The Bear Position
Posted on May 21, 2008 - Filed Under Commentary | Leave a Comment
The stock markets 12% rise in the last two months has the bulls on Wall Street believing that the worst is over, and the market is heading higher the rest of the year. The bears point to the following macro events as to this was simply a bear-market really
- Industrial production fell 0.7% in April as the weak dollar is not helping manufacturing
- S&P reported Q1 earnings of the 500 compnaies were down 25.9% from the same three months last year. This is the 3rd straight quarter of declining profits
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Gold Gains as U.S. Dollar Falls
Posted on April 16, 2008 - Filed Under Commentary | Leave a Comment
Gold features finished a tad higher on Monday, as the weak U.S. Dollar underpinned the demand for the metal. Gold for a June delivery rose $1.70 to end at $928.70 for an ounce of gold on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Gold gave up a majority of its early gains while the Dollar pared its losses. On Monday gold reached a high of $934.50.
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Avoid Common Beginner Investing Mistakes
Posted on April 10, 2008 - Filed Under Commentary | 1 Comment
Just like with a beginner with anything, as a beginning investor there is a good chance that you will make some mistakes. But, with investing big mistakes can cost you a lot of money. Because of this it is imperative that you avoid a couple of investing mistakes so that you can be an investor that is not only successful, but also more importantly profitable.
A lot of beginning investors make the mistake of taking the wrong time to invest. Another mistake is that they will put off investing until it is too late. To be profitable when investing you have to take advantage of the opportunities made available to you. Basically you have to make the money you have work for you.
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Bears Running Wild On Financial Stocks
Posted on March 18, 2008 - Filed Under Commentary | Leave a Comment
The devastation of Bear Sterns common stock over the weekend has unleashed a bear frenzy unlike anything that we have seen in a long time. Good stocks and bad stocks are about to get tarred and feathered by Wall Street investors, and here is why.
Last week Bear Sterns book value was $80 a share. Book value is the price that investors and auditors say that the company. Over the weekend we realized that Bear Sterns was worth less than its real estate and was actually worth $84 but $2.
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$2 a Share?
Posted on March 16, 2008 - Filed Under Commentary | Leave a Comment
I was shocked to read that JP Morgan was buying Bear Sterns for the bargain-basement price of $236.2 million. That translates into a price of only $2 a share!
This a stunning collapse for a company that was trading at near $100 only 3 months ago
And to top it off, J.P. Morgan’s risk of even putting up $236 million is somewhat limited by the Fed, which is taking the extraordinary step of funding up to $30 billion of Bear Stearns’ less-liquid assets.
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Wall Street Forecasts for 2008
Posted on January 8, 2008 - Filed Under Commentary, Investing | Leave a Comment
Tis the season for the professionals on Wall Street to turn on their crystal balls and predict where they think the market is going in 2008. Here are some of their observations and favorite stocks (source: Business Week)
RALPH J. ACAMPORA, DIRECTOR OF TECHNICAL STUDIES, NEW YORK INSTITUTE OF FINANCE
According to Acampora the five-year-old bull market is tired. The Dow Jones industrial average (DJIA) has forged ahead, albeit fitfully. But relatively few stocks are hitting new highs, says the recently retired Acampora, who continues to teach technical analysis. Worse, the Dow Jones transportation average is struggling.
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Stock Market Commentary – Dec 3
Posted on December 3, 2007 - Filed Under Commentary, Investing | Leave a Comment
There seems to be a lot of bears appearing on Wall Street as worries about the credit crisis and rising oil prices continue to geow:
“The bond market is begging for rate cuts, while the stock market is expecting rate cuts,”
Randy Diamond, trader at Miller Tabak
“We’re in a high-risk situation, probably one major shock away from recession,”
Ethan Harris, chief economist at Lehman Brothers.
The market clearly is not pricing in $100 oil and the economic restraint on growth that would be implied in that,”
Stuart A. Schweitzer, the global markets strategist at JPMorgan Private Bank
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Stock Market Commentary - November 25
Posted on November 24, 2007 - Filed Under Commentary, Investing | Leave a Comment
“Odds are, we are already in a bear market,”
Jack Ablin, chief investment officer at Harris Private Bank
“People are buying and selling off the headlines. The market is so emotional. You look at oil approaching $100. People are taking their money and going to the sidelines.”
Neil Hennessy, president and portfolio manager of Hennessy Funds.
“There is a camp out there that the Fed will really cut rates when Dec. 11 rolls around, and that helped us bounce from the session lows,” he said. “If that does come, it will provide some stability to the market. Because of that, there’s some bargain-hunting as people are trying to find that stability.”
Robert Pavlik, chief investment strategist with Oaktree Asset Management,
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Stock Market Commentary - November 18
Posted on November 18, 2007 - Filed Under Commentary, Investing | Leave a Comment
Every week we look at what Wall Street analysts and investors are saying about the economy and the financial markets.
“We are going through a period of reassessing risk and that will take time and we will experience volatility along the way. In discussions on the decline in the U.S. housing market, I noted it is still unfolding and I view it as the most significant current risk to our economy”
U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson
“Investors better got to a drugstore and get a neck brace”
Ed Yardeni, investment strategist on the stock market volatility
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