Iraq disarmament.

Plays on Aging Boomers, Weak Consumers

For his part, Jim Williams is looking well beyond the war to deeper demographic and political change. In particular, he says he loves the theme of the aging baby boomers. He believes the boomers are the most "worn out" generation of all time. An article pointing out that people in the 54-plus age group exercise much more than teen-agers made him realize that boomers are going to require a lot of knee, hip and shoulder replacements. For a long in his portfolio, he has settled on Stryker(SYK Quote)), the orthopedic implant manufacturer whose shares made a new high in trading on Monday.