WallStreetis4Lovers

Entries from November 2008

Turkey Run

November 26, 2008 · 3 Comments

It’s hard for me to think about anything but food right now. Not only do I get to go home to mom cooking in a few hours, but tomorrow is Thanksgiving. I really couldn’t ask for more. I’ll try my best to focus on the stock market, but visions of turkeys and stuffing are dancing in my head.

Wall Street is seeing gains again today after yesterday’s rally. Investors are likely feeling calmed by Obama’s pledge to to deal with the economy as soon as he steps into office. While we’re looking at the risk of running almost a trillion dollar deficit (does that number even mean anything when it gets that high anymore?), the outcome of doing nothing would prove to be much worst. At a time like this, it comes down to faith and hope. And yes, we can.

Weather forecast: rainy. PredictWallStreet forecast: green. Only a few forecasts today, but they are all up!

Unfortunately, I’m not really familiar with three of the companies. And while I could spend my time researching them, its more effective and useful for me to just stick to the stocks I do know. And that company today would be First Solar, Inc. (FSLR). As I have said before, it is more beneficial for me to predict on companies I’m more affiliated with so I can practice my strategy and improve it.

Uh oh! I just looked at my star rating on FSLR and it turns out I’m only a two star predictor for that security. I guess I thought I was better affiliated than I was. This just goes to show you that even if you understand a company and its business very well, this doesn’t nececassirly translate to knowing its stock and understanding its trends. So while I like what FSLR does, I clearly need to practice predicting on it so I can better understand the stock.

Today I’m looking at the forecast which says up. But I also want to use some other indicators to assure me that that is indeed a good prediction. I like to use sentiment to back up my predictions. Looking at one month sentiment I can see there have been a few days of bearish dips but suddenly sentiment has shot up into the bullish territory. The sentiment line actually looks pretty crazy for this stock. Interestingly enough, even though sentiment was rising up, the price was actually down at this point. Now that sentiment has become extremely bullish, the price has rose minimally. So I can see here that maybe sentiment and price for FSLR don’t have as strong a dependency on each other as some other companies. And I can take into consideration that the price moves most when sentiment becomes extremely bullish or bearish and that the price is not so sensitive to minimal shifts in investor sentiment.

Hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving!

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Take the party hat off Tuesday

November 25, 2008 · 1 Comment

Thanksgiving is so close I can almost touch it. I make the five hour drive down south tomorrow with nothing but me, my iPod and the 101. I most definitely hate that drive, which is why I haven’t done it in over six months, but I’ll be running on hunger and caffeine so it shouldn’t be too bad. Plus, I can’t wait to talk stocks over turkey and cranberry. My new thing is to sound as smart and pretentious as possible to my parents so they know how much I’m learning in college. It’s all part of a bigger shceme to get grad school paid for. 

After yesterday’s rally, the market seems to have pulled back a bit. Investors are cashing in Tuesday, despite government plans to aid consumer lending companies and a deteriorating credit market. While investors sell off, they remain positive: the major indices show bullish sentiment according to PredictWallStreet’s real-time sentiment meter. This seems to be a good sign; while investors may be cashing in, they remain optimistic about the markets future and aren’t merely trying to pull out fast. 

Apple (AAPL) rallied about 12.5% yesterday. And while this is definitely news to feel good about, it also is part of the ebb and tide of today’s choppy market. One day you’re on top, and the next ya want a bailout. So, rejoice Apple kids, but don’t leave the party hat’s on for too long. PredictWallStreet has forecasted Apple to close down today. The leader in stock predictions, PredictWallStreet has over 115 predictions right now on Apple and 46% of those predictors think agree Apple will close down. Judging from yesterday’s giant rally and this weeks bearish sentiment, I’m making my prediction for down as I have found in the past Apple only sustains gains for a little while before falling again. I can see that looking at one month sentiment, AAPL has been very touchy in the past month, jumping from bull to bear territory fast.

Yahoo! (YHOO) is also forecasted to close down today. Although, 68% of predictors have predicted up for the company, I noticed that overall sentiment this month was extremely bearish, then bullish and has now run flat…kinda like the company, how cute. But anyway, price has been all over the place this morning but my guess  will be it ends the day in the red. Not only is Yahoo suffering firm specific draw backs, but its facing a deteriorating market hat only helps bog it down more. Its like there is no icing on the cake, no icing on top of a already yucky flavored cake. Wait, does that even make sense? It’s tough times for Yahoo! and it seems as if they’re gonna need  super-hero management to drag them out of single digits at this time. 

