Morning Coffee with TradingMarkets
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Good Morning! |
Gold Has Best Year in Decades…Treasuries Have Best Year Since 2002…Amazon Ends Year Up More than 39%…Existing Home Sales Expected Lower…Yuan Continues Advance…Stock Funds Average 6.9% in 2007…Corporate Bond Yield Lower…Crude Oil Gains…U.S. Holiday Sales Softer Than Expected…More Doubts on Citigroup Dividend…FTSE Ends Year Lower, Worst Year Since 2002…Bond Market Closing Early Today…Japan lower, Europe higher … Dollar continues lower against yen, pound…The futures are mixed in the hour before the bell…
The final trading day of 2007 is not likely to be one that traders will be looking to take great advantage of. Light volumes should make the possibility of sharper than expected price moves a real one. But neither buyers or sellers are likely to show much conviction today.
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TradingMarkets 5 Business Stories You Need to Know |
Baidu.com CFO Dies in Accident – Marketwatch
Shawn Wang, CFO for popular internet search engine company, died in China while on vacation.
Drug Companies Probed for Iraq Oil-for-Food Link – BBC News
An investigation has begun into bribery allegations against GlaxoSmithKline and AstraZeneca and their role in securing contracts for the Iraqi oil-for-food programme. Eli Lilly also asked to provide documents to Britain’s Serious Fraud Office.
U.S. Ban on Online Gaming Declared Illegal – BBC News
World Trade Organization recognizes Antigua, Barbuda claim that American ban on online betting is illegal. Antigua, Barbuda to impose sanctions of up to $21 million–much less than countries had hoped.
AOL Gives Up on Netscape Browser – USA Today
13 years after the first commercial Internet web browser hit the market, AOL has decided to end further development and stop providing technical support for Netscape Navigator. Dominance of Internet Explorer and rise of open-source browser Firefox helped move Netscape to the margins.
Kerkorian Buys Delta Petroleum Stake – Marketwatch
Tracinda Corporation, run by Kirk Kerkorian, pays premium of 28% for 35% stake in drilling and exploration company. Kerkorian’s investment firm was last in the news for trying to buy Chrysler earlier this spring. Delta up big in premarket trading.
» For more stories as they happen, go to our Breaking News section.
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TradingMarkets 7 Stocks You Need to Know for Today |
Here are 7 stocks for traders for today from TradingMarkets.com:
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Piedmont
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PowerRating) reported fourth quarter losses of 11 cents per share. Net income for the year was up more than 7%. -
When Immucor
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PowerRating) reports earnings on Wednesday after the close, traders will be watching for $0.24 EPS. -
KB Home
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PowerRating) dropped about 3.5% on Friday, following an extremely weak new home sales report out of the U.S. -
Pulte Homes
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PowerRating) also fell on the news, down over 2% for the day. -
Cal-Maine Foods
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PowerRating) rallied 9% on Friday after announcing a massive increase in Q2 net income from the same period last year. - CDC Corporation
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PowerRating) rallied 23% on Friday after announcing that the company’s directors and executives have purchased nearly 500k shares of the company over the last week. - Checkpoint Software
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PowerRating) rallied 15% after announcing a new CEO.
» For a list of today’s highest PowerRating stocks, click here.
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TradingMarkets 5 Top PowerRatings Stocks for Today |
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Company
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Symbol | PowerRatings |
| MEMC Electronic Materials | WFR | 8 |
| US BioEnergy | USBE | 8 |
| Quanex | NX | 8 |
| IMAX | IMAX | 8 |
| Albany Molecular Research | AMRI | 8 |
| » View More Stocks |
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TradingMarkets Tracking the Wizards |
Hedge Fund Copy Cats – BusinessWeek
“Replicators” are funds that try to copy the performance of billion dollar hedge funds–for less. Most replicators trail hedge funds, but low fees may help them catch up over time.
Ken Fisher on Growth Stocks – Equities Magazine
Head of Fisher Investments does NOT think stocks are headed for a fall. But you knew that. Here’s what you might not know about Ken Fisher’s thoughts on growth versus value investing, alternative energy, and thinking globally while acting globally. From a September 2007 interview.
Hedge Fund Outlook for 2008: Bigger, Clearer, Humbler – Wall Street Journal
Projections for the hedge fund industry in 2008 include forecasts that the big funds will get even bigger, that transparency will increase and that returns will be lower on average. But will the industry figure out a way to let retail investors invest in a piece of the action?
» View Portfolios of Prominent Investors
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TradingMarkets Playbook |
The final trading day of 2007 is not likely to be one that traders will be looking to take great advantage of. Light volumes should make the possibility of sharper than expected price moves a real one. But neither buyers or sellers are likely to show much conviction today.
We are seeing a number of good opportunities begin to develop in our Top PowerRatings stocks, no doubt created by the selling late last week. Key levels remain the mid-December lows and as long as those levels hold up, the markets should be in good shape to start the new year.
David Penn is Senior Editor at TradingMarkets.com.
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