Posts Tagged ‘stock market’

Stock Market In Review

Friday, December 4th, 2009

Use Fox Business Week in Review for Binary Option Strategy

Monday

Black Friday came and went, and though there were hopes for a comeback in the retail sector, consumers spent less per person on the notoriously busy sales day.  And who could blame them with unemployment high and credit hard to come by?  While consumers came out in large numbers on Black Friday, they mostly went for the best bargains and walked away, according to the National Retail Federation. 

General Electric (GE: 16.19, 0.18, 1.12%) and Vivendi reportedly drafted a deal Monday on their NBC Universal stake, beginning a week full of news surrounding the media company’s future.  Sources told the Wall Street Journal that GE plans to buy Vivendi’s 20% stake for $5.8 billion, a move that would bring GE one step closer to giving control over NBC Universal to Comcast (CMCSA: 16.15, 0.24, 1.51%).

Tuesday

General Motors mad a surprise announcement Tuesday that CEO Fritz Henderson is stepping down from his position.  Though he only held the spot for nine months, GM Chairman Ed Whitacre said he is taking over as interim CEO immediately, while the company searches for a replacement.

Google (GOOG: 584.45, -1.29, -0.22%) will allow publishers who charge for content to set a limit on how many articles online readers can view for free through the search engine, the company announced Tuesday.  Publishers will be able to limit readers to five free articles per day.  This comes as media companies have complained that Google is making billions in profit by publishing free content that the media companies produced, while they struggle with dwindling ad revenue.

 

Wednesday

TARP Repayment Dept.: Bank of America (BAC: 16.22, 0.46, 2.92%) said it plans to pay back the $45 billion in loans the government provided through the Troubled Asset Relief Program during the financial crisis.  The bank will use $26.2 billion in excess liquidity and sell securities for another $18.8 billion to come up with the cash for the transaction.

In other BofA news, at least two candidates for the bank’s CEO position reportedly suggested breaking up the company to the board of directors.  However, the board rejected the idea, making it even more difficult for the company to find a successor for retiring CEO Ken Lewis.

Thursday

General Electric and Comcast announced a deal that will let GE unload NBC Universal to the cable company in a $30 billion deal.  This comes after Vivendi agreed to sell its NBC Universal stake to GE for $5.8 billion.  This will allow GE to exit the media business.

Meanwhile, FOX Business Network’s Liz Claman had the opportunity to interview Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner Thursday.  Geithner told FBN taxpayers will earn over $2 billion in profit from interest on the money the government lent to Bank of America through TARP, as the bank is set to pay back the loan.  He added that the government stands to profit from many of these rescue deals made to struggling financial institutions.

Questioned on the idea of a stock trade tax, Geithner told Claman that he does not support such a tax, saying “I don’t think that specific thing is the way to go.”

 

Friday

Unemployment fell back down to 10%, according to the Labor Department, as the nation lost only 11,000 jobs in November.  This was the smallest loss we’ve had since the recession started in December of 2007 and was much better than the 130,000 jobs economists forecasted would be lost.

In light of GM’s CEO Fritz Henderson stepping down, interim CEO Ed Whitacre announced several management changes at the auto maker Friday.  Mark Reuss was named president of GM North America.  Reporting to him will be Susan Docherty, who is taking the VP of Vehicle Sales spot.  Meanwhile, Bob Lutz, a former executive from Ford, will remain vice chairman of GM.

Exxon Goes Down

Thursday, December 3rd, 2009

You can make easy money (up to 75% return) from this article about Exxon having to trim it’s bonuses for 2009. How? Trimming bonuses can only mean one thing–Exxon is going down–and that means it’s an opportunity for binary option traders to start trading on a binary option platform and make up to 75% return in the next hour.

U.S. energy giant Exxon Mobile Corp. gave its chief executive officer a hefty raise, but trimmed his bonus for 2009, the company said.

In a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Exxon said Chief Executive Officer Rex Tillerson would receive a raise of 7 percent with a bonus of $2.4 million this year, a sharp drop from his 2008 bonus of $4 million, The Dallas Morning News reported Wednesday.

