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Yahoo! News: Stock Markets News![]() 22 Nov 2008 at 2:32am AFP - Wall Street enters the year-end holiday season this coming week with little to cheer about as the worst bear market in decades appears to be grinding on. ![]() 21 Nov 2008 at 6:14pm AP - Wall Street put a stop to a terrifying decline and stormed higher Friday as President-elect Barack Obama appeared ready to tap the chief of the New York Federal Reserve as the next treasury secretary and hand him the herculean task of righting the U.S. financial system. ![]() 21 Nov 2008 at 6:12pm Reuters - U.S. stocks stormed higher in a late rally on Friday to cap another volatile week as investors welcomed reports that President-elect Barack Obama has chosen his point person to combat the U.S. economic crisis, instilling confidence about the administration's ability to take action. ![]() 21 Nov 2008 at 6:05pm Reuters - Wall Street faces stiff headwinds in the week ahead, the fate of Citigroup largest among them, that stand in the way of building on Friday's big rally and preventing November from winding up as one of the worst months for stocks on record. 21 Nov 2008 at 5:33pm Reuters - Target Corp on Friday rejected as "highly speculative" proposals made by hedge fund manager William Ackman that he said would unlock the value of its real estate and boost the discount retailer's sagging stock price. 21 Nov 2008 at 4:47pm Reuters - President-elect Barack Obama's nominee for U.S. agriculture secretary will face daunting tasks ranging from tightening farm subsidy rules to improving school meals, lawmakers and farm groups said on Friday. ![]() 21 Nov 2008 at 2:42pm Reuters - New York Sen. Hillary Clinton has accepted an offer from President-elect Barack Obama to become U.S. secretary of state, joining her former Democratic rival to help guide U.S. foreign policy, the New York Times said on Friday. ![]() 21 Nov 2008 at 12:51pm Reuters - Oil rose slightly on Friday, after falling more than 7 percent the day before, as stock markets recovered from early lows caused by continuing economic gloom. ![]() 21 Nov 2008 at 12:03pm AFP - London shares were in the backfoot again Friday after a dire manufacturing report compounded fears that a deep and prolonged recession is ever more likely. ![]() 21 Nov 2008 at 11:06am AP - European markets fell further Friday as early gains on Wall Street were wiped out amid mounting fears about the U.S. economy and the future of banking giant Citigroup Inc. in particular. Asian stocks closed mostly higher earlier in the day. ![]() 21 Nov 2008 at 5:06pm Reuters - President-elect Barack Obama wants New York Federal Reserve President Timothy Geithner as his Treasury secretary, news that sparked a stock market surge on Friday and fostered confidence that Obama may be taking up the U.S. economic reins before his inauguration in January. ![]() 21 Nov 2008 at 6:56am Reuters - Visa Inc said it might incur "significant" charges in fiscal 2009, according to an SEC filing. Highlights: 21 Nov 2008 at 6:23am AP - Share prices on the London Stock Exchange were higher at midday Friday. 21 Nov 2008 at 5:13am AP - Hong Kong stocks advanced Friday, breaking a four-day losing streak, on bargain-hunting and speculation that China will cut interest rates over the weekend. 21 Nov 2008 at 5:00am AP - India's benchmark stock index jumped 5.5 percent Friday, bolstered by a regional rally and expectations the government will soon take more steps to stimulate the economy. |
Google News - Business 22 Nov 2008 at 9:33pm ![]() China Daily Reuters - 6 hours ago WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President-elect Barack Obama has chosen Timothy Geithner as Treasury secretary and Lawrence Summers as director of the White House National Economic Council, a transition aide said on Saturday. Obama economic team starts to take shape CNN Frenzy over Obama cabinet posts The Sun Daily CNNMoney.com - The Associated Press - Newsday - Financial Times all 3,004 news articles 22 Nov 2008 at 11:17pm ![]() China Daily Bloomberg - 4 hours ago By Shamim Adam and Bill Faries Nov. 23 (Bloomberg) -- Leaders of Pacific Rim nations promised to work together on further “extraordinary” steps to combat the global economic crisis and pledged to refrain from erecting new barriers to trade and ... Arroyo joins APEC summit, global financial crisis high on agenda ABS CBN News APEC Leaders Say No to Protectionism, Yes to Doha ABC News Hindu - Straits Times - Reuters - Channel News Asia all 894 news articles 23 Nov 2008 at 2:54am The News Journal - 46 minutes ago By SHARON SILKE CARTY and BARBARA HAGENBAUGH • USA Today • November 23, 2008 When the heads of General Motors, Chrysler and Ford went to Capitol Hill last week, they tried to persuade lawmakers that if they go under, an already fragile US economy will ... Media's negative view of Big 3 hastening their demise Press of Atlantic City Should the government bail out the US auto industry? Eagle Tribune The Associated Press - Barron's - University Register - Milwaukee Journal Sentinel all 2,348 news articles 22 Nov 2008 at 11:49pm Washington Post - 3 hours ago By Binyamin Appelbaum and Ellen Nakashima When Countrywide Financial felt pressured by federal agencies charged with overseeing it, executives at the giant mortgage lender simply switched regulators in the spring of 2007. UPDATE 1-US thrifts have $4 bln 3rd quarter loss - OTS Reuters Florida thrifts losses mount Bizjournals.com Free Internet Press - The Associated Press - guardian.co.uk - Sarasota Herald-Tribune all 149 news articles 23 Nov 2008 at 3:08am MarketWatch - 32 minutes ago By MarketWatch SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Members of the board of directors at General Motors Corp. may be at odds with the ailing automaker's top executive in their willingness to consider all options, even bankruptcy, according to a published ... GM board: Bankruptcy a real possibility Detroit Free Press