Friday, May 28, 2010

S O S

It is difficult to draw any significant conclusions from the weaker action today. Some market players are obviously nervous about some negative news over the weekend. The downgrade of Spanish debt could easily weigh on European action Monday and give us a poor start when we reopen on Tuesday. On the other hand, we have a strong tendency toward positive new-week and new-month opens. If there isn't any particularly negative news in Europe, or the top kill works and the BP oil leak is plugged, we could see some strong gains to kick off the week.

I can see scenarios in either direction, but it's a coin flip. The technical patterns in the major indices are equally mixed. We obviously had a problem with the big technical level at 1,100 on the S&P500 today, but it was the first try, and we ended up with a lighter-volume pullback. It wouldn't be at all surprising to see the bulls make another run at a break higher next week.

While further upside may be an okay bet in the short term, the longer-term technical picture still looks quite poor to those "technical wizards" out there. We are still technically broken and in the midst of a correction. The action this week doesn't look like much more than a dead cat bounce, and it didn't do much to repair the damage we have suffered. The volume on Thursday tells us that buyers didn't have real conviction, and when you consider that we also had end-of-the-month mark-ups, the action is even less impressive.

Longer term, this market may not be out of the woods. While we could see more of a bounce next week, the action is quite different than what we saw during all those V-shaped bounces over the past year. With European problems at the forefront, negative summer seasonality kicking in and some major technical overhead, it is going to take some hard work to put this market back into an uptrend.

The good news is, for those so inclined, that this correction is giving us a new supply of trading opportunities.......

Thursday, May 27, 2010

Still A Long-Term Bull

While I remain intensely concerned about the "state of the market's rules," I remain steadfastly bullish (longer term) as stocks continue to gap lower. There seems to be no safe place and differentiation (the absolute key to long term market health) remains non-existent.

I'll grant the market does have a few "real" fundamental issues to deal with. In fact, it always does.

* Increased regulation -- this simply raises the cost of doing business and will compress EPS.

* Future rising rates -- I see rates rising faster than pretty much anyone at this point, though this is not a 2010 issue.

* Geopolitical concerns -- always an issue in the market place.

* Inflationary pressures -- again, while I think many have moved back into fearing deflation and a double dip, I'm more concerned with a new sustainable rise in inflation, which would be driven by another round of likely irrational bullishness in commodities like oil.

* European de-unification -- the Euro's need to move closer together and present a unified front on issues like naked short selling and CDS', until they do the Euro block will suffer economic pressure, both macro and market based.

I still see stocks discounting far too much in their valuations. Further, as I've written, I see our current disjointed set of market rules causing more pressure on these valuations than any/all of the above.

On the bullish side of the ledger:

Low Rates... for now, all time historically low rates will prove strongly stimulative.

The more people say buy and hold is dead, the more I believe it will be rewarded in the future.

Isn't one of the main market tenets to buy low and sell higher? (Though I've been known to buy high and sell higher)

I still stand by my highly variant view of a much stronger U.S. economic growth pattern. Frankly, I find it stunning this is so debated, given nearly a year of strong evidence. Recent reports are being ignored and are still showing a condition set much more like a strong V shaped recovery than the popular belief of L-shaped or a stagflation scenario.

I see the labor and housing markets improving markedly. As I said last year, we’ll start seeing job gains versus losses earlier than expected, and this is indeed happening and will continue.

As written previously -- "The Apple (AAPL) Tablet will be another game-changing product and the next great extension of the iPhone platform. This product will be the first fully functional touch-screen computer and will usher in a new era of innovation (for Apple and certain chip companies)." The new era of innovation is nearly upon us and the next 3-6 quarters should be very exciting.

Also as predicted, "I think dollar bears will be disappointed and the dollar will be a strong currency, possibly one of the best performing around the globe for the bulk of the year." Further, even though the dollar has rallied hugely, stocks are flat on the year. So while it's disappointing to see stocks lose all their gains on the year -- I think stocks have generally held much stronger than many would have thought had you told them the dollar would rally this much 6 months ago. Further, I still think we will see global investors buying US dollar-based equities (vs. bonds currently) and a transition should occur where a strong dollar is supportive to US equities.

A huge valuation contraction, especially in technology: The valuation multiples have declined massively during the first two quarters as EPS has surged as much as 25-35% for leading companies, and stocks' prices have given up most or all of the gains for the year. Metrics on revenues, P/B and P/Cash have also declined materially and stand again at historically low levels.

Bottom line, as disturbing as the market rules (and market actions of late) can be, the lightning fast compression in valuations of stocks that are producing prodigious EPS and cash flows should prove supportive of stocks and provide a solid base for another surge in performance in the weeks/months ahead.

very long AAPL

Yes, AAPL Trades At Over $250; But It's Also Damn Cheap

AAPL is a total, major focus of mine. To me, though, the question is how can Apple be this cheap? Use the old 10-to-1 rule. You need to divide this stock by 10 to think about it. Would you buy a $25 stock at a 12 multiple that has $5 in cash, no debt and is growing at an accelerated rate -- perhaps as much as 20%? How about if it only had single-digit share in all of its market places? How about if it had new product cycles, several of them, happening all at once?

You would say it is a steal. But, because it is at $250, people feel it is expensive. And, because it has passed MSFT in market cap, people are totally skeptical.

The thing that makes me feel skeptical: How can Microsoft be that big? Or XOM, for that matter, my least favorite major oil?

long AAPL

Just End Of The Month Markups; Or Maybe The Real Thing?

China bulls vs. Europe bears and market mechanics? There's a claymation, tag-team death match, with the bears having an edge on most days -- but not today. That's why we had the biggest up day in 10 months.

If you look at your screen today, everything that's roaring is totally China-driven: minerals, mining, mining equipment, energy, chemicals, and tech (that's Asia, especially semiconductors). The rest totally came along for the ride, including the financials, which I regard as DUDS that are going up less than they came down.

But Europe's credit woes haven't gone away; they just aren't able today to upset the China applecart. That could be tomorrow's business.

Chinese economic growth can offset European economic weakness. But China can't offset the systemic risk of Europe, which is in hiding today but hasn't gone away. The economic-growth risk can take us down to Dow 9500. Systemic failure, however, takes us down to the low 8000s on the Dow.

I like China. I believe India and Brazil can come roaring back, But I know that the credit risk of Europe is a huge stumbling block that can only be removed if there is unity in Europe, and we don't have that yet. If you layer on the worries about whether our market is working right (the flash crash) and factor in the exodus of the individual investor, then you get a market that is simply rallying because it is oversold, and the bears pressed their bet too far.

That's why I remain cautious; and own all AAPL - an extremely cheap stock by the way. If that systemic risk comes off the table, I will change my view and my caution. But not until then. A huge up-day does nothing to change that.

Further, the weak close on Wednesday was a trap for the bears, who were caught out of position when China denied rumors that it was dumping European debt. We gapped up big and, after some minor hesitation, we slowly, but steadily, ramped up the remainder of day. We even managed another upward spike at the close to breach 1,100 on the S&P500.

Although breadth was exceptionally strong, volume was mediocre. But that tends to be a consistent pattern in this market ruled by machines. Oil stocks were leading early in the day, but weakened following comments by President Obama. However, strength in steel, coal, various commodities, retail and regional banks more than made up for it.

It certainly was a good day for the bulls, but the more important issue is whether it was the start of new uptrend, or just another good-sized, oversold bounce within a major downtrend. At this point, the S&P500 is right around its first important technical hurdle, at 1,100-1,104, which is the 200-day simple moving average. There is still plenty of overhead resistance to deal with, but the bulls put some points on the board today and have some momentum. Counter-trend bounces can be fast and furious, so you have to give them some room to run. We've had two failed bounce attempts already this week, and that may have served to shake out the weak hands.

We have a three-day weekend coming up, which means we will have thinner holiday trading tomorrow. Typically, market players are in a good mood as they look forward to the break, and we should have a bullish bias to the action. Then again, I'm sure the bears are going to be looking to remount shorts at some point, though I expect they will stand aside until next week......

long AAPL

Wednesday, May 26, 2010

I Can't Remember A More Frustrating Day

After the vigorous intraday recovery on Tuesday, the market was poised for some follow-through today. We had a pretty good start this morning, but the buyers were unable to generate sufficient momentum, and we fizzled out in the last couple of hours of trading. AAPL was up over 6; it finished down about 1. Very, very frustrating.

A failed bounce is what you'd expect to see when the market is correcting, but I'm a bit surprised that the bulls didn't make a better effort. I thought we'd suck in more bulls before we saw red in the indices again.

The good news is that despite the negative close, we ended up with positive breadth of about 3,425 gainers to 2,350 decliners, with oil and commodity plays leading. Retailers and regional banks were the primary laggards today. Retail, in particular, looks like it is cracking.

There isn't any great mystery about what the excuse is for the selling pressure; helped greatly by our market's structural collapse. The market's broken; just a few million dollars of no position limit futures can bring down a cash market supposedly worth over a trillion dollars. The economic issues in Europe continue to fester. There just isn't much clarity there, and market players are going to stand aside until there is.

Technically, we were oversold enough to justify a bounce toward 1100 on the S&P500, but, instead, we now we are right in the middle of a little trading range, with 1090 the top and 1040 the bottom.

The bottom line right now is that we are in a downtrend. We have had a few oversold bounce attempts that have failed, and we can't be at all confident that the market has bottomed. Fundamental conditions have changed with the European issues, and there doesn't seem to be any quick or easy resolution on the way.

long AAPL

Market Was Up Nicely; Now It's Flat.......

The downside probe is a combination of two items: one, the chatter making the rounds that China is reviewing its Euro Zone bond holdings and two, margin calls hitting trading desks (as they typically do at 11:30AM and 2:30PM eastern).

As always, the reaction to news (supply) will be entirely more important than the news (supply) itself.

Tuesday, May 25, 2010

Randoms

Can the ECB pull one out of Big Ben's playbook? Have the shorts spent too much firepower? In fact, where has the selling come from in recent weeks? Will we see a coordinated action from the EU?

All this and I haven't even mentioned Korea.

GS had a big day today in the face of generally weakened financials.

BAC is down from $16 of late, but I think this name may report one of the strongest in the group for the next couple quarters.

