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It is now crunch time -- you only have a few more shopping days before Christmas to buy that ideal gift. If you are scrambling to find the perfect gift, I have prepared a list for you of what may be the most popular items found under Christmas…
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As a stock analyst, every now and then I wish I had grabbed on to a trade that was sitting there right in front of me. Just take a look at the one-year price chart of coffee giant Starbucks Corporation (NASDAQ/SBUX), and you will understand where I'm coming…
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Bad news continues to dog on-line bookseller Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ/AMZN). Facing rising marketing and operating costs, the top on-line bookstore is struggling with its operations. Last Tuesday, Amazon sent investors to the exits after reporting a weak outlook for its Q4, which includes the holiday shopping season. This…
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A few weeks back, I commented on the renewed interest in the IPO market in 2005. I also mentioned what was widely expected to be one of the hottest IPO plays this year. The stock I was talking about was Under Armour Inc. (NASDAQ/UARM) -- a Baltimore-based synthetic…
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Since the first quarter of 2003, the S&P Retail Index has been on a nice steady uptrend, bottoming around 250 in early 2003 to a recent historical high of 488.78 in July. That is a pretty decent return of about 95%. For the retail sector, it is excellent.…
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A truly awesome display of buying momentum was shown by Internet search engine Google Inc. (NASDDAQ/GOOG) last Friday, when the rapidly rising Internet star surged nearly $40 or 13%. With the surge, the stock traded as high as $349.30 on Monday, equating to an incredible market-cap of $97.54…
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All things go through a cycle. In business, the cycle is decidedly poignant, occurring throughout entire industries, as well as in the life of individual companies. A small company generally experiences significant crises just trying to get established with some solid sales. Profitability is often not achieved in…
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I'm not sure about you but I'm Googled out! Let me explain. Mega search engine Google Inc. (NASDAQ/GOOG) touched a new record high of $309.25 on June 28. Its market-cap reached a whopping $86 billion, placing it 22nd as far as the largest publicly traded companies in the…
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Whenever I hear the name "John Walton" in the media, I automatically think of good old John-Boy Walton of "The Waltons" television series fame. The show was a favorite in my household, and we still often say "goodnight" to John-Boy, out of habit, after my husband and I…
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Want to see a good example of how momentum and euphoria can drive trading? You don't have to go back to late 1999 and early 2000 to see an example. I was going through my technical screens searching for stocks with high Relative Strength above 90. I generally…
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Ever wonder how the super-rich manage to find trades that make 567%... 738%... even 1,126% or more, whether the stock market goes up or down? Here are two of their secrets: First, they're not interested in insignificant annual gains of only 9%... 14%... or maybe, in a good…
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Let's pretend you're the president of a medium- to large-sized company looking for office space. You read the newspaper and watch the financial channels, and it seems as though everyone, including the Fed, is saying our economy is humming along. But on your search for office space, you…
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I'm an adamant believer of the stock market being the best leading indicator of what's ahead for us. And while very, very few reporters know how to read a stock price chart, they get the job of reporting on and often analyzing the news for us. How do…
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The U.S. Commerce Department reported yesterday that consumer disposable income (the money consumers have left over after taxes) rose only 0.1% in July -- the smallest gain since November 2002. The savings figures released yesterday show U.S. consumers posted a personal savings rate of only 0.6% in July…
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Consumer buying is responsible for about two-thirds of the U.S. Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Unfortunately, more clues are rising that point to a "tapped-out" and "over-borrowed" consumer. Here are some recent gauges of poor consumer demand for goods: -- Yesterday, Wal-Mart announced it was lowering its sales forecast…
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In June, the Consumer Price Index (CPI) increased only 0.3%, while core inflation (which excludes food and energy) rose by only 0.1% -- the smallest monthly increase in core inflation since the start of 2004. The U.S. dollar fell dramatically on world currencies exchanges on the news, while…
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Wal-Mart, the world's largest retailer, announced yesterday that it expects same-store sales this June to be only 2% to 4% higher than in June 2003. This is big news because Wal-Mart had previously expected June same-store sales to be 4% to 6% higher than last year. In essence,…
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This week, in what I believe was the United States' boldest move yet to curb the influx of deflation from China, the U.S. commerce department slapped tariffs as high as 198% on bedroom furniture imported from China. This decision could cut bedroom furniture imports from China by about…
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How long will "buy and hold" investors hold on to their stock market holdings before they get fed up and sell? Here's what I'm talking about: -- A recent survey of over 10,000 mutual funds (yes, there are that many) shows an average 12-month gain of only 0.6%.…