GM says board doesn't see bankruptcy as option The Associated Press New York Times - Los Angeles Daily News - Reuters - TheStreet.com all 339 news articles 22 Nov 2008 at 9:50am ![]() The Age New York Times - 17 hours ago Citigroup has $2 trillion in assets and operations in dozens of countries, including branches in Shanghai. Its shares tumbled again on Friday. Citigroup Shares Keep Sinking BusinessWeek Citigroup's Pandit Doesn't Plan to Break Up Company (Update1) Bloomberg MarketWatch - guardian.co.uk - The Observer - TIME all 1,644 news articles 22 Nov 2008 at 9:31am ![]() Los Angeles Times MarketWatch - 18 hours ago By John Letzing, MarketWatch SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- In the biggest number of bank seizures yet on a single day, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. Downey Seized, Sold to US Bancorp as Mortgage Fallout Spreads Bloomberg PFF now US Bank Contra Costa Times Bizjournals.com - New York Times - Washington Post - Reuters all 809 news articles 23 Nov 2008 at 3:11am ![]() WKRG-TV News-Leader.com - 28 minutes ago Hundreds of thousands of Americans are changing their Thanksgiving travel plans because of tough economic conditions. But most are still making those trips, according to AAA. Good forecast, lower gas prices still may not spur Thanksgiving travel Sacramento Bee Surviving the holiday travel crush with kids Houston Chronicle Monroe News Star - El Paso Times - Press-Enterprise - WBIR-TV all 584 news articles 22 Nov 2008 at 7:17pm ![]() Straits Times Bizjournals.com - 8 hours ago Retailers are rolling out the red carpet for shoppers to get off to a good start on Black Friday - as the day after Thanksgiving has come to be known. Consumer Reports: What to Know Before Hitting the Stores on Black ... MarketWatch US EQUITIES WEEK AHEAD:Retailers' 3Q Results, Home-Sales Data CNNMoney.com Bellingham Herald - Muncie Star Press - MiamiHerald.com - Cherry Hill Courier Post all 376 news articles 23 Nov 2008 at 2:09am San Francisco Chronicle - 1 hour ago Oil costs one-third what it did this summer. Gasoline prices now average less than $2 per gallon, their lowest level in more than three years. Placing Bets on Energy New York Times Heating cost surprise: Falling prices brighten outlook for natural gas El Paso Times Brazosport Facts - The News-Press - MarketWatch - Wall Street Journal all 445 news articles 23 Nov 2008 at 1:36am ![]() China Daily Washington Post - 2 hours ago By Jeff Kearns Hedge funds cut stock holdings by almost two-thirds from a year ago, signaling that they are less willing to take risks amid tighter credit and almost $1 trillion in write-downs and losses, Goldman Sachs Group said. Bank stocks get hammered again CNNMoney.com Is this the final death knell for Citigroup? The Observer BusinessWeek - International Herald Tribune - The Japan Times - Financial Times all 230 news articles 22 Nov 2008 at 2:37pm New York Times New York Times - 13 hours ago A Financial Supermarket Exposure to obscure mortgage instruments from Citigroup’s trading operations has taken a severe toll on the company, which provides financial services ranging from retail banking to advising companies on mergers. Wall St Week Ahead: Stocks eye Citigroup, Geithner's next moves Reuters Pay at top truly out of whack Houston Chronicle Straits Times - International Herald Tribune - Bloomberg - TopNews all 604 news articles 22 Nov 2008 at 10:44am ![]() BBC News Newsweek - 16 hours ago He wants to build a new security bloc and a gas cartel, and transform Moscow into a financial hub. By Owen Matthews and Anna Nemtsova | NEWSWEEK Please fill in the following information and we'll email this link. Short-timer Bush has last meet with Russian leader International Herald Tribune Unpaid Wages Spur Reminders of 1998; Putin Pledges Help Wall Street Journal Reuters - MarketWatch - guardian.co.uk - The Associated Press all 963 news articles 22 Nov 2008 at 9:50am AFP Wall Street Journal - 17 hours ago By JUNE FLETCHER Q. I am in default on 12 jointly-owned properties that I am trying to liquidate as part of a divorce. All of my properties are currently worth less than the mortgage balances, due to the tough real estate market. Mortgage Rates Continue to Fall Washington Post Fannie, Freddie ride foreclosure freeze tide Legal News Line BusinessWeek - Reuters - Bizjournals.com - Emailwire all 633 news articles 21 Nov 2008 at 7:53pm ![]() Washington Post CNNMoney.com - Nov 21, 2008 New CEO Mike Duke has a chance to clean the political slate at the Republican-leaning retailer. By Suzanne Kapner, writer Incoming Wal-Mart CEO Mike Duke has run the retail giant's international operations. For Exiting Wal-Mart CEO, a Victory Lap BusinessWeek Wal-Mart Replaces Chief Scott With Overseas Head Duke (Update5) Bloomberg Washington Post - Wall Street Journal - Reuters - Forbes all 713 news articles |
GrowYourFunds 8 Jul 2008 at 4:40pm If you have been watching the news at all today you have probably already hard of Boone Pickens and his new plan to help our country become less dependent on foreign oil. The Texas oil tycoon is making all the rounds trying to get the word out about his new website PickensPlan.com. Earlier today Pickens was on Squawk Box touting his plan, and also had a major article in today's USA Today. The basics of the plan are that Boone Pickens believes America should utilize wind power as a major source of our electric power generation. He believes that more than 20% of our country's electric power usage could be wind generated within the next few years. Pickens is putting his money where his mouth is and building the world's largest wind farm in Texas. So how does the wind power help our situation with gasoline prices? Pickens believes that natural gas is the cleanest form of transportation fuel available today. The problem is, our country doesn't use natural gas for transportation becaue it is being used for electric generation. Pickens believes that since these natural gas resources are cheaper (less than $1 gallon right now in some places) and are available in the United States we should use these for fuel transportation. By using our country's natural gas resources we could dramatically reduce our need for foreign oil, which in turn should drive down the price of oil substantially. 