I’m still wondering how NVDA is trading this cheaply given a very strong product cycle forthcoming.

I think C could be in the speculative catbird's seat now with ETFC's reverse split. Last of the pennies in the SPX. So, when we do see northbound action in the tape they could see some pent-up demand on those seeking low price plays.

What's Going On?

Earlier today, I was simply asking, what is going on? Again, no uptick, no position limits, futures pinning, levered ETFs, CDS in a scare-driven world causes way too much control for a trillion dollar cash market into the hands of a small number of large players controlling a few hundred million to a billion (if that) in the futures. The markets are broken.

There is just no way that the Naz should have finished the day down yesterday. Dow -- sure, the banks were weak all day. S&P, ditto, plus more exposure to Euro driven weakness. My biggest concerns are not any macro economic issues, or earnings issues or poor policy out of key central banks -- the markets simply remain broken, due to repealed market rules.

People should consider names like MSFT, GOOG, T and/or things with very good downside capture numbers. Like all other market shocks/corrections, this too shall pass, but I'm fearing that we may need the EU to adopt a unified approach to Germany's decision on naked short selling as well as naked CDS. This is an all too familiar echo back to the 2008/2009 markets here when FAS 157 was still in full force.

Big Swing Intra-Day....

Volume seems to matter when it matters and doesn't when it doesn't. What do I mean? I have no idea. It seems that when volume supports a position, then it matters. If the volume argument doesn't support an argument, the position holds merit regardless of volume, because volume doesn't matter. A circular argument? Absolutely. Isn't that what we all do? We either talk our book, or preach some self-serving opine, often without skin in the game. I let the argument slide for those with skin in the game, otherwise, thoughts and arguments are no better than opinions. And we remember the most popular saying with regard to opinions, don't we? If not, then google it.

Often, traders seek patterns. They look for patterns that replicate, then hope to profit by predicting the appearance of the pattern's doppelganger. Take a look at the last four days on the SPY. Last Thursday, we basically went out at the day's lows. The next morning, we gapped lower, then closed right beneath the day's highs. The next morning started off well, but those terrible ultras (insert sarcasm here) took over near the close, and we went out at the lows.

Now, we arrive at today, which offered up another terribly large gap down, only to stage a late-day rally and close near the day's highs. Apparently, with this pattern, the ultras take every other day off. The worrisome part is that the lows made on the days that gapped lower have gotten progressively worse. Even though the rally was impressive today, it just put us back to a resistance area, although with some momentum, the SPY could make an attempt at $110. This resembles a bottom attempt. However, I would prefer a pullback to a higher low, or at least a successful retest of the $104.50 area.

The agriculture stocks have become the whipping boy of the markets. They are the St. Louis Rams of the stock market right now. When the market is down, they are down. When the market is flat, they are down. When the market is up, they are less down. Hey, even the Rams won one game last year. At some point -- and I think much sooner rather than later -- these are going to make for a very good speculative buy.

Look at AIG: The shares rallied 5% into the late afternoon after support held at $32. The rally seemed more to do with the strength in the financials, but does it really matter? Within the financials, GS looks strong, and with a small push forward, a move towards $150 should develop.

Monday, May 24, 2010

Textbook Bear Market Action....

Last Thursday's low may now be important for many market players. I know we had the "whoosh" on Friday, but it was short-lived. Also, the close on Thursday was tested before the phantom bull stampede late Friday afternoon.

I was looking for a test of $104.55 on the SPY last week, and we came close on Friday, but didn't get it. The way we closed today, it felt like we were setting up for that test.....

RIG really fell off a cliff today. If it wasn't clear before today, it should be now: This is a falling knife. Volume has dried up, which is good, but if I had to give a bottom where I expect the knife to hit the floor, it would be $47. However, the situation in the Gulf of Mexico is a pure disaster. Although BP yielding more than 8% should be taken here. I think the dividend's quite safe.

Other than these little blips ("flash crash," phantom stampede), the technicals are showing signs of life. Their reliability, at least for me, has been increasing, so use 'em while you got 'em.

Where would I hide right now? AAPL, cash, silver, some U.S. dollars, and maybe even a small volatility play. There is a lot that I don't like, and today didn't make it any better. Maybe my rose-tinted lenses are broken, or maybe the glare of reality is just letting me see clearly, but for now, the path of least resistance is down......

long AAPL

Friday, May 21, 2010

Problems Reman

There was a little panic to start the day, but that set the stage for a long-awaited bounce. Volume was heavy, and the move looked very strong in the morning. We fizzled as we hit overhead resistance at Thursday afternoon's highs.

For a while, it looked like we were going to roll over and drift lower again, but a buy program hit in the last 15 minutes, and we quickly jumped back up near the highs of the day.

While volume was good and breadth better than 2-to-1 positive, it was a rather mediocre bounce. Given how far down we fell over the past two weeks, some sort of relief rally was overdue, but we didn't have the dip-buying frenzy we saw so often during our yearlong rally. That isn't a huge surprise. The damage we've suffered is the most severe since the March, 2009, low.

After the action today, what we have is a bunch of busted charts with numerous red bars in a row, then one positive day. That doesn't make for compelling technical buys. We could bounce some more next week, and the charts may put in a good bottom, but one good day of positive action doesn't mean the market correction is over.

There are two problems now. The first is that a whole slew of buyers these last few weeks are sitting on losses, and they will be looking to escape their poorly timed buys with the least amount of damage, which will provide technical resistance as we try to bounce. The other problem is that the fundamental issues underlying this breakdown are still in play. There has been no clear resolution of the European sovereign-debt crisis. The news there will continue to drive this market. Many market players are tired of the endless government bailouts and rescues; those moves aren't attracting buyers the way they used to. We'll see how things develop, but I believe Europe will continue to weigh on the market for a while.

The good news is that we really have had a solid shakeout over the past two weeks. That sets the stage for a new crop of opportunities in the near term. I don't believe this market will go straight back up again, but the process of finding support and building a base will give us some very good trading during the summer months....

Thursday, May 20, 2010

Randoms

AMAT reported a really good quarter with.....wait, that doesn't matter as CNBC is showing rioters in Greece again.

FSLR upped by......wait, that doesn't matter either as the S&P is dropping on unified naked shorting ban rumors.

AAPL - smartphone market share approaching......wait, again, stop the presses, AAPL is getting killed on the levered beta trade; so sell anything tech because it has a higher beta and therefore must drop more than stocks that are average, run-of-the-mill, no growth, poor balance sheet names.

AAPL is out of ipads everywhere.....wait, I did AAPL already.

One final point......And this is actually serious. My single biggest worry right now is at seeing how easy it is/was to cause crash-like conditions into what actually is an incredibly strong underlying nascent recovery -- The Transaction Tax.

long AAPL

Insanity

The solars are trading higher? This just can't be correct!

Time to add a GS starter? I feel it will have a monster EPS report forthcoming.

Is it just me or has RIMM traded way better than AAPL of late? Now talk about things that don't make sense. This market is rife with them.

long AAPL

We Desperately Need Some Resolutions; Some Clarity

With a little more than an hour to go in the day, it looked like the buyers would give us a decent close, but we fizzled quickly and ended back near the lows of the day by the closing bell.

It was an all around ugly day. Volume was heavy, breadth was terrible, with just 370 stocks up on the day, and the buyers incapable of holding on to even a minor bounce.

The dip-buyers who did so well when this market was trending up couldn't be enticed by this substantial pullback. Rather than feast on the bargains, they are cowering in the corner.

The market is wrestling with the same problem that crops up in a correction: uncertainty. Nothing else gets market players selling so aggressively. The big questions are the euro bailout and the financial regulations working through Congress. Until we get clarity on how these issues will play out, market players will prefer to sit on the sidelines.

If you have taken some defensive action and have built up your cash, this market action isn't such a terrible thing. It will offer some great opportunities. We have to be patient and get the timing right. Protect that capital and you'll be in good shape to rack up some gains as the dust settles again.

aapl just a screaming buy here at 237................

how cheap is aapl at 240, exactly?

aapl will most likely earn more than 13 a share in 2010; and possibly much more than that, say 14.50 or so. let's use 13.40 for fun though. aapl has no debt; so stripping out the (at least) 45 a share in cash they have right now - and rapidly expanding - that leaves aapl at 240 - 45 = 195. that means they're trading at about 14x earnings or so. it's very, very likely that aapl will grow by at least 20% next year vs. this year - so the peg's at WELL BELOW 1x; that's astounding for a high-grower like aapl with a pristine balance sheet. most companies like that trade at MULTIPLES of growth, not fractions of it........aapl is very, very cheap down here at 240........

long aapl

obviously no bounce today

nothing that makes any real sense matters today - earnings, etc. this is all about psychology, fear. a key german vote on the 'bailout' package is tomorrow, i think. i see that one minority party, which is against the package, will be abstaining - i think. if that happens, the package would have sufficient votes, thus passing. this market needs something like that to happen; it needs something positive that can't be twisted into irrational fear.....it's my opinion that if one looks back on this period in the market - may 2010 - they will be kicking themselves mightily for not buying aapl at 240......aapl is very, very cheap down here; and many positive catalysts are looming, starting in late may/early june. aapl's getting killed on the levered beta trade - the flip side occurs on the way up as well - aapl at 240 in mid-may is going to look ridiculously cheap by october, november.......

long aapl

Wednesday, May 19, 2010

Tech Is Much Too Cheap Here

At today's prices, leading tech is as cheap as it was during this whole up move, save the landmark lows of 2008 and 2009. This massive valuation disparity will close once again, and I think it could happen violently.

Moreover, the last two to three quarters have produced copious amounts of cash flow, as well as large net cash increases on tech balance sheets. Prices to net cash and cash flow have come in as dramatically as P/E's have of late. This might help explain the recent surge in M&A.....Especially cheap, not surprisingly, is AAPL.

long AAPL

Maybe A Bounce Is Coming?

Last week, the S&P 500's bounce attempt failed almost exactly at the 50-day simple moving average, around 1,175. This morning, the S&P 500 bounced almost exactly off its 200-day simple moving average, which is around 1,100. We didn't gain a whole lot of upside momentum after testing that level this morning, but it was enough of a test to attract a few buyers.

