October 09, 2009 –
As far as I can see, the market continues to be bullish. I personally expect the market to finish October with a gain. I expect the same in November and December. My year end target for the S&P 500 is between 1150 and 1200. Factors I consider important are: (1) the fed's liberal money pumping policy (and the low fed funds rate) (2) third quarter earnings that are likely to exceed conservative projections (3) the fact that the 50 day moving average for the S&P 500 is comfortably above the 200 day moving average (4) the fact that the pace of gains has been steady and consistent since March and (5) I still see lots of bargains out there. I don't immediately see dark clouds BUT the purpose of this post is to get feedback. Are there any bears left out there? If so, why would you be bearish for the next few months? [more]
September 09, 2009 –
By tracking the activity of a variety of favorite players, I have discovered many stocks that I would have missed before I became a CAPS user. I have approximately 70 Favorites. I would pick more, but the favorites page gets bogged down when you select too many players. Everyday, I receive a post that tells me all of the stocks that were green thumbed or red thumbed by one of my favorites. I am also informed when one of my favorites closes a position. If I want up to the minute activity, I go to my favorites page and sort by last pick date. This includes activity for the current day. I picked my favorites based mostly on accuracy, but I only included players with a significant number of points. I also gave preference to players who take the time to write pitches. [more]
July 17, 2009 –
My blogs tend to focus on manufacturing because I am a manufacturing executive at a family run business. Actually, I am a manufacturing executive at our "last remaining manufacturing business". One of our three businesses used to supply the auto industry. It liquidated two years ago. I just found out that the liquidator found a buyer for one of our buildings. The buyer intends to use the 165,000 square foot facility as a haunted warehouse complete with rusted out robots that we once used to manufacture stuff. Wow. This seems absolutely poetic. US manufacturing is being reduced to a bunch of haunted ramshackle buildings. Personally, I believe a nation's wealth is entirely dependent on its production capability. The United States production capacity declines every day. Someday, we will realize that we are poor. [more]
July 14, 2009 –
Looking for opinions. The United States health "insurance" system is probably going to be changed in the near future. What do you think the major changes will be? and How will these changes affect health insurers, hospitals, other care providers, pharmaceuticals companies and medical device makers?
July 07, 2009 –
As a manufacturing executive who is the son of a blue collar entrepreneur, I care deeply about: (1) US manufacturing and (2) blue collar workers. I am amazed by the inability of scholars and media types to focus on the major dislocations that have been caused by the US government's irresponsible deficit spending. Let's begin with the overall context. The US has succeeded in its goal of spreading capitalism and, in many cases, democracy, throughout the world. This has created a situation in which we are just one of many nations competing to be the best. It has also created a situation in which American workers face tremendous competition from billions of unemployed foreigners. Given the tremendous burden that increased foreign competition places on US manufacturers and blue collar workers, policy makers ought to pursue policies that minimize the shock and slow down the pace of dislocation. Instead, our legislature blindly creates giant federal government deficits every year. US citizens do not save enough to finance the US deficit along with private sector investments in the United States. As a result, the US borrows money from foreign countries to finance the difference. Every net dollar that the United States borrows from foreign countries becomes a net import. As a result, net imports have grown exponentially during the past twenty years. These net imports have devastated US manufacturing. As a result, the idea of the middle class blue collar worker is nearly dead. Meanwhile, the executives who outsource the jobs are living in mansions while drinking $1,000 bottles of wine. What would have happened if the United States had maintained a balanced budget? The answer is that manufacturing would have fared better and there would be more high quality jobs for people who do not have college degrees. Our blue collar middle class would still exist. I watch in disgust while US policymakers arrogantly intervene in private enterprise while blithely ignoring the fact that they are unable to balance the federal budget. If policymakers are unable to run the government, why do they think they are able to run the whole US economy? [more]
Terms & Conditions
RSS Headlines
Fool UK