An article and commentary on the rumored Microsoft/Facebook merger talks.

Before deciding how much you want to risk per trade, you should start with how much you are willing to lose per month, so to withstand any possible drawdown.

Before March 2000, in the bull market, whisper numbers were all the rage. In fact, these estimates became so popular for the outlandish pre-”tech bubble” gainers that Wall Street often notched real estimates lower than actual expectations just to be able to “beat the consensus.” Today, earnings whispers are still used, but not as confidently as before.

Fannie Mae reported larger than expected losses today...and the stock is up more than 5%. Click here for a clear analysis of why Fannie Mae is not a good investment at this time.

I am not for sure about that answer but I have to admit the charts overall still look like they are trying to make a bottom. But like I have continuously warned about: if volume does not come back into this market on the upside, we are in danger of reversing some decent base building and that will probably discourage a lot of market participants which could open the door to more selling.

Jim Cramer’s Mad Money Stock Picks for Tuesday April 29 2008. All of Jim Cramer’s stock picks for buying and selling are listed on our website. madmoneypicks.net

The stock market continued its losses on Tuesday after Fannie Mae, D.R. Horton Inc. and Swiss bank UBS reported quarterly losses. We also recorded a new record for crude oil, $121.49.

Take-Two developed the controversial and equally successful "Grand Theft Auto" series of video games. They were wise to not bite on EA's hostile bid, and the odds of that deal materialize diminish each day.