Stock Market Today
DJ Industrial Ave Theoretical (m)
N/A: DJIA
May 22
no chart
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Last price15,307.17Prev Close15,387.58
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Change-80.41% Change-0.5%
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Open15,387.12Volume43,610,200
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Day Low15,243.84Day High15,562.46
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Bid0.00Ask0.00
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52 Wk Low12,101.4652 Wk High15,387.58
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Market Cap0ExchangeN/A
Today
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Stock Market Today: Biggest Winners and Losers
The stock market today rallied for a second session on hopes lawmakers in Washington will ink a fiscal cliff deal before year's end.
In afternoon trading Tuesday all three major index were sharply higher. The Dow Jones Industrial Average soared some 90 points by 2:30 p.m., the Standard & Poor's 500 Index climbed 11, and the Nasdaq jumped 33. That followed Monday's gains of 100.38 points, 16.78 points and 39.27 points, respectively.
With few economic releases scheduled for Tuesday, investors' focus was pinned on Washington. House Speaker John Boehner, R-OH, and U.S. President Barack Obama continued to haggle over a fiscal cliff deal, with the president making a counter offer late Monday.
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Stocks to Buy Now: Bet on these Three Casino Stocks for 2013
Rather than being suckered by the glamour and neon lights at casinos, savvy investors looking for stocks to buy now are putting the odds on their side and betting on "the house."
That's because casino stocks are promising big returns for shareholders.
Plus, the gaming industry is still in the early stages of what should be a sustained recovery from the financial crisis that had lightened gamblers' wallets.
But identifying the best casino stocks to buy now involves more than a weekend jaunt to Vegas.
Due diligence on gaming stocks now requires a look at gambling's biggest hotspot - Macau, a former Portuguese colony that is now a special administrative region under Chinese rule.
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Stock Market Today: U.S. Markets Flat; Focus Shifts to Europe
The stock market today opened quietly in the United States as investors prepared for a very busy week ahead.
Just after the opening bell on Wall Street, all three major indexes were flat.
As Barron's noted, the average daily volume on the NYSE last week fell to 3.3 billion shares, compared with 5.5 billion that changed hands during the same period in 2009, when we were slowly emerging from the Great Recession.
The "fiscal cliff," which could drain $607 billion from the U.S. economy through tax increases and spending cuts, dominated U.S. news and moved markets.
But the fiscal cliff, along with the $16.4 trillion national debt and the growing federal deficit, took a back seat Monday as the focus shifted to Europe.
Anxious market participants kept a wary eye on Italy after Prime Minister Mario Monti announced he is resigning, citing a loss of support in Parliament. Italian bonds plummeted with the yield on the 10-year rising the most since August.
French, Belgian and Austrian 10-years dropped to euro-era lows, and Spain's debt also declined.
Bucking the trend was Greece, where bonds gained after the ailing country pushed further out the deadline for buying back some of its mountainous debt.
Elwin de Groot, a senior economist at Rabobank Nederland in Utrecht, Netherlands, told Bloomberg News: "We are seeing a selloff but I wouldn't call it a panic yet. The auction this week could be an interesting litmus test for investors. This has also created uncertainty for
Europe-wide policymaking."
Italy's deep-rooted economic troubles and political drift have been taken too lightly, a bevy of analysts warned.
As Nomura Securities' Silvio Peruzzo wrote in a note to clients, "Markets have grown too complacent about Italy, in our view."
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How to Choose the Best Global Value Stocks to Buy
It's no surprise investors are having a hard time finding strong stocks to buy.
After all, nobody's getting too excited about the recent rally. Europe is about to implode, Japan's in a coma, China's suffering a slowdown and the United States faces the possible fiscal cliff.
That's why I was talking to fund manager George Fraise of SGA Global Growth (MUTF: SGAGX) the other day, to find out where the growth - and potential for profit - is in the global market.
Fraise said he's very bullish on global value stocks, and outlined his strategy for picking the right ones.
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Stock Market Today Stalled on Fiscal Cliffhanger
The stock market today was down slightly as concerns over the fiscal cliff continued to weigh on markets.
Shortly after 1 p.m. on Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 10 points, the Standard & Poor's 500 Index was down about 3 points and the Nasdaq slipped nearly 14.
Of note in the ongoing fiscal cliff saga was U.S. President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden's 10 a.m. meeting with six state governors on how to avoid the looming double whammy of higher taxes and government spending cuts.
The White House guests included three Republican governors: Gov. Gary Herbert, R-UT; National Governors Association (NGA) Vice Chair Gov. Mary Fallin, R-OH; and Wisconsin's Republican Gov. Scott Brown, who is best known for his battles with public employee unions during the election season.
Representing Democrats were Gov. Jack Markell of Delaware, chairman of the NGA; Arkansas's Gov. Mike Beebe and Gov. Mark Dayton of Minnesota.
Following the meeting, President Obama will engage in his first television interview since the election at 12:30 p.m. with Bloomberg News.
Market participants continue to sit on the sidelines as the GOP and Obama administration butt heads over how to avert falling off the cliff.
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Stocks to Buy Now: Don't Miss This Looming M&A Wave
As investors hunting for the best stocks to buy, we often get so caught up in the big names of the day that we miss a powerful opportunity right in our community.
I'm talking about community bank stocks, and they're about to offer you one of the biggest profit opportunities of the next few years.
