Archive for July, 2006

  • The Midday Market
    , July 31st, 2006 at 11:28 am

    The markets are mixed so far. Energy stocks are up a bit, and financials have pulled back. The yield on the 90-day T-Bill has crossed [...]

  • Economy Grew By 2.5% in Q2
    , July 28th, 2006 at 9:15 am

    The govenment just reported that GDP grew by 2.5% for the second quarter, which is less than half the rate of the first quarter: The [...]

  • Your Soft Landing Survival Guide
    , July 27th, 2006 at 6:03 am

    Talk of a soft landing is very in right now. It’s the new gay. No wait…I think it might be the new black. Actually, I’m [...]

  • Earnings from Varian and Fair Isaac
    , July 26th, 2006 at 9:31 pm

    After today’s close, Varian Medical (VAR) reported earnings of 41 cents a share, which was above the Street’s forecast of 38 cents a share. The [...]

  • Jeffrey Saut on War and Stocks
    , July 26th, 2006 at 3:30 pm

    Whatever the outcome, our sense remains that the various markets will revert to a focus on the issues evident prior to the recent hostilities. Those [...]

  • Chart of the Day
    , July 26th, 2006 at 3:13 pm

    The market has been shifting out of consumer discretionary stocks and into consumer staples stocks. Here’s a chart of the Staples ETF (XLP) against the [...]

  • Executive Pay Disclosure
    , July 26th, 2006 at 2:54 pm

    The SEC voted today to require companies to provide more detail about executive pay, including perks. As you may know, I yield to no one [...]

  • Daniel Gross on the HCA Deal
    , July 26th, 2006 at 11:24 am

    From Slate: Big business deals usually aren’t ironic, but this one surely is. HCA, a firm founded by the family of the Republican Senate majority [...]

  • Greenspan Was Right
    , July 26th, 2006 at 11:09 am

    Here’s a headline you don’t see often: “Greenspan Was Right.” Bloomberg is coming to the defense of Greenspan’s support for derivatives. The former chairman of [...]

  • Bernanke’s Financial Disclosure
    , July 25th, 2006 at 11:40 pm

    Just as I suspected, he’s rich: The chairman’s financial disclosure form, released Tuesday, showed that he’s a millionaire, with holdings last year in no-frills U.S. [...]

  • S&P 500 P/E Ratios By Sector
    , July 25th, 2006 at 6:31 pm

    Here’s a colorful chart. This is what the Price/Earnings Ratios have done for the last 18 months for the different sectors of the S&P 500: [...]

  • The Market Today
    , July 25th, 2006 at 4:47 pm

    Today was a good day for our Buy List. Fourteen of our twenty stocks rose, and the average stock climbed 0.81% compared with 0.63% for [...]

  • Lagging Small-Caps
    , July 25th, 2006 at 12:40 pm

    Small-caps are having a big day today. In fact, that’s one of few areas of the market that is convincingly higher. But that’s not how [...]

  • Second-Quarter GDP Report
    , July 25th, 2006 at 10:24 am

    This Friday, the government will report how much GDP grew in the second quarter. I’m curious what this report will say because I think it [...]

  • Brown & Brown Reported Earnings of 32 Cents a Share
    , July 24th, 2006 at 5:22 pm

    Brown & Brown (BRO) earned 32 cents a share for the second quarer compared with 27 cents last year. Sales jumped 12.7% to $220.8 million. [...]

  • Blogger Sentiment Poll
    , July 24th, 2006 at 1:04 pm

    The excellent Ticker Sense has started a Blogger Sentiment Poll. I’ve been invited to participate along with several others stock bloggers. Here’s the latest: Blogger [...]

  • Brain Teaser
    , July 24th, 2006 at 12:56 pm

    Here’s a fun puzzle I found at Cafe Hayek, via The Stalwart: An American tourist goes to a remote island for a vacation. The natives [...]

  • Media Star
    , July 24th, 2006 at 6:46 am

    If you caught Kudlow & Company on Friday, no, that wasn’t an imposter. It was really me! Thanks for all the e-mails. I was nervous, [...]

  • Private Equity Strikes Again
    , July 24th, 2006 at 6:36 am

    The HCA (HCA) deal is on again! I guess no one wants to be on the stock market anymore. Last week, the WSJ reported that [...]

  • Dell Delivers Another Profit Warning
    , July 21st, 2006 at 12:06 pm

    From Reuters: Dell Inc. slashed its outlook on Friday, warning that quarterly earnings would fall about 30 percent short of forecasts because of a slowdown [...]