Archives: November 2007

Who wants some subprime debt for 73% off?

Posted by: Ben Steverman on November 30

The worst part of the current credit crisis is the uncertainty: No one wants to buy up risky mortgage debt instruments, so no one knows how much the toxic debt...

A stock strategy follows Fed rate moves

Posted by: Aaron Pressman on November 27

With two weeks to go before the Federal Reserve's December 11 Open Market Committee meeting, speculation continues to ramp up about just what the central bank will do next. The...

The Fuss Over CEO-Succession Plans

Posted by: Ben Steverman on November 26

With the recent departures of top execs at Citigroup and Merrill Lynch, the topic of CEO-succession plans has gotten a lot of press. Journalists and experts are bemoaning the fact that those firms, and many others, fail to have a plan for managing sucession after the top dog walks out the door. I don't understand all the hand-wringing.

An ETF for the apocalyptic set in banking

Posted by: Aaron Pressman on November 26

In today's ugly market, it was the financial sector again leading the charge down. Investment adviser Ryan Freund has a pretty grim view of what's still to come in the...

GPS Breaking Through?

Posted by: Ben Steverman on November 26

Investors in growth companies often find themselves waiting for that moment when a company's product goes from just another cool gadget to a "must-have" item. For example, when will American...

Trading Before the Weekend

Posted by: Ben Steverman on November 21

There's nothing like the moments before a four-day break to show Wall Street's true mood. The markets are closed on Nov. 22 for Thanksgiving and will re-open on Friday, Nov....

Bad News on Limit Orders

Posted by: Ben Steverman on November 20

New research suggests the widespread use of limit orders may be one reason individual investors do poorly when trading stocks.

Ruffles in the Feathered Nest

Posted by: Lauren Young on November 20

I have a story in the most recent issue about the generous exit packages for CEOs at the top financial services firms. In no way are we making a judgment...

Watch out below for China stocks

Posted by: Aaron Pressman on November 20

I have a story in this week’s magazine about ways to play the China stock market crash, if that’s your predilection. It can also be read as ways to re-adjust...

Blame It On Earnings

Posted by: Ben Steverman on November 19

With the Dow Jones Industrial Average again below 13,000, pundits are trotting out a lot of excuses for the stock markets' poor performance recently. Certainly fears over subprime losses are...

Garmin Wins by Losing

Posted by: Ben Steverman on November 19

Garmin may have lost its bid for Tele Atlas, but the maker of global positioning system (GPS) devices is looking pretty savvy right now. Until recently, Garmin was backed into...

U.S. in 2008: Best of Some Lousy Options?

Posted by: Ben Steverman on November 19

Here's a tough one: How will the U.S. stock market perform in 2008? This theory suggests the U.S. won't need to provide explosive growth next year to perform well. It may just need to be the best of some poor alternatives around the world.

Buy Amazon - Kindle is the iPod of books

Posted by: Aaron Pressman on November 19

A simple message today: Amazon's (Symbol: AMZN) new electronic book reader, dubbed the Kindle, looks like a hit that will bring in several new revenue streams. But the digerati...

Starbucks, are you listening to yourself?

Posted by: Aaron Pressman on November 16

Premium coffee purveyor Starbucks (Symbol: SBUX) reported its fiscal fourth quarter results last night -- that's the calendar third quarter to you and me -- and it wasn't pretty. As...

Real estate woes spreading to commercial property

Posted by: Aaron Pressman on November 14

The interconnected housing price and mortgage lending bubbles that have now popped with such devastating consequences haven't exactly crushed the commercial real estate world -- at least not yet. Today,...

Is Leap Wireless another subprime-y victim?

Posted by: Aaron Pressman on November 12

Along with everything else that's been getting absolutely killed over the past four trading sessions, wireless carriers catering to lower-income consumers are getting obliterated. MetroPCS (Symbol: PCS) is down 27%,...

The Pacific Century?

Posted by: Lauren Young on November 08

You can call him self-serving, but Anthony Cragg, manager of the Wells Fargo Advantage Asia Pacific Fund, isn't worried about a correction in the Asian markets--although he thinks one in...

Internet domain names head for big IPOs

Posted by: Aaron Pressman on November 07

Back in June, I explored the exploding value of Internet businesses built on easily remembered domain names like chocolate.com. Since then, things have only heated up more with Business.com selling...

Newspaper stocks face ugly, wide chasm

Posted by: Aaron Pressman on November 06

Bad news about the newspaper industry comes out in dribs and drabs usually. Two months ago, we were considering the summer's advertising declines. This week, there's news that circulation and...

Bill Miller has some new ideas

Posted by: Aaron Pressman on November 02

As 2007 winds to a close, Legg Mason Value Trust (Symbol: LMVTX) manager Bill Miller finds himself trailing the S&P 500 for the second consecutive year after his 15-year streak...