Archives: August 2009

After Lehman: What Lessons Have Investors Learned?

Posted by: Lauren Young on August 31

We are closing in on the one-year anniversary of the collapse of Lehman Brothers. I’m looking for individual investors to talk the impact of the market meltdown. Since last fall,...

Reader Mail: Does Citigroup's Reverse Stock Split Signal Sell?

Posted by: Lauren Young on August 28

Here's one from the reader mailbag. What's your advice for this reader on Citigroup's (C) reverse stock split? I need some advice. My husband and I are a young newly...

Olstein: Pick Stocks, Not Sectors

Posted by: Karyn McCormack on August 25

Stocks have had a rocking good time this summer, giving the S&P 500 index a 13.5% gain for the year (through Aug. 24). The Nasdaq Composite index has surged 28%...

S&P/Case-Shiller – Better Numbers

Posted by: Howard Silverblatt on August 25

S&P has just released their monthly S&P/Cash-Shiller home price indices for June. Overall, better numbers. The index however is made up of 20 city indices and 2 composites, with monthly...

Speed Limit?

Posted by: Howard Silverblatt on August 24

If we hit the bottom on 3/9/09, the 51.68% gain more than doubles the historical average gain for a Bull market for that same period. But given the historical average...

Harvard Endowment Corrects Course With Return to the Past

Posted by: Aaron Pressman on August 24

One of the first rules of PR damage control is get control of your message. After being battered by months of bad, really BAD press, Harvard University seems to have...

Stock Market Climbs to 10-Month High

Posted by: Ben Levisohn on August 21

On Aug. 21, the Standard & Poor's 500-stock index closed at a 10-month high of 1,026.13. The move purged Monday's 2% drop from the collective consciousness and put the S&P...

Stock Market Climbs to 10-Month High

Posted by: Ben Levisohn on August 21

On Aug. 21, the Standard & Poor's 500-stock index closed at a 10-month high of 1,026.13. The move purged Monday's 2% drop from the collective consciousness and put the S&P...

More on Municipal Bonds

Posted by: Ben Levisohn on August 21

On Aug. 19, I asked readers if they would buy state and local government debt if municipal bonds weren't tax exempt. Many readers said they wouldn't but two recommended an...

Why Stocks Could Push Higher

Posted by: Ben Levisohn on August 20

Can the Standard & Poor’s 500 go higher? The Aug. 17 selloff, which saw the S&P 500 drop 2%, prompted hand-wringing about an imminent market collapse. And even S&P 500...

Could Municipal Bonds Lose Their Tax-Exempt Status?

Posted by: Ben Levisohn on August 19

Will municipal bonds lose their tax exempt status? That’s the proposal found on page 211 of a 264 page report titled "Budget Options, Volume 2," that the Congressional Budget Office...

Money Money Everywhere, But Not A Drop To Spend

Posted by: Howard Silverblatt on August 19

With the majority of Q2 10Qs in, cash & equivalent for the S&P Industrials (S&P 500 less Financials, Utilities, and Transportation) is set to post a new high. The increase...

Investors Lose by Chasing Top Performing Hedge Fund Strategies

Posted by: Ben Levisohn on August 18

Being rich doesn't necessarily make one financially savvy. Annie Liebovitz defaulted on a loan she had almost no chance of paying back. Elie Wiesel, Mort Zuckerman and New York Mets...

Market Decline: Shake Down or Shake Out?

Posted by: Tara Kalwarski on August 18

Yesterday’s market rout begs a number of questions, according to Richard Ross, Head of Global Technical Strategy for Auerbach Grayson, a NY-based brokerage firm: Is the sudden global decline a...

You Need to Increase the Top Line to Sustain the Bottom Line

Posted by: Howard Silverblatt on August 13

S&P 500 Q2 sales are off 24.82% Y/Y or $597B; 1-year is off 13.24% or $1.27T Industrials posted their worst 12-month percentage drop since our record started in 1964, -9.03%...

Employers to Reinstate 401(k) Matches, Unfreeze Salaries

Posted by: Lauren Young on August 13

Finally! Some good news for employees on the benefits front: 24% of employers plan to reverse 401(k) match reductions in the next 6 months, a new Watson Wyatt survey says....

Why Did Homebuilding Stocks Surge?

Posted by: Ben Steverman on August 11

When you buy stock in a corporation, you theoretically are buying rights to a slice of that company's future profits. So how do you value a stock when those profits...

Why Ford's Convertible Bonds Are a Great Buy

Posted by: Lauren Young on August 11

Forget Ford (F) stock. Bill Feingold, co-founder of Hillside Advisors, Minyanville blogger, and author of The Undoing of Cowardice, says Ford's convertible bonds are a great buy. "For longer-term holders,...

Is it a Good Time to Buy Ford?

Posted by: Lauren Young on August 10

A reader sent me an email today asking if it is a good time to buy Ford (F) stock. In turn, I asked my sources in the investment world what...

Fine: Morningstar Founder Expresses Interest in BusinessWeek

Posted by: Justin Bachman on August 04

Joe Mansueto, the founder of investing research firm Morningstar (MORN), has expressed interest in potentially acquiring BusinessWeek, Jon Fine reports here. Mansueto bought Inc. and Fast Company magazines in 2005....