Unfortunately, the overall picture is muddled at best. We are oversold enough that you'd probably want to cover some shorts, but we aren't bouncing enough to make longs very attractive. As we have broken down and had one big failed bounce in the past week, you shouldn't expect to find a lot of attractive setups. If you want to position for a bounce, you have to be willing to buy things that don't have good upside momentum. At this point, momentum players are much more inclined to look for shorts on a bounce than to try to play a bounce.

It always comes down to a matter of style, but what we do know is that the market has undergone the worst correction since the big rally began back in March 2009. We are oversold and ripe for some sort of relief rally, but we are not seeing any signs of the V-shaped bounces that saved the bulls numerous times during our big rally.

The big decision for market players is whether to look for an oversold bounce that fails and a test of 1,075 or lower, or to look for the dip buyers to come to life again and the market to pull off another strong recovery. The chart setups suggest the former, while optimistic bulls are sure to embrace the latter.

Stay flexible and open minded. The good thing about this market is that we have needed a good shake-up for quite some time. We have one now, and it's our job to find some new ways to profit.

Seems Stupid To Write This On A Day Like Today, But Here Goes.....

Many people assume that AAPL stock has been the darling of Wall Street during its big run over the last few years. The truth is just the opposite. Apple stock growth is doing a poor job of tracking the actual growth of the company. And of course it's getting slammed today. Such a disconnect creates a buying opportunity on this widely followed but severely misunderstood stock.

Two years ago Apple stock was trading at $187.62. Today the stock trades more than 30% higher at about $250 or so. Which segments of Apple have outgrown the 30+%? Consider the following comparisons from the 2008 March quarter with the 2010 March quarter:

* Revenue growth: 80%
* Net Income growth: 192%
* iPhone growth: 415%
* Cash growth: 115%
* iPod Touch growth: 63% YOY
* Chinese revenue growth: over 200% YOY
* iPad didn’t exist
* iAd didn’t exist

Will Apple stock accelerate into each quarterly earnings release as it tries to keep pace with the company? I really don't know, of course. Not only do Apple’s competitors struggle to keep up with Steve Jobs, but Apple stock can’t keep up either.

I'm wondering if investors will make up the difference more quickly than the competition. Possibly the P will be racing to keep up with the E in the P/E ratio. The most amazing thing about Apple is that its growth is still accelerating. The next 18 month’s of earnings look primed to propel Apple to possibly become the largest market cap stock in the world.

long AAPL

Tuesday, May 18, 2010

Banks, Tech And The Path To....

Banks, tech and the path to...well, the path to what exactly? I can think of a lot of things: Frustration, anguish, short term losses but alas, the grail. What about short, intermediate, or long term gains? Do those even exist anymore on the long side?

At least according to the stock prices, I may be a bit early with the bank vibe. Where's BAC going? Longer term I'm looking for the $22-24 area before year end and beyond that the $30's. Although the $30's could take well into 2011.

The banks here -- again, I must be nuts-- Greece, the euro, financial reform, analysts jumping ship, my long held concerns on FASB, ....how many more can I think of?

But you know what, the more negatives I can think of the more I want to buy them here, and the more right I'll be (or could be) against a huge tidal view to the contrary......

Techs I Like During This, The Latest Demise

NVDA - this chip name is doing really quite well with a very good product cycle forthcoming. $5 lower of late is a huge drop for a company with this pristine and rich of a balance sheet.

CSCO - way too much downside on that quarter.

AAPL - I still am standing by my long term target. It's an absolute steal at these prices.

long AAPL

Another Bad Day

I'm surprised that the market has not been able to put together a better bounce today. We started off strongly but have trended steadily lower all day. If it weren't for a bit of strength in oil, commodities and WMT, the indices would look substantially worse.

What is notable about this action is that the dip-buyers simply aren't showing much interest. The hallmark of our massive rally was the aggressiveness of the dip-buyers. We didn't even have to go red for the dip-buyers to rush in.

Perhaps the dip-buyers are paying attention to the supposedly poor technical condition of the major indices. The S&P 500 failed to make it back up to 1150 and now it is dangling around 1130 with no support in sight for 30 points or so. It is not an inviting spot to do much buying, for those that believe in that stuff.

The main reason given for the lackluster action is continued pressure on the euro and now some talk out of Germany about a ban on naked short-selling and support for a financial transaction tax. David Cameron, the new prime minister in the U.K., is solidly against a transaction tax, but the bottom line is that Europe is a mess and the impact is seemingly not contained.

Monday, May 17, 2010

Naked Shorting

Is it just me or is the trading of the last two weeks reminiscent of certain weeks during Q4 of 2007 and much of 2008 when naked shorting literally exploded after the elimination of the uptick rule?

Should the SEC be going after GS or looking for the most egregious naked shorting operators?

What would be better for our markets long term?

Is the solar space being targeted by naked shorting?

Yes, there was naked shorting when there was still the uptick rule, but it worked less well, cost more money, and took a lot longer to work.

Wouldn't all those factors just mentioned be beneficial to almost all market participants?

What happened to algo (black box quants) that used to short sell massive over-valuation and go long massive undervaluation?

Whatever minuscule amount of market differentiation we had, we have completely lost since the flash crash (and maybe even a few days prior).

All that written, banks have seemed to stabilize since today's nadir though they are still trading punk.....

Last Hurrah Of The Doomsayers?

I got out of C on Friday; but am itching to get back into it. I will as soon as I'm satisfied AAPL's being fairly valued......C below 4 is a screaming buy; I will be back in it soon, I'm sure......Buying a stock in the high $3s on the way to $12 will be very well rewarded.

I'm also looking very closely at BAC, GS, JPM, HIG, STT and NTRS. My view is that during the last two trading days the negativity has swelled to epic proportions, as has the guest list on CNBC of gold bugs, clarion calls for big crashes, the return of the doomsday crowd-- most whom have been far more wrong than right for many years.

Meanwhile, some names (in many sectors) are seeing price levels that only make sense if we are mired in deep recession territory again.

long AAPL

Not Our Typical Strong Monday...

It wasn't a typical strong Monday, but the bulls did manage a decent bounce back from some weak action this morning and even pushed us into the green by the close. That makes for 19 positive Mondays out of the last 21.

The market was stretched a bit too much to the downside, so an oversold bounce, especially on a Monday, isn't a huge surprise. Unfortunately, the action today did little to repair the technical damage that has been done the last couple weeks, but an intraday bounce and a strong close are good signs. This type of action has started the many V-shaped bounces over the past year. The bulls make a stand, and although the charts don't support much more upside, they build on a weak bounce, and before you know it, the squeeze is on and underinvested bulls are scrambling to put cash to work. These bounces always come on mediocre volume, which makes them very difficult to trust, but that seems to work in their favor.

I'm not suggesting that we are going to see another turn like we had in February, but given the number of times we have had these unusual bounces we can't be closed-minded about it happening again. The damage done by the "flash crash," the euro meltdown and the China tightening are much worse than anything we've seen in a while, so it is tougher to shrug it off, but a lot of longer-term bears don't want to be caught leaning against another big V-ish snap back.

I added more AAPL today, and have no shorts, so I'm positioned for a bit more upside, but I'm not betting on the V-bounce yet. While we had some good intraday reversals in individual stocks, most charts need further work to offer attractive setups. If a major change in market character is under way, then we have to be watching very carefully for another failed bounce. We are so used to bounces always working that we can easily let our guard down too easily once we have a little upside. This market is not out of the woods, so keep your caution levels up.

long AAPL

Friday, May 14, 2010

Randoms

V shouldn't be this low, but it might also go lower as we won't have clarity on this for some time. I'm a wait-and-see for now, even though I know the Fed won't destroy all (if any) of the revenues from transactions; as our global payment processing network is key to economic prosperity. At best we might see a token reduction in the fee rate.

The government is now playing a dangerous game of chicken. Team Obama, in my opinion, had a near lock on a second term until recently. Heck, do we not want our very best companies in the US to also be the best positioned to compete globally? If so, then why attack our biggest and best companies to extract payment and punishment? AAPL a monopoly? All our banks are now implicated in wrong doing? V and MA are ripping merchants off? Please, are we trying to kill a very strong emerging economic recovery one industry at a time, or all the industries at once?

I think the Democrat-led majority is at an ever increasing risk of losing that majority. From my perch, they have gone past the point of pushing just enough to create proactive change to the point where now they are pushing way too far....

Bottom line is we need the jobs from everywhere, especially from finance, tech, innovation and new business growth. Moreover, we have an accelerating jobs tsunami just about ready to launch!

I'd hate to see all that end once again because of very poor policy decision making. Again, we must remember the mistakes of the past and endeavor to not repeat them.

Meanwhile, I'm looking at JNPR and CSCO, and wondering if one or both are worth a long side shot. Especially since I look at the news on V, banks, and the NY attorney general, and I totally understand why the multitudes are selling into weakness......

long AAPL

A Typical Shakeout?

The most notable thing about the action this week was that it played out pretty close to the conventional rules of technical analysis - for those that believe. We had a big ugly breakdown the prior week, we bounced back on declining volume, failed almost exactly at the 50-day simple moving average of the S&P 500, rolled over and filled the Monday morning gap.

That is textbook technical action. The folks who were caught in the breakdown on May 6 and 7 wanted out, and as soon as they had a chance to reduce losses, they started selling, and that killed the bounce. The levels we hit and the way we moved perfectly illustrated the psychology that technical analysis attempts to capture.

What is ironic is that we have been in a market environment for so long that has tended to ignore the traditional rules. We have rallied on declining volume, cut through resistance areas like they haven't mattered and pulled off a series of V-shaped moves to new highs. Perhaps the fact that we haven't seen the traditional patterns in so long helped them to occur this time. Just when people start anticipating that the exception to the rule will continue, we revert to the rule.

Obviously, the million-dollar question now is, "What happens next?" Are we undergoing a major change in the market trend, or is this just a healthy shakeout which will quickly find support and set the stage for a move back up?

We have suffered some pretty severe technical damage, which hasn't mattered much in this market until this week, but we can't just dismiss it and hope the market shrugs it off and goes right back up. We are dangling without much technical support, and the S&P 500 has pretty clear sailing all the way down to 1100 or so.

While conditions are good for an oversold bounce, especially if we open weak on Monday, we have to be on watch for a lower series of highs and more failed bounces. That is what will make for a downtrend, and we can't rule it out just because we've recovered so easily from every other pullback we have had since March 2009.

