Stock Market Today
DJ Industrial Ave Theoretical (m)
N/A: DJIA
May 22
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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
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Here's Your Key to a Winning Financial Plan in 2013
If you're like most of the rest of us, you've probably made your fair share of New Year's resolutions by now.
If that's the case, here's one more "resolution" to add: Review my investment plan for 2013 and beyond.
As regular readers of my work know, I have a real love for old investing adages and aphorisms. And there's one that really applies to today's story.
Back during World War II, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill told listeners that "he who fails to plan is planning to fail."
And was he ever right.
So many investors fail precisely because they "wing it" and don't have a plan of any kind.
It's not the plan itself that's really so important; it's the insights that you gain from creating the plan that are the real benefit. You reassess - and remind yourself of - such things as:
- Your risk tolerances.
- Your current financial situation, as well as where you eventually want to be.
- Any ancillary issues (like saving for your son's college education, or making sure you can handle taking care of an elderly parent).
- Any problem investments you might be holding, or any "holes" in your allocations that need to be filled.
- And the steps you need to be taking to actually meet all of these goals.
Here are some tips that will help you map out your financial plan for 2013:
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Nine Lessons From The Greatest Trader Who Ever Lived
The stock market has certainly produced its share of heroes and villains over the years. And while villains have been many, the heroes have been few.
One of the good guys (for me, at least) has always been Jesse L. Livermore. He's considered by many of today's top Wall Street traders to be the greatest trader who ever lived.
Leaving home at age 14 with no more than five bucks in his pocket, Livermore went on to earn millions on Wall Street back in the days when they still literally read the tape.
Long or short, it didn't matter to Jesse.
Instead, he was happy to take whatever the markets gave him because he knew what every good trader knows: Markets never go straight up or straight down.
In one of Livermore's more famous moves, he made a massive fortune betting against the markets in 1929, earning $100 million in short-selling profits during the crash. In today's dollars, that would be a cool $12.6 billion.
That's part of the reason why an earlier biography of his life, entitled Reminiscences of a Stock Operator, has been a must-read for experienced traders and beginners alike.
A gambler and speculator to the core, his insights into human nature and the markets have been widely quoted ever since.
Here are just a few of his market beating lessons:
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Stock Market Today: Rally Over Already?
The stock market today (Thursday) so far has failed to continue yesterday's rally that delivered the Dow Jones Industrial Average's biggest one-day gain since Dec. 20, 2011.
After Washington announced a fiscal cliff deal Tuesday, investors raced into stocks and other risk-on trades, relieved that the country wasn't going to tumble over the dreaded fiscal cliff.
"You've just removed a huge worry from the market," Jonathan Samson, chief investment officer at Samson Capital Advisors told The New York Times.
In response, the Dow finished the first trading day of 2013 up 308. 41 points, or 2.35%. The gains also propelled the benchmark index to its highest close since Sept. 14, 2012. Volume was heavy with more than 4.5 million shares changing hands on the Big Board.
The Standard & Poor's 500 Index added 36.23 points, or 2.54%, and the tech heavy Nasdaq tacked on 92.75 or 3.07%.
Gold gained $13 to close at $1,688.80; silver added 78 cents to $31.01, and oil gushed higher by $1.30 to finish the day at $93.12.
But by 10 a.m. today, the Dow had slipped more than 30 points, or 0.23%.
Some Wall Street analysts were quick to warn that the fiscal cliff euphoria will die out by next week, and that yesterday's rise was nothing more than a short-term relief rally.
"Considering there are so many headwinds facing the economy, including the debt ceiling negotiation in 60 days, the smart money knows the bullish sentiment will be short-lived. The lesson for investors here is 'buyer beware,'" Todd Schoenberger, managing partner at LandColt Capital wrote in an email to FOX Business Network.
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Stocks to Buy in 2013: Don't Miss the New Developed Market Leaders
When looking for stocks to buy in 2013, many investors turn to the markets that outperformed the Standard & Poor's 500 Index in 2012.
For example, they might like Germany. The MSCI iShares Germany Index Fund (NYSE: EWG) soared more than 32% in 2012.
That's far better than the 15% gain from the S&P 500. It's also much stronger than the 15% gain from the iShares MSCI EAFE Index Fund (NYSE: EFA), which tracks developed-market equities in Europe, Australia, Asia and the Far East.
But amid slowing growth and frothy equity valuations, German stocks appear unlikely to continue such performance in 2013.
That's why investors should check out these other developed market players ready to soar in 2013. They're all expected to deliver gains that could rival Germany's explosive 2012 profits.
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The Best and Worst Stocks of 2012
As we prepare to invest in the New Year, we can learn from the five best and worst performing stocks of 2012 in the Standard & Poor's 500 Index.
While any investor would have loved to know this list a year ago, it's a good guide for 2013. Several of the factors that drove these share prices up and down in 2012 haven't changed.
