Archives: April 2008

Fed's expected pause not convincing the market

Posted by: Aaron Pressman on April 30

The Federal Reserve pretty much did as expected today, cutting the benchmark fed funds rates to 2% and signaling a lessening desire to cut rates much more. Right? At least...

Q1 EARNINGS REALITY CHECK

Posted by: Howard Silverblatt on April 28

Q1 2008 S&P 500 operating earnings as of the close of 4/25/2008 263 issues reported (52.6%), representing 61.07% of the market value 43.5% beat their estimate and 53.1% did not...

Don't say you weren't warned: newspapers crushed again in Q1

Posted by: Aaron Pressman on April 25

What a horrendous earnings season it's been in the dying newspaper business. It's worth taking a closer look as some people still don't seem to get it. This piece by...

Why We Need Perma-Bears

Posted by: Ben Steverman on April 24

Whenever the stock market looks shaky, the "perma-bears" come out of hiding. These are the permanently, professionally skeptical investors or market strategists who can always be relied upon for a...

Loneliness as the bottom approaches for Starbucks

Posted by: Aaron Pressman on April 24

Lots of moaning today about Starbucks (Symbol: SBUX) and how the company's business model is broken or forever condemned to stink or whatever. So much pessimism, so little time. Pop...

How much surprise in Starbucks' surprise warning today?

Posted by: Aaron Pressman on April 23

Starbucks (Symbol: SBUX) came out with its fiscal second quarter results a bit earlier than expected today and it wasn't because folks were flocking to the six Clover s1 locations....

Leverage of 130/30 funds can burn

Posted by: Aaron Pressman on April 22

Christopher Holt, who used to work in the hedge fund industry, takes a stab at critiquing the critique of 130/30 mutual funds on his blog today. I'm deeply saddened he...

Move over ETFs: Here come ETNs

Posted by: Lauren Young on April 21

While new issuance of exchange-traded funds (ETFs) is down this year, filings for exchange-traded notes (ETNs) are picking up. ETNs have accounted for roughly one in every two launches this...

When Dividends Get Right-Sized

Posted by: Ben Steverman on April 14

About the only thing financial stocks have going for them is their dividends. Banks' stock prices have fallen so far over the past few months that their dividend payout percentages...

Mailbag: Is my brokerage firm obligated to disclose its financial health?

Posted by: Lauren Young on April 11

Here's another question I received from a reader: Is there any obligation for brokerage houses to disclose to clients the financial situation of the firm? Is there any agency that...

How much do you love your manager? 130/30 or bust!

Posted by: Aaron Pressman on April 10

The market stinks, your IRA gets smaller every day, what's a poor investor to do? Aren't there ways to make money from falling stocks -- right -- shorting. Sounds risky...

HAVE BUTTON WILL TRAVEL

Posted by: Howard Silverblatt on April 10

While there is a vocal debate on how realistic the 2008 earnings estimates are, you ain't seen nutin’ honey til you look at 2009. The current bottom-up 2009 estimates are...

$1 Trillion in Losses?

Posted by: Ben Steverman on April 09

Experienced investors know that the market hates uncertainty. The market can handle bad news as long as it can understand and digest the gloomy information quickly, adjust stock prices to...

Corporate Dividend Growth Deteriorates as Decreases Surge

Posted by: Howard Silverblatt on April 04

Dividend growth deteriorated as decreases surged during the first quarter, but large-cap issues with strong dividend history continued unabated. (press release) Based on U.S. domestic, common, listed (NY, ASE, NGM,...

Best Q2 opening since 1938; 8.11% from 3/17

Posted by: Howard Silverblatt on April 01

Best Q2 opening since 1938, the same year as the volatility reference Another 1% move - YTD that’s 14 up at least 1% and 18 down at least 1% The...