June 30, 2011
Emerging Economies Look Good After Greek Decision
 Emerging markets have been the talk of the town this year, with China taking over Japan as the second largest economy and India’s growing job market and populations. These economies have not yet reached the peak on the parabola and there remains continual space for growth. The latest development in Greece, the nation’s acceptance of on-going austerity measures will help further that growth, adding optimism to the global landscape. The fact that Greece will now eliminate the immediate threat of defaulting on their debt is a huge weight lifted off the remainder of the world, helping to buoy economies in the short term and quiet suspicion of a global slowdown. That said, now after weeks of losses, global equity markets are climbing back from recent lows making it a good time to consider investing in the ETFs of global economies. (more)…
Equities Sector Coverage: Industrial Stocks Lead Another Day of Gains
 Initial Jobless Claims were higher than expected in the latest week at 428,000. Remember that the Recessionary Threshold is 350,000. The Chicago PMI rose to a stronger than expected reading of 61.1 in June. U.S. stocks continued higher on Thursday with the Dow Jones Industrial Average trading above its 50-day simple moving average at 12,370 following the Chicago PMI report. The Dow traded as high as 12,427 going into the final half hour of trading. The NASDAQ also traded above its 50-day at 2762 and traded as high as 2777 going into the final half hour of trading. U.S. stocks continued a strong rebound on Wednesday with the Dow Industrial Average up 72 points to 12,261, up 5.9% year to date and down 4.8% since its May 2nd high at 12,876.00. The NASDAQ gained 11 points on Wednesday to 2740 (more)…
Five ETFs Paying Surprisingly High Dividends
 By now, you probably know about the advantages of using exchange-traded-funds (ETFs) to hop on and off market sector swings. But you might be surprised to learn than many ETFs pay significant dividend yields (next 12-month’s dividends divided by the price you pay for the shares). For instance, more than 100 ETFs are paying at least 3% yields and more than 20 are paying 5% or higher. In fact, four are paying at least 8%. Here’s a rundown on the top five yielding exchange-traded-funds. iShares Mortgage Plus (REM) 9.6% The iShares NAREIT Mortgage Plus Capped Index Fund tracks an index that, in theory, measures the performance of the residential and commercial real estate, mortgage finance, and savings associations sectors of the U.S. stock market. However, when I checked, five of the fund’s top ten holdings were mortgage REITS (a special (more)…
Equities Market Roundup: Wall Street Finishes First Half 2011 Strong as QE2 Ends
 U.S. stocks continue to trade higher this week as the Federal Reserve’s $600 billion bond buying plan known as QE2 comes to a close. Positive economic data and improving prospects of the European Union financial crisis are helping to lift the market. Investors are starting to shift back their attention to the U.S. economy as Greece’s debt situation seems to be under control for the moment. Bulls got some help as the ISM-Chicago index showed that manufacturing in the area improved, and set the stage for Friday’s release of national ISM data. In addition, the U.S. Labor Department announced that jobless claims decreased by 1,000 last week, though the number is still over 400,000. The two major catalysts, however, are still the Fed and Congress. As QE2 ends, investors are taking sides on whether or not the Fed was successful (more)…
Investing in Blockbuster Stocks
 The summer months have officially arrived and whether audiences are headed to the movies for the blasting AC or the barrage of seasonal blockbusters each year remains up for debate, but one thing is for certain; movie going goes up in the summer. With the annual rise in theater volumes, the company that make the on-screen magic happen get a boost. Not to say that all studios are created equal because while American movie-going audiences are known for setting the bar low, some films are bound to make more money than others. The studios that manage to corral the largest numbers of these major money makers, including franchises are those primed for a climb through the summer months. Disney (DIS) Disney is a media goliath that has extended into a major brand. Between their theme parks and the network ownership (more)…