I believe the best approach here is to make sure you are in stuff you're comfortable with, whether that be cash, AAPL, or what have you. There are always opportunities for profit if we stay open-minded and are persistent.....

long AAPL

Thursday, May 13, 2010

Stalled Out At 1174 Again

For the third day in a row, the S&P 500 stalled out around 1174, which is the 50-day simple moving average. As I keep writing, technical levels haven't mattered much on the upside, but this one mattered today. The bulls made a number of stabs at it, but when they were turned back for the second time at around 2:15 p.m. EDT, the selling picked up steam and we took out the lows.

We did manage to hold yesterday's lows, a slight positive, but that big gap in the SPY between $113.77 and $114.91 is beckoning. The conventional wisdom, as well as the stats, support the view that this gap will eventually be filled.

Of course, betting on the downside has been a losing proposition for so long that it is tough to embrace the dark side. But the charts of the major indexes look very poor, and maybe this time it does matter. We have negative seasonality kicking in, as well, so if the bears are going to do something, this is the time to do it.

The reversal in the big-cap momentum names was particularly ugly; it showed how skittish market players are. The low-volume bounce this week just isn't a great place to be buying, unless you are extremely confident of more V-ish action in this market.

It should be a very instructive battle tomorrow. The bears have an edge here, but they have squandered so many opportunities that it's tough to have much confidence in them. They will need to put up or shut up.

Wednesday, May 12, 2010

Another Strong Day

The end of last week is nothing more than a fleeting bad dream. Yesterday's high is still acting as a resistance area, but I continue to see the 14-day moving average around $117.78 per share on the SPY. If I were going short, this would be the area. In addition to this, the 50-day moving average is also upon us, but I am not going short here. Momentum is coming back in. The reflation trade and liquidity dump is back on. We are also back in the mental state of: "What is going to bring this market down?"

Agriculture shares have recovered a bit here, and holders of POT are finally being rewarded for their patience.

PCLN is still weak, but I am watching the $215 area. If that holds, then I will be looking at a small long position there, with a stop just below that level. GOOG continues to be weak as well. While $500 should offer some psychological support, the stock feels as though it is going to have a sneaky pop this week (or early next week), when the market is doing very little.

Lastly, gold just continues to move. The trade is starting to feel a bit crowded though.

Tuesday, May 11, 2010

Why The United States Is Not Comparable To Europe Or Greece

I have noticed some people wondering if the sovereign debt situation in the US is no different than the situation in Greece or Europe as a whole. Massive debt, money printing, etc. The thinking is the US dollar and US sovereign bond ratings should get similarly hit. I disagree with that assertion.

First, the fact of the matter is that the US financial crisis of 2008-2009, and the current problems faced by the US economy, have had nothing to do with a sovereign debt crisis. US bond yields declined and the US Dollar strengthened during the 2008-2009 crisis. Subsequently, real bond yields have remained at historically low levels.

When a country is undergoing a sovereign debt crisis, sovereign bond yields rise, real interest rates rise, economic activity plunges and the value of the currency falls, as is currently occurring in Europe. The situation is near the opposite in the US.

The financial crisis in the US had nothing to do with the creditworthiness of the US Treasury. It was a liquidity crisis almost entirely triggered by fears of potential (actual?) insolvency of US financial institutions due to the fact that a relatively small percentage of mortgage loans were being defaulted on.

Second, accounted for properly, if you compare apples to apples, prior to the crisis, the ratio of US public debt to GDP (slightly above 40%) was about half of what it was in Europe. Today, debt held by the public as a percent of GDP in Europe is still almost twice what it is in the US and is projected to grow more than the US in coming years.

And in terms of the ability of the US to finance its deficit and its debt, there is also little comparison. US fiscal and monetary institutions are much more robust and can deal with fiscal problems more effectively. The banking system is much sounder and has more capital. US banks have plenty of room on their balance sheets to fund US fiscal deficits; European banks do not have such leeway. US growth is higher. US demographics are better.

There is a very good reason why the US Dollar is rising relative to the Euro and why US Treasury yields are declining while sovereign bond yields in Europe are rising: The fundamentals of the US economy and US public finance are much stronger than they are in Europe.

In the global competition to attract scarce financial capital, the US is coming out a winner. This will support the ability of the US to finance its fiscal deficit, and it will keep the cost of financing low for US private business.

There Are No "Values" In The Market?

I must say I'm getting tired of reading so many who write that there are no values in the stock market. I've written a number of times on valuations of various tech stocks less cash; as well as a number of banks over the past year which I feel provide value.

What about nearly all of the P&C/Life insurers with a market cap over $2b? HIG, ALL, TRV, PRU, etc...

This would include AIG by the way. Don't want to believe me? Then I guess that really crazy guy running Fairholme Fund who has beaten the market umpteen years in a row is totally wrong....

How about stocks tied to farmland? It's been a while but I would doubt the TRC is selling at a crazy town multiple of book value. And timber? Same. I'll say it's probably quite reasonable without even checking based on where we are in the economic cycle.

I think there is likely tremendous value in the stocks/banks tied to California and Arizona and Florida real estate, but I'm sure that makes me sound like a loon. That said, this is no more crazy than me saying the banks would earn out write downs many times over (all in my past posts) -- which has occurred quarter after quarter since the ill-fated FAS 157 was repealed.....

It's not the gains today that are fiction. It was a huge portion of the losses post Bear Stearn's demise.....

Last Thursday was all about a world awash in futures with no limits, algo traders that position themselves as close to exchanges as physically possible, trading curbs that were eliminated, an uptick rule that was eliminated, levered ETFs gone wild, and an ECB that had not acted in unison with the Fed. Not to mention the insane no rule, no exchange, no self regulatory world of the credit default swap.....

Randoms

I'm saying it here first: I think the only way for RIMM to sustain long term viability is to adopt Android as their operating system. Wait until we see a fully functional Chrome on smartphones.....

Looking at CSCO, there is a good chance we see a very good report out of Mr. Chambers and the company this quarter. We are likely heading into the company's second best multi-year run in its history. Frankly, it's amazing we can buy CSCO at current levels....

More on the CSCO periphery: I also like CIEN to newer highs (off the CSCO quarter) and think we have a narrow window that the stock will stay a teenager. Moreover, where street highs are between $25-30, I'm between $42-50 (currently) and believe we'll see the stock trade well north of my high number, but that's more than 12 months out....

COMV is reacting pretty well despite just an average quarter. This is quite interesting as many muted quarters have seen aggressive selling.

I still want to know if we loaned Big Ben to the ECB for the weekend?

Another Bounce-Around Day

This morning it looked like the market was going to follow the familiar script of a light-volume V-shaped bounce through resistance, but we had an unusual late-afternoon swoon. This market hasn't seen many of those, especially once these bounces start.

Market players have become so used to the standard rules of technical analysis not working very well that it is a bit surprising when we actually do have a failed bounce as we hit resistance.

After the late reversal today, the index charts, for those that care, which already looked pretty poor, are really a mess. The SPY, for example, failed almost exactly at the 50-day simple moving average and then finished down at the day. That looks like a classic low-volume bounce failure, and you have to be looking at the possibility that the big gap from Monday morning will be filled.

What is so tough about this market is that betting on failed bounces has been a horrible strategy for so long. It just has not worked well at all since this rally began back last March, so you have to be a bit hesitant to start thinking that this time it is different, but the action today is pointing at the conclusion.

In addition to the afternoon reversal, what really stood out in today's action was the strength in gold and silver mining stocks. GLD hit an all-time high, and the group stayed strong all day. The dollar was up, so this wasn't just a reaction to currencies. It looks like a flight to a safe harbor as uncertainty increases. For a while, the historical role of gold as the place to hide when economic problems are hitting has been forgotten, but it looks like it is being embraced now, and that may be a bad sign for equities.

The overall market does not look very healthy to me right now, and I'm maintaining my positions in what I consider to be two very undervalued stocks: C and AAPL. This market is becoming more chaotic lately, however, which means we need to make sure we stay very flexible.

long C; AAPL

One I'm Considering - EHTH

By now, most people cringe when they hear the term 'health insurance'. Whether it is enrolling in your company's benefit plan, or obtaining health insurance on your own, confusion and apprehension generally accompany the application process. One company that is trying to smooth this process is EHTH. But it's having a bumpy ride.

This company already has one investor challenge facing it, namely, the analyst from Oppenheimer, who so dislikes the firm that he recently said, "We can't downgrade EHTH, because we already have an 'Underperform' on it, but we would if we could." Shares have actually fallen close to the $12 price target this analyst has on the stock. EHTH is also struggling against the cap the current healthcare reform has put on administrative costs and profits, which should have an impact on commissions. So, how can the company succeed?

Well, fundamentally, this company has almost everything going for it. First, half of the current stock price is made up of cash. As the company is net profitable and a cash-burn rate is not a concern, each share purchased at the current price consists of 50% cash and 50% for the business. I believe it can sustain this level of profitability, even if it is not growing tremendously at the moment. EHTH has some of the highest gross margins in the business, clocking in somewhere in the mid-90% range.

Even if growth stagnates while insurance companies adjust to the new healthcare reform, EHTH should be able to increase its cash position by 10% per year for at least the next two years. So, even though the current P/E is around 20x, with half the share price in cash, an investor is only paying a 10x P/E based on price net of cash. The company has no debt weighing it down, so with this level of cash and profitability, the idea of a buyout grows increasingly likely as each day passes.

The share price could also see a rapid boost from the fact that almost 10% of the share float is short right now. In addition, the average trading daily volume is only 300,000 shares. These two things together mean that if shorts were to cover all their shares based only on an average trading day's volume, it would take seven full trading days of nothing but short covering to eliminate the short interest. Now, that is not likely, nor practical. However, it does indicate that a short squeeze is altogether possible.

The company's website is fairly easy to use and allows consumers to compare different health-insurance plans from many big-name carriers. The application process is fairly simple, and help is easy to obtain. In a world that is becoming more web-centric by the day, EHTH has a huge consumer base that it has not even begun to touch yet. The idea of making health insurance available to every person living in this country, regardless of restrictions on commission, should prove a huge benefit to a company like EHTH.

