Archive for June, 2006

  • That’s So Gross
    , June 10th, 2006 at 3:20 pm

    Daniel Gross makes good on his promise to eat Dow 36,000.
    Good for him for being a good sport (and taking a lot of ribbing from me).

  • I’ve Got World Cup-Mania!
    , June 9th, 2006 at 9:09 am

    I’m going to get an early start to the weekend, so I won’t be posting much today. But don’t feel lonely, the folks on my blogroll will keep you company.
    Here are a few quick items to note. Only three stocks from the Buy List will be reporting earnings in June. These are the weird stocks that end the quarter in May. The three stocks are FactSet Research Systems (FDS), Bed Bath & Beyond (BBBY) and Biomet (BMET). FactSet will report on June 20, BBBY on June 21 and Biomet on June 28. Also, Expeditors (EXPD) will split 2-for-1 later this month, so don’t freak when you see the lower share price.
    The big economic news next week will be the CPI and PPI. Steve Leisman is already working on his flip charts. I can feel the excitement. Also, much of Wall Street itself reports earnings; Lehman (LEH) on Monday, Goldman (GS) on Tuesday and Bear Stearns (BSC) on Thursday.
    Speaking of Goldman, you can see their rating on any stock here. Assuming they cover it.
    The New York Times covers Hedge Stock (don’t ask).
    Carl Bialik, the Numbers Guy, looks at the Ethanol debate.
    The long-end of the yield curve has become almost completely flat. The yield on the 30-year is close to falling below 5% for the first time in two months. The hard assets stocks have been getting creamed lately. Alcoa (AA), a Dow component (why), is down 17% in the last month.
    The World Cup gets started today. Germany plays Costa Rica and Ecuador takes on Poland. America’s first game is on Monday against the Czech Republic, which is probably somewhere in Europe.
    Have a fabo weekend, everyone! L8RZ!

  • Intel to sell Dialogic Unit
    , June 8th, 2006 at 3:05 pm

    I’m amazed at the decline of Intel (INTC). The stock hit yet another 52-week low today–$17.05. Imagine if someone told you ten years ago that Intel’s stock would slightly underperform the market over the coming decade. (It’s true). EE Times reports that the company is looking to sell its Dialogic unit (via F**ked Company).

  • Stalk Your Broker
    , June 8th, 2006 at 11:56 am

    At the NASD’s Web site, you can check the background of your stock broker.
    To look up a particular broker, you have to click “Agree” to a lot of legal mumbo jumbo, which includes not making the info public. So if you want to look up, say, Yevgeny Mihailovich Plotkin of Goldman Sachs, you’ll have to do it yourself.

  • Look Out Below!
    , June 8th, 2006 at 11:39 am

    The market is plunging this morning. The S&P 500 just lost all of its gains for the year. The index fell below 1240 to reach its lowest point in six months.

  • Abu Musab al-Zarqawi Is No More
    , June 8th, 2006 at 9:37 am

    We got him.
    This probably won’t be enough to lift the stock market. Ticker Sense notes that the blip the market got from Saddam’s capture was very short-lived.
    Here’s something interesting I noticed. Look at how strongly the Oil Services HOLDRs ETF (OIH) is correlated with the iShares Brazil ETF (EWZ):
    oihewz.bmp

  • From 1999
    , June 8th, 2006 at 8:29 am

    Smart Money‘s Ten Stocks for the Next Decade:
    Inktomi (INKT)
    Red Hat (RHAT)
    Scientific-Atlanta (SFA)
    America Online (AOL)
    Broadcom (BRCM)
    Nokia (NOK)
    Nortel Networks (NT)
    MCI WorldCom (WCOM)
    Monsanto (PHA)
    Citigroup (C)

  • Soccer and the Stock Market
    , June 8th, 2006 at 7:16 am

    The key to being a graduate student in finance is to compare any variable you can think of to the stock market. Since the World Cup starts tomorrow, I thought I’d show you results of a Dartmouth study comparing soccer matches to a nation’s stock market:

    Stock markets move with soccer scores because they have a “decisive impact” on the mood of a nation, according to a study by Dartmouth College.
    Match results may “have an important effect” on share prices, Professor Diego Garcia said, commenting on a report released by Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth this week. “There are forces influencing our economies that have little to do with rational thought.”
    Stock markets decline 0.39 percent on average after the national team loses in a World Cup game and 0.29 percent in any international match, according to the study, co-written by Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Alex Edmans and Norwegian School of Management’s Oyvind Norli.
    The correlation is the highest in countries with the biggest public support for soccer such as England, France, Germany, Italy and Spain, the report said. In South American nations, the phenomenon is similar, it said.

    Here’s the entire paper.

  • Survey: iPods More Popular Than Beer
    , June 7th, 2006 at 8:47 pm

    Damn.

    SAN JOSE, Calif. – Move over Bud. College life isn’t just about drinking beer.
    In a rare instance, Apple Computer Inc.’s iconic iPod music player surpassed beer drinking as the most “in” thing among undergraduate college students, according to the latest biannual market research study by Ridgewood, N.J.-based Student Monitor.
    Nearly three quarters, or 73 percent, of 1,200 students surveyed said iPods were “in” – more than any other item in a list that also included text messaging, bar hopping and downloading music. In the year-ago study, only 59 percent of students named the iPod as “in,” putting the gadget well below alcohol-related activities.
    This year, drinking beer and Facebook.com, a social networking Web site, were tied for second most popular, with 71 percent of the students identifying them as being “in.”

  • Harley-Davidson Shares Rise on Note
    , June 7th, 2006 at 4:12 pm

    From AP:

    NEW YORK (AP) – Shares of Harley-Davidson Inc. rose Wednesday after an analyst issued a report saying the motorcycle manufacturer’s spring sales may be up more than expected.
    In afternoon trading, Harley-Davidson shares were up $1.59, or 3.3 percent, to $49.55 on the New York Stock Exchange. Over the past year, the company’s shares have traded between $44.40 and $55.93.
    Robin M. Farley of UBS Investment Research maintained his “Neutral” rating of the company, but said Harley-Davidson could post a 6 percent to 7 percent increase in U.S. retail sales at the dealer level for the period of April through May.
    “Solid numbers so far in the second quarter seem to show Harley-Davidson consumer is intact,” Farley wrote in a note to investors.
    “Unless we see a decline in June (we don’t think likely), second-quarter retail sales should meet Harley-Davidson’s target of plus 5 percent to 9 percent, and well ahead of Harley-Davidson’s planned increase in shipments of plus 1 percent in the second.”
    But Farley cautioned that despite a year-to-date increase in retail sales of about 5 percent, the company’s shipments are back-end loaded and demand is not growing as much as Harley-Davidson’s planned production rate.