A Fool Looks Back

By Rick Aristotle Munarriz
January 3, 2009 | Comments (2)

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News on the health of Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) CEO Steve Jobs was all over the place this week. Some published reports indicated that the iconic chieftain is in great shape, while a more gruesome story from Gizmodo indicated that Jobs' end is near.

The speculation is slightly ghastly, but Apple shareholders have had to grapple with the whipsawing rumors of Jobs' health since last month's announcement that Apple will no longer attend the annual Macworld conference after this year. Succession plans at Apple will be at least one of the major things to watch for come 2009.

Investors will naturally face many other pressing questions in the year ahead:

This past year was painful, and 2009 may not get any better. However, with so many questions barreling toward answers, at least we know the new year will be revelatory.

Briefly in the news
Now let's take a quick look at some of the other stories that shaped our week:

  • As other companies scale back customer perks, Netflix (Nasdaq: NFLX) is doing the opposite. The company will now ship out extra titles in a subscriber's queue -- at no additional cost -- if the top available title is being shipped from a distant distribution center. What the DVD rental giant spends in shipping and studio royalties, it will hopefully recoup in customer retention costs.
  • Fourteen Fool writers served up their candidates for the top stock in 2009, and then let our readers vote for the winner. The victor? Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ). Its blend of pharmaceuticals and consumer staples is apparently top dog as we head into this unsure 2009.

Until next week, I remain,
Rick Munarriz

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Johnson & Johnson is a Motley Fool Income Investor recommendation. Microsoft is a Motley Fool Inside Value selection. Netflix, eBay, and Apple are Motley Fool Stock Advisor selections. Try any of our Foolish newsletters today, free for 30 days.

Longtime Fool contributor Rick Munarriz recommends windshield wiper fluid when trying to look back. He is also part of the Rule Breakers newsletter research team, seeking out tomorrow's ultimate growth stocks a day early. He does not own shares in any of the stocks in this story, save for Netflix. The Fool has a disclosure policy.

Comments from our Foolish Readers

Help us keep this a respectfully Foolish area! This is a place for our readers to discuss, debate, and learn more about the Foolish investing topic you read about above. Help us keep it clean and safe. If you believe a comment is abusive or otherwise violates our Fool's Rules, please report it via the Report this Comment Report this Comment icon found on every comment.

  • Report this Comment On January 03, 2009, at 12:38 PM, 2basket1egg wrote:

    Timing is nearly everything, Started investing in May of 2008 at age 85. Thought I was smart! Now I know that I really gualify as a fool..My plan for investing was going to be, do research, diversify and hold. This is the plan that I used in over 60 years of farming. Thankfully I did not invest more than I could afford to lose. I invested in Gold Mining,two Utilites Compaines,one Auto Manufacturing Co.,one solar Mfg.Co. one steel manufacturing Co.and one company that produces an essential mineral used throughout the world to increase yields on grain crops. In my mind that was diversification. Just as raising hogs, cattle, corn and wheat was considered not putting all your eggs in one basket when I first started farming.

    Now many large farms raising just one crop such as corn have driven out most of the small farms that used to diversify. I have no intention of baling out, I will stay with my original plan on investing. Investing has been a very education experiance. It has led me to websites that I never knew existed. Of course I hope to at least get my original investments back but I may not live long enough. I feel for the young people and the baby boomers who have been lead to believe that taking care of their own retirement by investing in the stock market is necessary because social security was doomed to fail. That's it have go good year fools.

  • Report this Comment On January 04, 2009, at 1:48 AM, Patricia013 wrote:

    Will Ebay be able to lure buyers and sellers back after a bumpy 2008? Heck no...not until they make a complete turnaround BACK to what their roots were - back to the formula that made them what they are today. If they continue beat up their sellers they're doomed. If they to continue to change the site to a retail business model - without putting the sweat equity into it then they're doomed! They've destroyed the businesses of thousands of small sellers and now those sellers are listing their goods elsewhere and watching Ebay crumble!

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