Enjoy the rest of the trading day, you’ve got 8 minutes. Gobble, gobble.

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Mondays Rally-long lived or die fast?

November 24, 2008 · 1 Comment

It’s nice to see a Monday morning rally on Wall Street. The DOW is currently above 8000, always a good sign. With the news of the Citigroup rescue, stocks surged this morning. Obama is also pledging to get an economic rescue plan approved as soon as possible. Such optimism is refreshing when not only our markets but public sentiment is drowning in negativity.

PredictWallStreet’s forecasts have been beating the market by 65% during the 08 meltdown (9/15/08-11/10/08). In our current situation, the markets are driven heavily by emotion. PredictWallStreet’s forecasts not only outperform the markets, they also outperform forecasts that are based on past performance. You can read more about it here.

First Solar Inc. (FSLR) has been forecasted today to close down. Now normally I have felt pretty confident in there position in the solar energy sector, but lately this sector has seen some fading. FSLR derives more than half its sales in Europe, mainly Germany. Germany just announced they were officially in a recession. In there latest conference call they announced all solar projects outside of Germany have stopped. People are loosing faith in solar companies–sentiment for FSLR has recently become bearish and they have a down forecast. What do you think FSLR’s immediate future holds? In my opinion, when Obama comes to office in January, I think alternative energy will get a much needed kick start as a lot of the focus of Obama’s campaign will be towards going green.

I’ve been waiting for the release of Research in Motion’s (RIMM) Blackberry Storm for quite some time and it has been an utterly disappointing experience. I too got caught up in the buzz of the “first touch screen Blackberry” and while I still like the idea and the phone, I can’t help but be extremely angry at how Research in Motion is handling the entire production and sale of this phone. Lets see, lets heavy promo this phone, make a huge deal out of it, push back the release date days, then weeks, then months, make customers even more agitated, and then I’ve got a great idea, lets only give Verizon stores between 10-200 phones each so they will sell out within the first 2 hours. Brilliant RIMM, absolutely. It just seems like bad business to not be able to keep up with a demand you created. Apparently the next production of phones wont even be available till the middle of December. Am I a little bitter I don’t have a Storm in my hand right now? Yes, I am.

Research in Motions stocks may be riding this Storm wave right now, but we’ll see how long it lasts as customers grow weary and completely frustrated. Sentiment for RIMM is bullish now, but in the past RIMM has proven to be an extremely dippy and volatile company that is often hard to predict. I’m curious to see where they will be in January. I’m predicting UP today because I know RIMM is still a fire with Storm buzz, although at heart I still feel pretty bearish about this company. I

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Calm before the Storm

November 20, 2008 · Leave a Comment

I don’t want to be dramatic, but I am only 20 and according to scientific studies the hormones in my head are still leveling out so technically it’s not my fault, but yesterday I had a quarter life crisis. Even writing that I feel guilty of drama queen crimes. It all began in the Economics Department of my University when they told me I had only 2 classes left to graduate. The tears began here. You can’t kick me out, I’m not ready to graduate! I don’t know how many people they get in their office trying to figure out how to stay in school longer, but I don’t care. It all happens so fast and I’m certainly not ready on any level to be done with school. Sixteen years of routine doesn’t exactly die easy. I’m walking in Spring, I don’t care how many useless units I have to take. (Thanks mom for that tuition money!)

The market is looking pretty sad today. The Dow is below 8000! Yikes! Sentiment for the major indices has dropped to become bearish according to PredictWallStreet’s real-time sentiment meter.

OOo! Two of my favorite companies have been forecasted today-Google and Research in Motion.

I have been eagerly awaiting the release of Research in Motions (RIMM) Blackberry Storm and it finally drops tomorrow at Verizon stores. There has been so much speculation and buzz about this phone-mostly on purpose. The new touchscreen Blackberry, in my opinion, will finally help position RIMM to compete with the iPhone. Checking sentiment, I noticed it shot up to become more bullish lately after having a couple dips in the last month of bearishness. I think a lot of this has to do with the Storm, obviously, and I wonder how long RIMM will be able to ride this optimism out. They are currently forecasted to close up and I have predicted up as well. With the launch of the Storm tomorrow, the forecast and bullish sentiment, I think RIMM has a pretty good week at least ahead of them.

I shot another video blog on Tuesday and it’s up on our YouTube channel. Go here here to watch all the other PredictWallStreet video’s.

