All About Wall Street

MArket Update 1/27/11

2011-01-27T18:00:00.001-05:00

The Dow refused to go over the $12,000 dollar mark for the second day straight. Nonetheless the Dow gained +$4.39, the Nasdaq gained +$15.78 and the S&P 500 went up +$2.91. Todays top gainer was Cirrus Logic, Inc. with a +$18.81% gain. The top loser of the day was Murphy Oil Corporation with a -10.23% loss.

Market Update 1/26/11

2011-01-26T18:38:00.000-05:00

The markets didn't move much today, with the Dow + $8.25, the Nasdaq up +$20.25 and the S&P 500 up +$5.25. Todays top gainer is Fortinet, Inc, with a +16.89% gain and todays top loser is RF Micro Devices, Inc. with a -9.76% loss.

Advice on the Dow

2011-01-25T16:18:00.000-05:00

With the Dow nearing 12,000 again, many people are wondering if it is going to crash. Another crash as big as the one in 2008 is highly unlikely. However, there is no guarantee that the Dow will go straight up either. There is only one guarantee about the markets. They will fluctuate. No matter what. So don't be surprised when the Dow falls 200 or gains 200. Just remember it will always move.

20 Investment Strategies

2011-01-23T16:07:00.000-05:00

This is an excerpt from IBD magazine.

1. Consider buying stocks with each of the last three years earnings up 25%+, return on equity of 17%+, and recent earnings and sales accelerating.
2. Recent quarterly earnings and sales should be up 25% or more
3. Avoid cheap stocks. Buy stocks selling for $15 to $100
4. Learn how to use charts to see sound bases and exact buy points. Confine buys to theses points as stocks break out on big volume increases.
5. Cut every loss when it is 8% below your cost. Make no exceptions so you'll avoid any huge, damaging losses. Never average down in price.
6. Follow selling rules on when to sell and take profit on the way up. Review "When to Sell and Take a Profit" in "How to Make Money in Stocks."
7. Buy when market indexes are in an uptrend. Reduce investments and raise cash when general market indexes show five days of increased volume distribution.
8. Read IBD's Investors Corner and Big Picture columns to learn how to recognize important tops and bottoms in market indexes.
9. Buy stocks with a Composite Rating of 90 or more and a Relative Price Strength Rating of 85 or higher in the IBD SmartSelect Corporate Ratings.
10. Pick Companies with management ownership of stock.
11. Buy mostly in the top six broad industry sectors in IBD's New Highs List.
12. Select stocks with increasing institutional sponsorship in recent quarters.
13. Current quarterly after-tax profit margins should be improving near their peak and among the best in the stocks industry.
14. Don't buy because of dividends of PE ratios. Read a story on the company. Buy No. 1 company in and industry in earnings and sales growth, ROE, profit margins, and product quantity.
15. Pick companies with a superior new product of service.
16. Invest mainly in entrepreneurial New America companies. Pay close attention to those with an IPO in the past 15 years.
17. Check into companies buying back 5% to 10% of their stocks and those with a new management.
18. Don't try to bottom guess or buy on the way down. Never argue with the market Forget your pride and ego.
19. Find out if the market currently favors big-cap or small-cap stocks.
20. Do a post analysis of all your buys and sells. Post on charts where you bought and sold. Evaluate and develop rules to correct you major mistakes. It is what you learn after you think you know what you are doing that is vital. That is how you improve your results.

CAN SLIM

2011-01-23T15:33:00.001-05:00

You may have heard of an investment strategy called the CAN SLIM system. The CAN SLIM system was devised by investor William O'Neil.

C stands for Current earnings. Per share, current earnings should be up to 25%. Additionally, if earnings are accelerating in recent quarters, this is a positive prognostic sign.

A stands for Annual earnings, which should be up 25% or more in each of the last three years. Annual returns on equity should be 17% or more

N stands for New product or service, which refers to the idea that a company should have a new basic idea that fuels the earnings growth seen in the first two parts of the mnemonic. This product is what allows the stock to emerge from a proper chart pattern of its past earnings to allow it to continue to grow and achieve a new high for pricing. A notable example of this is Apple Computer's ipod

S stands for Supply and demand. An index of a stock's demand can be seen by the trading volume of the stock, particularly during price increases.

