Archives: January 2008

Kodak's picture not so rosy beneath the headlines

Posted by: Aaron Pressman on January 30

Eastman Kodak (Symbol: EK) was once the grand dame of the photo biz but in recent years it's more famously known as the anchor around Legg Mason Value Trust (LMVTX)...

The Trouble With ETFs: Part II

Posted by: Lauren Young on January 29

The whole point of an exchange-traded fund is to mirror the returns of the index it tracks. Well, Morgan Stanley has just updated its data on ETFs and how well...

Financial Profits Wipe Out

Posted by: Ben Steverman on January 28

Wow, corporate profits are really looking terrible this earnings season. A week ago, Reuters Estimates, calculating from a mix of actual results and analyst projections, was estimating earnings for the...

There’s Value Out There

Posted by: Howard Silverblatt on January 28

Fourth quarter earnings have been marked by mega-billion dollar charges, negative earnings for the entire Financial sector, an almost unimaginable decline (at least from the viewpoint six-months ago) of a...

Souring on International Funds?

Posted by: Ben Steverman on January 23

Here's a new trend: Investors seem to be just as worried about their international investments as their U.S. holdings. (This is another observation from the TrimTabs data mentioned below.) Almost...

Fund Investors Are Stressing Out

Posted by: Ben Steverman on January 23

One way of tracking how individual investors are feeling about the stock market is to watch the flows into and out of mutual funds. TrimTabs Investment Research keeps an eye...

Don't worry so much about rebalancing

Posted by: Aaron Pressman on January 23

Whew, the market has whipsawed all over the past few days. There's a heckuva a lot of commentary this week suggesting it's time to go bottom fishing for stocks, or...

Anybody missing $7.9 trillion; can't be good for China

Posted by: Howard Silverblatt on January 23

While world markets react to a potential U.S. recession by declining $7.9 trillion year-to-date, it is not only investors that are losing money. Unlike the United States, many countries own...

Can We Blame the Media?

Posted by: Ben Steverman on January 22

Don Hodges, of Hodges Capital Management in Dallas, has been managing investments for 47 years. He's fundamentally optimistic, despite the recent market turmoil. Sure, a slowdown or even a recession...

Thoughts on a Wild Market

Posted by: Ben Steverman on January 22

A few observations as the stock market gets crazier and crazier: (I know some of these are obvious, but maybe they'll help.) 1. What you should do in a market...

What to buy on a rollercoaster ride?

Posted by: Lauren Young on January 22

Forget recession or slowdown. You heard it here first: This is "a motion sickness market." (At least I think I just coined that phrase.) Anyway, while your first urge may...

Ignoring the 800 Pound Gorilla

Posted by: Howard Silverblatt on January 18

In a sharp reversal to its 2007 performance where Emerging markets rose 42% and Developed markets gained 9.4%, both are now significantly down for 2008 with Emerging down 8.4% and...

Let call the whole thing off

Posted by: Howard Silverblatt on January 17

Personally, I am giving this market until the close of February 6th, Ronald Reagan's birthday, to trickle up or I'm declaring the year over, and you are all invited to...

The New Year Puts Economists in a Bad Mood

Posted by: Ben Steverman on January 15

I just finished a story where I spent two days talking to economist after economist, and I'm a bit surprised at what I heard: Unanimous gloom. Some of them thought...

Citigroup (C) cuts dividend 41%, but I still expect overall growth

Posted by: Howard Silverblatt on January 15

The potential for a large dividend cut by C, the third largest payer in the S&P 500 at $10.8B, has been known and discussed for months. Today's 40.7% dividend...

It's not too late for Fidelity's Magellan Fund

Posted by: Aaron Pressman on January 14

It's been just over two years since Fidelity put veteran fund manager Harry Lange in charge of its most famous offering, the Magellan Fund (Symbol: FMAGX). As we wrote at...

Magellan Reopens...Do You Care?

Posted by: Lauren Young on January 14

It's hard to believe an entire decade has passed since Fidelity Investments closed its flagship Magellan Fund to new investors. But times, they are 'a changing. Fido will reopen Magellan...

And this was the easy week

Posted by: Howard Silverblatt on January 11

With today's S&P 500 preliminary decline of 1.36%, the year-to-date loss is 4.59%, or the fourth worst start to any year in S&P 500 history. Volatility, uncertainty and events...

The 2008 Election and Stocks

Posted by: Ben Steverman on January 10

The outcome of this presidential election is very important for the nation and the world, but how much does it really matter for investors?

Shrinking Middle Ground for Stocks and the Economy

Posted by: Ben Steverman on January 09

As I wrote a few weeks ago, this is an especially confusing time on Wall Street. And the stock market's performance so far this year does nothing to clear up...

Cash Cows

Posted by: Lauren Young on January 08

According to Asian calendars, 2008 will be the Year of the Rat. But for investors, it may well be the Year of the (Cash) Cow. "Funds are flowing into cash...

An Early Warning of Trouble?

Posted by: Ben Steverman on January 08

My Stock Trader's Almanac 2008 says the first five days of the year are an "early warning system." If you believe that, start worrying. The S&P 500 dropped 5.3% in...

NO GOOD DEED GOES UNPUNISHED

Posted by: Howard Silverblatt on January 08

Dividend increases in the general market were down 5.7% in 2007 http://www2.standardandpoors.com/spf/pdf/index/010307_DividendGrowth.pdf; however, dividends in the S&P 500 were up, with 78% of S&P 500 companies paying a dividend and...

Starbucks' Schultz finally shaking things up

Posted by: Aaron Pressman on January 07

"Well, we have read that McDonald's is going into a premium cup of coffee, to serve a premium cup of coffee, and we are in that business. We are in...

Insights from the political calendar

Posted by: Aaron Pressman on January 07

There are many quantitative approaches for slicing and dicing stock returns to search for profitable patterns. Here on the eve of the New Hampshire primary, the good folks at CXO...

New year, same themes for farming stocks

Posted by: Aaron Pressman on January 03

It's easy to obsess about the change in year but the stock market rolls on with the same themes and trends as 2007. Today's earnings report from Monsanto (Symbol: MON),...