ONE-TWENTY TWO: Trading Financial Markets
Exploring the poetry in financial markets for students of money and economy since the year 2000.
The bottom in Toyota’s stock is looking more and more firm. As U.S. auto and truck sales rose 24.3% year-over-year in March, Toyota soared 40.7% on the wings of an intensive ad campaign and generous sales incentives. While one can argue that Toyota bought future sales, these numbers remain astounding in light of the recent … Read more
Insider buying at First Solar (FSLR) continues to mark a near-term bottom in the stock, but the recovery from February’s post-earnings losses has unfolded much more slowly than I expected. FSLR is up 18% since printing a bottom on February 25, the day before FSLR’s CEO and EVP of Marketing & Product Management purchased a … Read more
Looks like the Swiss National Bank (SNB) tried to have the last laugh on this April Fool’s Day with another attempt to arrest the appreciation in its currency. This intervention was impressive with a 240 pip pop (2.3% move overall), but it only brought the currency back to last week’s trading levels. Source: dailyfx.com charts … Read more
Research In Motion (RIMM) reported no share repurchase activity in its latest earnings report. The amount spent on this program remains at $775M of the $1.2B total authorized. Perhaps it makes sense that RIMM has saved its powder given the stock has trended upward since last quarter’s repurchase activity. Although RIMM provided guidance that remains … Read more
Over the past two months or so, analysts have rolled out a series of positive commentaries on the prospects for Research In Motion (RIMM) and its upcoming earnings announcement (March 31). The table below shows the wide range of upgrades and bullish price targets from various analysts. In addition, at least four analysts have issued … Read more
Ever since moving this site to a more standard blog format last September, I have been able to write more articles, more consistently. In that time, I hope I have delivered some value to those listening out there in the blogosphere. Now, it is time for a partial hiatus as I attend to personal and … Read more
U.S. schools in ‘category 5’ budget crisis – Education- msnbc.com Now, many states have nearly exhausted their windfalls from the federal economic stimulus plan, and with falling housing values shrinking property tax revenue — the largest source of public school funding — the question for state and local officials planning budgets for the next school … Read more
Sometimes you can be smarter than the market – most times you cannot. When someone, or some institution insists on trading in one direction, you are usually smart to hop aboard or just get out of the way. These are two time-tested lessons I chose to ignore in playing the Swiss franc in anticipation of … Read more
Yuan rise would be disastrous: China export body | Reuters A rise in the yuan would be a disaster for labor-intensive Chinese exporters, a semi-official trade group said on Thursday, as frictions grow with the U.S. and other Western powers over Beijing's stable currency policy. (tags: China economy currency) Zvi Bodie on Financial Planners and … Read more
Japan's New Government Is Frustrated by Strong Yen – WSJ.com Japan's stubbornly strong currency is becoming a source of frustration for the country's new administration, and a source of confusion for many traders. (tags: yen currency Japan economy) Senators back bill to pressure China on currency | PBS A group of 14 U.S. senators unveiled … Read more