152 Discussion / Question Topics
Remove Filter  | Uh-oh. When Barack Obama promised change, this wasn't what Wall Street was hoping for. The market was down, big time, today as investor came to grips with an Obama administration and its taxing impact on the investor class. Today's Yahoo.com headline said it all: "Stocks fall as investors ponder Obama … |
| | Is today the worst day of the recession? A lot of people seem to think so. I’ll get into that in a moment, in an otherwise light trading day for technology stocks. I think we’re seeing a run out of tech this week and into more stable companies, especially in … |
| | I want to get to GameStop and the overall video game market, which finally seems to be losing steam. But tech is going nowhere until we straighten the banking mess out and this week’s earnings report from perhaps the biggest bank out there - Citi – is being falsely touted … |
| | If you’re holding shares in Saleforce.com (StockQuote: CRM) it might be time to sell. So says Wedbush Morgan analyst Michael Nemeroff. The analyst slashed his rating on Salesforce.com from “hold” to “sell” and says that the online sales giant’s current stock price of $36 is about $10 higher than his … |
| | Is it time to get back into the market? I don’t think so – if it walks like a sucker’s market, talks like a sucker’s market, and squawks like a sucker’s market, it’s a sucker’s market. Tech Ticker’s Aaron Task agrees. He says today that the U.S. still haven't dealt … |
| | It didn’t take long for CA to pay the price for the lower earnings outlook that popped up among Wall Street analysts last week. The stock fell 3% today after Jefferies analyst Katherine Egbert downgraded CA to “hold” from “buy”, and lowered her target price for the computer giant’s stock … |
| | My first job on Wall Street was on the equity options floor of the Philadelphia Stock Exchange, running trades for Bear Stearns’ clients, mostly market maker and floor brokers trading on their own accounts or for affluent clients. Options are a tricky beast, and I don’t recommend that average investors … |
| | I’m back from a timely and tropical Florida break, and now I’m tanned, rested and ready to talk tech stocks. Issue #1 is Research in Motion, a stock on the upswing (at $44 per share) on news that it plans to roll out a new, full-service TV feature in the … |
| | Now that the news is out on IBM’s proposed $6.5 billion purchase of Sun Microsystems, analysts are in a lather over why Big Blue wants to make the deal. The Wall Street Journal originally broke the story, reporting that the merger “could help IBM in the finance and telecommunications markets … |
| | When you rush legislation through Washington, like Congress did with the two financial sector bailout bills, you lose the right to complain when the outcome blows up in your face That means you Senator Chris Dodd, who actually inserted the language in the $170 billion AIG bailout bill guaranteeing the … |
| | One more note on the solar energy piece I wrote about yesterday. Evidently, the bad news on solar energy has made its way across the country. According to Barclays Capital analyst Vishal Shah early today, two solar energy stocks have seen their ratings cut due to lousy demand for solar … |
| | Tech employees are starting to take matters into their own hands, with some apparently not above kidnapping. Our story begins in southwestern France, at a soon-to-be-closed Sony plant where employees had suffered numerous layoffs. Frustrated with the aggressive pace of the layoffs, and the seeming arrogance among Sony execs in … |
| | The stock market is up about 10 points, trying to find some buoyancy after yesterday’s big 400-point gain. Traders credit two events for the quick market turnaround: Citi coming out and saying it actually made a profit during the last quarter and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke announcing that the … |
| | Rumors are rampant over a proposed Verizon-Nokia deal on a 4G mobile device, as equity options traders snapped up calls (options to buy a given stock at lower prices) in anticipation of a big run-up in Nokia’s stock. Nokia is trading at: $8.76, up a tick or two from the … |
| | When Warren Buffett talks, Wall Street – and Main Street – listen. And now he’s talking about the future of the U.S. economy. In a wide-ranging, three-hour interview on CNBC yesterday, Buffett said, “the economy has fallen off a cliff.” Noting people have "changed their habits", Buffett seemed very frustrated … |
| | Charlie Payne, sounding a lot like Revolutionary War pamphleteer Thomas Paine, says that we're in the 2009 version of “these are the times that try men’s souls”. Of course, the historical Paine once also said that those who want to reap the benefits of this great nation must bear the … |