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Detroit in trouble, Yahooligans rejoice

November 18, 2008 · Leave a Comment

I purchased a subscription to the Wall Street Journal about a month ago. I had big plans of reading it over coffee in the morning, looking up the current yield on T-bills and reading about the current direction of TARP. But this morning as I was leaving my house to drive to work I noticed Wall Street Journal land mines scattered all throughout my yard and it dawned on me I haven’t picked a single paper up yet. So while I pat myself on the back for having good intentions, my efforts are pretty futile as I still couldn’t tell you the current yield. Oh well. Thank god for the internet.

I figured sentiment for the NASDAQ, DJIA and SP500 would of dropped after yesterdays close, but according to PredictWallStreets real-time sentiment meter it has remained somewhat bullish for the NASDAQ and DJIA, with the SP500 only falling minimally to become bearish.

This morning Yahoo!’s CEO Jerry Yang finally stepped down after much shareholder frustration. Yang started the company in 1994 with his partner Filo and helped it to become $130 billion company at the height of the dot-com boom. Unfortunately, Yahoo!’s market value stands at $16 billion today. While his retreat may be bittersweet for some, shareholders seem to welcoming a new CEO and hopefully management. Yahoo! (YHOO) shares rose over a dollar this morning, almost 11% since yesterday. 86% of predictors on PredictWallStreet predicted up for Yahoo! today. Checking one month sentiment, I can see it has been rather bearish but quickly shot up on the Yang news and is becoming more bullish. I’ve predicted up today for YHOO. I believe the shareholders will remain optimistic now for the company as these are the baby steps in a new direction for Yahoo!-something shareholders have long been waiting for.

And over in Detroit, GM, Ford and Chrysler are still begging for a bailout. There have been strong opinions on both sides of this fight, and while I agree with many points on either side, I have yet to pick a standpoint. On one hand, it’s hard to condone such bad business strategy. Why should we save companies that ran bad business? Is it not fair to let the free market do what it does with such companies? That is after all the tradition of American economics. Yet, on the other more forgiving hand, the economic implications could be severe and drastic. Some 2 million jobs lost-not just from the automaker manufactures but from the chain that supplies those companies. These issues are only scratching the surface.

General Motors (GM) is currently down almost 10%. I don’t see any sign of letting up for this company until Congress gives some inclination they will be providing some sort of bailout. There are currently 169 predictions, and ironically 69% of people have predicted up. Now I would assume sentiment to be extremely bearish, but checking one week sentiment I noticed that is actually more neutral than I expected. The one month sentiment chart shows a long period of bearishness right before it minimally went up. Overlaying the price, I can see that the price has clearly dropped but sentiment actually became a little bit stronger. I think there are investors who still have hope for this company, but are uneasy as to the direction its heading due to bigger macroeconomic factors.

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Bulls and Bears, Oh my!

November 17, 2008 · 1 Comment

It’s Monday and like every other Monday for the past couple months, Wall Street is up in arms over some new report of declining something or other. Despite a good industrial production reading, investors are still contemplating and worrying about a automaker bailout, job cuts at Citigroup Inc. and a continuing decrease in sales for some of the nations top retailers.

Despite weeks of bearish sentiment, there seems to be an upturn for the NASDAQ, DJIA and SP500. PredictWallStreet’s real-time sentiment meter shows bullish sentiment for the three, using processes data from millions of predictors. Let’s see how long this sentiment can hold though.

I was checking My Page today on PredictWallStreet and was really impressed to see that my accuracy rating has gone up to 54.1%  I have not only become better at predicting, but have learned how to utilize the tools on the site to help increase my prediction accuracy. Between using the forecasts for the basis of my predictions and also looking at the direction of sentiment, I’ve become more affiliated with stocks and am able to make better predictions. A few months ago I was predicting the majority of my picks wrong, but now I’m correct more than half the time! It’s amazing to watch your progress and see how far you can come in so little time with just a little practice.

There are a lot of forecasts today for company’s that I don’t really know much about. I have found that it is best for me to predict on companies that I have a higher star rating for, which is coincidentally the company’s I know most about. If I predict on company’s for which I have less than a 2-star rating, I usually am wrong so I like to focus on the ones I am better at.

General Electric (GE) is forecasted to close up today. I’m normally bullish on this company which seems to coincide with the forecast. I’m also a four star predictor on GE and therefore know I have a strong affiliation with them. I have predicted up today for GE based on the forecast and sentiment. Poll results show that 72% of predictors have predicted up for GE today and looking at one month sentiment I can see that even though it is bearish now, it seems to be taking an upward turn. The sentiment chart also shows that GM has experienced some extremely bearish dips right before seeing an upsurge into bull territory.