It would be very interesting to see if it could even evolve its business into something of a PCLN model, where you have flat fee policies, or can bid for your own. They could have Homer Simpson as their spokesperson. If you were approved, he could yell, "Wahoo!" If you were denied, you would hear a big, "Doh!" Okay, well, maybe not. But health-insurance is stressful enough, so why not add a little fun?

Overall, I think these shares could very easily push higher based on valuation, a short squeeze, or even a buyout. In any of these cases, EHTH could surge 50% from these levels to test its current multiple top around $19 per share. Unfortunately, the shares could also flounder in the low teens or even lower while the market shakes off some rust and doubts persist about the implications of the new healthcare reform.

However, this is one stock that could significantly move to the upside before you have a chance to climb on board. Given the huge cash position and niche it currently occupies, I think the downside should be limited, making this one of the best long shots I've seen since the market bottom......

The European Bailout Is Not Another TARP.....

On Monday, the markets cheered for shock and awe redux, under the belief that if it worked here (in the U.S.), it will most certainly work over there (in Europe).

I am by no means a specialist in this area, but I see that there are a number of differences.

The European rescue package is not TARP 2 for a number of reasons:

* The U.S. had the resolve to implement necessary tax increases and fiscal controls. (We had only two institutions, a Federal Reserve and a Treasury Department, to dictate policy.) Do the members of the European Central Bank (ECB) have the resolve to make the appropriate sacrifices? As well, the ECB has 14 members that have a number of constituencies with differing agendas.

* In the U.S.'s TARP program, a heavy toll was taken on equity holders of American International Group (AIG) and a number of other publicly traded institutions. Will the Europeans' political realities and sometimes socialist leanings be willing to extract the skin of their own financial institutions?

* The U.S. rescue package started with an elevated dollar; the European package began with a depressed euro.

* If one of the primary purposes of this weekend's European policy move was to halt the drop in the euro, thus far, it has not been successful. The euro ended the day weaker after early short-covering. Someone doesn't believe that the policy initiatives and defense of the currency will be successful -- plus, overnight some credit metrics (e.g., two-year swap spreads) have deteriorated (though three-month Libor/fed funds spread has narrowed), as have prices for oil and copper.

On Wall Street, we too easily extrapolate trends, whether it's company earnings, industry statistics, economic recoveries, policies and rescue packages. Investors want to believe in the more or most favorable outcomes -- if the liquidity infusion worked in the U.S., it has to work in Europe. How else to explain the outsized response in yesterday's market?

Monday, May 10, 2010

Things I'm Thinking

The ECB goes for the nuclear option and provides a package as good as I could have hoped for -- save addressing CDS reform which I've seen talked about much more in the last 3-4 days in various Bloomberg stories.

I guess what it boils down to is this is the ECB finally acting like the FED, for better or worse. That is what the markets have missed through the whole crisis.
The package is huge (in size) but it's more huge in that the actions by the ECB are designed to finally get ahead of the curve versus being perennially behind the curve.

I noted on Friday that we could loan out Big Ben for the weekend to solve this issue. I'm wondering if Ben indeed was on the phone for much of the weekend.

I'm wondering if this may lead to a bigger rally than many expect over the coming weeks as we have had a very muted reaction to incredible EPS results for 3 straight quarters now. The muted reactions have been especially magnified during 2010. We mainly had "sell the news" during Q1 even on massive beats. During Q2 we didn't experience the blanket "sell the news" reactions as some stocks spiked higher on good reports. However, those positive reactions were still in the minority. At this point there are multitudes of stocks poised to catapult off these good/great reports while their stocks have fallen 10-30% or more in many cases.

After last week, I'm much less worried about the impact of the FASB making another big mistake; and if they did, I feel it would be repealed. I'm also inclined to think we may get an adjustment to the modified uptick rule, to make it more closely aligned with the original uptick rule. Bottom line, I'm aggressively looking at my favorite financials again.

Bounceback

On the surface, the big gain and breadth of better than 10 gainers for every decliner was quite impressive, but if you dig a bit deeper it wasn't that fantastic. The biggest problem: Volume was substantially lower than during the selloff on Thursday and Friday. The buying wasn't nearly as aggressive as the selling last week.

The other big problem is that the bounce today, although substantial, didn't even move most stocks back to where they were last Wednesday. The charts are still broken, and there is plenty of overhead resistance nearby. If we had bigger volume and gained some momentum during the day, it would be different, but after a bit of a squeeze into the finish, we ended up closing a little above where we opened.

Some of the big-cap technology names gained strength during the day, but overall the average stock did little after the gap-up this morning.

Low-volume bounces to resistance levels is one of those technical considerations that have been completely ignored by this market for more than a year. Every rally we have seen has come on declining volume and has completely ignored overhead technical levels. These bounces have made the perma-bulls look like geniuses because no negatives, no matter how obvious, have mattered.

It is certainly possible that today's rally is the start of yet another sharp bounce back up. The recent history of this market is that we just keep on building on moves like this and end up crushing any skeptics who think low volume or overhead resistance matters.

While today was certainly a victory for the bulls, according to some the action lacked vigor and makes them skeptical of our chances for yet another very quick and easy recovery.....

Friday, May 7, 2010

Thoughts On The Week....

Hey ECB, we can lend you Big Ben for a weekend - so we can solve this Greek crisis.

I wonder if we are seeing a dearth of buying power in the market with GS sitting on the sidelines... saying -- "Ok folks, you want to see what a market looks like with a little fear and no GS in the market providing liquidity?" (!!)

I still think the global contagion is wrong, but the prices are dictating that it's correct....

Gee, all of this happened this week RIGHT BEFORE the modified uptick rule goes in force on Monday, 5/10/10. Hmmnnnnnnnn......The modified uptick, which I still don't like nearly as much as the original, might just look good in the absence of no uptick.

Did I actually just write something in favor of the modified uptick?

Why is the world being held hostage by credit rating agencies that should have very little credibility themselves?

What A Terrible Week

Last Friday, in my closing post, I discussed how the alternating days of strength and weakness were an indication that indecision was growing and that we might be near a turning point. I certainly didn't expect the turn to happen this quickly or suddenly.

After a bounce on Monday, we had to listen to the chest-thumping bulls once again about how this market is never going to go down. Of course, that was a classic contrary indicator and the rollover kicked in with a vengeance. Usually, market turns don't have one very clear catalyst, but in this case, the selling was clearly triggered by the sovereign debt issues in Europe. Many have been trying to dismiss the problems in Greece as a minor matter, just like they dismissed sub-prime debt as irrelevant a couple of years back, but as the old saying goes, no man is an island, and all financial affairs are interconnected these days.

And if the market wasn't already difficult enough, we had this astounding meltdown that swung the DJIA about 700 points within a hour. No one seems to be quite sure what caused the swing, but the massive instability spooked a lot of market players, who prefer to do their gambling in Las Vegas, where you know already that the game is rigged.

After the big meltdown on Thursday, the bulls had a good setup for a quick recovery bounce, but they were unable to get anything going. Many were still reeling from the action on Thursday, but the biggest problem was that there is so much uncertainty about Europe at this point. We just don't know if Greece is going to be the domino that knocks over other countries, or whether the issues will be contained, and with no answers immediately on the horizon, the smart trade is to wait on the sidelines.

The good news about this market is that we've "needed" this sort of wash out and reset for a while. Many folks have been far too early in anticipating it, but it was inevitable. Now that it has happened, it's a new ballgame. The market character has changed and we now have many new opportunities to explore and exploit. If you took some hits this week, shake them off and we'll get busy next week making it up.

Have a great weekend and Mother's Day.

So Far, Just Another Day On Wall Street....

As I expected, yesterday's black box event is already fading from the headlines and being justified as normal and routine behavior, given the overseas issues. Of course, anyone who has sat in front of a trading desk, watching the intraday markets for a decade or longer, knows that's complete nonsense. The 60% bust threshold by Nasdaq-NYSE is especially mind-boggling. For years, there's been a rule (written or unwritten) the exchanges will bust trades that are 10% outside the last "real" price. Of course, they'd lose a fortune if they did that so it won't happen.

Meanwhile, retail investors and traders that placed deep stop orders on long term positions saw an entire year's worth of profits get wiped out. Those stops are routine in the post 9/11 world to protect positions against real black swans, like another terrorist attack or an assassination.

Finally, I find it especially galling to read some of the market players this morning tell their clientele it was just another normal day on Wall Street because they're too panicked to admit the playing field is permanently broken. Shame on them.

Thursday, May 6, 2010

Obviously, The Uptick Rule Needs To Be Brought Back

Who is still in favor of the no uptick rule? Of CDS with no insurable interest? Of the return of mark to market? Of no position limit futures? Where fundamentals don't matter and $25 million to $50 million in well placed CDS's can cause horrific damage to a multi-trillion dollar global equities cash market. That crash was all about futures pinning and the creation of margin calls out of financial vaporware!

I can say with absolute certainty that if we had the original uptick rule in place we would not have seen a third of that drop today.

All in favor of keeping the above-mentioned rules in place -- Stand up and be counted.....

Meanwhile, I think we are sitting on an extraordinary opportunity in the solar space after that beta monster crash. I'm still scouring and thinking about buying some more beta after grabbing yet more AAPL around $246.....

long AAPL

so many things to write...

the buy list is probably 20 pages right now; like i wrote earlier, i'm extremely confident aapl is worth much more than its current price - so that's where i am. i'll try to get the rest of my thoughts together over the next several days and get them up here...

long aapl

The Machines Won Today....

To say the action was volatile today would be a bit of an understatement. We started off weak as the dip-buyers just couldn't manage to get much going. They finally produced a small bounce as we hit S&P 500 resistance at 1150, but that move was flipped to death, and we broke back under that point.

Scenes of rioting in Greece were being shown, and market players were starting to look panicky. Then what looked like a large computer-driven trade hit, and we went into free fall and were down almost 1,000 Dow points before bouncing back. No one is exactly sure what happened, but I would be very surprised if it wasn't a computer-driven program that ran amok. There is just no way the individual trades were being executed at that pace. Only computers can move that fast. In fact, many traders were shut out of the action as their screens froze.

I'm sure we are going to hear quite a bit about what caused the big swing, and it did quite a bit of damage. The biggest problem is that undermines confidence in the markets. How can anyone invest rationally when we have such huge random swings?

