You have witnessed the carnage spreading in Europe of late, nothing new there. But what is new is the increasing extreme reading that has been building in “the ultimate safety trade.” Not U.S. bonds,…
More than 40% of this year’s US corn harvest, about 5.05 billion bushels, is expected to be used to produce ethanol. That surpasses an estimated 5 billion bushels that will be used for livestock…
Shares of JA Solar Holdings Co., Ltd. (NASDAQ: JASO) fell more than -8% on July 6th and since that day have lost a total of -20%. The reason for the fall was an amended…
Continuing uncertainty related to sovereign debt in Europe and the dispute in the US over raising the nation’s debt limit are keeping markets hopping. Volatility appears once again to have moved to the front.…
Jon OggThese are some of the top analyst upgrades, downgrades, and initiations seen from Wall Street research calls this Wednesday morning. Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN) Started as Overweight at JPMorgan. Applied Micro Circuits Corporation…
ThinkstockWe have seen a massive run-up, followed by a tempering of those gains, in the coffee sector. Some are looking for consolidation to continue. Others are looking at trying to find the last independent…
Food is one of the defensive sectors for equity investors if there ever was one. Now, step back for a minute and consider a company like Campbell Soup Company (NYSE: CPB). Canned soup and…
As if the PIIGS needed any more bad news, Moody’s has just downgraded Ireland yet again. Like you wouldn’t have known about this. This pertains to its foreign and local-currency government bond ratings. The…
Today’s FOMC Minutes from the June 21 to 22 Fed meeting may have had a small impact in the markets today, but the real question is whether or not two-week old data should matter…
The price of gold topped 1,100 euros/ounce yesterday, its highest point ever against the single currency. The yellow metal is also threatening its US dollar peak, having risen to more than $1,550/ounce today. Europe’s…
We have said it before… Some of the current initial public offerings with very low share floats and some of the valuations of these private (semi-public) companies are in some cases no different from…
Today is not a good-news day in the alternative energy sector. American Superconductor Corp. (NASDAQ: AMSC) has said that it will restate revenues for the last two calendar quarters of 2010, resulting in a…
Italy’s sovereign debt trails only the US and Japan in size. For a relatively small nation with debt totaling 120% of GDP, $2.2 trillion in debt is a big deal. Yesterday’s action on the…
The market is soft, the economy hit a soft patch, and now woes are building about Italy beyond Greece, while China and India keep applying the brakes on growth. This is taking the wind…
Jon OggThese are some of the top analyst upgrades, downgrades, and initiations seen from Wall Street research calls this Tuesday morning. Alcatel-Lucent (NYSE: ALU) Cut to Hold at Deutsche Bank. American Water Works Co.…
After markets closed yesterday, Chesapeake Energy Corp. (NYSE: CHK) announced a plan to create a $1 billion venture capital fund to promote increased demand for natural gas by replacing petroleum-based products. At the same…
The National Federation of Independent Business has just released its survey for June, and the overall trend has now dropped for four months in a row. Some of the conditions are even still considered…
24/7 Wall St. has been using valuation analysis for value investors for a couple of weeks and we wanted to review the conglomerates in a search for the best value for long-term investors as…
Many investors probably consider that it will be the larger technology companies which will kick off the bias for technology this earnings. Guess again. Technology is now already under a negative cloud as earnings…
Alcoa, Inc. (NYSE: AA) has just unofficially kicked off the summer earnings season. Shares were weak in the last two trading sessions ahead of the earnings report, but that is more tied to the…