| | Two pieces of dispiriting information on the economy hit the big wire services today: The Associated Press -- The economy contracted at a staggering 6.2 percent pace at the end of 2008, the worst showing in a quarter-century, as consumers and businesses ratcheted back spending, plunging the country deeper into … |
| | Rumors were rampant all over Wall Street that Barack Obama trotted Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke out yesterday to calm the markets by declaring the recession could be over by the last half of 2009. It was a surprise to hear Bernanke, who’s been relatively quiet about the economy to … |
| | Is there hope for stocks in 2009? At all? A University of Iowa business professor things so, and he claims he has the data to prove it. It’s all about upside potential – and the fact that Wall Street has already baked a lot of the bad news into the … |
| | Are small company software stocks – especially medical technology companies -- a safe, even profitable, haven for investors these days? Could be – especially if you’re looking to forego higher-risk plays like oil and financials – that your focus should be on smaller med tech companies, one institutional investor advises. … |
| | The bearish global economic environment just keeps adding pressure to technology stocks. As gross domestic product (GDP) drops in bourses around the globe, tech traders are nervous, at least for the short term. Take Japan. The Land of the Rising Sun is seeing a decline in GDP, falling to the …  |
| | Earlier in the year I clipped out a few expert predictions on technology stocks for 2009. From time to time, I’ll check in and see how those stocks are doing. It’s only six weeks into the new year, and perhaps it’s not fair to check in so early. Still, conditions … |
| | I’m a big fan of satellite radio. I have XM Radio in my car, and right now, at my desk as I’m writing these words, I’m listening to Frank Caliendo on XM's Laugh USA on channel 151. So I was very excited to hear last year that Sirius Radio and … |
| | Boy. What does a tech outfit have to do to get some love on Wall Street? Intel announces a $7 billion effort to upgrade a pair of chip manufacturing centers in the U.S. and Intel’s stock price actually drops by over 3% in Tuesday trading (to $14..44 per share). I’ll … |
| | I really don’t write enough about the biopharmaceutical market, which in tough economic times, can be a good defensive play relative to the rest of the market – even when compared to uniform technology stocks. My reasoning is simple. We have illness, disease, and injury in good economic times and … |
| | Another sliver of sunshine in the economic clouds – two of them, actually – as the U.S. service sector shrank in January, but less severely than expected, according to a report released by The Institute for Supply Management. The ISM reported that its non-manufacturing index came in at 42.9 in … |
| | CNN’s Rick Sanchez is the latest victim of the “Twitter” curse. Sanchez, a CNN on-air anchor, reportedly fell victim to a phishing scam that could undermine the investment rationale for Twitter by big investors, one of the most popular social networking sites on the internet. In a “tweet” on Monday, … |
| | The stock market held its gains of earlier today, although doubts about how financial companies are going to raise capital when their balance sheets are in complete disarray are prevalent on the street. The Dow was up 70 points and the Nasdaq up 18 points - thus providing some relative … |
| | I've been a nag about how many media outlets have been wrong about the reasons for the current economic breakdown we're experiencing. So many pundits who don't understand Wall Street want to make it political, and subsequently blame President Bush for "deregulating" Wall Street (not the reason, and besides, President … |
| | Investors were banking on a lousy jobs number, and the last two days of trading have reflected that point That’s what I’m hearing from the traders I know – shrewd peope I shared trading pits with back in the day – almost to a man (and woman) saying that next … |
| | It almost seems out of place – like a spritz of a lilly inching up through the crusted snow after a long winter – to report some good economic news these days. But there it is, in the form of an investment forecast by the investment bank UBS that says … |
| | Both the Dow and the Nasdaq are flirting with positive territory today, thanks in part to one biotechnology stalwart, Amgen, which is up three points in trading. Why? Well, the Street is getting excited about life sciences stocks again, as several research reports hit the street suggesting that the biopharm … |
| | More news on the economy, this time from Bank of America Chief Executive Kenneth at a speech today at The Detroit Economic Club. He told the Club that it is "pretty clear" the U.S. economy is in a recession, adding there will be “no recovery until the housing market stabilizes … |