Separately, Tillerson will receive 225,000 company shares, the same as he did a year ago, the newspaper said.

Including deferred payments, bonuses pay and shares earned, Tillerson received $22.4 million a year ago.

This year bonuses were cut as Exxon earned 98 cents per share, compared to $2.85 per share a year ago.

GSI Commerce Inc. (GSIC) Chairman, President, and Chief Executive Officer to Ring The NASDAQ Stock Market Opening Bell (GlobeNewswire)

Monday, November 30th, 2009

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Citi names Buiter chief economist (at MarketWatch)

Monday, November 30th, 2009

Citigroup Inc names Willem Buiter as chief economist.

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How the major stock indexes fared on Tuesday

Tuesday, November 24th, 2009

How the major stock indexes fared on Tuesday

How the major stock indexes fared on Tuesday
istockAnalyst.com – 16 hours ago
(Source: Associated Press/AP Online) A brighter economic forecast from the Federal Reserve helped the stock market pare steep losses that followed uninspiring reports on consumer sentiment and …

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Stock Market Update – Briefing.com

Tuesday, November 24th, 2009

Stock Market Update – Briefing.com

Stock Market Update Briefing.com Dow component Merck ( MRK 36.22, -0.20) failed to participate in the advance, but announced to investors a new $3 billion share repurchase program. … and more »

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Stock Market News: Citigroup Inc. (NYSE: C), Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG), News … – Jutia Group

Tuesday, November 24th, 2009

Stock Market News: Citigroup Inc. (NYSE: C), Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG), News … – Jutia Group

Stock Market News: Citigroup Inc. (NYSE: C), Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG ), News … Jutia Group -Forbes Publishers of the Denver Post and the Dallas Morning News may pull some of their stories from Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG ) news site, … and more »

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Google Stocks Up

Monday, November 23rd, 2009

As was trumpeted across the Internet today, Google (GOOG) is buying mobile display advertising startup AdMob for $750 million in (increasingly) precious Google stock. Wall Street digested the news and sent Google stock up almost $11.

Citi analyst Mark Mahaney says the deal “makes sense, because Google is moving aggressively to take advantage of the strong growth opportunity in mobile, which is fueled by smartphones.” Sandeep Aggarwal at Collins Stewart likes the deal, arguing “mobile advertising will be a $4 billion revenue opportunity by 2012-2013.”

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2010 Stock Market Predictions

Monday, November 23rd, 2009

According to the November 2009 NABE Outlook, compiled by the National Association for Business Economics, has a new outlook for the rest of 2009 and 2010 based on data taken October 24 to November 5. The group is reaffirming that its recent call that the great recession is over. It also believes that this jobless recovery will abate within the next few months as companies begin to add jobs in 2010. There is still an expected sluggish consumer upturn but the NABE is looking for a sizable housing rebound, low inflation, and further rise in stock prices. The majority of panelists surveyed also are optimistic that the Federal Reserve’s policies will not lead to higher inflation, but they are extremely concerned about high federal deficits over the next five years.

Where this is interesting is what the NABE respondents are calling for in 2010 gains in the stock market and losses in the dollar and bond market next year. Some figures are as follows:

The fourth quarter of 2009 is now slated for a 3.0 percent pace of real GDP growth and 2010 is predicted to experience a gain of 3.2 percent over its four quarters; economic growth is projected to slightly exceed its trend pace—which NABE panelists estimate at 2.7 percent—over the next five quarters. Real GDP growth should also be enough to recover losses from the recession and return output to an all-time high by the end of 2010.

The household sector is still expected to lag behind the overall economy with projected sales of 11.6 million vehicles presenting continuing challenges for the auto industry.

NABE panelists believe the end of net employment losses is near with modest declines during Q4 and a bottom in Q1-2010 and gains thereafter. But some 61% of panelists do not expect a complete recovery of the previously lost jobs until 2012 and the unemployment rate is predicted to average 9.6% percent in the final quarter of next year.

Housing starts and residential investment are both expected to rise sharply in 2010, with housing starts expected to rise by 36% and residential investment will grow 9%. The NABE believes that house prices should see a modest gain of 2% in 2010.

