Five for Friday (on Thursday Night)

With tomorrow the July 4h holiday for those of us in the US, this week's Five for Friday gets bumped up to Thursday evening. Here are a few things to chew on over the next few days, in between the cookouts and fireworks.

• These are tough times for value investors. And the only solace for many of us is the fact that many of the world's best value pros have been doing poorly as well. Forbes is running an article about Tweedy, Browne -- one of the great value firms based in New York. Forbes points out Tweedy's recent lackluster performance. But correctly recommends that this is a good time to put money in their funds (if you go the mutual fund route). The article says, "Not all of Tweedy's bets work out. Consumer finance companies are among the most entrepreneurial in Japan but got hit by new lending regulations and interest rate caps last year. Tweedy got out of Aiful before the shares plunged but wasn't as lucky with Takefuji." A reader told me sometime back that Tweedy had bailed on Takefuji, thinking maybe I should, too. I didn't, and have been saying that these two are mistakes.

• General Motors (GM/NYSE) has been getting slammed, virtually all year. I'm holding and have even thought about adding to my position. The reason I haven't is because so many of my holdings are underwater that I can't add to them all, and I'm not smart enough to know which is THE BEST to add to. If I was that smart, I would put all my money in one stock, use margin, and eventually retire to Lyford Cay and look up Sir John Templeton. Lacking such intelligence I spread my investment capital over different positions. And right now it seems prudent to continue my quest to build up a portfolio of 25 holdings.

• You've read me say several times that Bloomberg has a nice roster of columnists, available for free on their website. Among them is Michael Sesit, who writes from Paris. He's lately been filing columns near the end of each week, which is refreshing because there's not nearly as much new material out there on weekends. Sesit's latest column offers up a potpourri discussing global inflation, money hubs in the Middle East, and prospects for further regulation of US banking.

• The Spectator has two excellent business articles in its new issue. Richard Orange writes the Indian tea industry is enjoying a revival -- but that the traditional tea-planters’ way of life, established by the British, is passing into history. And Christopher Fildes pens a thoughtful piece on the market's favorite scapegoat: short sellers.

• Previously, you read me mention Africa Confidential, the authoritative newsletter covering and shedding light on goings-on in the Dark Continent. Subscriptions are REALLY expensive, but this week the publication is again making its feature article free on its website. And again the feature deals with Zimbabwe. And, it even mentions an Africa play I've been keeping an eye on (but money out of): "Adventurous investors are still snapping up assets on the cheap. The Lonrho subsidiary Lonzim, with a stake in the telecommunications company Celsys Limited, Paynet and Millpal chemicals, has announced an investment in Fly540, a low-cost airline to be based in Harare."

Happy Independence Day to everyone in the US. And a great weekend to everyone else around the globe.