No sooner do we get done trash-talking Google than we hear they may be jockeying to take over the country’s (the world’s?!) cell phone business. If such an ambitious coup sounds implausible, click here for a persuasive prospectus from one Don Reisinger, writing for C-Net news.  All they’ve got to do, says Reisinger, is win the FCC’s upcoming auction of 700MHz wireless spectrum – as how can they not? -- and the takeover will be as easy as shooting fish in a barrel.

Few would challenge the assertion that Google has the competency and self-assurance to pull it off. But even more compelling, writes Reisinger, “is the nature of the relationship between Google and telecommunications companies. Not only do they basically hate each other, they sit on directly opposite sides in the debate for Net neutrality. Simply put, I think Google would love to significantly damage these companies.”

Has Gordon Gekko returned from the 1980s wearing sandals, a Gap Tshirt and cargo pants?  For all we know, Google co-founder Sergey Brin eats guys like Gekko for breakfast. But he’s not known for such toughness, and if Google has the jugular instinct, it has been nicely camouflaged by the calliope of colors in the company’s logo, as well as by the “Who, us?” demurrals when asked whether some of their Web-based applications have specifically targeted Microsoft’s Office suite.

Reisinger’s provocative think-piece came too late on Friday to save GOOG from the 50-point thrashing it received after the company reported earnings that fell every so slightly shy of the Street’s perversely all-important expectations. However, by day’s end, the stock had recouped more than 20 points of it.  That will likely suffice to have scared the bejeezus out of shorts, and to coax forth some panic buying by them when GOOG starts trading on Monday morning. Our 567.78 rally target -- $9 above the all-time high -- still stands.

We Had Gold’s Number

Speaking of price targets, the Rick’s Picks chat room was a good place to be on Friday, since the discussion was filled with them. One in particular, a 687.30 Hidden Pivot in Comex August Gold, worked out especially well for longs and short alike. It was announced when we first entered the chat room about an hour into the session. Gold had traded no higher than $683 when the following was posted: [“Good morning.] 687.30 is coming as a short term top in August Gold.”  In fact, as the chart below shows, the August futures topped with a spike to 687.60 a short while later. We had it in mind to get short there but were pleasantly surprised when an enterprising subscriber let it be known that he had bought Gold futures when the rally target was first aired. He posted as follows:  “Nice call on gold, Rick. I went long one contract at 683.3. Set a stop at 682.2 and a sell limit at 686.6 (should have put in your 687.4) but I tried to be disciplined and risk one dollar for every three dollars of  potential profit. It worked. Thanks.”

(Click on chart to enlarge)

Some subscribers may also have enjoyed a pleasant ride in August Crude, where a 76.15 rally target had been predicted a couple of days earlier.  Here is the recommendation exactly as it appeared in the Touts section of Rick’s Picks:  “Crude didn't pull back nearly enough to fill our stingy bid, so we ended the day empty handed. However, since the 76.15 rally target given earlier remains valid, we are still planning on shorting it with a very tight (i.e., 5-cent) stop-loss.” In fact, the August contract topped at exactly 76.13 on Friday, two cents shy of the target, before falling nearly a dollar to a 75.16 low.

Would that every recommendation proffered on Friday had been as successful. The spoiler was a bottom-fishing foray we recommended intraday in the E-mini S&P. Looking for the session’s best bounce on a day when ugliness prevailed, we stepped in to buy at a Hidden Pivot support at 1542.25, stop 1540.75. Alas, even though this stop was wider than those we typically use in this vehicle, it was not quite wide enough. The futures bounced six points from a low at 1539.25, only to find a more durable bottom a while later at 1537.25. It wasn’t that Hidden Pivots didn’t work so much as our having missed an “obvious” pattern that worked even better. We’ve included a chart that shows this pattern in Monday’s Touts. See if you don’t agree.