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Archives for October 2010

October 2010 - Page 3 of 9 - Money Morning - Only the News You Can Profit From

How Bernanke Will Keep a Fire Lit Under Stocks Until Year End – And Which Sectors Will Soar

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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.

To read about how the Fed can keep stocks soaring, click here

Currency War Carries On as G-20 Meeting Fails to Secure Specific Trade Targets

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Despite securing an agreement from Group of 20 (G-20) officials to avoid weakening their currencies any further, the Obama administration failed to convince member countries to implement specific guidelines to measure compliance and monitor trade imbalances.

At a meeting last weekend in Gyeongju, South Korea, finance ministers from both developed and emerging economies agreed to try to maintain trade balances at "sustainable levels," which they left to be negotiated at a future date. They were unable to reach consensus on precise targets, as the United States proposed. G-20 members will meet again in Seoul on Nov. 11 and 12.

The G-20 was able to hammer out a deal to get China and the United States – as well as the other G-20 nations – to agree to "refrain from competitive devaluation of currencies," and to let markets set foreign-exchange values. China is widely seen as keeping its currency undervalued to boost its exports, while the United States has been accused of pursuing a weak dollar policy, also to increase its overseas shipments.

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How to Profit From Europe's Stealthy Resurgence

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European countries – both inside and outside the Eurozone – are slashing their budget deficits. Sure, some – like Greece and Spain, have to. But others are too. And here's the surprising reality: Europe may gain from its fiscal pain – and its deficit-trimming actions offer the best hope for a lengthy recovery. Find out how, in this free report.

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Toyota Racks Up Recalls as Automakers Adopt More Proactive Safety Stance

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Toyota Motor Corp. (NYSE ADR: TM) added another set of recalls yesterday (Thursday) to its rocky year.

Toyota announced it needed to repair 1.66 million autos worldwide for brake-fluid leak issues. The newest development brings the total number of Toyota vehicles recalled worldwide in the past year to about 14 million. 

The company said it needed to fix rubber seals on about 740,000 vehicles in the United States and 599,000 in Japan, as well as some models in European markets, including Avalon and Lexus sedans and Highlander sport-utility vehicles. A small amount of brake fluid was able to leak from the master cylinder and gradually reduce braking performance and cause a "spongy" feeling in the brakes, according to a company spokesman. Cars affected have had factory-filled brake fluid replaced with brake fluid that is not "genuine" factory fluid.

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Money Morning Mailbag: China Needs to Boost Domestic Demand to Continue Economic Recovery

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China released data this week showing its economy grew 9.6% in the third quarter from a year earlier, slower than years past but still significantly ahead of other countries that are struggling to stabilize their economies.

A slight dip in growth is what China wanted. Its gross domestic product (GDP) has grown on average more than 10% annually since 2006. The country's central bank lifted rates this week by 0.25 percentage points for the first time since 2007 to further cool the risk of overheating.

While working to maintain a healthy level of growth, China now has to contend with other countries devaluing their currencies to compete against a cheap yuan that is fueling an export-driven recovery. However, the whole world can't depend on exports – somewhere along the line there must be growth in demand.

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Author Chat: Money Morning's Martin Hutchinson Talks About "Alchemists of Loss"

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The Nobel Prize panel granted its top award to seven leading economists – whose theories went on to cost investors trillions of dollars in losses.

This story – as well as some of the other top financial fiascos through the ages – is detailed in the new book, "Alchemists of Loss: How Modern Finance and Government Intervention Crashed the Financial System," which was written by Martin Hutchinson, a former merchant banker and Money Morning columnist, and Kevin Dowd, an economist and respected academic.

Money Morning Executive Editor William Patalon III recently sat down with Hutchinson, to talk about the book. Here are some excerpts from that discussion.

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How the U.S.-China Trade Spat is Jeopardizing Energy Sector Development

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Usually, a government decision to subsidize clean energy alternatives would be applauded by others.

Not so when the government is Beijing, and Washington politicians halfway around the world are busy looking for votes.

This tiff could be filed away as just another tempest in a teapot… if it were not for the other important projects it could derail along the way. Those projects just happen to have a major impact for American natural gas technology and the companies likely to benefit from its foreign introduction.

If the two countries can get it together, it could mean profitable new opportunities for both.

To find out how the energy sector would benefit from U.S.-China cooperation, read on…

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The 10 Most Pressing Questions About the U.S. Economy – And Their Answers

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Will the economy lapse into a double-dip recession? What can be done about the soaring U.S. budget deficit? What's next for the stock market?

These are just a few of the tough questions facing investors. And there may be no one better to offer answers, insight, and advice than Money Morning Contributing Editor Shah Gilani.

A retired hedge-fund manger, Gilani has routinely been there to shepherd investors through blinding market uncertainty. He's used his contacts on Wall Street to give Money Morning readers the inside scoop on the collapse of American International Group Inc. (NYSE: AIG), the May 6 "Flash Crash," and most recently the "Mortgagegate" scandal that currently threatens to undermine the fragile U.S. recovery.

Indeed, Gilani has been a tireless advocate for investors and a prescient market maven. That's why Money Morning's editors recently sat down with Gilani to talk about today's most pressing issues and discover what he expects for financial markets in the months and years ahead.

In the partial transcript of that interview below, Gilani discusses why it's a good time to invest in stocks, what steps should be taken to fix the U.S. economy, and whether or not gold prices have peaked.

In short, the U.S. government has failed the public as a matter of course, but there is still a way out of our current economic malaise and ample opportunity for investors to profit.

To find out the answers to the ten most pressing questions facing the economy, read on…

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Defensive Investing: Covered Calls Increase Cash Flow, Up Protection

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Once you get beyond buying puts or calls for purely speculative purposes, no other options strategy is more popular than selling covered calls – and with good reason: Few investment techniques offer more potential benefits with such a low level of risk.

Considered the most conservative of all option plays, this strategy – which basically involves selling (or "writing") one call option for each 100 shares of a stock you own – can be employed for one or more of five distinct purposes:

  1. To generate a stream of additional income – over and above dividend payments – from individual stocks in your equity portfolio.
  2. To generate a stream of income from stocks you own that pay no dividends.
  3. To reduce the effective cost basis of longer-term stock holdings by bringing in option premiums, thus recovering some of the original purchase price.
  4. To provide a limited hedge against potential losses in portfolio value as a result of overall market pullbacks or cyclical downturns in the prices of specific stocks.
  5. As an income-producing substitute for a "limit-sell order" – intended to liquidate a stock position when a specific profit target is achieved.

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Money Morning Mailbag: When Investing in Precious Metals, 'Physical Metal' Isn't Always Better

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If there's one thing that I've discovered in my careers as a hedge-fund manager, investment advisor and financial columnist, it's this: Whenever you pitch a stock that has something to do with mining or metals, you'll always hear the argument that "physical metal is better."

As my experience has demonstrated, however, that's not necessarily true.

Wealth protection in hard economic times is driven by asset diversification. In good times, an investor should concentrate their investment bets on profitable enterprises, in hard times you want to diversify your assets across different asset classes. You will lose some money, but if you choose wisely, you will have real assets and value on the other side.

That's not always the case when you concentrate your assets during a period in which there's substantial market risk.

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