Black Friday the day after Thanksgiving and the largest retailing days of the year saw a 3% improvement in the amount of money that was spent this year compared to last. This would ordinarily be seen as a positive but 3% is the slowest growth recorded on Black Friday since 2005.
All things considered a 3% decline is virtually nothing for a one day statistic. This could have been made up by the fact that prices were lower, consumers bought more items with a smaller price tag, or that the total number of stores as a whole has dropped since 2005. Colder or warmer weather could also affect the number of people that went out on Black Friday to chase the deep discounts. Read more…
Investing, Round Up
The S&P500 and the DJIA made impressive gains this week after toppling downtrends that have kept the market quiet for the past few weeks. The S&P500 bounced tremendously off its lows with the Dow replicating the trading action though not as strong as most would have hoped. The turnaround was fueled mostly by large selloffs that have priced in virtually no good news from the market. Each news item that comes out if good will bring large bounces while bad news is unlikely to do as much damage. Read more…
Investing, Stocks
DOW, S&P 500
Oil has dropped like a rock and is out of the discussion for this article. The market still needs to settle out the speculation and digest much of the speculative supply that is rushing into the markets. Other commodities such as silver are now on the radar with a rapidly expanding money supply and a heavily deflated price per ounce. Read more…
Futures and Commodities, Investing
ETF, silver
From Mastercard to Visa to American Express and Capital One, the credit card companies are going to stage a huge rally. The Fed announced today two new programs that would total $800 Billion of new liquidity to consumer creditors and to Fannie and Freddie. $200 Billion of the new money will be dedicated to consumer credit such as auto loans, student loans, credit cards, and some small business loans. Read more…
Stocks
Each year investors of all sorts and account sizes utilize their stock losses to rack up huge tax gains. Individuals are able to sell off depreciated stock to offset capital gains. Investors are able to match up however large losses against gains ($50K loss against $50K gain= 0 capital gain and no tax). Investors can also opt to take up to $3000 more in losses than gains, thus resulting in a drop of income by $3000. Any amount above $3000 can be carried over and deducted the next year. Read more…
Investing, Mutual Funds, Stocks
Wall Street was happy that the Federal Government hopped on board to help out Citigroup. The Dow was pushed upward a few hundred points but the end result for taxpayers is far less outstanding.
The deal was struck so that the US Government through the TARP program, the Treasury and eventually the Federal Reserve would back up the $306 Billion worth of mortgages and other assets that Citi holds. The TARP program gave Citigroup $20 Billion in exchange for $20 Billion in preferred stock, good deal there. Read more…
Mutual Funds, Round Up
C
When comparing PE ratios against their historical averages its easy to see the tech industry as one of the most historically cheap sectors on the market. Single digit and even PE ratios lower than the teens are out of the ordinary for tech stocks which enjoyed triple digit multiples less than a decade ago and up until the market crash this year were trading for 20+ ratios. Read more…
Stocks
A Citi Bailout was expected as its stock nose dived throughout the week. Starting with a value of $9.36 on Monday, the stock slowly trickled down to a close of $3.77 per share. On Sunday night it was released that a bailout of Citi was being discussed between Washington and Citi.