| | Barrons has a great article today on how tech industry chief information officers and chief financial officers can't keep up with the free-fall in consumer spending. That's why we're seeing so many downward adjustments in industry revenue estimates that, right now, seem to be spread way out into 2009. The … |
| | Stem cell stocks have been trading higher this week on reports President-elect Barack Obama will allow federal funding of stem-cell research. According to reports from the Wall Street Journal, "Mr. Obama could also lift restrictions placed by President George W. Bush on the type of stem-cell research that can be funded … |
| | With all the focus on the imminent Obama presidency, the actual health of the economy has taken a bit of a back seat. That changed somewhat after President-elect Obama’s high level economic summit on Friday. In a press conference after the meeting, Obama called the economic data “sobering” and warned … |
| | Obama or McCain? The people speak today, but no matter who wins, Wall Street likes the fact that a regime change is underway, and change, by and of itself, is a ray of sunshine on the investment community. That's why the stock market is up over 200 points and let's … |
| | Halloween is well over but the pin-drop silence on the financial markets today was downright eerie. On one hand, a calm trading market is welcome relief after six weeks of extreme volatility. On the other hand, will tomorrow's election usher in a new period of market jitters, with today's placid … |
| | At mid-afternoon trading today the Dow was up 339 points and the NASDAQ is up 47 points. I’m a bit surprised because most of the economic news coming out today was negative. Housing prices are down, foreclosures are up, consumer confidence is at its lowest point in 35 years, and … |
| | Are we near a market bottom? That's the question on every investor's mind this week, even as the stock market falls another 500+ points in Wednesday trading. Lord knows we're on uncharted terrain here, and that we've experienced enough false bottoms to last us a lifetime. But increasingly, more and … |
| | Let’s get the bad news out of the way first. The Red Sox lost and it’s the Tampa Rays (hard to believe I’m even writing these words) who will move on to play the Phillies in the World Series. It’s not like I can count on the Patriots this year, … |
| | Today's stock dive - over 700 points - is being linked directly to this month's retail sales number, which fell 1.2% for September. That's twice as much as analysts had expected. Retail sales are of particular interest to the technology sector, which counts heavily on consumer spending to buy its … |
| | At the end of trading today (Friday) it looks like the stock market won't end up in positive territory, but it will come close - an event every trader and investor on the planet planet will take in a Wall Street minute. No rhyme or reason why, it just seems … |
| | Grasping, clawing, and scratching for a single slice, however thin, of good news out of the worst stock market week ever. Okay. IBM’ earnings were actually pretty good. Tech spending for software and services – what Big Blue does best – is holding up, and if there is a soft … |
| | The stock market seems to be playing a waiting game with a Congressional bailout taking on a new shape in Washington. I’m hearing about a new bailout plan that would raise FDIC insurance limits from $100,000 to $250,000 and would include some kind of capital gains tax relief to ease … |
| | I might have mentioned that I wrote the book proposal and the first two chapters for Peter Schiff (aka "Dr. Doom) and his increasingly prescient book "Crash Proof: How To Profit From the Coming Economic Collapse." Schedule conflicts made it impossible to keep working on the book, but Schiff finished … |
| | I’m writing this post on Sunday night, just hours after the U.S Congress tapped into our wallets for up to $700 billion in funds to bail out Wall Street for its addictive reliance on bad loans and risky credit deals. In the process, and what you won’t read or see … |
| | I've been writing for a year now on how the information technology sector would be impacted by an economic downturn. Well, it looks like we're going to really find out. As I've written, when credit dries up and loans and capital are hard to get, tech companies hunker down and … |
| | While we play "wait and see" for Congressional leaders to hammer out some kind of bailout package for lenders and banks, there's other news going on - believe it or not - on Wall Street. While switching between CNBC, CNN and Fox News to get the latest on the financial … |
| | Some good news - rare good news - from the U.S. stock market late today as reports and rumors seem to point to a new U.S. government agency to assume and/or manage bad debts for financial services companies. The new agency, similar to the Resolution Trust Corp of the early … |
The End.