dow jones, economic recovery, nasdaq, standard & poor, us economy, wall street
Wednesday saw Wall Street rally as the Dow Jones industrial average rose 2.11 percent, or 168.78 to end the day at 8,185.73, while the Standard & Poor’s 500 increased 2.16 percent, or 18.48 points to 873.64, and the Nasdaq composite advanced 2.28 percent, or 38.13 points, to 1,711.94. The rally was quite unexpected when taking into account the dismal data revealing that the United States economy contracted in the first quarter of 2009 at an annualized rate of 6.1 percent. Nevertheless, investors were encouraged by higher consumer spending which...
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credit card, global economy, recession, stress test, swine-flu
While health authorities grapple with preventing the spread of the swine-flu outbreak, it could not have come at a worse time for the already battered global economy. Stock market analysts are hopeful that, as with past crises such as SARS and bird flu, this outbreak will be short lived, however, it has already impacted negatively on both U.S. and world markets, and investors will no doubt be keeping a close eye on developments. Some see Monday’s Wall Street sell-off as a case of investors cashing in profits they may have...
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banking sector, financial sector, morgan stanley, obama administration, stress test
Investor confidence was dealt a blow on Wednesday bringing the Wall Street rally to an end when Morgan Stanley’s dismal results revived concerns about the stability of the banking sector and the economy in general. Having posted its second straight quarterly loss and slashed its dividend, citing the deteriorating commercial real estate as a negative factor, Morgan Stanley slid nine percent closing at $22.44.
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fortune 500, goldman sachs, jp morgan chase, tarp, wall street
Friday saw Wall Street sustaining its now six-week long rally, ending the week with a meager advance, but an advance nonetheless. Earlier in the week both JPMorgan Chase and Goldman Sachs had reported positive first quarter results, and investor confidence in the financial sector was further boosted as Citigroup posted better than expected results, adding weight to the speculation that things may be bottoming out. The three Fortune 500 companies reported results that, although being lower than the same time last year, topped all estimates. As is the case...
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economic stimulus, federal reserve, financial sector, goldman sachs, international monetary fund
Staging a late in the day rally, the Dow Jones Industrial Average ended Wednesday with a 1.4 percent gain, while the Standard & Poor’s 500 rose 1.3 percent and the Nasdaq Composite Index gained 0.1 percent. Technology stocks, which had drawn buyers during the month, were dealt a blow by Intel Corp’s reticent forecast. However, investors looking for stocks that are likely to experience a rebound, were encouraged by the Federal Reserve report on the economy, which prompted stock market traders to buy up financial sector and consumer product stocks.
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first quarter, goldman sachs, stress test, tarp
Goldman Sachs was set to release its first quarter earnings on Tuesday, but apparently the news was too good not to share and the New York-based investment giant announced on Monday that it earned a $1.81 billion profit for the quarter ending 31 March. This was an impressive recovery for the company after having reported a loss for the last quarter of 2008 – its first since it was listed as a public company in 1999.
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dividends, dow jones, investment strategy, value investing
In the current economic climate, where stock market traders have come to expect the unexpected, many are re-examining their investment strategies. A strategy that has established a favorable track record is the Dogs of the Dow, which focuses on the selection of stocks from the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI) with dividends that are the highest fraction of their price. At the beginning of the year, investors using the Dogs of the Dow strategy will pick ten stocks from the thirty DJI components, based on their dividend yields, and will...
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economic indicators, first quarter, investors, trading
Despite the shortened trading week coming up and the strong likelihood of dismal first quarter results which are due to start trickling in this week, it appears that U.S. stock market traders are optimistic that the current four week market rally will be extended, at least in the short term. Following the much publicized event of markets hitting 12 year-lows, the major stock market indicators have rallied four weeks in a row, despite the disconcerting data on job losses, which have reached two million in 2009 alone, with 5.1 million jobs being lost since...
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