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Sep30
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Stocks have had a nice run of it of late, but will it continue this coming week? The economic data that will be released this week as well as the earnings reports will have a lot to do with the direction of the stock market for the coming week. On the economic data side of things this week, though there are several smaller numbers coming out throughout the week, all eyes will be focused on the nonfarm payrolls number being released Friday the 5th. Last month the nonfarm payrolls number came in far short of expectations, which spooked the market. The market is expecting a bounceback in the employment market, with the average expectation for this Friday's number sitting at 100,000 jobs gained. The bulls will likely be hoping for a fairly soft number so that the Federal Reserve will be more likely to continue to cut rates, but a very soft number like last month's is very negative for the markets. Earnings season doesn't kick into high gear for a couple more weeks, but some big names will be reporting this week. Tommorrow morning Walgreen Company (NYSE:WAG) reports before the opening bell. Walgreen shares have traded in a tight trading range the entire year, staying between $43 and $48 a share. Palm Inc. (Nasdaq:PALM) will report after the bell tommorrow, with analysts expecting the company to earn less than they did in the same period last year. Constellation Brands Inc. (NYSE:STZ) will report Thursday morning. The beverage makers stock has performed quite poorly over the past year, and investors are certainly hoping for a nice boost from the earnings report. The biggest tech earnings report out this week will undoubtedly be Research in Motion Limited (Nasdaq:RIMM). RIMM shares have more than doubled in the past six months, and have risen nearly 500% from January 2006 levels.
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Sep28
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The week was a good one, the quarter was a good one, but the day ended with small losses. The Dow closed lower by 17 points. The Nasdaq finished down by 8 and the S&P 500 by nearly 5. The...
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Earlier this year, the Commerce Department reported that the U.S. personal savings rate for the entire year of 2006 fell to negative one percent. Yes that is correct, Americans spent more money than they brought in, and ended up with...
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The final day of the quarter has been a very quiet and non-eventful one thus far. The Dow is higher by 2 points, while the Nasdaq is down by one and the S&P by 2 points. The economic data out...
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Today I wanted to continue our series on the Top 5 mutual funds available to investors in all different categories. Today the category we will look at is the midcap growth area. The midcap growth area is a nice area...
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Sep27
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Stocks finished moderately higher today after investors shrugged off more bad news from the housing front. New home sales hit a new 7 year low, as sales of fell 8.3 percent from July to August. The Dow traded in a very narrow...
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The Proctor and Gamble Company (NYSE:PG) shareholders were probably starting to wonder if PG was ever going to move. The stock had simply been biding time for a couple of years, trading in a range between about $56 and $64...
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Sep26
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This market recap will be shorter than GrowYourFunds RSS Feed Subscribers are accustomed to seeing from me, but I will be traveling tonight so my time is limited. The Dow rallied by nearly 100 points today, finishing up by 99.50...
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There is a very interesting newsflash on CNBC in the last couple minutes. Speculation is that Warren Buffett is considering taking a 20% stake in The Bear Stearns Companies (NYSE:BSC). BSC shares are higher by about 11% on this news,...
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Nike Inc. (NYSE:NKE) has designed a new shoe called the Air Native N7, which was designed specifically for Native Americans. Nike determined that American Indians, on average, have a much wider and taller foot than the normal American. As a...
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I believe that the U.S. stock market is going into a period that will be a very interesting one to track. Recent economic data clearly points to at the very least, a slowdown in the United States economy. Many economists and...
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General Motors Corporation (NYSE:GM) and the UAW union reached a tentative agreement this morning that will end the nationwide strike that began just two days ago. Just as I pointed on Monday, this strike was more of last-minute negotiating ploy...
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Sep25
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Bear markets are inevitable, they simply must happen from time to time. There are always going to be periods where equity markets do terribly because of a wide variety of problems and losses can get quite steep. There will be...
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The major indices finished mixed today, with the Dow and the Nasdaq gaining by 20 and 15 points, but the S&P 500 losing less than one point. The troubling consumer confidence number number released this morning teamed with the widely...
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Today is the day, yes Halo 3 has been released to the public today. Expectations are huge for the new game, with several in the video game industry calling today the most historic gaming release day ever. The game is expected...
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I wanted to have another installment of around the blogging world, where we take a look at some of the most important and interesting stories from around the investing and personal finance blogging world. All of the stories posted below...
