Stock Market Today
DJ Industrial Ave Theoretical (m)
N/A: DJIA
May 17
no chart
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Last price15,354.40Prev Close15,233.22
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Change121.18% Change0.8%
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Open15,234.75Volume34,407,100
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Day Low15,183.26Day High15,408.00
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Bid0.00Ask0.00
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52 Wk Low12,101.4652 Wk High15,354.40
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Market Cap0ExchangeN/A
Today
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Stock Market Today is Up, But is a Pullback on the Way?
A handful of economic data helped the stock market today (Tuesday) resume a robust rally - but are we due for a pullback?
The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed up 111.90 points, or 0.77%, at 14,559.65. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index jumped 12.08 points, or 0.78%, to 1,563.77 - just a couple points from its record high. The Nasdaq climbed 17.18 points, or 0.53%, to close at 3,252.48.
The broad-based stock market rally followed a sell-off Monday, which took the Dow down 64.28 points, or 0.4%, to close at 14,447.75. The S&P and Nasdaq both fell 0.3% as investors mulled a bailout deal for Cyprus.
But the old adage that investors have a very short memory rang true Tuesday. Shrugging off yesterday's woes, market participants instead focused on encouraging U.S. economic data.
Buoying stocks Tuesday was a Commerce Department report that showed durable goods orders surged 5.7% in February. That handily beat economists' expectations of a 0.5% rise and reversed January's 3.8% plunge.
A separate report Tuesday revealed single-family home prices began 2013 with the biggest annual increase in six-and-a-half years. The S&P/Case Shiller composite index report is a further sign of a recovery in the housing market.
But the big question is if the rally will last.
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What Germany's Energy Problems Can Teach Us About Our Own
Marina and I will soon board a plane for another trip to Europe.
We are off to Frankfurt, where I have meetings on European natural gas import costs; meanwhile, my better half gets to spoil our grandchildren, who live just outside the city.
My responsibility is to address the energy balance problems emerging for the continent. The focus may be on Germany and the rest of Western Europe, but these problems are emerging elsewhere around the world.
With Berlin opting to phase out nuclear power, the continent's largest economy now has a daunting task to assemble an energy mix that meets expected demand.
This started as a political tradeoff, but it is likely to become the major concern in the broader national strategy to stave off recession. A similar tradeoff is developing in the United States.
A much-ballyhooed German venture into solar and wind has hit a brick wall. There is now a played-down move to import additional nuclear-generated power from neighbors, but now the country is doing the unthinkable to meet its energy demands.
This environmentally conscious country, with one of the strongest green political movements in Europe, is now importing more coal than at any point in the past decade.
The options are limited, along with the time to decide on how to implement all of it. That is likely to result in a political tradeoff distasteful to just about every political party and interest group in Germany.
However, the problems do not end there.
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Stocks to Buy: Huge Growth for a Bargain Price
Some of the most exciting stocks to buy are those with impressive growth potential.
Companies that are able to grow earnings for a long period of time can often see their stock prices soar for years, creating tremendous wealth for shareholders. Stocks to Buy: Huge Growth for a Bargain Price
Unfortunately, much of what passes for growth stock investing today is really momentum investing in disguise. Today's growth stock investors all tend to own and trade the same really popular companies that have already experienced significant price appreciation.
While it may be exciting to share cocktail party chatter with friends about the shares of Apple Inc. (Nasdaq: AAPL) or Green Mountain Coffee Roasters Inc. (Nasdaq: GMCR), odds are that the real growth and profit opportunity has passed.
It makes more sense for growth investors to look for stocks of companies that have been growing sales and earnings at a consistently high rate, but are off Wall Street's radar. Companies that have very high rates of institutional ownership and lots of analyst coverage from the major firms are more than likely fully priced. All the growth potential is well defined and everyone already owns the stock.
The big rally moves in growth stocks come when the institutional money discovers the company and intense buying pressure develops as they all pile into the stock, pushing prices dramatically higher.
One such company that fits the bill now is CPI Aerostructures Inc. (NYSEAMEX: CVU).
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4 Stocks to Buy in the Exploding Cybersecurity Market
There's a story out of England I heard recently that's one of the most ironic tales of how developments in technology - cybersecurity, in particular - need to be taken more seriously.
The story started in 2009, when 18-year-old Nicholas Webber was arrested for using fraudulent credit card details to pay for a penthouse suite at the Hilton Hotel in Park Lane, Central London.