L stands for Leader or laggard? O'Neil suggests buying "the leading stock in a leading industry". This somewhat qualitative measurement can be more objectively measured by theRelative Price Strength Rating (RPSR) of the stock, an index designed to measure the price of stock over the past 12 months in comparison to the rest of the market based on the S&P 500 or the TSE 300 over a set period of time.

I stands for Institutional sponsorship, which refers to the ownership of the stock by mutual funds, particularly in recent quarters. A quantitative measure here is the Accumulation/Distribution Rating, which is a gauge of mutual fund activity in a particular stock.

M stands for Market indexes, particularly the Dow Jones, S&P 500, and NASDAQ. During the time of investment, O'Neil prefers investing during times of definite uptrends of these three indices, as three out of four stocks tend to follow the general market pattern.

The CAN SLIM system has had a 1,351.3% gain versus a loss of 6% in the S&P 500. I highly recommend using this strategy or at leasts parts of the strategy.

Google CEO, Eric E. Schmidt stepping down

2011-01-21T16:16:00.002-05:00

Today google announced that its current CEO, Eric E. Schmidt is stepping down. Larry Page will be the New CE), starting next week.
For Eric E. Schmidt, will really affect goog share. At the Market opening bell, google shares was $640, but now it $612. It really amazingly drop a lot.

We don't what will come next week if google share will drop more. This is only the first day.

Now Eric E. Schmidt, and Steve Jobs are out as CEO. For Steve Jobs is temporary. Is Bill Gates Going to step down as a CEO to and give his place to Allen Paul?

Markets 1/20/11

2011-01-20T19:08:00.000-05:00

All the Markets pretty much broke even today with the Dow at $-2.49 The S&P 500 down $-1.66 and the Nasdaq down $-21.07

News

2011-01-19T20:35:00.000-05:00

If there is one piece of advice I can give you about doing well in the stock market, it is: know what is going on in the world around you. The news can help you in many ways. The BP oil spill was a perfect example of this. I know people who were invested in BP and did not hear about the oil spill until a few days after it happened. In that time the stock dropped significantly. Read some sort of newspaper daily or watch the news for at least 30 minutes.

Market Update 1/19/11

2011-01-19T18:37:00.000-05:00

Today the Dow Jones closed at $-12.64 (-.11%). Not a large drop, and the market has been rising steadily so there is no need for worry. The Nasdaq Composite lost 1.46% and the S&P 500 lost 1.01%.

Apple Steve Jobs Leaving the Stock Market

2011-01-19T18:24:00.002-05:00

Apple CEO Steve Jobs, announced last Sunday to step down for a leave surgery.

If Steve Jobs is not in the market, it will affect a lot the Stock Market. He stepped down twice already, and Apple shares went down, because Tim Cook was the CEO. Now Cook is the permanently CEO for Apple, and he done, really bad on the first day, which was right after Martin Luther King Jr. Holiday. It was down 4% in the Morning

Leverage

2011-01-18T20:36:00.000-05:00

I have been using two stocks this past year that have given me a 45% return on my portfolio. They are ProFunds Ultra Dow 30 (UDPIX) and ProFunds Ultra Midcap (UMPIX). They use leverage to achieve 200% the performance of the Dow and S&P Midcap. This can be incredibly useful in times when the Dow and Midcap are going up, like they have in the past year, but can also be very damaging to your portfolio if the Dow and Midcap are falling like they were in 2008, as it would fall at 200% the rate. I highly recommend buying these stocks when you feel the Dow or Midcap will rise again, but if you think that they are due for a dip then lay off.

First Post!

2011-01-18T19:43:00.000-05:00

Welcome to All About Wall Street. I designed this blog to arouse a discussion about the stock market, recent purchases, ideas, and anything else related to finance. In recent years the market has fluctuated more than it ever has. Feel free to follow and post anytime you like.