Archives: February 2010

Consumers Just Didn’t Get The Memo – Everything Is Beautiful

Posted by: Howard Silverblatt on February 27

February was a sweetheart of a month, with love for all (it’s all in the definition), and not just on the 14th. The FDIC loved another 500 banks, raising its...

A Very Good Month For Dividends

Posted by: Howard Silverblatt on February 25

Dividend data (as of now) for the month of February (all reporting issues not just the 500) are showing that dividend increases are up 29% from Feb,’09 (still 42% off...

The Good News Is Washington Is Working On It, The Bad News Is Washington Is Working On It

Posted by: Howard Silverblatt on February 19

The 8.1% market decline from the Jan 19th Bull market high through the Feb 8th pullback low appears to have stabilized, at least for now, with the market gaining back...

Wal-Mart and the paycheck-to-paycheck consumer

Posted by: Ben Steverman on February 18

Wal-Mart (WMT) has a problem: Its typical shopper appears to be tapped out. On Feb. 18, the world's largest retailer reported $112.8 billion in worldwide revenue last quarter, up 4.6%...

Ouch, Berkshire Hathaway Negates 3 Months of Dividend Gains

Posted by: Howard Silverblatt on February 12

You need to think about this first before you calculate it. After the close of business tonight BNI with an index value of $26 billion and which pays a dividend...

Stocks and the Snowstorm

Posted by: Ben Steverman on February 12

The snow that buried much of the eastern United States in the past week has stretched government budgets and slowed home-buying. The wave of blizzards could also hurt financial markets...

Dividends, or With A Little Help From My Friends

Posted by: Howard Silverblatt on February 11

Practically all of the dividend news is good – February is the busiest month for increases (fiscal over, annual going out, share holder meeting coming up). From the start of...

A Few Initial Numbers: Future Stats

Posted by: Howard Silverblatt on February 10

With 80% of the Q4 EPS reported, 10Ks are starting to come in, although the off-fiscals (non-Nov/Dec/Jan, which account for 21.4% of the market value) still out number them. Based...

Four Weeks Down, But Limited Damage

Posted by: Howard Silverblatt on February 05

The index posted its fourth week of market losses, an event not seen since March 2009. However, this week’s damage was a minor -0.72% (Monday was up 1.43%, with Tuesday...

Stocks: Looking for a Super Bowl Effect

Posted by: Ben Steverman on February 05

What does the Super Bowl have to do with the stock market? Well, not much. Yes, occasionally companies can get a lift from effective advertisements. In 2008, for example, E*Trade...

Worst Day since 4/20; Jobs, Debt and Dividends

Posted by: Howard Silverblatt on February 04

Today’s broad decline of 3.11% was the worst 500 day since the 4.28% decline on 4/20/09, and leaves the market 7.57% off the 10/19/10 high. Financials were down the most...