Corporate Earnings
IBM Stock Could Move Heavily on Forward Guidance International Business Machines Corp. (NYSE:IBM) reports its second-quarter earnings after the closing bell today. Since IBM stock has surged 10.94% in the last three months, the markets are clearly anticipating either strong earnings or solid guidance. IBM is expected to…
The European debt crisis has not gone away. The fix comes only at the end of the debt crisis’ beginning. Frankly, I’m kind of annoyed it took this long for policymakers to act. The domestic stock market has suffered long enough because of a lack of firm action…
Right now, the stock market is at a very important point. The third quarter is just about to end and another earnings season will begin. In terms of the main stock market indices, they all seem to be at a crossroads, right on the line of either staying…
Perusing the stock market for opportunities, I’m discovering some very good values in the marketplace. Economic conditions aren’t the rosiest, as you know, but there are a lot of quality businesses out there that just went on sale. Also useful, dividend yields have gone up with the market’s…
I still feel that the most important news investors should be listening to is from corporations themselves. They are the enterprises, not government, and therefore they are the drivers of earnings growth. The fact of the matter is that we are in the age of austerity, and we…
In the age of austerity, it’s workers who are going to get squeezed. How else are so many large companies reporting excellent earnings? While everyone would like the economy to be at or near full employment, I think the stock market is now settling into the reality of…
The tone of the equity market has certainly changed, as the S&P 500 Index inches back towards the 1,300 level. There’s anticipation about the sovereign debt issue in Greece as well as the upcoming earnings season of which there’s been virtually no earnings warnings from any brand-name companies.…
As funny as it sounds, in the business of forecasting the direction of stock prices, it has been proven that the market moves in the opposite direction of what stock advisors expect of it. A classic example of this: in October 2007, when stocks were at an all-time…
I fully expect large-caps to outperform small-caps this year, as higher raw-material costs will be better absorbed by big companies that have more room to adjust prices without affecting the bottom line. It’s going to be a choppy year for the economy and the stock market, and we…
The stock market is worth the level of the major indices. It’s not overvalued and it’s not undervalued either. It’s just about right as far as I’m concerned. The economic data are supportive and so are corporate earnings. What’s impressive is the breadth of the recovery. Manufacturing is…
Earnings season is upon us again and, depending on the results, it could help to drive trading over the next several months. As was the case in the third quarter, there are some high hopes of seeing sales growth in addition to earnings acceleration as the economy recovers.…
All kinds of companies are reporting good news now, but it may not be enough for the stock market to keep appreciating. A new earnings season is just beginning, but these seasons come and go awfully fast. What this stock market needs is a new catalyst. Without one,…
The S&P 500 Index is getting very close to the key resistance level of 1,200. It last hit that level in April this year, after which the broader market went through a period of intense negative sentiment. Let’s hope this situation doesn’t repeat itself this time around. The…
The commodity price cycle is in full swing and, make no mistake, price inflation is coming down the road and it could be significant. Currently, the commodity price cycle is at the beginning of a new wave of inflation in the agricultural sector and all you have to…
For the first time since June 2009, the Street has finally acknowledged that forecasts for S&P 500 earnings should be cut for the third quarter of 2010. This should certainly cast a deep shadow over the stock market, because there is simply no way to keep the engines…
The retrenchment in oil prices is good news for the economy. And, while oil prices and stocks traded similarly in previous months, this action seems to be changing and it's a sign of growing confidence among equity investors. The third quarter is very close to being over and…
It's amazing what a new month and a couple pieces of better-than-expected economic data can do to investor sentiment. It's like we're in a whole new world. Stocks are probable to trade to the upside over the next few weeks in anticipation of third-quarter earnings season. So far,…
The housing market does not exist in a vacuum. It has always been connected -- albeit not too strongly -- to certain long-term macroeconomic trends, such as employment, for example. Nevertheless, the relationship has always been positively correlated. When more people have jobs, home prices tend to increase,…
One of the best companies to follow is E.I. du Pont de Nemours and Company (NYSE/DD), more commonly known as DuPont. This 208-year-old company is perhaps the greatest economic barometer due to its diversified global operations. If you want to know what's happening in the industry, then all…