In fact, patient long-term investors could see profits similar to those enjoyed in the 1990s as banks recovered and consolidated.
Stocks to Buy: Why It's Time for Small Banks
Community banks usually have just a few branches and less than $1 billion in deposits. They have seen their stock prices fall dramatically over the past few years from the peaks reached in the 2006 boom days.
Between 2006 and the depths of the credit crisis, the NASDAQ Bank Index plunged by more than 60% and has not really recovered. Some of the poorly managed ones lost it all and were liquidated by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. (FDIC).
Those that are left should benefit from the eventual recovery of the real estate markets - but the truth is most of these banks won't be around that long.
That's because as the credit crisis unfolded legislators and regulators were quick to react - or overreact. They applied new rules and regulation not just to the large institutions that caused most of the problems, but also to the smaller community banks.
With literally hundreds of new banking regulations on the way, many smaller banks simply will not be able to comply and still operate profitably. It will also be difficult for smaller banks to access the capital markets to raise the money needed to grow.
The most logical course of action will be to sell out to a larger institution.
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Stock Market Today: Gauging the Fiscal Cliff Effect
U.S. markets were mixed and relatively quiet Monday as investors digested the weekend news that fiscal cliff talks had failed to lead to a deal - possibly even derailing earlier progress.
Just before 2 p.m. on Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 26 points, and the Standard & Poor's 500 Index and Nasdaq were both treading slightly lower.
On the economic calendar to kick-off the busy week were reports on October construction spending, November manufacturing and auto sales.
What's Moving the Stock Market Today
- Manufacturing Data
The ISM's manufacturing purchasers' index fell unexpectedly last month to 49.5 from 51.7 in October, marking the lowest reading since July 2009. Forecasts were for a reading of 51.5. A reading above 50 suggests expanding activity. Monday's reports gave no such hints.
According to economists surveyed by Dow Jones Newswire, demand has slowed in the second half of 2012. The culprit is the imminent fiscal cliff.
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Stock Market Today: Fiscal Cliff Fears Can’t Stop This 160% Gainer
The stock market today opened flat before turning negative as negotiations on the fiscal cliff have not progressed, outweighing Greece's new deal concerning its debt.
- Greece Close to Massive Bailout- Late Monday the International Monetary Fund, Eurozone finance ministers, and Greece came to an agreement that drastically eases the terms regarding Greece's repayment of debt and sets the stage for a third bailout. The deal lowers interest rates for bailout loans, suspends interest payments for a decade, pushes the deadline back for final repayments until the 2040s, and initiates a bond buyback program. Greece is also now on the brink of receiving a $44.7 billion loan beginning Dec. 13. "The big challenge now is to implement the decisions," Greek Finance Minister Yannis Stournaras said. "Greece has huge potential." The agreed upon measures aim to bring Greece's debt-to-GDP ratio down to 124% by 2020 from the projected level of 190% in 2014. The deal was accomplished by installing unprecedented measures such as carefully monitoring how Greece spends the debt, keeping an account strictly for debt servicing, and insisting that Greece completes the bond buyback before receiving more aid. "Euro-zone countries have put their money where their mouth is," Carsten Brzeski, an economist at ING Group NV in Brussels told Bloomberg News. "However, it is clearly not a carte blanche for Greece but rather a very tight leash."
- Fiscal Cliff Talks Resume- Congress returned from its Thanksgiving recess and the fiscal cliff will be at the forefront of discussions this week. After last week's short burst of optimism there has not been any further progress on a deficit reduction deal. But for now consumers seem unfazed by the whole debacle, as today the consumer confidence index reached levels not seen since February 2008. The onset of higher taxes coupled with deep spending cuts was thought to lower consumer confidence, but instead consumers spent a record amount of money through Black Friday and Cyber Monday. The consumer confidence gauge interestingly showed expectations for six months from now, when we could be off the fiscal cliff, unexpectedly rose. The percentage of respondents expecting more jobs to be available in six months rose to its highest level since February 2011, and the percentage expecting to buy a home in the next six months hit a new all-time high. "The consumer is in a better place than several years ago," Michael Gapen, a New York-based senior U.S. economist at Barclays PLC (NYSE ADR: BCS), told Bloomberg. "A lot of the numbers are improving, whether it is household balance sheets or the state of the housing market or employment."
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Stocks to Buy Now: Two Intoxicating Recession-Proof Plays
As you look for stocks to buy now, it's as simple as watching the behavior around you...
For example, you might feel like the fiscal cliff, devastation from Superstorm Sandy and more gridlock in Washington is enough to drive you to drink.
And millions of people are doing just that.
Even in the worst of times, alcoholic beverage companies continue to generate rock-steady revenues and surging profits -- no matter what the rest of the market is doing.
Truth is, not many people will give up their nightly rituals, even if times are tough. During the Great Recession, booze purveyors have been particularly resilient, making them good stocks to buy ahead of slow growth in 2013.
Over the last five years, the S&P 500 has returned less than 1.2% annually. By contrast, a Wine, Beer, and Spirits Folio focused on the sector returned 9.1% per year.
Better yet, beer, wine and liquor makers are one of the few industries that have been able to raise prices, according to an industry report by Value Line.
To cash in on this trend, consider the stocks of these two stalwart beverage companies.
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