7 Jul 2008 at 4:04pm Today was one of those days on wall street where there are violent intraday swings in both directions. The market opened strong, but by 2 pm the Dow was down more than 160 points. Between 2pm eastern and 3:45 the Dow jumped back into positive territory for the day, before sellers rushed back in and the Dow finished down by 57 points. If you just pick up the paper and see the final numbers on today's trading you'll think it was a monotonous minor selloff, but that was far from the case. Why do these kind of violent intraday swings happen in the market? When do these swings usually take place? How can you profit from this extreme volatility? These are the questions I will attempt to answer in this post. 6 Jul 2008 at 3:06pm On Thursday the June employment report was released by the Labor Department. The news wasn't good, but it could have been worse. Employers cut 62,000 workers in the month of June and the jobless rate held steady at 5.5%. Also in the report, April and May's job losses were increased by 52,000 total. Through the first half of 2008 the U.S. economy has now lost 438,000 jobs. Let's put the job losses into a little bit of perspective. In 2002 during the most recent economic recession job losses were averaging over 200,000 a month. What we are seeing right now is not the sign of a deep recession, but there are some signs it could be getting worse rather than better. Just this past week the jobless claims jumped to 404,000, the highest level since March. In general any number above 400,000 is considered recessionary. Any continuance of an increase in the jobless claims numbers will almost certainly show up in the next couple employment reports. 2 Jul 2008 at 11:35am As we all know, the stock market has been hit very hard in the last few weeks. There are many blue chip names that have been beaten down to levels they haven't seen in years. While it may not seem that way right now, there are going to prove to be some real deals in the long run on some companies that have proven themselves time and time again. These are five names that I believe could prove to be a value at today's price sometime in the not too distant future. Top 5 Beaten Down Blue Chips General Electric (NYSE:GE) There isn't one thing that stands out in my mind as a reason to buy GE except for the fact that this stock is just too cheap on a historical valuation basis. The stock trades lower today than it did 10 years ago. The dividend yield is a very impressive 4.62%. Give this company time to turn it around and rake in the yield while your waiting.Walgreen Company (NYSE:WAG) WAG isn't even my favorite name in this space, that is CVS Caremark (NYSE:CVS), but this company has proven itself numerous times. The company got slightly behind when CVS joined with Caremark, but Walgreen is getting things back together. They are cutting costs nicely and should be able to return to constant double-digit earnings growth. UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH) Anything that can possibly go wrong for UNH has done so in the past couple of years. The whole managed care group has been beaten down badly in the last few months because of a major slowdown in earnings growth, but the business29 Jun 2008 at 9:51pm In a tough market like we have right now you will hear a lot of experts say that high dividend stocks are the safest stocks to be in. This notion is true, but there is one big caveat, only if their dividend is safe. The amateur investor can login to Google Finance or Yahoo Finance and check for the highest yielding stocks and just buy the very highest, but trust me when I say it isn't that easy. Like many other things in life, if a yield seems too high to be true, it probably is. Case in point is KeyCorp (NYSE:KEY), which on June 12th announced it would be cutting its dividend by 50% because it needed to save money and raise new equity. Those investors who had decided to purchase KEY just before that because of its great dividend were surely disappointed. This is just one example, and it can certainly be much worse in some circumstances. When companies are having a great amount of financial difficulties it isn't unusual to see them get rid of their dividend altogether. Currently the highest yielding stock on the S&P 500 is MBIA (NYSE:MBI). The stock is yielding 32.61% despite the fact that it is widely being rumored to be a possible bankruptcy candidate in the near future. Do you really think this is a good stock to buy based on a great dividend payout? Of course it isn't. So what kind of dividend stock is the type you want to look for? Look for a company that is growing earnings at the same time it is growing its dividend. You don't want the dividend yield to be high because the stock has fallen to the lowest of lows, rather you want a stock that has a good solid dividend yield because the company raises its yield consistently. A good example of this is Johnson and Johnson (NYSE:JNJ). The company yields just under 3% a year, but has raised its dividend payout for an unbelievable 46 straight years! Now that is a dividend stock that an investor can count on. Don't be lured into thinking that the highest dividend yielding stocks are the best dividend stock investments. Do your research and check out the financial standing of the company. In order to growyourfunds you can't take the easy way out! 27 Jun 2008 at 4:42pm One of the most interesting websites I have seen that has been recently created is howispentmystimulus. The site is dedicated to collecting stories from people who have received economic stimulus checks on exactly how they used that money. How does it work? First, you