While many investors have solid reasons to remain concerned about the broader economic picture, there are some market sectors roaring forward that no one can afford to miss – and they will continue to provide profit opportunities thanks to the work of U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke.
Stocks rattled around in 295-point range of the Dow Jones Industrial Average over the past five days like pebbles in a maraca, but ended quietly — a fraction above flat. The big-cap indexes have now posted six of their past seven closes within half a percent, hemmed in by some sort of spooky gravitational pull.
Earnings came in quite a bit better than expected for most major companies, as the cheap dollar has helped overseas sales for Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE: CAT) and McDonald's Corp (NYSE: MCD). Over in the exciting web content space, Netflix Inc. (Nasdaq: NFLX) wowed the crowd with outstanding third-quarter results, logging a sales increase of 31.0% and adding 1.9 million net new customers. That's a lot of new buyers in an economic environment that is supposed to be so terrible that the Federal Reserve thinks unprecedented medicine is required.