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Dow Tumbles Below 8000: SBUX, YHOO, GE

November 13, 2008 · Leave a Comment

Morning headline: “Banks promise they won’t use bailout money for pay” It is striking to me the amount of things wrong with this headline. Firstly, a promise? This sounds like the type of agreement girls make to not date there best friends boyfriend, the type of promise four year old’s make to not throw sand at each other on the playground. And this is the type of contract we are holding our national banking system to. I trust a bank promise about as far as I can throw it. Which I can’t. Secondly, the monumental bailout Congress spent weeks deliberating is now being used to pay stock dividends, pay raises and bonuses. This makes sense America, this is justice. Let Democracy ring throughout Wall Street! A program who’s entire purpose, function and aim was to mend our economy, something I would imagine was written down in contracts, in Congress, in the Treasury, has been taken and used for an entirely different purpose than it was ever intended. But at least the banks have “promised” this is untrue, that they don’t need government money to support such expenses. I believe them, don’t you?

After three straight days of consecutive losses, Wall Street is down again today. Wow, for a second there the Dow finally got below 8000 (!!!) but we’re back up again barely. The jobless claim update this morning has been rather frightening, yet another testament to the no longer deniable fact that our economy is indeed in a contraction. Investors seem fickle. You have the guys who see bargains, the guys who are cautious, and the guys who are just plain scared. Sentiment for the major indices has been up and down and up again this past week. Right now PredictWallStreet shows bearish sentiment for the DJIA, NASDAQ and SP500. The SP500 and NASDAQ have hit new lows not seen since 2003.

Should we talk about something a little less negative? I actually have some stuff that is pretty positive and upward speaking. I wish I had a basket of puppies to give you, but its actually better-PredictWallStreet published 15 forecasts this morning and only one has a down forecast. A little green to brighten your morning.

Starbucks (SBUX) was forecasted earlier this week to close down. And they did. Now they are forecasted to close up. While sentiment remains bearish, analysts are split in whether they think the company will see a rebound or is weakening continually. While I don’t necessarily see Starbucks coffee as a priority expense, there is no doubt Starbucks has a cult following no matter how the economy is doing. They plan to cut more stores and restructuring will hopefully prove well for the company in the upcoming weeks.

Yahoo! (YHOO) has been forecasted to close up today. Poll results right now on PredictWallStreet are split perfectly 50/50. Sentiment has been bearish for the past week but recently saw a small upward turn. If you’ve been keeping track, the story goes: Yahoo! was open to a deal with Microsoft, Microsoft said they weren’t interested in a deal with Yahoo!, and Google walked away from a deal with Yahoo!. Yahoo! is pretty much that kid who gets picked last for the dodgeball team at recess. They just can’t catch a break. Irregardless, I think its pretty obvious Yahoo! needs some sort of partnership/deal right now to help them out before they reach single digits. I remain pretty bearish, contrary to the forecast. Maybe they’re just having a good day, but I’m not sure about sustainability.

And lastly, General Electric (GE) is forecasted to close up. I’m curious to see about this one. Recent reports have stated GE hit a 12 year low but its seems people are seeing a bargain rather than a huge loss. In the long run, GE will most likely recover so maybe it is a good time to buy or hold on to these stocks. Just my opinion. Albeit, headlines of the 12-year lows are sure to shake any seasoned investors confidence. There are almost 300 predictions on GE this morning and about 70% have predicted up. Between the forecast and the amount of up predictions, I’m gonna have to predict up as well today.

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Crash & burn and other synonyms for Wall Street: AAPL, RIMM, FSLR

November 11, 2008 · Leave a Comment

Wall Street took another dip this morning as investors continue to be frightened by diminishing spending and a weakening economy. Wait, this sounds exactly like every other post I write. Could it be because every day Wall Street is a bust because of the “economic turn down”? Could it be because everyday consumers haven’t started to spend more money? I’m taking bets. Two years till I get to write Wall Street is having a spectacular day? 1 year?

While yesterday sentiment for the major indices was notably bullish, today they have dramatically fallen. Sentiment for the DJIA, NASDAQ, and SP500 has become bearish, with DJIA sentiment almost off the graph. You can check out updated sentiment here on the front page of PredictWallStreet.

There are some good forecasts today on popular companies I like. Ironically, both Apple and Research in Motion have forecasts, as well as First Solar, Inc. and Citigroup. Go check out the rest here.