simply go to the website and click on the tell your story button at the top of the site to get to the entry page. You then must upload a photo of either yourself or your purchase and then you start typing up your story in 250 characters or less. After putting your name and address information in the entry, you'll be ready to submit your entry. The entry process itself is very simple. The site puts all the entries into categories so that users who browse to the site can see what categories have the most entries. Currently, travel and vacation is just edging out vehicle and gas for the top spot on the list. The debt and credit card section is fourth and the invest/save section is ranked sixth most popular. Based on my earlier post regarding what you should do with your stimulus check, you know that I believe the wisest move is to pay off all your debts and whatever is left over, invest it. 26 Jun 2008 at 9:12pm All across the street today there was a heated discussion going on of whether the Federal Reserve is to blame for the recent market action and today's steep losses in all the major indices. Many out there were saying that by holding rates steady yesterday the Fed was abandoning its strong dollar and inflation fighting policy stance. Larry Kudlow, who has a nightly show on CNBC, made his opinion known tonight. Kudlow said that he believes today's action was certainly because of the Fed and that oil and gold prices today back that up. He is certainly not alone in his thoughts, as many on the street believe that the Fed has dropped the ball and that prices are going to get much worse in a hurry. Are those who believe the Fed is being too soft on inflation and the dollar spot on, or are they off the mark? This is a very difficult question which has more than one logical answer. 26 Jun 2008 at 6:26pm Things got very ugly today on the street as stocks were hit with their second largest down day this year. Good news was nowhere to be found today as oil topped $140, and Goldman downgraded General Motors and Citigroup. The Dow tanked by 358 points. The Nasdaq plunged 80 points. The broader S&P 500 fell 39 points, or 3%. There was nowhere to hide in the stock market today, but the biggest sector losers were financials, technology, and capital goods. Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) shares shed another 6.76% and hit a new low today after announcing it will layoff 7,500 employees after the Countrywide deal closes. American Express (NYSE:AXP) hit a 5 year low today, falling 5.01% on strong volume. Fannie Mae (NYSE:FNM) shares plunged by 7.15% in today's trading. NYSE Euronext (NYSE:NYX) fell 5.07% and hit a 52 week low. Principal Financial (NYSE:PFG) also hit a new low today, falling by 7.6%. Tech stocks were hurt by investors belief that Research in Motion future forecasts cast some doubts about tech spending in the next few quarters. Baidu.com (Nasdaq:BIDU) shares lost 5.22% on average volume. Salesforce.com (NYSE:CRM), which has been one of the strongest tech stocks of late, fell by 5.12% today. Sandisk Corporation (Nasdaq:SNDK) fell 5.05% and has now lost almost 60% in the last year. MEMC Electronic Materials (NYSE:WFR) fell 5.23% as all of the solar plays weakened throughout the day. The capital goods sector was also hit hard today. Jacobs Engineering Group (NYSE:JEC) fell 5.14% on the day as the construction services group fell across the board. Manitowoc (NYSE:MTW) plunged more than 7% on the session. Lennar Corporation (NYSE:LEN) shares plunged 8.44% during the session, but are rising afterhours as the company reported smaller than expected losses. Notable 52 week lows Honeywell International (NYSE:HON) Shares fell by 4.58% on the session.Las Vegas Sands (NYSE:LVS) Shares lost 5.98% and are down 53.49% in the last 6 months alone.Allegheny Technologies (NYSE:ATI) This company is in a space where most companies have done well, but they have missed out in a big way.Valero Energy (NYSE:VLO) If you want to look for the weakest large cap energy stock in the past few months, this is it. It lost another 5.69% today.24 Jun 2008 at 6:57pm There are many ways to interpret consumer confidence reports and how useful they are to predict consumer spending trends, but there is no denying that today's report was shockingly weak. The Consumer Confidence Index dropped to 50.4 in June, well below expectations of a decline to 56. This is the fifth weakest level ever recorded by this index and it is the weakest since 1992. What really stands out to me inside this report is the future Expectations index. 23 Jun 2008 at 7:50pm It's the continuing story of the rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer on wall street. No I don't mean traders, I mean the sectors that have done well continue to do so, while those that have lagged the market are accelerating to the downside. Today the Dow fell by less than one point, while the Nasdaq was down by 20 points. The S&P 500 was almost exactly unchanged. It was a completely tug of war on wall street as the energy and basic material sectors pulled the market higher but the financials and the transports drug the market lower. Take a look at the damage being done in the financial and transportation sector as far as the 52 week low list. All these names hit new 52 week lows today: 52 week lows in the financial and transportation sectors Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) Shares fell 4.5% as the company continues to be dogged by its impending takeover of Countrywide Financial (NYSE:CFC).Wells Fargo (NYSE:WFC) Wells Fargo has actually been one of the best performing banks through this credit market meltdown, but it has been hit some of late as well. MBIA Inc. (NYSE:MBI) This stock plunged another 13.77% today and bankruptcy fears are starting to mount.Northwest Airlines (NYSE:NWA) This stock plunged 17.27% today as its CEO blamed speculators for the high price of fuel NWA is paying for. Jet Blue (Nasdaq:JBLU) JBLU shares fell 6.58% and are now trading below $4 a share.Ameriprise Financial (NYSE:AMP) Even this financial planning behemoth is feeling the pain these days. Warren Buffett got off board and the market has followed his lead.At the same time these stocks are floundering because of economic worries, we have other companies who have no issue with where the economy is right now. The problem with that is they are basic material and energy names. This means that consumers are paying outrageous prices at the grocery and the gas tanks, but I'm sure that you already knew that unless you live under a rock. In fact, despite the overall markets weakness of late there are a few notable new 52 week highs in this group today. 