The best stocks were led by signs of a recovery in housing, a slight return of consumer confidence, and the U.S. Federal Reserve's unprecedented monetary easing measures.
"The sector leaders are what one would expect with the [Fed] policy and with continued monetary injections into the economy this year through bond purchases," Peter Jankovskis, co-chief investment officer at Oakbrook Investments LLC, told The Wall Street Journal. "By pumping money into the economy the Fed boosts consumer confidence-and spending-which one would expect to boost consumer and financial shares."
While the leaders' success was tied to central bank actions, the biggest losers simply stumbled from their lack of innovation, inept management, and failed business models.
Best Stocks of 2012
Here are the best performing stocks in the S&P 500 for 2012:
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Three Stocks to Buy in Next Year's Most Promising Sectors
Whatever 2013 brings for the markets, there will be plenty of quality stocks to buy - if you know where to look.
Overall, the markets are expected to have another positive year.
A survey of 10 top financial strategists by Barron's projects the Standard & Poor's 500 will close at 1,562 in 2013, a 10% gain from current levels. (By the way, last year's picks outpaced the broader index by 6%.)
That would follow modest gains in 2012 of 13.5% for the S&P 500 and 8% for the Dow Jones Industrial Average.
For next year, Wall Street's top guns predict certain sectors of the market - technology, industrials, and energy - will lead the charge higher. Companies in more defensive sectors like consumer staples, telecoms, and utilities, will be laggards.
So let's take a closer look at three stocks to buy from among these favored sectors that should be an excellent place for your money in 2013.
Stocks to Buy in 2013: Cheap Tech
Tech stocks are hugely profitable and as a group currently carry a forward P/E ratio of about 11.
That's cheap versus historical levels.
Tech is also a bellwether for when companies start to invest capital.
"When we get an upturn in capital expenditures, it will show up in tech first," Barclays' Barry Knapp told Barron's.
One stock to buy that has a rock solid balance sheet and a mountain of cash is Cisco Systems Inc. (Nasdaq: CSCO).
Once the world's most valuable company with a market cap of $500 billion, Cisco's shares sank sharply when the tech bubble burst in 2000.
And the stock is still dirt cheap, trading around $20 a share, roughly 10 times next year's earnings. Plus, the company is sitting on more than $48 billion in cash, worth about $9 a share.
With a dominant market share of 60%, CSCO is the de facto choice in the switching market.
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Stock Market Today Fades Along with Chances of Fiscal Cliff Deal
The stock market today tumbled after chances of a fiscal cliff deal looked unlikely.
The stage was set Thursday night when a vote on Republican House Speaker John Boehner's Plan B, a fiscal cliff compromise to be presented to U.S. President Barack Obama, never even made it to vote among fellow Republicans. When word came of the setback, all major overnight future indexes sharply dropped.
When markets opened Friday, the slide continued. Shortly after noon, the Dow Jones Industrial Average slumped 176 points, the Standard & Poor's 500 Index dropped 20 points and the Nasdaq was lower by 43.
Investors appear to be bracing for the worst with just 10 days left before America falls over the cliff, with a deal is nowhere in sight.
Stocks on the Move Today
Shares of Research in Motion (Nasdaq: RIMM) rang lower Friday, sinking almost 20% in mid-afternoon trading.
RIM reported third-quarter earnings after the close Thursday that showed the BlackBerry maker swung to profitability, but lost about one million subscribers in the quarter. It marked the first time membership has fallen. The real test, analysts say, comes next quarter following the much anticipated release of the company's new Smartphone, the BlackBerry 10.
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ICE-NYSE Deal Signals Major Change in Future of Trading
Intercontinental Exchange (NYSE: ICE) and NYSE Euronext (NYSE: NYX) announced a deal before market open today (Thursday) by which ICE will acquire NYSE Euronext for $8.2 billion in cash and shares.
News of an ICE-NYSE deal pushed NYX shares up 33% by afternoon trading, near the $33.12 bid price. The acquisition is subject to approval by regulators in the United States and Europe.
This is ICE's second bite at the apple. A deal in which ICE and NASDAQ planned to take over NYX was scuttled last year by U.S. regulators who said that a combination between NYSE and NASDAQ OMX Group (NASDAQ: NDAQ) would create an equity trading monopoly in the United States.
Most analysts agree that the major rationale behind ICE's interest in NYSE Euronext is the latter's ownership of LIFFE, the leading European derivatives exchange. European regulators would have to approve the acquisition of LIFFE by ICE, which is a major electronic commodities and derivatives exchange in the U.S.
"ICE is after Liffe, that is the crown jewel of NYSE Euronext," said Peter Lenardos, analyst at RBC Capital Markets in an interview with Reuters. "Strategically it makes sense for ICE to enter the European derivatives space in a meaningful way."
Lenardos said that a combined entirety would be able to compete more effectively with the CME Group in both trading and clearing of OTC products.
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