More bad economic news… U.S. retail sales for April rose at the slowest rate of 2012. While the retail sector was expected to continue its torrid pace of consumer spending increases in 2012, this report proves my theory: lack of a real winter (because of much better than usual weather in January and February) on the east coast this year resulted in consumers going out and doing their spring shopping early. To get the real picture on consumer spending, we need to ...

In a consumer-driven economy, what retailers say about their businesses is very important. For the most part, the retail sector has been saying that business conditions are getting better. A lot of retail stocks performed very well up until the recent stock market correction and valuations are reasonable. I’ve been writing about an underlying strength in the stock market and the U.S. economy and you can see it right now in the retail sector. The strong first-quarter financial results of Wal-Mart ...

Social media is hot and growing, but making money from it is another story. The much-anticipated and overly hyped initial public offering (IPO) of Facebook, Inc. (NASDAQ/FB) is set to roll in today, May 18, 2012, following the company’s road show that helped to drum up excitement and, in the process, drive up the offer price. My stock analysis is that Facebook is clearly the most hyped up issue since the debut of Google Inc. (NASDAQ/GOOG) in August 2004. The offering was ...

Technology stocks are in a constant battle for the wallets of consumers in the retail sector. The ecosystem built by Apple Inc. (NASDAQ/AAPL) through its “iOS” (operating system) has been a huge favorite with consumers in the retail sector. This uniform operating system is important for technology stocks, as it provides a consistent experience for consumers. Since the retail sector is so finicky, this consistent experience has generated a lot of support for Apple’s products. More control over an operating system ...

Companies in the U.S., China, Japan, the U.K., and the eurozone will need a staggering $30.0 trillion in new money to refinance corporate debt within the next five years (source: Standard and Poor’s Rating Services). Because of all the problems in the world that could prevent corporate debt from being refinanced, S&P believes a perfect credit storm could be brewing. I wholeheartedly agree with them. I believe the eurozone mess coupled with the global economic slowdown that will eventually lead to weaker ...

Gold and oil prices are having a really difficult time right now and I suspect that the falling price trend will continue for another month or so. The spot price of gold is going down because that commodity was due for a correction and because of strength in the U.S. dollar, which is trading up on worries about the eurozone. Oil prices are going down because of a massive of glut of oil in storage in the U.S. market and ...

In the classic nursery tale “Goldilocks and the Three Bears,” first put in written form by British author Robert Southey, Goldilocks ran when she came face to face with the bears. On the price charts, gold is also now facing a bear market; but will gold also run away and tank? Looking at the chart of the June gold, the picture is extremely bearish following the recent break below $1,600 and the subsequent failure to hold at $1,550. In fact, it ...

A new investment strategy by DISH Network Corporation (NASDAQ/DISH) could positively impact its corporate earnings over the short term, but also change the media business radically in the long term. A new set-top digital-video recorder (DVR) allows customers the ability to delete ads completely from the recordings of TV shows. This unique innovation is an interesting strategy by DISH Network to incorporate this DVR, built by EchoStar Corporation (NASDAQ/SATS). The unit will be charged at a higher rate than traditional DVRs, ...