52 week highs in the energy and basic materials sectors National Oilwell Varco (NYSE:NOV) This stock surged another 8.36% today. Can the times get any better for them?Halliburton Company (NYSE:HAL) Shares jumped 5.96% after news the company is giving up its pursuit of Expro.United States Steel (NYSE:X) This steel powerhouse has been a steady gainer in the last few days and hit a new high today.Helmerich and Payne (NYSE:HP) For a stock that went nowhere for so long this thing is on the move in the last 6 months in a huge way. The stock has gained almost 100% in 6 months time after sitting near unchanged for more than 2 years before that.Praxair (NYSE:PX) Slowly but surely this thing continues to hit new highs on strong volume.Basically the main loser in this is the consumer. The two groups that are doing so well are only doing well because of huge gains in prices that are being passed on to consumers. It obviously also isn't in the best interest of consumers to have transports or financials doing so poorly. When will this trend end? There is no end in sight, but things certainly will change over time. In the past as the street was the most negative on these sectors they turned it around, and it will surely happen again, but when? 22 Jun 2008 at 9:01pm Saudi Arabia announced today that it will increase production for a third-straight month in an effort to curb record oil prices. The kingdom plans to raise its production by 200,000 barrels to 9.7 million barrels next month. While this can't be taken as bad news, it seems that there are already a lot of skeptics as to whether this will actually cause crude oil prices to move lower. John Hall, of John Hall associates believes that in order for the increase to make oil prices move lower at all it would have to be at least 500,000 barrels a month. Many, including myself, believe that this is nothing more than a public relations move on the Saudis part. They want to be seen as doing everything they can to drive the price of oil lower. In reality, the Saudis themselves know very well that this small increase will do virtually nothing in the whole scheme of things. The longer term problems will remain, and those who continue to think that supply is meeting demand are simply kidding themselves. The Saudis want to attribute the crude oil gains to pure speculation in the oil market because then they won't be pressured as strongly to increase production drastically. 19 Jun 2008 at 7:44pm We all know that the banking sector is extremely out of favor on wall street, but what on earth is going on in Ohio? Since I reside in Columbus, Ohio I thought I would take a brief look at this amazingly unloved group. There are four major regional banks headquarted in the Buckeye state. The biggest of them from a market cap standpoint is Fifth Third Bancorp (Nasdaq:FITB). The second largest in the group is KeyCorp (NYSE:KEY). The third largest is National City Corporation (NYSE:NCC). The smallest of the big four is Let's take a quick look at the performance of each of these stocks: KeyCorp- Shares have fallen 69% in the past year and 52% in the last month alone.Fifth Third- This stock has fallen 77% in the last year and 52% in the last month.Huntington- This stock has lost 77% in the last year and 45% in the last month.National City- This stock has plunged 85% in the last year and has lost 12% in the past month.As you can see, the pain in the Buckeye state is extremely widespread. National City has fallen the hardest and was the first to fall because of their high amounts of exposure to risky mortgages. Fifth Third and Key have both warned of extensive write downs and cut their dividend by 60% and 50% respectively. Huntington just tonight announced that it expects 2008 chargeoffs to be at the high side of current expectations. 18 Jun 2008 at 7:30pm Over the past few weeks the debate has been raging, is it speculation driving oil prices or is it pure economics 101, not enough supply to keep up with demand? There are some big names on both sides. George Soros has been public about his belief that oil speculators have driven the recent price surge and that something must be done about it. Soros believes that speculators are causing a bubble in oil that could cause a massive recession in the American and global economies. Jim Cramer, the famous host of CNBC's Mad Money, is on the other side of this argument. Jim believes that oil prices are high because demand is rampant. Cramer also says that people should get use to the high oil prices, because they are here to stay. The truth here is that both of the crowds have a sound argument. Demand form foreign nations has absolutely skyrocketed for a number of reasons, not the least of which is that many Chinese are buying cars now instead of riding bicycles. Supply also has not grown because there have been no more oil finds and OPEC is perfectly happy with high prices. On the other hand, the speculation argument is lent plenty of credence when we consistently see the massive swings in oil prices that we have recently. Oil prices gaining $11 in one day is almost unheard of, and for someone to say there is no speculation there, they are crazy. 