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For the second month in a row, the consumer confidence reading from the Conference Board plunged. For the month of September the reading came in at 99.8, nearly a 6 point drop from the revised level of 105.6 in August....
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Sep24
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Stocks fell moderately today as investors decide to take some profits after last week's tremendous run. The Dow finished lower by 61 points and the S&P 500 closed down by 8 points, or 0.53%. The Nasdaq fared better, losing just...
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It is the top story on all the major news and business news stations today, the UAW has decided to launch a strike against General Motors Corporation (NYSE:GM). This marks the first national strike against the U.S. auto industry since 1976. The...
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Sep22
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After the Federal Reserve moved to lower interest rates by 50 basis points on Tuesday, banks around the country began to lower the rates on their Certificates of Deposit as expected. Last month GrowYourFunds urged readers to lock in those...
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Sep21
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The major U.S. indices all finished the day with moderate gains, closing out a very strong week. The Dow, Nasdaq, and S&P 500 all finished the week with gains of almost 3%. Today, the Dow finished higher by 53, while...
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In order to be among the 400 richest Americans you must have a net worth of at least $1.3 billion. The Forbes 400, which ranks the 400 richest Americans by their net worth was released yesteray. Bill Gates still leads...
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Stocks are charging higher thus far today, extending on the week's gains. The Dow is higher by 105 points as of 12:45 pm on the east coast. The Nasdaq is higher by 23 points. The S&P 500 is up by...
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Berkshire Hathaway holdings are likely to include more railroads soon. Warren Buffett continues to buy BNI, taking a huge stake in the company.
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Sep20
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It's all over the business news today, the US dollar is hitting all-time lows versus the Euro as well as the Canadian dollar. What should you do about it? I think that now is a good time to assess your...
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The story of the day was the weakness in the US dollar and the amazing strength of major commodities. The dollar hit a new low versus the euro today and for the first time in history the Canadian dollar is...
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While it is not yet a named storm or even a depression it appears that the low pressure center swirling on the west coast of Florida will develop in the next day or so. The storm is forecast to develop...
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Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (NYSE:GS) reported earnings this morning, and the results were nothing short of amazing. Lehman Brothers (NYSE:LEH) reported a pretty good quarter considering all the problems of the fixed-income markets. Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) reported a poor quarter because of...
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Sep19
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There have been lots of cries around the investment world since yesterday's Fed rate cut about the inflationary pressures that are likely to be buoyed by the 50 basis point cut. A large amount of economists and strategists alike believe...
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Continued optimism stemming from the Federal Reserves lowering of interest rates as well as a tame CPI number sent stocks higher today. The Dow finished higher by 76 points on the day. The Nasdaq gained 15 and the S&P 500...
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Last week I posted on Hovnanian Enterprises (NYSE:HOV) and their "Deal of the Century." Hovnanian Enterprises has announced that their 3 day firesale on luxury homes was "phenomenally successful" in the words of a PR official at Hovnanian in the Northeast region.Over...
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Wall Street is once again in fully rally mode today following yesterday's interest rate cut by the Federal Reserve. At 1 pm on the east coast the Dow is higher by 81 points, while the Nasdaq and S&P 500 are...
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My thoughts on the Federal Reserve lowering the fed funds and discount rates by 50 basis points.
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Sep18
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The stock market produced its largest point gain in over 5 years today after the Federal Reserve cut the fed funds rate by 50 basis points to 4.75% and cut the discount rate by 50 basis points to 5.25%. The...
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The Federal Reserve has just announced that it has approved a 50 basis point cut in the Fed Funds Rate as well as a 50 basis point cut in the Discount Rate. The stock market is responding in a huge...
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While the biggest news of the day is still to come, the market has received some good news this morning and is moving higher across the board. The Dow is higher by 97 points. The Nasdaq is higher by 16, and...
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Sep17
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Tommorrow is the all-important Federal Reserve monetary policy announcement, so I wanted to take a look at what the market is expecting and how it might react to the announcement.As of this afternoon the Fed Funds futures were pricing in a...
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What will the FOMC do with interest rates? Will the Fed move to cut the fed funds rate by 25 basis points, 50 basis points, or not cut rates at all? The stakes are extremely high for this monetary policy...
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Is today's trading the calm before the storm? Time will tell, but it certainly was quiet on the street today. The Dow finished the day down 39 points. The Nasdaq was a little weaker on a relative basis, losing 20...
