Archive for December, 2011
The January Effect and the Dogs of the Dow
With the year rapidly drawing to a close, right now may be the perfect time for traders to consider two popular strategies: the so-called “Dogs of the Dow” and the “January Effect”. The Dogs of the Dow trading strategy is relatively simple. Those following the strategy simply pick the bottom 10 stocks of the Dow [...]
Bond Auctions Continue to Dominate Forex Trading
European bond auctions have contributed significantly to the movement of the markets in late 2011. On Thursday, the eurozone had yet another auction—this time in Italy. Commentators were mixed on whether or not they considered the results of the auction to be a success. The Italians were unable to sell as much debt as they [...]
Is the Apple TV Coming in Q1 2012?
Despite a shortened trading week, the rumor mill has been pretty active. Speculation has floated around the market that an announcement of Apple’s (NASDAQ: AAPL) forthcoming TV is imminent. Further—and perhaps more significant—that the product would be available to consumers at some point in the first quarter of the coming year. While an Apple TV [...]
Euro Flash Crash – Market Correlation Lives On
Early on Wednesday, U.S. futures traded higher. The results of an Italian debt auction came in better than expected, and may have lifted the hopes of traders. Then, right around 10am ET, the EUR/USD pair began to crash—significantly. The pair moved down roughly 0.60% in about 10 minutes, which is a huge move for a [...]
Is There Any Value Left in Sears?
Apparently, consumers just aren’t buying tools like they used to. Or at least, they aren’t buying them from Sears (NYSE: SHLD). On Tuesday, Sears Holdings announced that it would be closing as many as 120 stores. The company has 2,177 Sears and Kmart stores in the United States. The company specifically used the language “up [...]
Wall Street 2011 in Review – A Year of “Sturm und Drang”
There is an old saying on Wall Street that “bull markets climb a wall of worry.” It means that the higher the market goes, the more fearful investors become that the market will drop and their gains will be lost. It’s the age-old dilemma of an investor with a profit: “Do I take my profit [...]
Yahoo! Looking to Move Out of Asia?
On Wednesday reports circulated that Yahoo!’s (NASDAQ: YHOO) board was weighing offers to unload the bulk of the company’s holdings in Alibaba Group and Yahoo!’s Japanese partner. These transactions could infuse Yahoo! with $17 billion, which would give the company cash to rebuild its efforts in the U.S. market. Still, would divesting itself of these [...]
Bank of Japan Leaves Rates Unchanged
On Wednesday, the Bank of Japan (BoJ) met to decide interest rate policy. To the surprise of no one perhaps, the BoJ kept interest rates near 0%. Japan’s economy has struggled with stagnation for decades now, and it has consistently maintained a low interest rate policy. The BoJ also revised its expectations for Japan’s future [...]
RIM Rejects Amazon’s Offer
After the market close on Tuesday, rumors leaked that online retailer and budding tech giant Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN) had considered acquiring Research in Motion (NASDAQ: RIMM) earlier in the year. According to the reports, it was not just some idea kicked around by Amazon’s CEO Jeff Besos at a brainstorming session. Rather, the company had [...]
Where Will AT&T Get Its Spectrum?
After the markets closed on Monday, AT&T (NYSE: T) announced that it was officially ending its attempts to acquire mobile service provider T-Mobile from Deutsche Telekom. Per the terms of the deal, AT&T will take a $4 billion charge for failing to finalize the merger. Earlier in the year, the U.S. Department of Justice (DoJ) [...]