Debt Ceiling Increase – Q2 Earnings – a Catalyst
 With the stock market tumbling, I headlined my June 15 blog, “Poof ! Negatives Could Vanish in a Heartbeat…. If…” I was referring to a sudden change from negative to positive in the U.S. economic outlook and a vote by Congress to raise the nation’s debt limit, currently being held hostage to an agreement on spending cuts designed to arrest future increases in the nation’s debt. Failure of the latter would result in a U.S. default on certain obligations. Brooksie’s Daily Stock Market blog: An edge before the market opens. Friday, June 30, 2011 9:24 am EDT DJIA: 12,261.42 S&P 500: 1307.41 Nasdaq Comp.: 2740.49 Russell 2000: 819.92 My point was, don’t get too discouraged by these concerns, they can swing from negative to positive quickly. The flow of economic indicators in coming weeks will tell the story about the (more)…
China Stocks Rally at End of a Bad Half Year
 China stocks in Hong Kong ended the first half of 2011 on Thursday with a surge in prices and turnover. But there’s no disguising that the first six months of the year was crummy. Ahead of Friday’s holiday in Hong Kong, the big gains Thursday allowed the blue-chip Hang Seng Index to gain 1.0% for the week, up 226 points to 22,398. The index of Chinese companies rose 1.1%, 140 points, to 12,577. But for the year so far the Hang Seng, which includes numerous big China stocks, sank 2.8%, 637 points. It all started well enough. The Hang Seng rode an inflow of foreign funds to rise 6.2% to the year-high of 24,468 on April 8. But then rising inflation and slowing growth in China pushed stocks lower. A weakening U.S. economy and worsening European debt crisis accelerated the (more)…
June 29, 2011
Bank of America Boosts Financials
 Bank of America (BAC) agreed to reserve $14 billion as a means of paying out investors who purchased mortgage backed securities. The settlement consisted of $8.5 billion set aside for the initial pay out and an additional $5.5 billion to protect against future claims. The decision led Bank of America, long the focus of ire from investors for its involvement in the 2008 crash, to push up higher in morning trading. The settlement marks the close of a nine-month battle between Bank of America and the 22 investors that together, held over $56 billion in disputed mortgage-backed securities. Among the investors, are several high profile Wall Street institutions including BlackRock Inc. (BLK), MetLife Inc. (MET) and the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. Compensation for MetLife is speculated to be as high as $200 million. Though shares of Bank of (more)…
Equities Sector Coverage: Financials Lead Wall Street Gainers
 U.S. stocks continued higher on Wednesday with the Dow Jones Industrial Average trading as high as 12,284. The NASDAQ traded as high as 2747 on Wednesday. U.S. stocks continued a strong rebound on Tuesday with the Dow Industrial Average up 145 points to 12,189, up 5.3% year to date and down 5.3% since its May 2nd high at 12,876.00. The NASDAQ gained 41 points on Tuesday to 2729 up 2.9% year to date and down 5.5% since its May 2nd high at 2887.75. Asian stocks were mixed on Wednesday with the Nikkei 225 up 1.5% to 9,797. The Hang Seng was flat on their session. European stocks were higher on Wednesday in anticipation that the Greek parliament would pass the austerity plan that would lead to a $17 billion financial bailout. The measure passed and the FTSE 100 gained 1.5%. (more)…
Trying to Improve Your Quarterback Rating
 Apologies in advance to everybody that does not follow football- but understanding the quarterback rankings- and comparing it to trading and investing can be very enlightening in many ways. First, if you are trading for a QB, looking at their rankings over the last year, comparing it to last years, and looking at the most current weeks will be very helpful. If you want to trade for a “current leader’ it should not be so hard to find the cream of the crop. If you are reviewing your own QB ranking it can be even more helpful. Think for a minute about winning a big game 35-10, while throwing 4 touchdowns and 1 interception. Watching the tapes and only focusing on the interception would get overly frustrating. Maybe throwing an interception per game is OK- maybe you are being aggressive (more)…
Older Posts »
|
|