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Alan Greenspan's much anticipated book "The Age of Turbulence" hits the book shelves today, and his shocking predictions and thoughts about the state of the economy and interest rates are all over the business news today.Greenspan has plenty of predicitions...
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Around 1 pm on the east coast the U.S. markets sit lower, but only moderately so. Equities have actually rebounded in the last hour or so, halving their losses from earlier today. The Dow currently sits down by 33 points....
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Short selling is defined as the selling of a security that one does not own. Short sellers assume that they will be able to buy the stock back at a lower price than what they sold it for and make...
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Sep16
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This is the week market participants have waited for over a month. The FOMC monetary policy statement will be announced at approximately 2:15 p.m. on Tuesday the 18th. Will it be a 25 basis point cut, or a 50 basis...
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Sep14
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U.S. equities opened down by a large amount, but have rallied back and are currently trading around the unchanged mark after a series of economic reports out this morning showed the U.S. economy is weaker than most expected. The Dow...
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Today's economic data did two things: a) gave us an even higher chance that the FOMC will cut rates on Tuesday b) showed us just how quickly the economy is cooling off and how close we could be to heading...
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Sep13
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Hovnanian Homes is taking unprecented steps to try boost their housing sales.
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Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE:BRKA) topped the third annual Barron's survey of the most respected companies in the world for 2007. Berkshire Hathaway is run by the most famous investor of them all, Warren Buffett. Buffett has turned this company into a...
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Though the volume was very light on the major exchanges today, there were plenty of big stories to go around. Oil prices finished above $80 a barrel today for the first time ever as Hurricane Humberto shut down some major...
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One thing that a lot of investors overlook is the importance of a stock's volume in confirming its stock price move. When I look for short-term trends in an individual stock, the first place I start is a list of stocks...
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The major market averages are powering higher thus far today after a jobless claims came in lower than expected this morning. The Labor Department reported that 319,000 people reported claims for unemployment benefits, less than the 325,000 that was expected....
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Humberto strengthened even quicker than anyone thought it would and crashed ashore early this morning as a category one hurricane. Humberto hit the Texas shore in the area of High Island and Port Arthur at about 2 am CDT with...
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Sep12
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Today I want to start what a series that I will call "Around the investment blogging world." In these posts I will link to some posts from other investing blogs that are worthy of GrowYourFunds readers attention. It will be my...
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Oil prices briefly rose above $80 a barrel today, and finished at an all time high of $79.91. The unexpected drop in inventories was partly to blame for the hike, but increased tropical activity was another culprit.Tropical Storm Humberto has...
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In continuing with my top five mutual fund series, tonight I will visit the top 5 large cap blend mutual funds. The large cap blend mutual fund can be seen as the best of both worlds, with the fund containing...
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Today was about as quiet of a day as you will ever see in the U.S. financial markets in September. The market is clearly in a wait and see mode, waiting on the FOMC and their monetary policy statement set...
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Tools for the risk averse investor. A risk averse investment plan doesn't have to mean you can't end up with a nice chunk of change.
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Stocks opened lower this morning, but have bounced back throughout the morning and now sit slightly higher. The Dow is higher by 25 points, the Nasdaq higher by 10 points, and the S&P 500 is up by 4 points. Energy...
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Sep11
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Today's story stock is McDonald's Corporation (NYSE:MCD). Earlier today McDonald's reported its August same-store sales, and the results were quite shocking. The company reported an 8.1% increase in same-store sales. U.S. same-store sales increased 7.4%, European sales were up 6.1%,...
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September 11, 2001 will forever stand as one of the darkest days in our nation's history. The airliners crashed into the north and south towers of the World Trade Center at 8:46 am and 9:03 am. At 9:43 am a third...
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Stocks surged across the board today as investors gained confidence that a rate cut will be the news from the FOMC next week. The Dow closed higher by 180.54 points, very close to the session highs. The Nasdaq gained 38.36...
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The financial markets opened the day higher, and have gained throughout the morning as investors bid up stocks across the board. The Dow currently sits in the green by 111 points, the Nasdaq by 21, and the S&P 500 by...
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Sep10
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The stock markets were quite volatile today. They opened higher, surged lower in the late morning, then surged higher in the afternoon, only to lose that ground and close around the unchanged mark. The Dow finished up by 14.47 points,...
