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Mar31
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Finally, the first quarter of 2008 is over. Many investors, myself included, believed it was never going to end. It has been one of the most turbulent quarters ever marred by constant negative economic news and worries about the future. Just how badly did stocks do? Which stocks were hit the hardest? Which did the best? I'll cover all that in a quick review of the quarter that was. Overall the Dow Jones finished down 7.5% for the first quarter. Things were far worse for the tech-heavy Nasdaq, which finished down a little over 14% for the first quarter alone. The small-cap Russell 2000 also saw significant losses, falling by about 10.5%. The financials have obviously been hit very hard in the first quarter with mortgage messes and liquidity trouble all around. Lehman Brothers (NYSE:LEH) was down 42.5% in the quarter, while Fannie Mae (NYSE:FNM) lost 34%. A big name financial that showed some impressive relative strength is JP Morgan Chase (NYSE:JPM) which lost less than 2%. Although the financial stocks were the poster child for the mess that was the first quarter some big name tech stocks saw huge losses. Google (NYSE:GOOG) lost about 36% in the quarter, while Apple (Nasdaq:AAPL) lost 28%. Agriculture names pop up when looking for top performing big name stocks from the quarter. Mosaic (NYSE:MOS) gained 8.75% while Potash (NYSE:POT) shares rose 7.8%. Biotech stocks have also bounced very nicely after seeing significant pressure last year. Celgene (Nasdaq:CELG) has shot higher by almost 33% in the quarter and Genentech (NYSE:DNA), which had been left for dead by many, has gained 21%. No matter how you slice it, this was a very negative quarter for the stock market. Uncertainty is terrible for stocks and the first quarter had about as much of it as you will ever see. Will the picture become clearer in the second quarter? If it does, will market participants like what it shows or not? These are questions we will find the answers to over the next 3 months.
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Mar30
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This coming Friday, April 4th, the employment report from March will be released. I am convinced this number is the most important economic number we have seen in months for the fate of our economy. The jobs market seems to...
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Mar28
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Today's story stock is JC Penney Co. (NYSE:JCP). This morning JC Penney slashed its first quarter sales and earnings forecasts and blamed slowing consumer spending for the warning. The statement from JCP said that it expects to earn about 50...
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Mar26
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The economic times are as rough as we have seen in many years here in America, and from all indications they are getting worse very quickly. The talking heads on television are going crazy trying to predict just how bad...
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Mar25
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There were two major pieces of economic data out today, and quite frankly the two of them were both worse than even the most pessimistic economists were expecting. First, the S&P/Case Shiller Index, which is a quarterly measure of the...
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Mar24
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Sirius Satellite Radio's proposed acquisition of XM Satellite Radio passed a major speedbump today with the Department of Justice giving it the ok. The Department of Justice finished its very thorough investigation and found that there is not evidence that...
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The information that everyone had been waiting for was released by the IRS last week. Everyone has been wanting to know when they will be getting that economic stimulus/tax rebate plan check. Now the answer is out there for all to...
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Mar20
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March Madness is upon the United States. it is the time of the year where everyone fills out their bracket and is glued to either the television or the nearest computer to see how their teams are doing. Today and...
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Mar19
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Visa has been the most anticipated IPO for months, and today was finally the day that it started trading. The stock was priced at $44 per share last night, which was above expectations. During the trading day today investors bought...
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Mar18
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One of the most popular posts on GrowYourFunds in the last few month's was the post on the tax rebate plan of 2008. As one would expect, everyone wants to know just how much they are going to be receiving...
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It was a great day for the bulls on wall street. Yes you read that sentence right. One has only been able to say that a couple times in the past few months, but today was definitely a day to...
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Mar17
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After all the action in the markets over the past few days it is time for the most important event of them all, the Federal Reserve monetary policy decision. Since the last time the Federal Reserve cut interest rates the economic...
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Many people are calling it a bargain, others are calling it an absolute steal, whatever you want to call it Jamie Dimon and JP Morgan have picked up Bear Stearns under circumstances that as recently as last week no one...
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Mar16
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It has been a while since we have done any around the investment blogging world, so I thought today would be a great time to get some insight from some great blogs as to what exactly is going on right now....
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On Friday the story of the day was Bear Stearns and their liquidity issues. The Federal Reserve, along with JP Morgan Chase came to the rescue with emergency funding for the company. The Federal Reserve has taken an unprecedented step...
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Mar13
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Eliot Spitzer made a career out of going after the bad guys, but after the news of this week it has been shown that he was one of the worst guys of all himself. Spitzer started out as the New...
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Mar12
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I've written several times already on this blog about how the high gasoline prices across our country are leading toward serious inflation problems in the economy. The affects on the broader economy are very real and they are undeniable, but...
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Mar11
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Today was the day that stocks staged a massive turnaround. Sentiment had gotten extremely negative and a little good news gave buyers some reasons to look for bargains. It also gave short sellers a good reason to take some profits...
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Mar10
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The daily surge to new all-time highs that has become like clockwork is the breakout that continues to occur in the energy sector. Crude oil prices have absolutely rocketed higher of late, surging another $2.75 today to close at a staggering level of $107.90....
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Mar 6
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Bill Gates has been surpassed by the most legendary investor of them all as the richest man in the world. Warren Buffett, the most famous investor in the world, saw his fortune rise by $10 billion, reaching a new high of...
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Mar 5
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It seems there is no stopping the rise in commodity prices of late. Just yesterday the news was about the steep drop in commodity prices due to concerns about economic growth. One day later, and we have hit new highs...
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Mar 3
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When Warren Buffett talks, people listen. Today, there was an almost unprecedented amount of access to Warren Buffett and plenty of news was made. This morning CNBC sent Becky Quick to Omaha, Nebraska to be with the Oracle of Omaha....
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This question is often posed in wall street circles and among the millions of investors throughout the world, should high growth stocks be bought going into and/or during recessions? There are two schools of thought for this issue, which I...
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Mar 2
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In this difficult and trying time in the economy and the stock market, I found it a great time to remind readers of the importance of staying away from rash decisions with your 401k or any type of retirement plan....
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Aside from Friday's massive selloff on the street I have noticed a trend on wall street in the last couple of weeks. The street has gotten into the frame of mind that poor economic news is good news because it...
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