Apple (AAPL) is forecasted today to close up. Between cutting back on iPhone production and decreasing revenue from iPod sales, investors have had many concerns about the company lately. Fortunately decreasing iPod sales, one of Apple’s biggest revenue channels, has proved to not effect the company that directly as sales from iTunes, iPhones and Macbooks have made up for the lack. Analyst reports have become increasingly bearish for Apple, but blogger’s believe Apple earnings in January could beat expectations. Sentiment for AAPL has been bearish but took a turn upwards. They’re are 128 predictions on Apple right now. Of those, 48% predicted Apple up. It’s a close call right now. I think it’s no secret anymore that Apple will continue to be one of the strongest players in our recent economic game and that Apple is clearly a great long term buy. Although this is no recommendation because I am by no means an adviser or professional. Just my opinion.

And on the other side of the cell phone maker rail road tracks, we have Research in Motion (RIMM). RIMM is forecasted to also close up today. RIMM has been dangling the Storm in front of consumers with cryptic commercials and no release date in sight. Finally bloggers around the internetsphere have agreed that November 14 or 16th will be the release date, although this has not been confirmed by Research in Motion. In my opinion, they need to get this phone out before the holidays if they have any prayer of competing with Apple on any level. While the Storm may not trump the iPhone, it will at least give RIMM something new for the holidays to boast. Checking one month sentiment, you can see RIMM has actually had pretty strong sentiment with only a recent bearish dip. It is now becoming more bullish most likely in anticipation for the holidays and the Storm release. 62% of predictors have predicted up for RIMM. I have predicted up as well.

And lastly, First Solar, Inc. (FSLR) is also forecasted to close up today. As the leader in its industry, FSLR is able to fund its own projects without outside funds and with a Democratic White House and Congress, we are sure to see a push in alternative energy in the coming years. FSLR’s price has dramatically dropped since the beginning of the summer but I don’t believe this to be any indication of the company’s performance. One month sentiment is currently heading up and I remain bullish about FSLR and have predicted up along with the other 60% of predictors who also predicted up on PredictWallStreet.

If you are one of the lucky few to have Veteran’s day off, enjoy it. Thankfully I at least have no class today which just leaves more time for me to study for my midterm on Wednesday. It’s a never ending cycle. Good day!

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Scary Sentiment: FWLT, RIG, SPWRA, VZ, WMT

November 10, 2008 · Leave a Comment

The weekend can never be long enough. I was pondering the other day about creating another day in the calendar week to make it 8 days so that there would be a day between Sunday and Monday. I realize the impossibility of this, but it was interesting to think of how everything would be so much better in my life if I just had one more day. One more day to study for midterms, one more day to do laundry, one more day to catch up on sleep… If only….

The market is going a little cuckoo this morning on reports of China’s $586 billion sitmulus package had investors a buzz only to leave them flat hours later. Circuit City recently filed for bankruptcy, revealing even our nations strongest retailers are being hurt by the economic downturn. General Motor shares have finally reached a 60 year low and the government is giving even more money to AIG. Oh joyous day! Wait, question. Tomorrow is Veteran’s day-is the market still open? This may or may not be a stupid question. Just kidding, I googled it. It’s still open.

The sentiment meter on PredictWallStreet shows sentiment for the NASDAQ, DJIA, and SP500 bullish, with sentiment extremely bullish for the DJIA. While I was checking a few of my standard securities this morning, such as APPL, YHOO, RIMM and GOOG, I noticed sentiment for them specifically was mostly bearish. Guess I need to look a little harder into finding those bullish companies.
picture-1

This is what it looks like right now. It updates every fifteen minutes so it will of most likely changed by the time you see this.

PredictWallStreet has five forecasts this morning including FWLT, RIG, SPWRA, VZ and WMT. While I would love to tell you about all of them, I’m gonna focus on Verizon and Wal-Mart.

Verizon (VZ) is forecasted to close down today. Churn rates for Verizon have been low according to recent reports, but subscriber growth has been better than expected. Clearly the two major wireless, Verizon and AT&T, are being propped up right now by competing phone brands- Apple and Research in Motion. In my opinion, for Verizon to have any chance to get in the race the need to release Research in Motion’s new touch screen Blackberry Storm. The release has been largely halted and kept pretty secretive, with no release date in site and only bloggers predicting its release date of November 14th. Citigroup analysts have reported that RIMM needs to launch the Storm by the holidays and I think this recommendation is in line for Verizon as well. Known for having under par phones, it’s crucial Verizon release something as fun and innovative as the iPhone to keep them on the frontier of smart phones. The Storm could be the answer…if it was ever released. Sentiment for VZ has fluctuated the past month, with some dips into the bearish zone, but looking at one week sentiment shows investor feelings are becoming optimistic. I have predicted down today. Until we see the release of this phone, I think VZ is going to be bogged down by pessimistic feelings of the general market.

