Gold Market: Losing Shine? After falling below $1,521 an ounce, gold prices have officially entered a bear market. Three historical price ranges are in focus. The range $1,487 to $1,548 an ounce is where gold surged higher in 3Q 2011, and prices are already below these levels. Other potential ranges where prices could stabilize are […]
Earnings Preview – Japanese Automakers Consensus earnings estimates for Japanese automakers rose to 38.6 YEN (39 Cents) as of April 8th. This is a 26.5% increase from Q4 FY2012 estimates. Rise in estimates are primarily fueled by the recent depreciation in the YEN’s strength by 13.88% during the month of March. The weakening currency has […]
Industry Performance – Investment Banking Goldman Sachs’ 15.7% return led global investment bank stocks in 1Q, followed by Morgan Stanley (15.2%). Both companies have shown a cost control commitment, and the revenue outlook has improved with markets. The two have among the highest capital markets earnings exposure. Nomura’s 14.7% return closely follows, with continued Japanese […]
Banking – Eurozone Compensation Draft proposals from EU legislators to ban bonuses more than twice bankers’ fixed pay could reduce European bank competitiveness. With the compensation backlash fiercer in the EU, the bloc’s lenders could struggle to retain employees and banking business market share from Asian or U.S. peers. A number of European banks, including […]
Sequester Overview Congressional stalemates are no unfamiliarity to the U.S. bureaucratic environment. This time around congress has the federal government contemplating the fiscal future of our accounts. On the eve of the Sequester, the federal government approaches the March 1st deadline to execute $85.3 billion across-the-board. There are three plans to avoid so-called sequestration though […]
April 16 – 20, 2012 After a two-day drop of 1% in the S&P, Friday’s rally helped the index close .12% higher, advancing its year- to-date gain of 9.6% according to Bloomberg. The two-day fall came after Spain held a debt auction that failed to quell looming fears that Spain might be on track to […]
Earnings Week kicked off on Friday as seven major market-moving companies reported their numbers; five of the seven companies posted better than expected earnings. Alcoa Inc. (AA) reported $0.01 earnings per share, beating market expectations of -$0.04. Other companies that reported positive earnings were Google Inc. (GOOG), JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM), and Wells Fargo […]
Weekly Market Wrap Up March 5 – 9, 2012 Early this week U.S. stocks had their worst one-day decline since November 23rd 2011. However data showing stronger than forecast growth in payrolls last month helped advance the S&P 500 to a fourth weekly gain; the S&P 500 is up 9 percent overall for 2012. The […]
As of Thursday, February 9th the S&P 500 gained 7.5 percent for the year and as of noon on Friday, February 10, it dropped 0.7 percent, snapping a five-week rally. Gasoline prices rose 22 cents per gallon, making households feel that even with declining unemployment a boost in income has yet to see an increase, […]
January 16 – 20, 2012 Submitted by: Charles Stack As fourth quarter results are being reported, we see a mixed bag of earnings coming out of the U.S. market. By 11:48am ET the S&P 500 had already slid 0.4%, snapping its three-day advance after Google Inc., American Express Co., and General Electric Co. all missed […]