17 Jun 2008 at 7:30pm GrowYourFunds RSS readers know by now that the real passion of mine is the stock market, but today I wanted to step back and look at a personal finance issue. I wanted to follow up yesterday's post regarding which companies are poised to benefit from the spending of economic stimulus checks by taking a look at what you should do with your tax rebate/economic stimulus check. The most obvious answer to this question is that it depends on your situation, but there are some steps you can take a look at to decide which category you might fit in. The first thing you should do is look at any debt you may have. If you have any kind of debt you must pay it off first. Many Americans have credit card debt and they are being eaten alive by it. The average rate Americans are paying on that debt is about 13%, which means if you have $1,000 of debt you are paying $130 a year on that debt. You simply cannot afford to pay that high of an interest rate if you can avoid it at all. If you have debt then you need to pay it off before anything else, period. 16 Jun 2008 at 7:24pm Since the economic stimulus checks have either been received or will soon be received by almost all Americans, I wanted to take tonight to look at five stocks that should benefit quite nicely from those checks. We all know that when Americans receive a check of $600 or even $1200, many will end up putting alot of that back in the economy even if they do want to try to save some money up. What kind of places will they probably be spending it most? What stocks could receive a near-term bounce because of this bump? Top 5 Stocks to Benefit from Economic Stimulus Check Spending Best Buy (NYSE:BBY) Best Buy is the perfect kind of company to get sales increases from economic stimulus spending. When the American consumer gets a check that they weren't counting on, many like to spend it on discretionary spending items such as the newest electronics and gadgets. Best Buy releases its earnings tomorrow morning so we may see soon if they are seeing any boost. Apple (Nasdaq:AAPL) Apple really is here for many of the same reasons, but it also has the 3G iPhone working for it. The release date of July 11th is bound to have some consumers putting much of their check into a new iPhone. The recently upgraded iPods should also be selling well through the summer with this economic stimulus boost.Children's Place Retail Stores (Nasdaq:PLCE) This company seems to be in the process of a major and impressive turnaround. It makes a lot of sense that there will be some extra money spent on some children's clothing because of the stimulus checks and PLCE serves to benefit from it and its continuing turnaround. Las Vegas Sands (NYSE:LVS) In my opinion it is unfortunate that a company like Las Vegas Sands would benefit from economic stimulus checks, but I think they will. I believe consumers would do much better investing their money in a stock or a mutual fund than gambling with their stimulus check, but its bound to happen in plenty of cases. Tiffany and Company (NYSE:TIF) Fine jewelers generally receive a nice little boost at any time that discretionary spending gets a quick pop. TIF could very well see a short-term pop in sales from middle class consumers reaching up to purchase higher end products.Financial Markets Wire 22 Nov 2008 at 11:30pm The stock market's wild gyrations and steep declines have brought new appreciation for an old investing strategy: dollar-cost averaging. 23 Nov 2008 at 3:26am I am looking at an Interim Dividend statement I just received, relating to some shares I own. 23 Nov 2008 at 3:17am Since the Nov. 4 U.S. election, investors have been abandoning stocks in a kind of slow-motion crash that experts say underlines just how anxious they are about what is likely to be a long and deep recession. 23 Nov 2008 at 3:10am First, stock market losses left a sting. Now, after a nearly 50 percent decline, the losses feel like an open wound. 23 Nov 2008 at 3:10am As the stock market indices were spiraling down like vintage airplanes shot down on the History Channel, there was something else that was also going down in flames. 23 Nov 2008 at 3:07am I'm waiting for one more really bad day in the stock market to sell all my shares in an index mutual fund. 23 Nov 2008 at 2:30am Salvation Army volunteers Lena Nall , Robert Lee Major and Capt. Don New clean additional kettles and bells, preparing them to be placed in the community for donations. 23 Nov 2008 at 2:20am Q: What's a "pure play" company? - M.J., Tucson, Ariz. A: Unlike conglomerates, a pure play is a company that focuses on one single business. 23 Nov 2008 at 2:12am ... Asia's fourth-largest economy has been especially hard hit by the global downturn which has hammered its financial markets and slashed economic growth forecasts, with one leading investment bank saying it could shrink by 3 percent next year. The ... 23 Nov 2008 at 2:05am ... shares at lower prices. Selling high and buying low is one of the best ways to take advantage of turbulent financial markets. And that's where my enthusiasm comes from. As difficult and challenging as our times may be, I believe in the lesson of ... 23 Nov 2008 at 1:51am A financial analyst upgraded the long-term credit ratings for 16 Texas cities, including Krum, as part of the company's continuing analysis of the creditworthiness of smaller cities. 23 Nov 2008 at 1:45am When your haven comes under attack, you're really in trouble. But that's what has happened this year to many investors, as some bond portfolios have taken enormous hits. 23 Nov 2008 at 12:36am With only a few weeks left before the council's final vote on the tax levy Dec. 16, Ward 7 Alderman Steve Foster and Ward 6 Alderman Steve Nichols are pushing for the tax levy amount to stay the same, not ... 22 Nov 2008 at 10:56pm Don't give up on your 401 . Those were the words of Gregory MacKay, senior vice president and chief economist for Canandaigua National Bank, as he spoke Thursday to the Rochester Home Builders' Association. 