Wal-Mart, oh Wal-Mart. WMT is forecasted to close down today as well after a few weeks of more bullish forecasts. Has the overall market sludge finally seeped its way to the retail giant? It seems consumer anxiety has finally reached a level even a dose of Xanax can’t remedy. Most major retailers are feeling the slow down, with large decreases in revenue and measly expected holiday sales. Wal-Mart had proved to be the crying shoulder for conscious consumers looking to spend less but it seems it’s a long fall from the top. Sentiment for WMT is relativley neutral, although it has been fluctuating in out of bull and bear territory the last month. Right now 70% of predictors have predicted up for WMT. I’m following the forecast and predicting down after watching market enthusiasm drop quickly this morning.

I just realized I haven’t checked my online stock simulation in a long time. Maybe I’m in denial. I think I just don’t even want to deal with it because I’m afraid it’s that bad. But I have been neglecting it long enough and I think its time I put myself, literally, back on the market. Because frankly, I want to start writing about my stock boyfriends again and I need to find some new ones. And also, because I don’t want to be afraid anymore of my money (whether its hypothetical or not).

Have a good Vetarans Day, whether you are working or not. I know I’m stoked-no class!

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Rollercoaster of Love: GOOG, YHOO, GM, XOM

November 6, 2008 · Leave a Comment

After compulsively checking my class website every hour, I finally broke down and emailed my TA about my midterm grade. But…then I compulsively checked my email every hour. The wait was worth it though because I got a 99.5 on my Security Markets midterm. I’ll try to pretend the missing .5 point is not bothering me. I may or may not be shamelessly bragging about this on the internet, but like, what are you gonna do about it?

So Mr. Market, whats up today? The Dow dropped 300 points as Cisco reported a drop in demand and major retailers turned in weak sales for October. The only store withstanding this volatility is Wal-Mart. Stores from Target to Nordstrom’s posted large losses. The Labor Department also reported a jump in unemployment benefits. So before things can get better, they are clearly going to get worse.

On the bright side of the moon, PredictWallStreet published 15 snazzy forecasts today. Ooo Oo I’m picking three of my more favorable companies to highlight today. I love all these choices.

General Motors (GM) is forecasted to close down-the only down forecast today actually. The auto industry has took a giant hit in the wake of the economic downturn with GM at the forefront. After being denied a cool $10 billion for the attempted Chrysler merge, GM is left to work with what they have got and make the best of it. There is still hope for a $25 billion loan program for developing fuel efficient vehicles. With consumer spending at all time lows, GM and other companies like Ford, face the difficult task of enticing customers to make such large purchases. Right now GM is down almost 11% and sentiment has dropped into the bearish zone. There are 140 predictions right now and interestingly enough only 51% predicted GM to close up. Combining the down forecast with the 49% of down predictions, I think there’s a pretty good change GM is gonna be down.

Google (GOOG) is forecasted to close up today. The ad deal between Yahoo! and Google is kaput after Google received much pressure form US regulators and backed out. Yahoo! was clearly disappointed with there withdrawal but received some consolation when there shares surprisingly shot up. Google, on the other hand, hasn’t be so lucky. GOOG is currently down 3.78% and sentiment remains bearish. However, it is interesting to note that out of the 50 or so predictions, over half (51%) have predicted Google to close down, contrary to what the forecast says. So we’ll have to check back tomorrow and see which is right. I am personally predicting down because I think the deal breaker news will eventually catch up with Google, but its effects will be marginal. It’s hard to make a bigger dent in the internet giant.

And again, Exxon Mobil Corp. (XOM) is forecasted to close up again today. Oil prices neared $60 a barrel this morning on heightened fears of a recession. With oil prices pulling back, we are bound to see consumer more willing to drive, which will indirectly effect other aspects of consumer spending. I filled up this morning for only $27 and was pretty stoked about it. It’s been a long time since I have been conscious about driving too much to save money and I hope it stays this way for awhile.

Dont forget to predict and play the contest on PredictWallStreet for you chance to win up to $450! Everyone have a good weekend!

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