You could get freebies every day if you wanted to. Go to any restaurant and chances are high you’ll be able to grab matches, toothpicks or mints free of charge. While going out to eat in order to get a free mint seems a bit absurd, there are plenty of… Read More

Pharmacies, labs, billing agencies and insurers all say business is down from the same period a year ago. Recent earnings reports show Americans are seeking less medical care. The reason is twofold. The most obvious is that unemployment remains high, at… Read More

For Japan, the hits keep on coming. Just last week, China knocked the country off its perch as the world’s second-largest economy, dealing a sharp blow to national pride. But this week’s news is even more sobering. The Japanese Yen is surging to a 15-year high of around 85 yen to the U.S. Dollar. Why the sharp recent move? Because the U.S. Federal Reserve has recently hinted that it may start to resume “quantitative easing,” whereby it prints money to inject funds into the financial system and spur banks to lend at greater… Read More

For Japan, the hits keep on coming. Just last week, China knocked the country off its perch as the world’s second-largest economy, dealing a sharp blow to national pride. But this week’s news is even more sobering. The Japanese Yen is surging to a 15-year high of around 85 yen to the U.S. Dollar. Why the sharp recent move? Because the U.S. Federal Reserve has recently hinted that it may start to resume “quantitative easing,” whereby it prints money to inject funds into the financial system and spur banks to lend at greater volumes. As that move potentially pushes up inflationary pressures down the road, the dollar weakens. For a country like Japan that perennially struggles to boost domestic consumption and instead relies on its major exporters, this could lead to real pain. First, its exports are quickly becoming less competitive. Second, any profits that are associated with exports will shrink at the rate that the currency is strengthening. This could not come at a worse time — Japan is wrestling with a rapidly aging workforce and surging government debt (which is far higher… Read More

One might think that just because the economy stinks and consumers have cut back on spending that any stock described as being “retail” would be in trouble. For the most part, that would be right. However, there is a relatively unknown… Read More

At the behest of a key shareholder, bookseller Barnes & Noble (NYSE: BKS) is in search of a potential suitor. Yet the company’s prospects are dimming, and it’s unclear if any such buyer exists. If you own this stock, look to take profits now. If you don’t, it may be… Read More

Many investors would be surprised to learn from which country the United States imports the greatest amount of oil. It’s not Saudi Arabia. It’s not Russia. And while Venezuela is high on the list, it’s not that nation either. The answer is Canada. In… Read More

The coming months could prove to be an enticing time for investors. Many stocks are trading well off their highs under the assumption that the coming streams of economic data will prove to be disheartening. If we indeed are in for a tough slog in the months and quarters ahead,… Read More

What do Boeing (NYSE: BA) and Alcoa (NYSE: AA) have in common? They are book-ends on the Dow Jones Industrial Average’s ranking of best and worst-performing stocks thus far in 2010. Boeing — up +30.4% — is seeing rising demand for airplanes, while Alcoa — off -27.0% — awaits a rebound in demand for aluminum. It’s been a mixed bag of results for this leading index, with 19 stocks rising and the other 11 losing ground since the start of the year. Company (Ticker)   Total Return… Read More

What do Boeing (NYSE: BA) and Alcoa (NYSE: AA) have in common? They are book-ends on the Dow Jones Industrial Average’s ranking of best and worst-performing stocks thus far in 2010. Boeing — up +30.4% — is seeing rising demand for airplanes, while Alcoa — off -27.0% — awaits a rebound in demand for aluminum. It’s been a mixed bag of results for this leading index, with 19 stocks rising and the other 11 losing ground since the start of the year. Company (Ticker)   Total Return YTD P/E Boeing (NYSE: BA) 30.4% 4.5 Caterpillar (NYSE: CAT) 27.2% 29.0 Du Pont (NYSE: DD) 26.5% 12.5 McDonalds (NYSE: MCD) 14.4% 16.0 American Express (NYSE: AXP) 12.5% 17.0 Kraft Foods (NYSE: KFT) 10.6% 14.5 General Electric (NYSE: GE) 9.8% 15.0 3M (NYSE: MMM) 7.1% 15.5 Walt Disney (NYSE: DIS) 6.9% 18.0 United Tech (NYSE: UTX) 5.8% 15.0 Intel (Nasdaq: INTC) 5.3% 11.5 Proctor & Gamble (NYSE: PG) 4.7% 16.5 Traveler’s Ins (NYSE: TRV) 3.4% 8.0 Chevron (NYSE: CVX) 2.9% 9.0 Home Depot (NYSE: HD) 2.1% 17.0 IBM (NYSE: IBM) 0.9% 12.5 Coca-Cola (NYSE: KO) 0.6% 17.0… Read More

“Moving to the sidelines.” That’s a Wall Street euphemism for “we’re not sure what to make of this stock.” And that’s just what Wall Street analysts did as a group on Thursday, uniformly cutting their rating on marketing firm Vistaprint (Nasdaq: VPRT) to “hold” or “neutral”. Analysts thought the stock… Read More

Rarely do I see so many equities in the same sector come up as “top picks” as I have seen this week in my research. Normally, there will be a small bias to one sector or another, but 80% of the top 20 scoring equities are all from the same… Read More