When police examined Webber's laptop, they found details of 100,000 stolen credit cards linked to losses totaling 16.2 million pounds ($24.6 million)
Turns out Webber ran the Internet crime forum GhostMarket. The site allowed hackers to meet up virtually, create computer viruses and share stolen IDs and private credit card data.
In 2011 Webber was sentenced to five years in prison. Once in prison Webber was allowed to participate in a computer class.
And earlier this year, he hacked the prison computer system.
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With Another Stock Market Record in Reach, Here's What to Do Now
It's time for some insight.
I'm constantly asked where I think the stock market is going next. Since the Dow recently reached new highs and the S&P 500 is pushing its old October 2007 highs, it's no wonder that's the question on everyone's mind and lips.
My answer is: I don't know where it's going. But I do know what to do about it.
Here's the thing...
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Protect Your Retirement with This Stock Market Crash "Insurance"
We buy insurance on our houses, our cars and even on our artwork and jewelry.
But that's not the case with our retirement savings - the money we spend our working lifetimes to amass - the money that will be our sole means of support once we stop working.
With our 401(k)s, IRAs and other socked-away savings, we're content to "let it ride."
That's a reckless and ulcer-inducing investing strategy.
And, as we'll show you in a minute, it's even riskier than most of us realize.
The thing is, it doesn't have to be that way. Investing is not the same as gambling. That's certainly not how the pros on Wall Street do it. They "insure" their savings, using special "hedging" plays that provide real insurance against a stock market sell-off.
Why shouldn't you do the same?
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It's Time to "Follow the Money" Into This Stock
Before moving into investment research, I spent two decades as a journalist - and once even interviewed former President Richard M. Nixon.
So it's no surprise that one of my favorite movies of all time is the Watergate docudrama "All the President's Men."
And my favorite scene in that flick is the famous "parking garage" meeting, where Washington Post reporter Bob Woodward (Robert Redford) squares off against confidential source "Deep Throat" (Hal Holbrook) in an effort to gauge the depth and breadth of the Nixon administration scandal the newspaper had uncovered.
Deep Throat's response: "Follow the money."
That's doggone good advice - for reporters tracking down a story and for investors seeking the very best profit plays.
With a beaten-down stock in particular, there's nothing more heartening than en masse insider buying - or seeing that substantive investments are being made by the handful of institutional players with a proven ability for finding big winners.
It's even better when you see that the Big Boys are making those investments in stocks the rest of Wall Street wouldn't even think of touching.
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Stocks to Buy Now: Two Cheap Buys with Huge Upside Potential
Insurance companies over the past few years have lagged the rest of the market. That's especially true of those that were heavily invested in real estate and related securities and had a large exposure to interest-rate sensitive life insurance products.
But many of these companies appear poised for a dramatic move higher - making them among stocks to buy now.
Hartford Financial Group (NYSE: HIG), for example, is one insurance stock that appears to be on the verge of a significant climb.
Following losses in the variable annuity business and the general economic weakness of the recession, Hartford shares plunged in one year from over $70 down into the single digits.
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How the Stock Market Today Digested Cyprus News
Worries over the plan to force bank depositors in Cyprus to help fund a $13 billion international bailout rattled global equities and sent the U.S. stock market today (Monday) lower.
Right after the open, the Dow Jones Industrial Average, the Standard & Poor's 500 Index and the Nasdaq were all sharply lower.
By mid-afternoon, all three indexes remained in negative territory with the Dow down 4.76, or .03% at 14,509.03; the S&P down 2.97, or 0.17%, at 1,557. 73, and the Nasdaq down 2.11, or 0.11%, at 3,247.
Sending global markets lower Monday was the unprecedented agreement reached this weekend over Cyprus' bailout plan.
The proposed plan - by representatives of the International Monetary Fund, the European Central Bank and Eurozone's finance ministers - includes taxing deposits over 100,000 euros ($128,950) at 9.9%, while those with less than that amount would be subject to a 6.75% levy.
The aim is to raise 5.8 billion euros ($7.52 billion) that would go toward the $13 billion international bailout of the country.
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Why this Ivy League Professor Sees Dow Hitting 18,000
The bears predicting a stock market crash have it all wrong.
So says Jeremy Siegel, finance professor at the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School and author of "Stocks for the Long Run." He predicts the Dow - which closed yesterday (Wednesday) at a new record high 14,455.28 - will continue the bull market run, ending this year in the 16,000 to 17,000 range.
For 2014, he says, the "best bet goal" is the Dow will climb to 18,000.
And the well-known bull has nearly 150 years of data to back up his bold prediction.
Here's why Siegel is so bullish.
