Of the three major indexes we track: DOW, NASDAQ and the S&P 500, only the NASDAQ is in thin air. What do I mean by thin air? So far the NASDAQ is the only index to make it past the 50% Fibonacci retracement levels as measured from the highs seen in 2007 and the lows that were made in March of this year. Both the Dow and the S&P 500 have rallied...

The prospect of rampant money printing is often cited — even by the doom and gloomers — as a reason to be bullish on US equities in the near term, even if in the long term its a path to ruin. Not everyone agrees. At the recent Value Investing Conference, David Einhorn warned of what inflation could do to multiples. Bear in mind, to some...

AC Investor ( click to enlarge ) AIG – The bounce this afternoon from its 50-dma looks like an entry point. I would use a tight stop under today’s low. I’d target the $44.98-45.90 zone. ( click to enlarge ) THQI is bouncing from a test of technical support at $5.64. This afternoon’s bounce is an entry point to get long the stock...

Dave Fry, October 20, 2009 TAKING A BREAK It was a pretty strange day. Logic would argue for a big rally following earnings from Apple, Texas Instruments and Caterpillar; but no, instead investors focused on weaker than expected housing data and sold. It’s like I said at the end of last night’s commentary: “that’s why they play the...

Courtesy of Phil’s Stock World The last Beige Book report was on September 9th. At the time the Dow was looking toppy at 9,650 and we had poor consumer confidence numbers (just like yesterday) and poor consumer credit number (no change) and the book had very little “good” news to report (see my analysis) – Yet the market broke...

By Nico Isaac When prices in a financial market go from Sea Level to Outer Space in a relatively brief time, two scenarios are at work — and they both start with the letters “B-U.” When a precious metal goes from being a popular long-term investment of buy-and-holders to the quick, get-away “vehicle” of day-traders, two...

Courtesy of Mish In April Let the Criminal Indictments Begin: Paulson, Bernanke, Lewis I made the case that BAC chairman Lewis was guilty of fraud and Paulson was guilty of coercion in regards to the shotgun wedding between Bank of America and Merrill Lynch.The case against Bernanke was weaker because of Bernanke’s selective memory. When confronted...

Courtesy of Lawrence Delevingne of Business Insider It’s not just CIT (CIT). Other banks that have taken TARP are in trouble. ProPublica: The government has doled out billions to 687 banks over the past year through a program meant to bolster already “healthy” banks. But an increasing number of those are troubled. Four banks in particular...

New Edition of Conquer the Crash to Be Released in Late October Bob Prechter first released Conquer the Crash: You Can Survive and Prosper in a Deflationary Depression during a stock-market high in 2002, and it quickly became a New York Times–bestseller. Now he has updated the book with 188 new pages for a second edition, and it looks like...

There’s no question about it, the markets can be very difficult at times. On the other hand, you can laugh all the way to the bank if you approach the markets in a systematic way. I was looking once again at the S&P 500 and many people have said the market has gone up, not on the fundamentals, but on the perception that things are going to be...

Courtesy of The Mad Hedge Fund Trader Featured Trades: (BILL FLECKENSTEIN), (DIN), (RIMM), (JWN), (DOW 10,000), (FSLR) (TRES AMIGAS TRANSMISSION FACILITY) 1) I have worshipped legendary hedge fund manager, Bill Fleckenstein, as the God that he is for decades. So I thought it was time to catch up with the noted bear on the day the Dow popped above...

CalculatedRisk Click on graph for larger image in new window. Total housing starts were at 590 thousand (SAAR) in September, up 0.5% from the revised August rate, and up sharply from the all time record low in April of 479 thousand (the lowest level since the Census Bureau began tracking housing starts in 1959). Starts had rebounded to 590 thousand...

Courtesy of Dave Fry The low volume rally continues with news being spun six ways from Sunday. Today it was carryover optimism from last week’s winners Google and JPM and today’s rationale seemed a stretch: “Gannett revenues down; results top expectations”, “Eaton Corp sees improvement in key markets” and “Hasbro rose on cost cuts”....

Courtesy of Phil’s Stock World Wheee, being bullish is fun! We’re still not great at it as we shorted a few toppy-looking calls yesterday (WFMI, QLD, SPY and POT) but that was a normal offset to bullish plays on SO, ERX, VZ, RIMM, BMY, EMC, AAPL, TXN and T.  Of course, we’re also playing our bullish Watch List, which still has plenty...

By Marin Katusa, Chief Investment Strategist, Casey’s Energy Report This summer, there’s been a flurry of new green announcements from the world’s major oil firms.  ExxonMobil, Chevron, Valero, Statoil, Marathon, and Sunoco have all thrown their hats into the green ring. According to an article published September 19, 2009, in Newsweek: The...