22 Nov 2008 at 5:59pm VIRTUALLY ALL OF America's financial and political artillery has been dragooned into the great task of heading off a recession. Stock Market Outlook from Seeking Alpha 22 Nov 2008 at 12:27pm Jonathan O'Shaughnessy submits:More extreme market volatility continued yesterday as the US markets jumped nearly 6.5% in late trading. Barack Obama announced that Timothy Geithner had been selected as the secretary of the Treasury.The news induced a buying frenzy. A NYTimes article entitled: “Stocks Soar in Late Trading,” stated that “Earlier this week, Wall Street slid to its lowest point in 11 years after two days of fevered sell-offs effectively erased all the gains of the Internet and housing booms. The Dow closed near 7,500 points on Thursday, and the S.&P. was lower than any point since 1997.”Complete Story » 22 Nov 2008 at 10:32am Larry MacDonald submits: Buffett is 78. Why is he switching to 100% stocks from 100% government bonds in his personal account? As financial planners and advisers say repeatedly, stocks are for the long run. Only young people should have everything in stocks; someone close to 80 years old should have about 80% of their assets in bonds and other conservative assets. Complete Story » 21 Nov 2008 at 8:15pm Roger Nusbaum submits: Here is the quote from Lou Rukeyser from the 1987 crash, as per USA Today."Let's start with what's really important tonight," he told viewers. "It's just your money, not your life. Everybody who really loved you a week ago still loves you tonight. And now that that's all fully in perspective, let me say. .. Ouch! And: Eek! And: Medic!"Complete Story » 21 Nov 2008 at 8:06pm Brett Steenbarger submits: Here are a few relationships that have been on my radar:1) Gold, unlike other commodities, has been performing well relative to stocks (top chart). Should we see a weakening of the U.S. dollar, this could get interesting.Complete Story » 21 Nov 2008 at 11:19am James Picerno submits: This year will be remembered for many things, most of them negative, brutish and just plain ugly. But 2008 will likely to go into the history books for other reasons, including a year that extended extraordinary gifts to strategic-minded investors. No less extraordinary will be the dearth of investors willing or able to accept the gifts from the financial gods. So it goes in the money game. When prospective returns --l ong-run prospective returns -- are thin, the crowd can't get enough. At the other extreme, when risk premia is soaring, Mr. Market finds few takers. All the more so when fears of depression are swirling about.Complete Story » 21 Nov 2008 at 10:03am Felix Salmon submits: Is this the low point of the crisis so far? From the stock market's point of view, yes, it is. And the numbers coming out of the Treasury market would certainly seem to imply a flight to quality of unprecedented magnitude. Put plunging credit markets together with imploding banks, and there's little doubt about what results: a soaring TED spread, right? Wrong.Complete Story » 21 Nov 2008 at 9:51am Felix Salmon submits: The percentage fall in the valuation of the stock market is, pretty much by definition, lower than the percentage fall in the enterprise value of America, Inc. And the more levered that America Inc. was, the greater the difference between the two numbers. But with a lot of high-profile stocks now trading in the low single digits (Citi, Ford, GM, airlines), and even General Electric trading at just $13 a share, the optics of what's going on, especiallly among retail investors, are atrocious. I just got an email from Portfolio's travel guru, Joe Brancatelli:Complete Story » 21 Nov 2008 at 8:48am Phil Davis submits: TGIF for sure!This week cannot possibly end soon enough -- it’s been a real downer with the Dow dropping 10% in 4 days. With an 850-point drop over 4 days we’ll be looking for a 170-point bounce back to 7,720 as our first test of the morning. I did an extensive Big Chart Review in last night’s post and we’ll keep an eye on those critical levels as well, especially in the European markets, which close at 11:30 and will very likely foretell our close as the DAX is trading 2 points above and the CAC is trading 2 points below the 50% line.Complete Story » 21 Nov 2008 at 8:10am John Jansen submits: Prices of Treasury coupon securities are surrendering some of the historic advances achieved yesterday as stock markets around the world bounce from the 11 year lows they reached yesterday. I guess the pertinent question is to discern if the market today is doing an imitation of a moribund feline striking the pavement after dropping from on high, or is this something sustainable. The jury is out on that question for awhile because after that straight line plummet of the last several days, a bounce is normal and natural. As an aside, I had mentioned here several times that I was short equities. I covered my short yesterday (early and missed the big move late) and actually dipped my toe into the water late in the day. So I actually have a very modest long position. I sold 20 percent of the 10 year which I hold and I am leaning towards launching the remainder today.Complete Story » 21 Nov 2008 at 6:30am Zach Bass submits:I can, but first we have to deal with the next level of support, which is 74-ish. What really makes me a believer is how easily we broke through 85 yesterday. You know, 85 represents both long-term support, and an important psychological level. That’s because Apple (AAPL) hasn’t been below 85 since January 9th of 2007, the day Steve Jobs introduced the iPhone to the world. This Bear has essentially negated the iPhone premium. I want to make clear that these are the words of Rex Crum of Market Watch, not mine. Man, you’ve got to love that name! How can this be? Apple’s fundamentals are strong, right? Yes they are. But that has absolutely no bearing here. Apple is simply falling with the rest of the market, and so long as there’s no confidence in the market, it will continue to fall. I suppose you could