The return of business investment will be an engine of growth with restocking inventories slated for 2010 with higher operating rates and corporate profits; growth is not expected in structures though. Corporate profits are expected to rise 12.4% in 2010 and respondents expect the S&P 500 Index to climb 9.5% in 2010.

Bad news stays there for the greenback… The NABE respondents expect that the U.S. dollar will weaken further in 2010 on a trade-weighted basket of foreign currencies, but it should stabilize against the Euro. But about 44% of respondents said that the ‘present foreign exchange value of the dollar’ was undervalued on a fundamental basis, and only 20% believed the dollar is overvalued fundamentally. Also noted was that 87% of respondents expect the dollar to be the major reserve currency in 2015.

Government spending is expected to rise 2% in 2010; and 55% expressed “extreme concern” about the federal deficit over the next five years.

Inflation is expected to remain low. Non-Farm compensation is expected to rise 2.3% in 2010 on labor productivity gains of 2.8%. The core PCE deflator is seen at a gain of +1.5% in 2010. The NABE panel forecasts the federal funds rate to remain in its current range of 0 to 0.25% until late next spring followed by a gradual rise and should remain low at 1.0% as 2010 ends. Longer-term interest rates are expected to rise, but most moves are believed to be priced in: 10-year Treasury note is expected to have a 4.20% yield by the end of 2010.

After we went up and down the whole report, there are some key takeaways here worth mention. Some are very informative or at least offer an insight into where the growth will be. That is huge for housing and would make 2010 the first real growth in about 5-years. The 9.5% gain in the S&P would translate to a price of 1,216 if the 1,111 price today is the 2009 closeout price. That 10-Year Treasury Note rise to 4.20%, if the 3.40% rate of today is that same at year-end, would give longer maturity bond fund investors implied portfolio losses of 5% on a constant maturity basis and more importantly on a static snapshot basis.

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Stocks Rocket According to Smart Money

Monday, November 23rd, 2009

The Lowdown

Stocks were rocketing higher across sectors, and commodities advanced heartily midmorning Monday, as the dollar weakened and housing data impressed.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 171 points, at 10488, while the S&P 500 added 19 at 1111. The Nasdaq shot up 42 to 2189.

As the dollar lost ground, crude oil ticked up $2.35 to $79.82 and gold advanced $5 to $1,146.40, in part as a function of the dollar carry trade, which shorts the U.S. currency and goes long commodities and equities.

Industrials Alcoa (AA: 13.17*, +0.04, +0.30%), Caterpillar (CAT: 59.20*, +1.25, +2.15%), and General Electric (GE: 15.94*, +0.35, +2.24%) in addition to integrated oil stocks Chevron (CVX: 78.86*, +2.09, +2.72%) and Exxon Mobil (XOM: 75.76*, +1.38, +1.85%) were more than 2% higher each on the Dow. Financials were also higher, with Bank of America (BAC: 16.34*, +0.25, +1.55%) and American Express (AXP: 41.71*, +0.78, +1.90%) topping 2% on the index.

Bullish news out of the housing sector helped fuel the early buying. The National Association of Realtors said existing home sales surged by 10.1% to 6.1 million in October, easily topping the consensus estimate for 5.7 million.

“Many buyers have been rushing to beat the deadline for the first-time buyer tax credit that was scheduled to expire at the end of this month, and similarly robust sales may be occurring in November,” NAR chief economist Lawrence Yun said. “With suh a sale spike, a measurable decline should be anticipated in December and early next year before another surge in spring and early summer.”

Following the housing data, home stocks Lennar (LEN: 13.69*, +0.02, +0.14%), Hovnanian (HOV: 4.07*, +0.01, +0.24%), and DR Horton (DHI: 10.50*, +0.13, +1.25%) gained between 2% and 4% apiece.

The housing data were the first of a slate of reports due out this week, including readings on national production, employment, new home sales, and consumer confidence, spending and income.

Stocks overseas were broadly higher, with the FTSE in London and Dax in Frankfurt adding 2.3% and 2.7%, respectively. In Asia, the Nikkei in Japan was closed for the session, while the Hang Seng in Hong Kong tacked on 1.4%.

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