Already I'm hearing companies like PG and C say that there was no evidence of "bad trades." I think they are right. The trades were legitimate trades made by computers to act in a certain way. The computers just overran the humans. What individual investor will want to risk his precious capital to that sort of manipulation?

Our more immediate concern is how to deal with this market. The action today is going to push a lot of folks to the sidelines, but the good news is that volatility is likely to stay high for a while, and that will provide opportunities to those who can move fast.

The action today really messes up the charts, but any way you look at them, we are now in a downtrend. Volume was huge, breadth was horrible, and there isn't any good technical support. We may see some countertrend bounces, but this is a market that has a high risk of further downside in the near term, so beware. I'm extremely confident AAPL is worth much more than $240 to $250, so that's where I am right now.

long AAPL

someone actually bought aapl at 199.25 today (literally a few minutes ago)

it's trading at 245 now...........

look at today's range....

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1. Range 199.25 - 258.25
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Google Says It Will Begin Digital Book Sales In June Or July
Barron's - May 4, 2010
Please check at http://www.istockanalyst.com for related articles, news, blog...
istockAnalyst.com - May 4, 2010
Developers question Apple's advertising ambitions
Reuters - May 3, 2010
Hot Sales Growth Is Surest Way To Profit
Investor's Business Daily - May 3, 2010




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Apr 20, 2010
Apple® FY 10 Second Quarter Results Conference Call - Webcast
Apr 20, 2010
Q2 2010 Earnings Release
Feb 25, 2010
Shareholders Meeting
Feb 23, 2010
Goldman Sachs Technology Conference
More events from DailyFinance »
Key stats and ratios
Q1 (Mar '10) 2009
Net profit margin 22.77% 19.19%
Operating margin 29.48% 27.36%
EBITD margin - 28.96%
Return on average assets 22.22% 19.68%
Return on average equity 32.83% 30.54%
Employees 34,300 -
Carbon Disclosure Rating - 73/100
Screen stocks with similar metrics »
Address
1 Infinite Loop
Cupertino, CA 95014
United States - Map
+1-408-9961010 (Phone)
+1-408-9960275 (Fax)
Website links
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News Releases
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Products/Services
Employment Opportunities
External links
Analyst Estimates - MarketWatch
SEC Filings - EDGAR Online
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Research Reports - Yahoo Finance
Annual Report (PDF) - AnnualReports.com
About Company - Wikipedia
Transcripts - SeekingAlpha
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Valuation
▲▼ Company name▲▼ Price▲▼ Change▲▼ Chg %▲▼ d | m | y▲▼ Mkt Cap▲▼
AAPL Apple Inc. 234.99 -20.99 -8.20% 211.44B
HPQ Hewlett-Packard Company 47.86 -3.07 -6.03% 110.74B
MSFT Microsoft Corporation 28.47 -1.38 -4.62% 249.90B
DELL Dell Inc. 14.90 -0.87 -5.52% 29.25B
GOOG Google Inc. 485.03 -24.73 -4.85% 153.79B
ADBE Adobe Systems Incorpor... 31.41 -1.55 -4.70% 16.59B
LNVGY Lenovo Group Limited (... 13.01 -1.19 -8.38% 6.18B
PALM Palm, Inc. 5.71 -0.06 -1.04% 965.28M
IBM Intl. Business Machine... 121.26 -5.55 -4.38% 154.96B
SNDK SanDisk Corporation 37.59 -4.23 -10.11% 8.48B
NOK Nokia Corporation (ADR) 10.97 -0.70 -6.00% 40.82B
Sector: Technology > Industry: Computer Hardware
Apple Inc. discussed on blogs
Jim Cramer's Lightning Round: Buy Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL), Sell ... - J. Cramer - Madd Money - 16 hours ago
Apple Inc. Hits Gap Fill Support For Easy Short Term Long Swing ... - inthemoneystocks - Value Investing News queue - May 5, 2010
Stock Market Analysis: Apple Inc AAPL Stock Analysis - 5/5/10 - stockstobuy.org - Stock Market Analysis - May 5, 2010
More blog posts about Apple Inc. »
Apple Inc. discussions
View all discussions »
Description
Apple Inc. (Apple) designs, manufactures, and markets personal computers, mobile communication devices, and portable digital music and video players, and sells a variety of related software, services, peripherals, and networking solutions. The Company sells its products worldwide through its online stores, its retail stores, its direct sales force, and third-party wholesalers, resellers, and value-added resellers. In addition, the Company sells a variety of third-party Macintosh (Mac), iPhone and iPod compatible products, including application software, printers, storage devices, speakers, headphones, and various other accessories and peripherals through its online and retail stores, and digital content and applications through the iTunes Store. The Company sells to consumer, small and mid-sized business (SMB), education, enterprise, government and creative customers. In December 2009, the Company acquired digital music service Lala.
More from Reuters »
Officers and directors
Steven P. Jobs Chief Executive Officer, Director
Age: 55
Bio & Compensation - Reuters
Peter Oppenheimer Chief Financial Officer, Senior Vice President
Portrait. Age: 47
Bio & Compensation - Reuters
Timothy D. Cook Chief Operating Officer
Portrait. Age: 49
Bio & Compensation - Reuters
D. Bruce Sewell Senior Vice President, General Counsel, Secretary
Age: 51
Bio & Compensation - Reuters
Philip W. Schiller Senior Vice President - Worldwide Product Marketing
Portrait. Age: 49
Bio & Compensation - Reuters
Ronald B. Johnson Senior Vice President - Retail
Portrait. Age: 51
Bio & Compensation - Reuters
Bertrand Serlet Senior Vice President - Software Engineering
Portrait. Age: 49
Bio & Compensation - Reuters
Scott J. Forstall Senior Vice President - iPhone Software Engineering and Platform Experience
Age: 41
Bio & Compensation - Reuters
Robert J. Mansfield Senior Vice President - Mac Hardware Engineering
Age: 49
Bio & Compensation - Reuters
Mark Papermaster Senior Vice President - Devices Hardware Engineering
Age: 48
Bio & Compensation - Reuters
Full list on Reuters »
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World markets
Shanghai 2,739.70 -117.45 (-4.11%)
Nikkei 225 10,695.69 -361.71 (-3.27%)
Hang Seng Index 20,133.41 -194.13 (-0.96%)
TSEC 7,579.48 -117.42 (-1.53%)
FTSE 100 5,260.99 -80.94 (-1.52%)
CAC 40 3,556.11 -79.92 (-2.20%)
S&P TSX 11,715.08 -160.05 (-1.35%)
S&P/ASX 200 4,573.20 -100.80 (-2.16%)
BSE Sensex 16,987.53 -100.43 (-0.59%)
Currencies
Euro - USD 1.2688 -0.0136 (-1.06%)
USD - JPY 92.2300 -1.4500 (-1.55%)
GBP - USD 1.4888 -0.0214 (-1.42%)
CAD - USD 0.9581 -0.0113 (-1.17%)
USD - HKD 7.7727 +0.0055 (0.07%)
USD - CNY 6.8265 +0.0002 (0.00%)
AUD - USD 0.8938 -0.0114 (-1.26%)
Bonds
3 Month 0.08% -0.05 (-38.46%)
6 Month 0.14% -0.06 (-30.00%)
2 Year 0.66% -0.18 (-21.43%)
5 Year 2.03% -0.25 (-10.96%)
10 Year 3.27% -0.27 (-7.63%)
30 Year 4.06% -0.32 (-7.31%)
US STOCKS SNAPSHOT-S&P, Nasdaq tumble 3 pct
Reuters - 11 minutes ago
NEW YORK, May 6 (Reuters) - US stocks extended losses on Thursday afternoon, as the S&P 500 and Nasdaq both fell more than 3 percent. The Dow Jones industrial average .DJI slid 247.43 points, or 2.28 percent, at 10,620.69. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index .SPX was down 31.37 points ...
U.S. stock declines deepen as euro falls MarketWatch
Dow in Dumps as Europe Stifles Stocks TheStreet.com
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Market Chart
Dow
10,175.78 -692.34 (-6.37%)
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1,093.64 -72.23 (-6.20%)
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2,240.18 -162.11 (-6.75%)
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Market
Portfolio related
Dow falls over 300 points
CNNMoney - 4 hours ago
By Alexandra Twin, senior writer May 6, 2010: 2:36 PM ET NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Stocks selloff sharply Thursday, extending the recent downturn as investors continued to worry that Europe's debt problems will slow a bigger global economic recovery.
Interior Suspends Planned Va. Offshore Oil and Gas Lease Sale
New York Times - 1 hour ago
By NOELLE STRAUB of Greenwire As the massive Gulf of Mexico oil spill raises questions about the safety of offshore drilling, the Interior Department has indefinitely suspended plans for an oil and gas lease sale off the Virginia coastline.
Paulson Backs Stronger Oversight of Markets
New York Times - 45 minutes ago
By SEWELL CHAN WASHINGTON - Henry M. Paulson Jr., the former Treasury secretary who led the Bush administration's response to the 2008 financial crisis, on Thursday endorsed calls for greater scrutiny and regulation of capital markets.
Bernanke Warns Against Move to Audit Fed
Wall Street Journal - 53 minutes ago
By TOM BARKLEY And MICHAEL R. CRITTENDEN WASHINGTON—Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke sought Thursday to head off legislation that would subject the central bank's monetary policy decisions to congressional audits, warning it could stoke inflation ...
Continental, UAL Pilots Craft Plan for Joint Talks
BusinessWeek - 30 minutes ago
By Mary Schlangenstein and Mary Jane Credeur May 6 (Bloomberg) -- Continental Airlines Inc. and United Airlines pilot unions agreed on a framework for joint contract talks with management, a first move toward meshing work groups as the two carriers ...
More market news »
Altria Raising Cigarette Prices By 8c A Pack
Wall Street Journal - 16 hours ago
By Anjali Cordeiro Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES NEW YORK (Dow Jones)--Altria Group Inc.'s (MO) Philip Morris USA division is raising prices for Marlboro and most of its other cigarette brands by 8 cents ...
Afternoon Market Update (AAPL, ADBE, CNO, NKE)
Benzinga - 23 hours ago
While comparing the recent competitive behavior of Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) with that of a 19th-century railroad company, Chief Technology Officer Kevin Lynch of Adobe Systems (NASDAQ: ADBE) said ...
Please check at http://www.istockanalyst.com for related articles, news, blogs and company research
istockAnalyst.com - May 4, 2010
Analyst Research on Apple, Inc. (Nasdaq: AAPL), Baidu, Inc. (Nasdaq: BIDU), Blockbuster, Inc. (NYSE: BBI), Toyota Motor Corp. (NYSE: TM) and Many More Available at Bedfordreport.com. (Source ...
Developers question Apple's advertising ambitions
Reuters - May 3, 2010
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Software developers expect a windfall in ad revenue from games and other applications they are designing for the iPad, but Apple Inc's (AAPL.O) push into mobile ...
More portfolio news »
Sector summary
Sector Change % down / up
Basic Materials -7.07%



