Archives for October 2013

October 2013 - Page 8 of 13 - Money Morning - Only the News You Can Profit From

Obamacare Online Exchanges: 9 Real Life Experiences from Money Morning Readers

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Considering taxpayers shelled out more than $500 million to build the Obamacare online exchanges, we'd like to know how they're actually operating, for good or for bad.

We know it's not all good…

For example, the federal government is operating an exchange for 36 states, and it's seen some of the worst complications. Part of the problem is volume: Within three days, a whopping 8.6 million people visited healthcare.gov.

We also know that Obamacare's success depends on having a large number of people enroll – especially the younger, healthier crowd. The Congressional Budget Office says Obamacare needs 7 million people to sign up at a minimum for it to stay afloat financially.

To read more click here...

Stock Market News Today: Stocks Slumping After Huge Week

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Stock market news today, Oct. 14, 2013: The government shutdown and unresolved debt ceiling crisis continue to weigh on stocks today as lawmakers show few signs of reaching an agreement.

Nearly 800,000 government employees are still furloughed and about 1 million asked to work without pay as the shutdown enters a third week with no resolution on the federal budget nor an agreement on the debt ceiling.

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Stocks to Buy: Las Vegas Sands (NYSE: LVS) Bets on Macau

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Las Vegas is not the world's biggest gambling mecca – and that's just fine with Las Vegas Sands (NYSE: LVS), which happens to hold four properties in the Chinese territory of Macau.

Macau, you see, wrested that title away from Las Vegas back in 2006 – with hotels and casinos that are mind-blowing in size and scope – even by extravagant Las Vegas standards.

And now those moves are about to pay off in a big way...

How to "Light Up" 300% Gains

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They used to call it dark fiber…

It was the 1990s. Telecom firms plowed billions into fiber optic networks to prepare for the coming explosion in traffic for the web, wireless systems, and computer networks.

Turns out, the supposed "gold rush" was just a few years ahead of its time. So, much of the fiber optic systems sat unused. They were quite literally dark – no light, no data, was shining down the high-speed cables.

But quietly over the past few months, the fiber-optic sector has hit critical mass.

It's lit up like never before.

Consider that one small-cap leader has already handed savvy broadband investors gains of nearly 300% over the past year.

And with a market cap of just $342 million, the fast-moving stock still has plenty of room to run.

In a moment, I'll show you just what I mean…

First, we need to look at the big trends pushing this and other fiber optic stocks into the stratosphere...

This Trend in the U.S. Economy Is Putting Your Job at Risk - But Can Make You Rich

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The biggest, and most ignored, trend in the U.S. economy is the ongoing divide between the wealthiest members of society and the average American worker.

Real wages are falling, while unemployment is stagnant. Politicians blame greed, but that's because class warfare is a valuable tool to gain power.

I argue instead that disruptive technologies have accelerated this divide.

Just recently, I noted that the U.S. wage-productivity gap has been driven heavily by the use of automation and technology in the U.S. economy, which is displacing workers at a faster pace than new jobs and job categories have been created.

Put a different way, robots are taking our jobs.

Read More…

Big Bank Earnings Today: Wells Fargo (NYSE: WFC) and JPMorgan (NYSE: JPM)

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Two of the largest U.S. financial institutions kicked off third-quarter results for big bank earnings today, giving us a peek at how they fared amid tough times for both firms.

Wells Fargo & Co (NYSE: WFC) is in the midst of slashing headcount in its mortgage unit by some 1,800, and JPMorgan Chase & Co (NYSE: JPM) is tangled up in settlement talks with the U.S. Justice Department.

The short story on the banks' earnings: WFC earnings had to use a lot of "accounting gimmickry" to beat earnings-per-share (EPS) expectations, and JPM earnings show the first quarterly loss since Jamie Dimon came on board (he started in 2004 as chief operating officer, then moved to chief executive officer in 2005).

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Here's What Happens When We Hit the Debt Ceiling

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With Congress moving like molasses and time running out, more and more Americans are wondering what happens when we hit the debt ceiling.

The short answer is that it would be bad – as in catastrophically, you've-never-seen-anything-like-this-in-your-life bad.

"[It] would be like the financial market equivalent of that Hieronymus Bosch painting of hell," Michael Feroli, chief economist at JP Morgan, told the Washington Post.

Brace yourself, because this is what a default would look like...

Twitter IPO Date Revealed by Mistake

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According to some sleuthing from PrivCo, a New York-based firm engaged in the research of privately held companies, the Twitter IPO date is Nov. 15.

PrivCo came to the conclusion based on the proposed expiration date of the company's lock-up period (when employees are allowed to sell their restricted stock). PrivCo found in the company's preliminary prospectus filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Oct. 3 that the end of the lock-up period was listed as Feb. 15, 2014. The lock-up period typically ends 90 days from the initial public offering (IPO) date.

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Twitter's IPO: #Countmeout

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It used to be that companies went public after achieving a modicum of success. There were business models, calculations, and plans, all based on real results and proven success.

Now it's all about potential.

There are still plans and projections, but proven success has been hard to come by.

Remember, Pets.com had a plan. It was going to change the way we took care of our animal buddies. Only, it didn't. And now it's gone.

Kozmo.com was supposed to be a messenger service that embodied online delivery. It's gone, too.

Epidemic.com? Gone. WebVan? Gone. Lastminut.com? Gone. Dr. Koop? Gone.

Despite the media hoopla at the time, investors were ultimately left high and dry. And now it could happen again…

Twitter, the micro-blogging social media darling, has finally filed for its much ballyhooed IPO. And the valuations being assigned to it range from $12 billion to as much as $25 billion.

That's asinine for a company that hasn't shown any profit potential.

Twitter Inc. may make a fine trading instrument, as long as the party continues. But as an investment?

You can #countmeout...