Morning Coffee with TradingMarkets
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Good Morning! |
The Dow: Bank of America, Chevron In, Honeywell, Altria Group Out… Microsoft “Moving Forward” Despite Yahoo Rejection… Qwest Profit Up 89%… Credit Suisse Reports $1.2BN Writedown… Fed’s Poole: US Will Probably Avoid Recession… Blackberry Services Briefly Disruped in North America Monday… Banks, Treasury Department Conspire to Rescue Mortgage Buyers… Buffet’s Berkshire Offers to Buy Bond Insurer Liabilities…
Asian stocks up… European stocks up… Greenbacks moving lower against the Euro, higher against the yen… And the futures are trending higher in the hour before the bell.
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TradingMarkets 5 Business Stories You Need to Know |
Will Microsoft’s Bid Go Hostile? – BusinessWeek
A special report from BusinessWeek on the stakes involved in Microsoft’s attempt to buy out Yahoo. Is Yahoo’s simply playing hard to get, or is there real value in the company that Microsoft, even with its premium offer, is trying to get on the cheap? We analyzed all three companies involved–Microsoft, Yahoo and Google–from a PowerRatings perspective in this week’s PowerRatings Weekly Outlook–still available at PowerRatings.net.
GM Earnings Beat the Street – Reuters
General Motors blew aways analyst estimates, producing adjusted fourth quarter earnings per share where negative EPS was expected. CEO Rick Wagoner says automotive earnings should improve over the course of the year. An average opportunity in an average industry group, General Motors shares the Major Auto Manufacturers industry with two stocks that are more likely than GM to be higher in a year’s time. Find those names at PowerRatings.net.
Yen Rallies On Unwinding Carry Trade – Bloomberg
Credit worries encouraging traders to abandon carry trades. Futures traders, based on the CFTC, are adding to their bets that the yen will continue to appreciate versus the dollar. The size of the spread between long and short positions in the yen is as large as it has been in four years, reflecting a massively bullish opinion on the yen.
Schering-Plough Sales Up 41% – CNN Money
The drugmaker posted adjusted fourth quarter earnings per share of 27 cents, up significantly from the same quarter last year, and beating analyst estimates. Schering-Plough also saw its sales increase by 41%. Schering-Plough has a PowerRating that suggests that stock will perform as well as the average stock over the next year. But Schering-Plough belongs to a high PowerRating industry with six stocks that our research says are more than 74% likely to be higher in a year’s time. Find the best opportunities among the Major Drug Manufacturers at PowerRatings.net.
Block That Foreclosure! – Wall Street Journal
Bank of America, Citigroup among major banks working with Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson to help mortgage borrowers who are in danger of default and losing their houses. 30-day freeze on foreclosures and loan modifications are among the proposals under consideration.
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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99 Cents Only
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PowerRating) beat earnings expectations on Monday afternoon, reporting $0.14 EPS over an estimated $0.11 EPS. -
Brooks Automation
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PowerRating) missed earnings by a long shot on Monday, reporting -$0.01 EPS versus a consensus of $0.09 EPS. -
Ecolab
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PowerRating) reports quarterly earnings on Tuesday morning before the bell, with traders looking for $0.40 EPS. -
General Motors
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PowerRating) reported EPS of $0.08 Tuesday morning before the open, blowing away analyst estimates. -
Analysts are watching for Molson Coors Brewing
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PowerRating) to report $0.65 EPS on Tuesday morning pre-market. - Schering-Plough
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PowerRating) reported EPS of $0.27 on Tuesday before the bell. - Wynn Resorts
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PowerRating) announces results on Tuesday after the market closes; watch for $0.68 EPS.
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 |
| RehabCare | RHB | 9 |
| Bankrate | RATE | 9 |
| Matria Healthcare | MATR | 8 |
| Humana | HUM | 8 |
| Learning Tree | LTRE | 8 |
| View More Stocks |
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TradingMarkets Tracking the Wizards |
Cramer Takes on the Dow – TheStreet.com
Mad Money’s Jim Cramer mocks the recent moves in and out of the Dow, saying–among other things–that financials should be leaving the Dow Industrials, not arriving in the form of Bank of America. We took on the changes in the Dow yesterday in an article for PowerRatings.net, “In the Dow’s Out Door: PowerRating the Dow’s New Additions.”. Find out which of the comers and goers to the Dow are most likely to be higher in a year’s time.
Crisis History Repeating Itself? – The Big Picture
How different is the subprime mortgage crisis in the United States from other financial crises? A new study compares our current financial woes to other crises from the late 20th century from Spain in 1977 to Japan in 1992.
Police: No Foul Play in Tobias Death – FINAlternatives
Sordid rumors notwithstanding, police and prosecutors investigating the mysterious death of hedge fund manager Seth Tobias have concluded that there was “no criminality” in Tobias’ death. Tobias was found dead in his swimming pool in September. Toxicology reports indicated that there was a significant amount of alcohol and drugs in Tobais’ system, but lurid accusations that Tobias had been murdered have been ruled unfounded and no charges will be filed in the case.
View Portfolios of Prominent Investors
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TradingMarkets Playbook |
The markets continue their small-range sessions sideways, as its oversold condition from a few days ago is slowly worked off. We are seeing more low Short Term PowerRatings stocks than high Short Term PowerRatings stocks, which leads us to believe that traders are more ready to sell a rally than buy a dip. That said, the longer the market moves sideways without breaking down, the greater the possibility that the lows from late January will hold.
Playing the market on a stock-by-stock basis remains a sound approach, keeping in mind the “Five Mistakes to Avoid in a Market Trading Below its 200-day Moving Average” trading primer provided by TradingMarkets CEO Larry Connors (and available for free at TradingMarkets.com).
Strong stocks are likely finding support in the wake of their corrections, and weak stocks are likely running into resistance as the momentum of their bounces wanes. These are the opportunities, to the upside and downside, that will continue to be worth the attention of stock traders today.
David Penn is Senior Editor at TradingMarkets.com.
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