Capital Goods -8.33%



Conglomerates -9.94%



Cons. Cyclical -6.69%



Cons. Non-Cyclical -7.17%



Energy -8.17%



Financial -7.86%



Healthcare -5.92%



Services -6.33%



Technology -8.10%



Transportation -7.06%



Utilities -9.95%



Trends
Popular
Price
Mkt Cap
Vol
Gainers Change Mkt Cap
VXZ Barclays Bank PLC Exchnage Traded Note 413.27% 5.26B
VXX iPath S&P 500 VIX Short Term F 32.06% 2.24B
FAZ Direxion Daily Finan. Bear 3X Shs(ETF) 20.87% 1.30B
SCO ProShares UltraShort DJ-UBS Crude Oi ETF 12.33% 17.15B
FIS Fidelity National Information Services 9.50% 10.66B
Losers Change Mkt Cap
DVY iShares Dow Jones Select Dividend (ETF) -47.61% 2.06B
BWP Boardwalk Pipeline Partners, LP -39.96% 3.20B
PGH Pengrowth Energy Trust (USA) -37.55% 1.92B
PVX Provident Energy Trust (USA) -37.53% 1.31B
ERF Enerplus Resources Fund (USA) -35.48% 2.65B
Excludes stocks with mkt cap less than $1B. See FAQ
Gainers Change Mkt Cap
VXZ Barclays Bank PLC Exchnage Traded Note 413.27% 5.26B
SCO ProShares UltraShort DJ-UBS Crude Oi ETF 12.33% 17.15B
GLD SPDR Gold Trust (ETF) 2.49% 42.83B
FIS Fidelity National Information Services 9.50% 10.66B
VXX iPath S&P 500 VIX Short Term F 32.06% 2.24B
Losers Change Mkt Cap
XOM Exxon Mobil Corporation -9.52% 281.27B
AAPL Apple Inc. -10.94% 207.46B
GE General Electric Company -11.88% 170.23B
HBC HSBC Holdings plc (ADR) -12.13% 151.26B
BAC Bank of America Corporation -10.72% 157.00B
Excludes stocks with mkt cap less than $1B. See FAQ
Leaders Volume Mkt Cap
C Citigroup Inc. 1.06B 111.62B
SPY SPDR S&P 500 ETF 333.18M 95.84B
BAC Bank of America Corporation 272.88M 157.00B
XLF Financial Select Sector SPDR (ETF) 178.89M 5.82B
QQQQ PowerShares QQQ Trust, Series 1 (ETF) 159.98M 17.96B
F Ford Motor Company 147.54M 36.50B
EEM iShares MSCI Emerging Markets Indx (ETF) 124.04M 33.22B
ETFC E TRADE Financial Corporation 105.40M 2.89B
IWM iShares Russell 2000 Index (ETF) 105.11M 12.71B
INTC Intel Corporation 95.56M 111.84B
Excludes stocks with mkt cap less than $1B. See FAQ
Popular searches on Google Change Mkt Cap
FIS Fidelity National Information Services 6.88% 10.40B
HTRN HealthTronics Inc. 32.87% 219.27M
MOPN MOP ENVIRONMENTAL SLTNS 292.11% 14.83M
PCS MetroPCS Communications, Inc. 0.78% 2.75B
IDG ING Groep N.V. 70.20% 540.32M
MGA Magna International Inc. (USA) 6.68% 7.52B
CITC Children's Internet, Inc. 56.25% 500,606.00
TKLC TEKELEC -19.83% 958.24M
SATM SATMAX CORP 47.33% 0.00
ADCT ADC Telecommunications -6.60% 700.13M
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chg | % chg | %
AAPL 215.66 -40.32-15.75% Remove Apple Inc. from list
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MNRTA 7.50 -0.30-3.85% Remove Monmouth R.E. Inv. Corp. from list
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Apple Inc.
(Public, NASDAQ:AAPL) Watch this stock
Find more results for AAPL
Dow 9,887.61 -9.02%
Nasdaq 2,200.45 -8.40%
Technology -8.59%
AAPL 215.66 -15.75%








215.66
-40.32 (-15.75%)
Real-time: 2:47PM EDT
NASDAQ real-time data - Disclaimer

1. Range 199.25 - 258.25
2. 52 week 119.38 - 272.46
3. Open 254.00
4. Vol / Avg. 22.09M/21.08M
5. Mkt cap 196.24B
6. P/E 18.30
7. Div/yield -
8. EPS 11.78
9. Shares 909.94M
10. Beta 1.55
11. Inst. own 72%

News
Blogs
Feeds


Liberty Analytics Co. Initiates Independent Research Coverage on Apple, Inc.
MarketWatch - 5 hours ago
Large Cap Stocks Watch - F, AAPL, C, GE, BP, WMT
Daily Metro News - 5 hours ago
Afternoon Market Update (AAPL, ADBE, CNO, NKE)
Benzinga - 23 hours ago
iPad could be Apple's new cash cow – As in $1 billion dollars in first qu...
IntoMobile - 23 hours ago
Media Stocks News Corp., Time Warner May Slip After Earnings (NWS, TWX, AAPL)
Investorplace.com - May 5, 2010
NASDAQ:AAPL – Is Apple Stock The Driving Force of the NASDAQ?
Social Media SEO - May 4, 2010
Google Says It Will Begin Digital Book Sales In June Or July
Barron's - May 4, 2010
Please check at http://www.istockanalyst.com for related articles, news, blog...
istockAnalyst.com - May 4, 2010
Developers question Apple's advertising ambitions
Reuters - May 3, 2010
Hot Sales Growth Is Surest Way To Profit
Investor's Business Daily - May 3, 2010




