The Maven: Vice's Vexing Day

And The Wall Street Journal reports this morning that Intel(INTC Quote) will introduce a long-delayed model of Itanium, "one of the most ambitious chips ever," tomorrow, which means Tuesday.

Also in the Journal this morning, a good, smart look at AnnTaylor(ANN Quote). In sum: The stores look good, the stock has done great ... but look out. Writes Steven D. Jones, "some of its biggest costs -- leases on its more than 800 stores -- aren't even reflected on its balance sheet, a common practice that accounting rule makers may look to overhaul."

I hate when that happens.

And on Friday, amid the bombing, we started to look at how some Israeli exporters might make a good -- though courageous -- trade. The stocks have been kicked around badly, but considering how much of their business comes from overseas trade and that the bombing, while terrible, may prove to be isolated to the north and short-term -- well, why not?

The latest update from The Jerusalem Post early this morning is not good, but in the cold-reasoned world of the trader, the bombing is still contained. Unlike, that is, the appetite for gambling.