argue that Apple has taken more than it’s fair share, but trying to argue that point with the market is an argument you can’t win. You can only accept it for what it is.Complete Story » 21 Nov 2008 at 5:02am Eric Coffin submits:If you think you have just been through a month like no other in the market, you’re right. One thing separating this market from any in our memories is the level of absolute panic and despair. You can usually count on some of the popular financial media to be bullish in the face of contrary evidence. Not this time. We’ve been amazed by the total negativity from every corner. While we believe in giving the straight goods, there is a point at which 'yelling “fire!” in the theatre' becomes meaningless and counterproductive. Everyone knows the markets are crappy; repeating the obvious doesn’t impart any useful information. It also generated a level of panic that has kept people from making any sort of financial decisions that could be delayed. This applies to companies as well as individuals.Complete Story » 21 Nov 2008 at 2:34am Stock Geek submits:With all of the fear and uncertainty already in the markets, CNBC yesterday decided that it would be a good time to speculate about "whether the new President will be overregulating" in 2009 (see video here). In this segment, CNBC's Steve Liesman & Charlie Gasparino, with absolutely no factual data or documented policy to speak of, spent five and a half minutes yelling over each other about what the Obama Administration might do in 2009 and how that might be very bad for financial institutions and/or investors. Obama hasn't even picked his Treasury secretary yet. WTF?Complete Story » 21 Nov 2008 at 2:24am Daniel J. Obrycki submits:Co-written by Rafael Resendes Over the past couple of months, worsening macro economic conditions, declining corporate profitability and a bottomless stock market have investors longing for the good old days when increases in GDP, declining unemployment, and higher corporate profits and sales resulted in a rising market. When times are good, the emotional cost to putting money into the stock market is very low. Who does not remember how easy and fun it was to make money in the late 1990s, when the market only seemed to go up? Conversely, today’s emotional cost to investing is very high with investors and market commentators viewing any suggestions to invest as an indication that they are speaking to someone that needs to be institutionalized. Complete Story » 21 Nov 2008 at 2:20am David Enke submits: Changing rules, even when the change may ultimately be good, can be disruptive. As a result of the change in the TARP from buying troubled assets to injecting capital directly into companies, the credit markets have once again reversed course (see Financial Times article). The fact that now there are no buyers for some toxic assets has the value of some mortgage-related securities falling to new lows. Jay Mueller, portfolio manager from Wells Capital Management, said it best: Complete Story » 21 Nov 2008 at 2:10am Tim Iacono submits: The Federal Open Market Committee announced earlier today that they are extending their December 15th meeting for another day "to allow additional time for discussion" on the many ills of the American economy and its sickly financial markets. This comes after Wednesday's release of the minutes from the last two-day FOMC meeting on October 28th and 29th where projected economic growth was lowered dramatically and the forecast for 2009 unemployment was ratcheted upward, from 7.1 percent to 7.6 percent.Complete Story » |
WSJ.com: MarketBeat 21 Nov 2008 at 4:33pm This is what a bottoming process in the stock market looks like. Unfathomable twists, where a market that had given up 14% of its value in four days can rebound in the span of an hour on the barest thread of clarity related to the incoming presidential administration. By and large, those in this industry still gainfully employed are exhausted. They’ve watched the invention of a series of lending programs to restore normalcy in the financial system and seen much of it bang into the brick wall of uncertainty that drives investor thinking. The pessimism in the equity market can be forgiven — it’s a snapshot of investors’ best guess as to what the cash flow and earnings power of a company will be at some point in the future. But the eruption in credit markets, such as the secured loan markets and commercial mortgage-backed markets, carries to a dire conclusion: when entities once well-regarded are being questioned as to their ability to pay their debts, nothing can be trusted. And this manifests in the acceptance, or rather, enthusiastic embrace of getting paid a measly 0.02% to buy a government security for three months, or get back a whole dollar for $100 spent on a two-year Treasury security. Because when the collective leadership of corporate America and Washington, D.C. seems rudderless, there’s an aversion to any asset that does not automatically guarantee the return of one’s capital. And as Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson again took the time out to assure everyone that all was being done and give kudos for all that had been done, and as Deputy Secretary Neel Kashkari proclaimed markets stabilized, the markets continued to hemorrhage, as Citigroup lost more than half of its value (which had already contracted drastically) in four days. But with all things, life goes on. And while New York Federal Reserve head Tim Geithner is not King Midas, the news of a transition to something other than indifference provided a jolt that took all major averages higher, even pushing the banking stocks into positive territory at the end of Friday’s trade. This is not the end of the selling, not yet, but the market at least climbed back above the 1997-era lows reached Thursday in the Standard & Poor’s 500-stock index. And some of the “Depression-lite” discussions may recede next week. “Stock prices are saying, ‘We |