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The top five oil stocks. These five companies are in a good position to take advantage of the great demand for oil worldwide.
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All of the major indices rose at the open of trading this week, but as the morning has gone on the market has turned south. The Dow, after being up more than 80 points earlier today, is now down by 61...
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Sep 9
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This week will widely be seen on Wall Street as the week before most important Fed meeting in years. The action in the financial markets this week will be driven primarily by how market participants believe the Fed will move...
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Many consumers and investors alike are asking the question, "Where are gasoline and oil prices going in the future?" Everyone wants to know how much they'll be paying per gallon of gasoline, and everyone wants to know if these energy...
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Sep 7
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Previously I posted regarding the top 10 quotes from the most famous investor of them all, Warren Buffett. Tonight, I wanted to visit the top quotes from the man who is probably the most famous mutual fund manager of them...
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The non-farm payrolls number released by the U.S. Department of Labor this morning jolted the financial markets and raised fears of an economic recession. The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished lower by 250 points, or 1.87%. The Nasdaq fell by 49 points,...
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Harley-Davidson Inc. (NYSE:HOG) announced today that it will be cutting bike shipments and lowered its earnings estimates significantly for the fiscal year 2007. The Milwaukee-based company said that it anticipates earning $3.69 to $3.77 a share for the year. The...
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The very weak non-farm payrolls number is spooking the financial markets so far today.
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Sep 6
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Gold prices are moving higher, what does it mean to the economy? Why are gold prices surging?
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August same store sales results were out today, and for the most part the news was good. There were several notable upside surprises, which resulted in the stocks getting a nice pop today, but there were also some losers in...
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Apple dropped the price on the iphone by $200, then felt the rage of iphone customers. The company switched paths today and offered store credit of $100 iphone customers who already had the phone before the price slash.
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Stocks finished the day modestly higher on a fairly uneventful Thursday on Wall Street. The Dow closed higher by 58 points, or 0.44%. The Nasdaq rose by 8 points, and the S&P rose by 6 points. There were mixed economic...
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J Crew posted a second-quarter profit of 32 cents per share last night, which came in 3 cents ahead of analysts expectations. The apparel retailer reported revenue of $304.7 million, which fell short of analysts revenue expectations of $308.5 million for the second...
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Sep 5
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In continuing with our top five lists, tonight I want to look at the top five high beta stocks available to investors. I previously posted about exactly what a stock beta value is and what it means. High beta stocks...
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Stocks lost ground today as investors were worried that the probability of an economic recession was rising with disappointing economic data. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was lower the entire day and finished down 143 points. The Nasdaq closed down...
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Apple held a huge press conference today announcing a new innovative line of iPods that will get the company ready for the holiday shopping season.
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Tyson Foods Inc. (NYSE:TSN), the biggest meat processor in the United States, cut its 2007 earnings forecast quite significantly on higher costs and a disruption in beef exports to South Korea. TSN shares are trading lower by 12% today on...
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The U.S. stock markets are all heading lower this morning after some poor data on the consumers, and some profit taking after a nice rebound in stocks the past few days. The Dow currently sits lower by 164 points, the...
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Sep 4
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CNN Fortune Magazine has released its annual list of the 100 fastest growing companies in Corporate America. This list is always newsworthy for the financial markets since growth is so important in the financial markets. NutriSystem Inc. (NASDAQ:NTRI), the maker of...
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Steve Fossett, the well-known adventurer and securities businessman, is currently missing. Fossett, 63, has cheated death time and time again in his successful pursuits of new aviation records, has been reported missing and teams are now searching for him. Fossett...
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The major indices rose today as investors started the new week in a major buying mode. The Dow gained 91 points and the S&P 500 gained 15 points. The star of the day was the tech-heavy Nasdaq, which gained 34...
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The powerful Hurricane Felix, which for a time was a category five hurricane with winds of 165 mph, is making landfall in Nicaragua today and should have little to no effect on the United States. The hurricane has taken a...
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All the major indices are trading higher this morning, with the Nasdaq standing out as the major winner so far today. The Dow Jones Industrial Average currently trades up by 43 points, while the Nasdaq has gained 30 points, and the...
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Sep 1
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Since I have focused so much on the stock side of things in previous posts (mainly because that is the area I invest in and research most often), I wanted to look at a few top bond funds. These funds invest solely...
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