Running a quick screen on finviz.com I came up with a list of just under 50 of the hottest stocks in terms of performance.  I pulled out 4 names at the bottom of the list which are takeover candidates.  Here are the criteria:

It seems that for now retail forex is going to be the playground of leveraged traders.  The CFTC has proposed rules that continue to allow for retail traders to leverage their funds by 50-1.  Retail traders are part of the rising volumes in forex.  A report from the BIS shows the global forex volumes continue to surge.  The forex market is evolving rapidly, but the big players remain in place.  In today’s screencast we wonder if there are any pure plays on forex volume.

Long time readers will know that the best return on investment (ROI for you wonky types) in America is lobbying dollars.  For a pittance you can purchase present your case to a Congressman or woman and generate multitudes of that same dollar spent in return.  It appears Federal Reserve and Treasury officials are also on sale (aisles 7 and 10 respectively) so hurry on in, but only those with annual revenue of $500M+ allowed in on the bidding! Our financial oligarchs are top dogs at playing the game but it's across all major industries.

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Citigroup (NYSE:C) plans to almost triple its workforce in China to as many as 12,000 people in the next three years, intensifying its rivalry with HSBC Holdings Plc in the world’s fastest-growing major economy. The New York-based bank will hire more in China than in any other Asia-Pacific country, Stephen Bird, Citigroup’s co-chief executive officer for the region, said yesterday in an interview. The expansion may make China Citigroup’s third-largest market by staff, after the U.S. and Mexico, said spokesman James Griffiths.

This morning the Bank of International Settlements released its Triennial FX survey which is basically the market’s benchmark for forex volume and turnover. To no one’s surprise, volume has surged over the past 3 years. Between April 2007 and April 2010, global foreign exchange market increased by 20 percent from $3.3 trillion to $4.0 trillion, which is now the golden number for forex volume.