Archive for 2011
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Strategists See Big Q4 Rally
Eddy Elfenbein, October 6th, 2011 at 10:48 amFrom Bloomberg:
Wall Street strategists say the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index, after falling within 1 percent of a bear market this week, will post the biggest fourth-quarter rally in 13 years even after they cut forecasts at a rate exceeded only during the credit crisis.
The benchmark index for U.S. stocks will climb 14 percent from yesterday to end 2011 at 1,300, according to the average estimate of 12 strategists surveyed by Bloomberg. The last time they were this bullish in October was 2008, when the group predicted a 27 percent gain and the index lost 18 percent.
Analysts from Oppenheimer & Co. to UBS AG and Barclays Plc say equities will rebound from a decline of 19 percent since April as policy makers prevent a default by Greece and profit in the S&P 500 climb to $95.85 a share in 2011. Europe’s worsening debt crisis and the U.S. government’s loss of its AAA credit rating led strategists to cut their S&P 500 forecast in the past two months from an average level of 1,401.
“Investors are way too bearish and are being swayed by macro variables,” Brian Belski, the New York-based chief investment strategist at Oppenheimer, wrote in an e-mail on Oct. 4. “Fundamentals drive stocks,” he said. “U.S. portfolios are not positioned for a positive third-quarter earnings season.”
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Morning News: October 6, 2011
Eddy Elfenbein, October 6th, 2011 at 5:35 amEurope’s Rescue Fund Is Only Last Resort: Merkel
Euro Rises Versus Dollar as European Stocks Rally; Aussie Gains
M&G Welcomes Volatility as Bank of England Mulls Asset Purchases
Hong Kong Shares Jump 5.7%, Best Day Since April 2009
Swiss National Bank Foreign Currency Reserves Climb to Record
HSBC Lowers Forecasts for Most Asian Economies
Unions Lend Muscle, Resources to Wall St. Protests
Labor Reports Indicate No End to Jobs Worries
Democrats Seek Tax on ‘Richest,’ Aiming Gauntlet at G.O.P.
Volcker Rule Draft Gives Banks Ability to Hedge
A Look Back at Steve Jobs of Apple
Tim Cook Aims to Carry On Steve Jobs’s Vision
Belgium’s Dexia Lifts In Early Trading As Key Decisions Loom
Costco to Raise Membership Fee
Roger Nusbaum: What to Make of Occupy Wall Street
Paul Kedrosky: Refuting Dan Yergin
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1984: Steve Jobs introduces the Macintosh
Eddy Elfenbein, October 5th, 2011 at 10:21 pm -
Apple’s Share Price History 1980 to Present
Eddy Elfenbein, October 5th, 2011 at 9:29 pmApple‘s ($AAPL) stock has averaged a 1% gain each week for eight-and-a-half years.
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Stanford Commencement 2005
Eddy Elfenbein, October 5th, 2011 at 8:25 pm -
RIP: Steve Jobs
Eddy Elfenbein, October 5th, 2011 at 8:13 pmFrom the NYT:
SAN FRANCISCO — Steven P. Jobs, the visionary co-founder and former chief executive of Apple, has died at 56.
Apple said in a press release that it was “deeply saddened” to announce that Mr. Jobs had passed away on Wednesday.
“Steve’s brilliance, passion and energy were the source of countless innovations that enrich and improve all of our lives,” the company said. “The world is immeasurably better because of Steve.
Mr. Jobs stepped down from the chief executive role in late August, saying he could no longer fulfill his duties, and became chairman. He underwent surgery for pancreatic cancer in 2004, and received a liver transplant in 2009.
Rarely has a major company and industry been so dominated by a single individual, and so successful. His influence went far beyond the iconic personal computers that were Apple’s principal product for its first 20 years. In the last decade, Apple has redefined the music business through the iPod, the cellphone business through the iPhone and the entertainment and media world through the iPad. Again and again, Mr. Jobs gambled that he knew what the customer would want, and again and again he was right.
The early years of Apple long ago passed into legend: the two young hippie-ish founders, Mr. Jobs and Steve Wozniak; the introduction of the first Macintosh computer in 1984, which stretched the boundaries of what these devices could do; Mr. Jobs’s abrupt exit the next year in a power struggle. But it was his return to Apple in 1996 that started a winning streak that raised the company from the near dead to its current position of strength.
Bill Gates, the former chief executive of Microsoft, said in a statement that he was “truly saddened to learn of Steve Jobs’s death.” He added: “The world rarely sees someone who has had the profound impact Steve has had, the effects of which will be felt for many generations to come. For those of us lucky enough to get to work with him, it’s been an insanely great honor. I will miss Steve immensely.”
Mr. Jobs’s decision to step down in August inspired loving tributes to him on the Web and even prompted some fans to head to Apple stores to share their sentiments with others. Some compared him to legendary innovators like Thomas Edison.
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Tuesdays Continue to Rule
Eddy Elfenbein, October 5th, 2011 at 1:10 pmThanks to yesterday’s late-day rally, the Tuesday Effect continues to rule the market. While the market has done poorly since April 29th, Tuesdays, on average, have been very good.
Here are the returns by day of the week since the market topped on April 29th.
Eddy Elfenbein is a Washington, DC-based speaker, portfolio manager and editor of the blog Crossing Wall Street. His