FeedPosted Nov 2nd 2009 2:20PM by Sheldon Liber (RSS feed)
Filed under: Major movement, Analyst upgrades and downgrades, Rants and raves, Ford Motor (F), CIT Group (CIT), Kellogg Co (K), Serious Money, Headline news, DJIA, Federal Reserve, Vanguard Total Bond Market (BND)

What a week it was and it is starting off with more of the same! The day before Halloween the market gets spooked. The Dow drops 200 one day, rises 200 the next, and falls 250 to close the week. Yes, financial pundits could point to meaningful stories about the dollars rise, consumer spending sagging, the recession ending and so forth to explain market reactions but there is more to it than that.
Even among the 15 positions discussed in
Where should granny put $50,000? only the
Vanguard Total Bond Market exchange-traded fund (NYSE:
BND) and the
Kellogg Co (NYSE:
K) were up last Friday. Good thing I advised "granny" to put half her funds in the ETF.
Continue reading Serious Money: Jumpy stock market but Special 'K' doing fine
Posted Oct 30th 2009 1:20PM by Brent Archer (RSS feed)
Filed under: Major movement, Earnings reports, Good news, Options, Technical Analysis
Bare Escentuals (NASDAQ:
BARE -
option chain) shares are rising today after the company reported earnings last night after the close.
Bare posted a third-quarter profit of $22.6 million, or 24 cents per share, topping analysts' estimates of 21 cents per share. This was a darling stock back in late 2006 and early 2007, but got crushed when the bear market fell apart and consumers were no longer interested in paying premium prices for cosmetics. However, the stock roared back recently as hopes for a strong recovery grow. If you think that the stock could regain its trendy status and won't fall by too much in the coming months, then now could be a good time to look at a bullish hedged trade on BARE.
BARE opened this morning at $13.38. So far today the stock has hit a low of $13.24 and a high of $14.54. As of 11:45, BARE is trading at $13.95 up $1.46 (11.7%). The chart for BARE looks neutral and
S&P gives BARE a neutral 3 STARS (out of 5) hold ranking.
Continue reading Is Bare Escentuals (BARE) back on track?
Posted Oct 27th 2009 1:00PM by Brent Archer (RSS feed)
Filed under: Major movement, Earnings reports, Good news, BP p.l.c. ADS (BP), Options, Technical Analysis, Oil
BP plc (NYSE:
BP -
option chain) shares are rising today after
the company reported earnings this morning, posting a third-quarter profit of $5.34 billion. Excluding one-time items, BP earned $4.98 billion, easily topping analysts' forecasts of $3.2 billion. If you think that the stock won't fall by too much in the coming months, then now could be a good time to look at a bullish hedged trade on BP.
BP opened this morning at $57.93. So far today the stock has hit a low of $57.41 and as of 12:00 is trading near its high on the session at $58.63 up $3.15 (5.7%). The chart for BP looks neutral and
S&P gives BP a neutral 3 STARS (out of 5) hold ranking.
Continue reading BP posts impressive Q3 earnings
Posted Oct 26th 2009 2:20PM by Connie Madon (RSS feed)
Filed under: Major movement, International markets, Indices, Market matters, Commodities, Oil, Headline news, Agriculture, S and P 500, DJIA
Wow! What a difference a few hours makes. At the beginning of trading today stocks and commodities were steady. Then as the morning wore on, the US dollar
strengthened and it all broke loose. Let's look at the numbers: (as of 1:29 EDT)
-
-
December euro is at 1.4866, down .0134
-
The December S & P contract is down 10.60 at 1066.30
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December crude oil is at $78.40 per barrel, down $2.10
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December 30 year bond is at 118.10, down 23.
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December wheat is at 530.6 down 17 cents (each penny equals $50.00)
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December gold is at $1043.40 per ounce, down $13.00 (each $1.00 equals $100.00)
Continue reading US dollar rallies; stocks and commodities fall sharply
Posted Oct 19th 2009 1:50PM by Brent Archer (RSS feed)
Filed under: Major movement, Earnings reports, Bad news, BB and T (BBT), Options, Technical Analysis
BB&T (NYSE:
BBT -
option chain) stock is trading lower today after
the company reported third-quarter earnings this morning, posting a profit of $152 million or 23 cents per share. While this beat the expected profit of 22 cents per share, the stock is declining in early trading as investors appear concerned about BBT's $709 million in bad loan provisions during the quarter, which is nearly double the total of the year-ago period. If you think this stock won't be rising too far in the coming months, then it could be a good time to look at a bearish hedged play on BBT.
This morning, BBT opened at $27.38. So far today the stock has hit a high of $27.45 and a low of $26.79. As of 11:30, BBT is trading at $26.95, down $1.30 (-4.6%). The chart for BBT looks bullish and
S&P gives BBT a positive 4 STARS (out of 5) buy ranking.
Continue reading BB&T (BBT) drops on increasing bad loans
Posted Oct 16th 2009 9:20AM by Sheldon Liber (RSS feed)
Filed under: Major movement, Earnings reports, Forecasts, Good news, Rants and raves, General Electric (GE), Intel (INTC), Market matters, International Business Machines (IBM), JPMorgan Chase (JPM), Goldman Sachs Group (GS), Serious Money, DJIA

For the past 48 hours people have been asking me if I thought the market would pull back after the Dow Jones Industrial Average surpassed the milestone of 10,000. Business journalist's and guru's alike have suggested that there might be some profit taking or "selling into strength" and the recent highs would not hold.
As the market proved yesterday, up about a half percent across the board, with the Dow closing at 10,062.94, up 47.08 in last-minute buying -- that is just a lot of noise.
Continue reading Serious Money: Dow 10,000 is meaningless
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