Quarterly earnings reports reduce company performance and allow day traders to rob retail investors blind.
Here's what the SEC should do instead and the only strategy you need to stay one step ahead of the Street.
The big "money center" banks are at the pinnacle of the U.S. and global economies. Like sleeping next to an elephant, every single little move they make has an outsized impact on every dollar you own. No investor can afford to ignore what they're doing, lest they end up on the wrong side of a gigantic capital wave.
The regionals - banks with presence in five, 10, or more states - are different. They're important, don't get me wrong, but I watch them like a hawk for the same reason I listen to the results of my annual physicals: to make sure everything's working right, and nothing disastrous is looming out there.
That's because, as the history of the financial crisis clearly tells us, regional banks are where you find the very first signs of the kind of gross stupidity and borderline criminal behavior that can spread to the money centers.
It's like "monkey see, monkey do," except the sequence runs, "little monkey do, big monkey see, all the monkeys take complete leave of their senses, and the global economy crashes."
After Tesla released its quarterly earnings results, the company's shares started trading lower, which is a familiar position for Tesla.
In fact, there's a trend in post-earnings stock movements that has our Chris Johnson excited...
McDonald's earnings beat made headlines today, but it's not our favorite company to buy right now.
Our two favorite companies with the greatest growth potential are actually widely considered "overpriced."
Chris Johnson's trading program is screaming for him to get this double-digit earnings winner out as a buy today.
What could be better? We're now in the first full week of the season, with 62 S&P 500 companies on the docket.
This is a critical season that I believe takes on more significance than most. That's because the market itself is at a critical juncture - a tipping point, if you will.
The bulls and bears are in a monster tug-of-war over the market's direction during the next few months, and, naturally, earnings could be the factor that tips the scale one way or the other.
I couldn't be more fired up about the next few days - and you will be, too, once you see this...
Last Friday, the first wave of bank earnings reports hit Wall Street, when JPMorgan Chase & Co., Citigroup Inc., and scandal-stricken Wells Fargo & Co. released their first-quarter financials.
Now, ask any one random person in a "Man in the Street"-style interview what they'd expect of the "Too Big to Fail" banks' performance, and I'd bet you would get a shrug and hear something like, "I dunno - they probably made a ton of money, right?"
And that random person would be right... by about half. The big banks do make a ton of money, to be sure, but that's not the most important reason to sit up and pay attention.
That's right: Even if you don't own a single share, big bank earnings calls are a can't-miss event.
Listening to the big bank conference calls is like listening in on closed-door conversations with the U.S. financial industry's most powerful players.
These bankers not only control most of the economy's loans and deposits, but they also get a very clear picture each quarter of how individuals and businesses are faring and where they appear to be heading.
The calls are a road map, essentially, or a cheat sheet that can give you some dynamite investing ideas, not to mention precious intelligence on the state of the American economy.
In a market environment with a lot of "loose ends" relating to recent headlines, our Chris Johnson is going to share what every investors needs to know with earnings season upon us...
With tariffs and trade wars, tweet wars, and turmoil in Syria, headlines have dictated some wild swings in the market lately.
Over the past two months, these news stories have kept the market in a proverbial tug-of-war that it just can't win (or lose). And while this market-versus-headlines battle has yielded incredible volatility, we're left facing a near-zero net movement for stocks.
Over the past two decades that I've been trading, I've seen just about every kind of market environment there is. Through the ups, downs, and in-betweens, I developed principles that remain true no matter what's going on. Eventually, I refined these principles into my "10 Commandments of Trading."
One of the commandments states that "Volatility is a trader's best friend." But too much of a good thing can be bad, and we're definitely seeing the effects of that now, as the market sustains no traction on either side of the trading line.
Imagine the opposing sides are two stationary objects tied together and equidistant from a central point.
However, all is not lost just yet...
You see, the charts are lining up to force the market into making a more directional move that will benefit prepared traders.
We're coming up on the last few weeks of earnings season... and one of my favorite parts.
That's because the absolute masters - the wizards, the "special forces" of money, the private equity pros - are reporting their earnings and giving their must-have take on the state of the markets and the global economy.
Why is this a can't-miss call?
Because there are some huge opportunities to be had following along with geniuses like Apollo Global Management LLC's Leon Black and KKR & Co. LP's Bill Janetschek.
These folks make serious money. Some of them won't get out of bed unless they can lock in a market-crushing 15% or 20% to do it.
And if you go and do likewise, if you position your money and align your investing with the private equity giants, you can crush the market, too.
Because believe me, ho-hum indexing returns won't cut the mustard for a comfortable retirement...
To most investors, the word "volatility" is terrifying. But to Money Morning Quantitative Specialist Chris Johnson, volatility paves the path to fast profits, especially around earnings season.
That's why we're bringing you an earnings trade today that could double your money in February...
Last week, we talked about what the "too-big-to-fail" banks were saying on their earnings calls.
Now, investors have to know what these mega-banks are up to, because they're the 800-lb gorillas of the market, but I don't own a single one of those.
As I mentioned a couple of weeks ago, I like regional banks, because they offer what I like the most: unreasonably good returns.
Naturally, I never miss an earnings call from these guys.
Especially on the first earnings call after the biggest tax reform since 1986 has been passed.
In this short video, Tom shares a fast-money earnings season trade that has the potential to bring double- or triple-digit returns in just 15 trading days.
P&G has beat on both earnings and revenue, yet its stock is plummeting.
Is this a temporary dip, or a falling knife?
Fortunately, we have eight years of data that tell us exactly where PG will go next...
To follow Tom's HIG trade, here are your instructions.
