Abbott Laboratories (ABT) sports 5-year dividend growth of nearly 10% as well as a 3.5%+ annualized yield. Eli Lilly (LLY) has a P/E of 9, a 5.3% dividend yield and 3-years earnings growth of 19%. Meanwhile, AstraZeneca PLC (AZN) has a mammoth 35% trailing return on equity with a 5.8% annual dividend payout. How in the world are investors [...] Continue Reading...
Are you wondering if the market can go significantly higher by year end? Maybe your question should take the U.S. market’s remarkable resilience into account. Specifically, the S&P 500 has not closed in bear market territory. In fact, the large-cap barometer would have to close below 1096 to get there. Yet, with the exception of a few scary moments, the gauge has demonstrated its [...] Continue Reading...
The number “88″ means a lot of different things to different people around the world. For some, it expresses the notion that the universe is both infinitely large and infinitely small. Others see it as a message of eternal love. Meanwhile, Chinese culture recognizes “8″ as its luckiest number, with “88″ symbolizing even greater fortunes. However, 8/8 is a rather dismal date for the [...] Continue Reading...
How many articles are going to emphasize how bad the month of August treated investors? The fact that U.S. stocks in the S&P 500 shed -5.7% speaks for itself. On the other hand, the reality that August had been down as much -13.3% eight trading days earlier is far more telling. Ironically, you still read how the U.S. credit downgrade [...] Continue Reading...
Short-sellers and program traders are in charge… for now. Going into Wednesday’s (8/3/11) session, PowerShares QQQ (QQQ) sat directly atop its 200-day moving average. After falling below the key trendline early, QQQ springboarded to finish with a 1% gain. Or consider the S&P 500 SPDR Trust (SPY). It fell precisely -10% from its April 29 intra-day high to its August 3 [...] Continue Reading...
One of the “constant” declarations of the current earnings season? Of those reporting, roughly 3/4 of corporations exceeded profit-per-share estimates. On the other hand, it’s not uncommon for 2/3 to 3/4 of companies to beat lowered expectations; key executives help to create “beatable” numbers. In addition, each of 8 major economic sectors typically have corporations that, historically speaking, raise the earnings-per-share [...] Continue Reading...
Scores of investment gurus live on momentum and relative strength. They may advocate investing solely in those assets that have put together streaks over 4, 8 and 12 weeks (3 months). Other media darlings don’t care what happens in a shorter period. They may run with a particular theme for decades. For instance, Jim Rogers likes commodities and the China [...] Continue Reading...
At the start of the week, analysts were wondering whether or not stocks could “hold the line.” Specifically, the bulls were simply hoping that the current price on the S&P 500 would stay above its 200-day moving average. However, the S&P 500 had little trouble holding the 1263 level. In fact, by Thursday, June 30, the U.S. stock [...] Continue Reading...
Over the last six months, no sector investment racked up more gains than health care. The iShares Health Care Providers Fund (IHF) amassed 21.5%. Rydex Equal Weight Health (RYH) proffered 14.6%. And SPDR S&P Biotech (XBI) promised 12.7%, even as the broader S&P 500 SPDR Trust (SPY) chimed in with a less sonic 4.7%. Some Health Care ETFs look even [...] Continue Reading...
Until recently, scores of gurus had questioned the sector rotation into non-cyclical sectors. April jobs numbers were “phenomenal” and corporate earnings were sensational. Why should investors sell in May and go away? Yet telecom, health care and consumer staples (e.g., toothpaste, peanut butter, etc.) were rocketing up the relative strength percentile rankings. And many analysts explained that the April-May [...] Continue Reading...
