Archives for January 2011

January 2011 - Page 10 of 10 - Money Morning - Only the News You Can Profit From

Bank of America Corp. (NYSE: BAC) Agrees to Pay Fannie & Freddie $2.8 Billion On Bad Home Loans Claim

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Bank of America Corp. (NYSE: BAC) yesterday (Monday) agreed to pay Fannie Mae (OTC: FNMA) and Freddie Mac (OTC: FMCC) $2.8 billion to settle claims that it sold the mortgage finance companies bad home loans that were issued by its troubled Countrywide Financial unit.

The announcement sparked a rally in the banking giant’s shares in New York trading, pushing BofA stock up as much as 4.5%. Analysts said investors were relieved the bank would not have to buy back billions of dollars of home loans it sold to investors at the height of the housing boom.

"This takes away a nice headline risk" for Bank of America, Alan Villalon, a senior bank analyst at Chicago-based Nuveen Investments told Reuters.

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Motorola 4G Phone Comes to Verizon - Will the iPhone be Next?

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Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE: VZ) last week struck a deal to make Motorola Inc. (NYSE: MOT) the first handset maker to enter the market using the carrier's new, fourth-generation (4G) high-speed network.

The network, which employs a technology called Long-Term Evolution (LTE), is designed to provide wireless Internet connections fast enough to compete with land-based cable modems or fiber optic technology.

"We've got LTE smartphones on the horizon," Stratton told The Wall Street Journal in an interview. "Motorola will be right there."

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Buy, Sell or Hold: Brace for Inflation with Kraft Foods Inc. (NYSE: KFT)

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Growing up in the 1970s, I remember seeing fears of food inflation affect the life around me.

My parents purchased a small farm and put in an

organic garden so that we would always have food. My mom was always canning food and my father was riding the tractor. They had grown up in the 1930s and remembered the key to surviving tough economic times was to be able to feed yourself when you needed to.

Today, we have a generation of fast food buyers. But the problem with that diet – besides its impact on your health – is that it is not as cheap as it once was. People will have to change their spending habits if they're going to cope with inflation.

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Your 2011 Stock Market Leaders

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Stocks drifted quietly in the past week, seemingly satisfied with the status quo and in no hurry to get to their next destination. The Dow Jones Industrial Average, Standard & Poor's 500 Index and Nasdaq Composite Index all clocked in tandem for a loss or gain of +0.1% to -0.1%.

Overseas stocks were the only major winners, with developed markets outside the United States up 1.4% and emerging markets up 2.2%.

Looking back at all of 2010, here are a few stats that stick out:

To find out which stocks will lead the market higher in 2011, read on...