This bailout will be one of the most interesting because it is the first following the change in the TARP program. After Paulson changed the gameplan to buying stock in banks rather than buying troubled assets, it will be interesting to see how the government and market respond. Read more…
Investing
C
The Dow had a wild trading session after falling slowly throughout the day to eventually rebound back into positive territory. The Dow began the day trading at 7552 and closed at 8046. The spread between the highs and lows were tremendous in terms of points and percentages with a 622 point range from 7449-8071. Read more…
Stocks
DOW
The Dow Jones industrial average took a very hefty fall today back down to its recent support line. For the last two months the average has traded in virtually the same trend and found comfort in the same support area. Now that we’re on such a critical level it is important to look at how the market has acted to see if we can find out if the market will be using this line to bounce higher or if its going to fall through to retest previous recession lows. Read more…
Investing
DOW
Goldman Sachs has little to stand on now. After falling below its absolute support at $60 per share the stock has little much than one more leg to stand on. Goldman is the same as every other investment bank in the business, it was just better at hiding its assets from the general public and the analysts prying through the books. Read more…
Stocks
GS
The news was clear that the Japanese economy would soon face recession. It has been made evident that this was true after reports surfaced that Japan had suffered a negative growth in GDP of .4% in the July-September quarter and a 3.7% loss in the previous quarter. Two consecutive quarters of negative GDP growth is the standard for a defined recession. Read more…
Round Up
Commodities prices have been beaten as of late due to the problems with the economy. As the world economy shrinks and minor deflation occurs, commodities prices will drop across the board. This sudden and sharp drop will not last forever largely due to the $700 Billion bailout and how it will affect the money supply going forward. Read more…
Futures and Commodities
The Saudi King announced today a $400 Billion investment in the government run oil industry in hopes of restarting the economy during economic recession. Investors around the world should like this infusion of cash that will do much to improve economic vitality in the Middle East and should keep oil prices low for years to come. Read more…
Futures and Commodities
oil
The retail sales number was down 2.8% from last October. This is the biggest drop in year to year retail sales since the beginning of the index, topping the 2.65% drop recorded in November 2001. Whats most startling is that this comes in a month without the holiday boost. Holiday sales in October are generally slim, who knows what the numbers could look like when this years holiday season is compared to last years. Read more…
Investing
After Henry Paulson outlined the new goal of the TARP program to buy shares of stock in banking corporations rather than purchase bank debt, investors went into panic mode. There are many reasons as to why investors should be unhappy with the new plan but the main reason is a complete theft of shareholder equity. Read more…
Round Up
The bad news from this week just won’t stop. The treasury is centering the new TARP program of $700 Billion to start buying stock, rather than debt. Investors hated this action, selling off their shares in disgust and civil liberties groups around the nation are asking why the Federal Government should own private stock. American Express, a lender to many high income consumers got hit hard today as well after it was released that the company was seeking $3.5 Billion from the Federal Government citing that it could not find sources of funding to continue its lending operations. Read more…
Investing
Investment money typically pours into defensive names at the first sign of an economic slowdown. Much of the larger returns from defensive names is from a change in investor sentiment, where investors pump up the valuations of defensive names to level that are above normal. We are finally getting some kind of proof that a shrinking economy really does help the discounters, and its coming from a fast food chain. Read more…
Round Up
Stimulus packages around the world are slowly appearing. Just yesterday China announced that it would create its own $586 Billion economic stimulus package to make up for the zero export growth it expects in the upcoming year. The Chinese economy is centered around the growth of exports to developed nations. Read more…
Round Up
Another poor jobs report came out today that put the number of jobless Americans at the highest in 14 years at the current rate of 6.5%. This is bad news all around and will inevitably affect consumer confidence, total spending, and the housing and finance market that is dealing with large amounts of people who are already in a position that they can’t make payments. Read more…
Round Up
With an Obama victory, there are many things to look for in the stock market going forward. First is the fact that democratic presidents have been historically better for the stock market than their republican counterparts. But beyond the issue of political party there are a few industries and ideas to help you become better invested for the next presidency. Read more…
Investing
Dollar Tree is one name that will certainly sail smoothly through economic turbulence. Dollar stores are great because their merchandise is cheap and consumers are more likely to shop at $1 stores to save money. Unfortunately to maintain cheap prices many dollar stores import goods from China and other manufacturing centers of the world. The recent dollar exchange rate is far more favorable than the rates just a few months ago with the USD coming off its lows against the Euro and the Chinese economy slowing to the point where the yuan gains have been curbed. Read more…
Investing
DLTR
The AP did a great job compiling the total expenditures of the US Government to curb the credit crunch. This chart has it all from individual bailouts to lost tax revenues and FED emergency window loans. The number at the bottom is most startling, $2.6 TRILLION! Read more…
Stocks
