I am absolutely shocked at the words coming out of Washington right now regarding our nation’s banks willingness to lend. Lawmakers are pressing the largest banks to lend money much more freely to spur consumer borrowing and increase consumption in order to jumpstart the economy. There is only one glaring problem with this plan: that’s how we got in this [...]
Today will be remembered as a historic day of trading for the US stock markets. The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed up over 1,000 points, the largest point gain in history. I used this rally to sell aggressively out of some of the smaller, riskier stocks and keep money in the strong, high dividend yielding stocks that will surely weather [...]
The seemingly unending decline in the stock market will most likely continue into Friday as few investors will want to hold their stocks through the long holiday weekend. Already the selloff has stretched six straight trading days, with each day ratcheting up triple digit losses of the Dow Jones Industrial Average. Today’s market saw the Dow fall over 600 points, [...]
In a coordinated effort, central banks around the world have lowered their respective interest rates to try to save off a worldwide financial calamity. But, it is beginning to look like it is too little, too late. Even after this extraordinary measure, the Dow Jones Industrial Average ended down nearly 200 points. I took the opportunity in the morning, when [...]
The bailout is a disaster, or will be in short order because of all the pork barrel spending heaped onto it in order to get the needed votes to pass in congress. Extended rebate on excise taxes paid by Puerto Rican and Virgin Island rum producers, also applied retroactively. Cost – $192 Billion Income averaging for plaintiffs of Exxon Valdez [...]
In an interesting turn of events, Wells Fargo has made a bid for Wachovia after the Federal Reserve brokered a deal with Citibank to help unload the banks assets with the help of the government’s recently passed $700 Billion bailout package. What is so trubbling about this development is that a judge has moved to block the deal by Wells [...]
Update: Dow closed down 777 points today. Nearly everything is down right now… Dow -500, Nasdaq -130, Oil under 100. The vote for the $700 billion bailout package has failed to pass in the house and has sent shockwaves through the financial markets as the level of economic uncertainty reaches new highs. This news has worked out well for my [...]
The week of September 15 was nothing short of incredible for the stock market and the banking industry in this country. The week ahead will most likely be just as much of a roller coaster as more news pours in from all angles of the market. So far the stories that will affect stocks on Monday include the $700 Billion [...]
On Monday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average plummeted over 500 points because of the failure of Lehman Brothers, severe cash troubles at AIG and an announcement that Bank of America is buying Merrill Lynch. The Federal Reserve is feverishly pumping $50 Billion into the system to help these companies find the financing they need to keep afloat. The events that [...]
Shares of Fannie Mae (FNM) and Freddie Mac (FRE) took a dive today of around 15-20% on rumors of weakness on their balance sheets and a poor cash position. While I understand the ramifications of the housing crisis and its ill effects on lenders such as these, this selloff is simply overblown. I have been playing the big swings up [...]
