There was an interesting little development this afternoon. The market seemed to bottom around 1:15pm EST and started to rally ahead of the Fed minutes scheduled to be released at 2:15pm EST. The S&P rallied about 14 points, from 1444…
Before the open this morning, Citigroup analyst Mark Mahaney upped his rating on Amazon (AMZN) to “Buy” from “Hold” and raised his price target on the stock to $119 from $95 (AMZN closed Monday at $92.64). He cites consolidation in…
“Listening to the commentary over the weekend and last week, most people were saying we’d skirt a recession, but this causes people to question that thought process.” – Steven Kroll Sr. (subscription required), Managing Director, Monness, Crespi & Hardt Stocks were…
“As the 2007 stock market roller coaster screeches to a close, one question above all has preoccupied investors: Will the bull market end in 2008?” – “The Bull: What’s To Be Its Fate In ’08?” (subscription required), “The Trader” Column,…
“… defaults of a different kind could be the big issue of 2008. If you want to mug up on jargon for the year ahead, then the business of insuring against bond defaults known as credit default swaps, or CDSs,…
“These are sophisticated investors, and they certainly know how to time their own exits.” – Adam Zoia, Founder, Glocap, an executive search firm focused on the alternative investment industry, in The New York Times “Wall St. Way: Smart People Seeking…
One of the arguments all of us will hear time and again as the new year begins is that 2008 will be a good year for stocks because it is a Presidential election year. Stocks have gone up 13 of…
Two weeks ago, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger said that in January he would declare a “fiscal emergency” in the face of an anticipated $14 billion budget defecit for the 2008-09 fiscal year (July 1, 2008-June 30, 2009)(“Budget Crisis Decree Coming”,…
A confluence of bad news combined to drive down stocks today. First, and most important, was the assasination of Pakistani opposition leader Benazir Bhutto (subscription required). This reminds everybody of the high level of geopolitical risk in our globalized economy. (If…
Tech stocks have been performing extremely well at year end, with the Nasdaq up for the 6th consecutive day today – S&P Tech (XLK) is up 4.24% over the same period. I sense some window dressing here as portfolio managers dress…