Sectors
Market, SPDRs (SPY) Now Taking on Water
The S&P 500 SPDR ETF (NYSE:SPY), though not yet even close to falling out of its recent bullish trading range, may have just done something far more alarming. The support line that extends back to July (and arguably to March’s bottom) failed to act as a floor today. The ETF is under it for the [...]
Tuesday’s Market Round-Up: All You Really Need to Know
Slow down a minute Endo Pharmaceuticals Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:ENDP) - there’s already a generic Lipoderm skin patch like the one you just submitted an NDA (new drug application for). At least that’s the story from Watson Laboratories Inc. (NYSE:WPI), which recently notified Endo Pharmaceuticals Holdings of the overlap.
Watson Laboratories Inc. invoked a ‘paragraph IV’ [...]
The Pros Picks, and Why: T, IBM, KFT, HPQ, MSFT
He gets zero points for creativity, but a few points for being bold enough to be boring. Tom Forester - portfolio manager of the Forester Value Fund has recommended Microsoft Inc. (NASDAQ: MSFT) and Hewlett-Packard Company (NYSE: HPQ) as his top tech picks right now…. a sector he’s keen on as a way of avoiding [...]
Investing in Coal Requires Paying Attention to Details
It wasn’t that long ago that tapping into the red hot uptrend of coal stocks simply meant buying some of the Market Vectors Coal ETF (KOL) and being done with it. After a politically-charged economic recovery though – paired with a renewed (even if spotty) social interest in the environment – [...]
Five Stocks You Can’t Turn Your Back on Yet
The economy may well be in recovery mode, but it isn’t taking all stocks along for the ride. Earnings results are going to remain erratic simply because we’re still shaking of a recession. For a few companies though, the problems may be bigger than mere lingering economic weakness.
U.S. Steel Corp. (X) [...]
Will Holiday Sales Prove to be Better Than Expected?
We’re about to find out how healthy the average U.S. consumer truly is. If retail sales are up this season (November and December), it may well be the strongest sign yet the recession is over.
Heart of the Matter: For the first time in at least over a decade, holiday shopping sank [...]
Water Utilities Still Above Plausible Benchmark Values
It’s a tad ironic, given that it’s probably the only truly recession-proof business in the world. Above all else (except oxygen), humans need water to survive. Yet, water utility company stocks are second only to banks and long-distance carriers in this year’s race for last place; they’re down an average of 5.5% year-to-date versus the [...]
Sector Rotation Is On
Take a look at the nearby chart. It compares the percentage gains for each major sector since the March low. There’s nothing really surprising about it - financials led the way, while utilities and telecom were dragging the bottom. I think we all knew in the back of our heads what the basic numbers were, [...]
Technology Stocks Are Turning The Corner
Though their performance could only be described as mediocre (at best) since the market’s recovery in March, consumer and corporate spending on technology may finally be strong enough to spur tech stocks higher again.
Not As Bad As Thought: Not entirely surprisingly, revenues and earnings were down last quarter compared to [...]
Utilities Set to Pale in Comparison
Though utilities stocks are far from being in dire straits, their relative underperformance is likely to continue as long as the bigger-picture economic recovery continues to take root. In simplest terms, even the very best utilities providers have less upside potential than the weakest of the market’s opportunities in other [...]