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All news for Apple Inc. »
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Events
Add AAPL to my calendars
Apr 20, 2010
Apple® FY 10 Second Quarter Results Conference Call - Webcast
Apr 20, 2010
Q2 2010 Earnings Release
Feb 25, 2010
Shareholders Meeting
Feb 23, 2010
Goldman Sachs Technology Conference
More events from DailyFinance »
Key stats and ratios
Q1 (Mar '10) 2009
Net profit margin 22.77% 19.19%
Operating margin 29.48% 27.36%
EBITD margin - 28.96%
Return on average assets 22.22% 19.68%
Return on average equity 32.83% 30.54%
Employees 34,300 -
Carbon Disclosure Rating - 73/100
Screen stocks with similar metrics »
Address
1 Infinite Loop
Cupertino, CA 95014
United States - Map
+1-408-9961010 (Phone)
+1-408-9960275 (Fax)
Website links
Company website:
http://www.apple.com/
News Releases
Investor Relations
Financial Information
Executives
Products/Services
Employment Opportunities
External links
Analyst Estimates - MarketWatch
SEC Filings - EDGAR Online
Major Holders - MSN Money
Options - Morningstar
Research Reports - Yahoo Finance
Annual Report (PDF) - AnnualReports.com
About Company - Wikipedia
Transcripts - SeekingAlpha
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Valuation
▲▼ Company name▲▼ Price▲▼ Change▲▼ Chg %▲▼ d | m | y▲▼ Mkt Cap▲▼
AAPL Apple Inc. 216.58 -39.40 -15.39% 197.07B
HPQ Hewlett-Packard Company 43.35 -7.58 -14.88% 101.66B
MSFT Microsoft Corporation 28.10 -1.75 -5.86% 246.26B
DELL Dell Inc. 14.42 -1.35 -8.56% 28.23B
GOOG Google Inc. 482.95 -26.81 -5.26% 153.78B
ADBE Adobe Systems Incorpor... 30.95 -2.01 -6.10% 16.29B
LNVGY Lenovo Group Limited (... 13.01 -1.19 -8.38% 6.18B
PALM Palm, Inc. 5.71 -0.06 -1.04% 963.59M
IBM Intl. Business Machine... 118.12 -8.69 -6.85% 151.47B
SNDK SanDisk Corporation 34.05 -7.77 -18.58% 7.79B
NOK Nokia Corporation (ADR) 10.75 -0.92 -7.88% 40.26B
Sector: Technology > Industry: Computer Hardware
Apple Inc. discussed on blogs
Jim Cramer's Lightning Round: Buy Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL), Sell ... - J. Cramer - Madd Money - 15 hours ago
Apple Inc. Hits Gap Fill Support For Easy Short Term Long Swing ... - inthemoneystocks - Value Investing News queue - May 5, 2010
Stock Market Analysis: Apple Inc AAPL Stock Analysis - 5/5/10 - stockstobuy.org - Stock Market Analysis - May 5, 2010
More blog posts about Apple Inc. »
Apple Inc. discussions
View all discussions »
Description
Apple Inc. (Apple) designs, manufactures, and markets personal computers, mobile communication devices, and portable digital music and video players, and sells a variety of related software, services, peripherals, and networking solutions. The Company sells its products worldwide through its online stores, its retail stores, its direct sales force, and third-party wholesalers, resellers, and value-added resellers. In addition, the Company sells a variety of third-party Macintosh (Mac), iPhone and iPod compatible products, including application software, printers, storage devices, speakers, headphones, and various other accessories and peripherals through its online and retail stores, and digital content and applications through the iTunes Store. The Company sells to consumer, small and mid-sized business (SMB), education, enterprise, government and creative customers. In December 2009, the Company acquired digital music service Lala.
More from Reuters »
Officers and directors
Steven P. Jobs Chief Executive Officer, Director
Age: 55
Bio & Compensation - Reuters
Peter Oppenheimer Chief Financial Officer, Senior Vice President
Age: 47
Bio & Compensation - Reuters
Timothy D. Cook Chief Operating Officer
Age: 49
Bio & Compensation - Reuters
D. Bruce Sewell Senior Vice President, General Counsel, Secretary
Age: 51
Bio & Compensation - Reuters
Philip W. Schiller Senior Vice President - Worldwide Product Marketing
Age: 49
Bio & Compensation - Reuters
Ronald B. Johnson Senior Vice President - Retail
Age: 51
Bio & Compensation - Reuters
Bertrand Serlet Senior Vice President - Software Engineering
Age: 49
Bio & Compensation - Reuters
Scott J. Forstall Senior Vice President - iPhone Software Engineering and Platform Experience
Age: 41
Bio & Compensation - Reuters
Robert J. Mansfield Senior Vice President - Mac Hardware Engineering
Age: 49
Bio & Compensation - Reuters
Mark Papermaster Senior Vice President - Devices Hardware Engineering
Age: 48
Bio & Compensation - Reuters
Full list on Reuters »
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chg | % chg | %
AAPL 207.00 -48.99-19.14% Remove Apple Inc. from list
MO 19.79 -1.43-6.74% Remove Altria Group, Inc. from list
MNRTA 7.55 -0.25-3.21% Remove Monmouth R.E. Inv. Corp. from list
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2:42PM EDT
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World markets
Shanghai 2,739.70 -117.45 (-4.11%)
Nikkei 225 10,695.69 -361.71 (-3.27%)
Hang Seng Index 20,133.41 -194.13 (-0.96%)
TSEC 7,579.48 -117.42 (-1.53%)
FTSE 100 5,260.99 -80.94 (-1.52%)
CAC 40 3,556.11 -79.92 (-2.20%)
S&P TSX 11,726.07 -149.06 (-1.26%)
S&P/ASX 200 4,573.20 -100.80 (-2.16%)
BSE Sensex 16,987.53 -100.43 (-0.59%)
Currencies
Euro - USD 1.2688 -0.0136 (-1.06%)
USD - JPY 92.2300 -1.4500 (-1.55%)
GBP - USD 1.4888 -0.0214 (-1.42%)
CAD - USD 0.9581 -0.0113 (-1.17%)
USD - HKD 7.7727 +0.0055 (0.07%)
USD - CNY 6.8265 +0.0002 (0.00%)
AUD - USD 0.8938 -0.0114 (-1.26%)
Bonds
3 Month 0.09% -0.04 (-30.77%)
6 Month 0.14% -0.05 (-26.32%)
2 Year 0.77% -0.07 (-8.33%)
5 Year 2.15% -0.13 (-5.70%)
10 Year 3.40% -0.14 (-3.95%)
30 Year 4.24% -0.15 (-3.42%)
U.S. stock declines deepen as euro falls
MarketWatch - 56 minutes ago
NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- US stocks dropped sharply on Thursday as investor confidence in Europe's ability to stem Greek's debt trouble shredded confidence in Europe's shared currency. The euro fell to another 14-month low against the dollar, with the greenback's climb weighing ...
Dow in Dumps as Europe Stifles Stocks TheStreet.com
Stocks Sag as Europe Weighs TheStreet.com
Dow S&P 500 Nasdaq
Market Chart
Dow
10,451.55 -416.57 (-3.83%)
S&P 500
1,065.89 -99.98 (-8.58%)
Nasdaq
2,188.80 -213.49 (-8.89%)
Top stories
Market
Portfolio related
Canadian Miners Rally As Investors Seek Safety (USO, SA, ...
tickerspy Newswire - seconds ago
by Jason Smith | May 6th Stocks took it on the chin again on Thursday, with the Dow tumbling over -200 points for its second time in three days. Energy commodities took a beating as well, and a -3 ...
West Sacramento company named top U.S. minority-owned bus...
Modesto Bee - a minute ago
By Mark Glover - mglover@sacbee.com West Sacramento-based Total Team Construction Services Inc. has won a major national award recognizing minority-owned businesses. The local company was named ...
Obama Tries to Avoid Katrina Comparison in BP Spill
BusinessWeek - 2 hours ago
(Adds Pelosi quote in ninth paragraph. For more on the oil spill, see {EXT4 .} By Julianna Goldman May 6 (Bloomberg) -- The Obama administration is trying to head off criticism over its handling of the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico with a two-pronged ...
TREASURIES-Bonds rally as ECB fails to offer new measures
Reuters - 53 minutes ago
By Emily Flitter NEW YORK, May 6 (Reuters) - US Treasury debt prices gained on Thursday as anxiety over Europe's debt situation heightened after the European Central Bank failed to offer the possibility of more help for struggling euro zone countries.
Paulson Backs Stronger Oversight of Markets
New York Times - 42 minutes ago
By SEWELL CHAN WASHINGTON - Henry M. Paulson Jr., the former Treasury secretary who led the Bush administration's response to the 2008 financial crisis, on Thursday endorsed calls for greater scrutiny and regulation of capital markets.
Greek parliament backs tough austerity bill
Reuters - 4 hours ago
By Harry Papachristou and Renee Maltezou ATHENS, May 6 (Reuters) - Greek lawmakers approved the government's 30 billion euro ($40 billion) austerity bill in a vote in parliament on Thursday, paving the way for a record bailout from the European Union ...
Bernanke Warns Against Move to Audit Fed
Wall Street Journal - 50 minutes ago
By TOM BARKLEY And MICHAEL R. CRITTENDEN WASHINGTON—Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke sought Thursday to head off legislation that would subject the central bank's monetary policy decisions to congressional audits, warning it could stoke inflation ...
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Altria Raising Cigarette Prices By 8c A Pack
Wall Street Journal - 9:10am
By Anjali Cordeiro Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES NEW YORK (Dow Jones)--Altria Group Inc.'s (MO) Philip Morris USA division is raising prices for Marlboro and most of its other cigarette brands by 8 cents ...
Afternoon Market Update (AAPL, ADBE, CNO, NKE)
Benzinga - 2:21am
While comparing the recent competitive behavior of Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) with that of a 19th-century railroad company, Chief Technology Officer Kevin Lynch of Adobe Systems (NASDAQ: ADBE) said ...
Please check at http://www.istockanalyst.com for related articles, news, blogs and company research
istockAnalyst.com - 9:21am
Analyst Research on Apple, Inc. (Nasdaq: AAPL), Baidu, Inc. (Nasdaq: BIDU), Blockbuster, Inc. (NYSE: BBI), Toyota Motor Corp. (NYSE: TM) and Many More Available at Bedfordreport.com. (Source ...
Developers question Apple's advertising ambitions
Reuters - 5:05am
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Software developers expect a windfall in ad revenue from games and other applications they are designing for the iPad, but Apple Inc's (AAPL.O) push into mobile ...
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Sector summary
Sector Change % down / up
Basic Materials -4.49%



Capital Goods -5.42%



Conglomerates -5.25%



Cons. Cyclical -3.96%



Cons. Non-Cyclical -2.67%



Energy -5.25%



Financial -5.11%



Healthcare -3.24%



Services -3.90%



Technology -4.46%



Transportation -5.13%



Utilities -4.48%



Trends
Popular
Price
Mkt Cap
Vol
Gainers Change Mkt Cap
VXX iPath S&P 500 VIX Short Term F 19.80% 2.03B
FAZ Direxion Daily Finan. Bear 3X Shs(ETF) 16.00% 1.25B
FIS Fidelity National Information Services 10.81% 10.78B
SDS ProShares UltraShort S&P500 (ETF) 8.57% 3.07B
MGA Magna International Inc. (USA) 8.33% 7.63B
Losers Change Mkt Cap
PPC Pilgrim's Pride Corporation -24.19% 1.81B
JDSU JDS Uniphase Corporation -22.62% 2.32B
NRP Natural Resource Partners LP -21.34% 1.29B
CSQ Calamos Strategic Total Return Fund -19.84% 1.10B
TSL Trina Solar Limited (ADR) -18.58% 2.62B
Excludes stocks with mkt cap less than $1B. See FAQ
Gainers Change Mkt Cap
SCO ProShares UltraShort DJ-UBS Crude Oi ETF 7.75% 16.45B
FIS Fidelity National Information Services 10.73% 10.78B
DCM NTT DoCoMo, Inc. (ADR) 1.50% 64.70B
GLD SPDR Gold Trust (ETF) 1.97% 42.61B
MGA Magna International Inc. (USA) 7.95% 7.60B
Losers Change Mkt Cap
BAC Bank of America Corporation -8.39% 161.11B
GE General Electric Company -7.51% 178.66B
AAPL Apple Inc. -6.04% 218.87B
BHP BHP Billiton Limited (ADR) -7.08% 178.98B
HBC HSBC Holdings plc (ADR) -7.65% 158.96B
Excludes stocks with mkt cap less than $1B. See FAQ
Leaders Volume Mkt Cap
C Citigroup Inc. 1.03B 113.48B
SPY SPDR S&P 500 ETF 323.51M 96.39B
BAC Bank of America Corporation 269.76M 161.11B
XLF Financial Select Sector SPDR (ETF) 175.46M 5.95B
QQQQ PowerShares QQQ Trust, Series 1 (ETF) 154.04M 18.59B
F Ford Motor Company 141.52M 37.86B
EEM iShares MSCI Emerging Markets Indx (ETF) 118.97M 33.83B
ETFC E TRADE Financial Corporation 103.19M 2.92B
IWM iShares Russell 2000 Index (ETF) 102.16M 12.93B
INTC Intel Corporation 93.18M 117.96B
Excludes stocks with mkt cap less than $1B. See FAQ
Popular searches on Google Change Mkt Cap
FIS Fidelity National Information Services 10.77% 10.78B
HTRN HealthTronics Inc. 32.60% 218.82M
MOPN MOP ENVIRONMENTAL SLTNS 268.42% 13.94M
PCS MetroPCS Communications, Inc. 2.71% 2.81B
IDG ING Groep N.V. 69.90% 539.37M
MGA Magna International Inc. (USA) 7.95% 7.60B
CITC Children's Internet, Inc. 56.25% 500,606.00
TKLC TEKELEC -20.34% 952.11M
SATM SATMAX CORP 45.04% 0.00
ADCT ADC Telecommunications -2.72% 729.22M
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