Frank Golhen, via Wikimedia CommonsThe New York Stock Exchange is showing something that we would be more concerned about than optimistic. Margin debt at the NYSE grew for the ninth consecutive month and hit…
ThinkstockSterne Agee analyst Vijay Rakesh has given a snapshot on various semiconductor sector plays ahead. While many fundamental analysts have keyed in on fundamentals, one of Rakesh’s angles is covering higher dividends, stock buybacks…
ThinkstockThe durable goods report for April is turning out to look incredibly durable at 3.3% for the month. Bloomberg had the consensus estimate of 1.1% and Dow Jones had the consensus at 1.3%. Even…
These are the top analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations from select Wall Street research calls on Friday, May 24, 2013. They include Cubist Pharmaceuticals, Marvell Technology and Procter & Gamble.
Sears might as well start working toward just give up on being a retailer. This is a decade-long turnaround that just cannot seem to turn around. Sears Holdings Corp. (NASDAQ: SHLD) reported that its company earnings came…
thinkstockGap Inc. (NYSE: GPS) is showing that its turnaround is keeping up momentum. The problem is that the owner of Gap, Banana Republic, Old Navy and Athleta is not getting aggressive on its 2013…
ThinkstockAffymax Inc. (NASDAQ: AFFY) has been in more than trouble. Its very future is at stake as far as investors (and speculators) are concerned. The company is restructuring, but this restructuring may be more…
NOAALast year it was Super-storm Sandy and this year we have recently had devastating weather that has hit Oklahoma in the form of one of the most devastating tornado reports on record. Now the…
Imagine not just loaning the government money for free, but at negative nominal rates. Another fresh Treasury auction of 10-year inflation-protection TIPS just went off yet again at negative interest rates. We recently saw that…
It has been hard to ignore the rise in bond yields on the longer end of the Treasury curve in recent days. The market keeps looking for clues from Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke…
ThinkstockThe New York Federal Reserve branch’s Liberty Street Economics latest blog posting indicates that the New York Fed staff is targeting stronger growth and perhaps better prices ahead. The change may not be much…
ThinkstockThe Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City is headed by President Esther George, and she is the current policy hawk of 2013, after Richmond’s Jeff Lacker had been the big hawk in 2012. George…
Bullish sentiment is up, just in time for a good correction. The latest poll from the American Association of Individual Investors reportedly showed that the bullish sentiment from investors had risen to 48.97% from…
Jon OggWisdomTree Investments Inc. (NASDAQ: WETF) has been winning and winning due to its great Japan bet on a hedged Japan Equity ETF, which moved to eliminate the currency risks of the yen devaluation from…
Ed Brown, via Wikimedia CommonsWeekly jobless claims data have been released by the U.S. Labor Department’s Bureau of Labor Statistics and may offer at least some support for a very weak equity market this…
These are the top analyst downgrades, cautious research notes and stocks to sell from Wall Street for Thursday, May 23, 2013. They include ARM Holdings, Devon Energy and Chipotle Mexican Grill.
ThinkstockThe world of biotech investing is always a difficult one. Often a binary event, such as U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval or a life-saving capital raise, is the difference between not only…
These are the top analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations from select Wall Street research calls on Thursday, May 23, 2013. They include Seagate Technology, VeriFone and Hewlett-Packard.
ThinkstockThe consumer is the key to the economy improving. The consumer is also the key for revenue growth and success for the major U.S retail REITs. The International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC) just…
ChannelAdvisor Corp. (NYSE: ECOM) has now announced the pricing and details of its initial public offering. ChannelAdvisor provides cloud-based e-commerce solutions that enable retailers and manufacturers to integrate, manage and optimize their merchandise sales…