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May29
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Stocks gained ground for a third straight day as crude oil prices plunged by more than $4 a barrel. The markets surged higher early in the afternoon before losing some of their gains as the afternoon went along. The Dow finished higher by 52. The Nasdaq closed higher by 22. The S&P 500 closed higher by 7 points, or about .5%.  The transportation sector stood out as a major winner today as oil prices plunged. Norfolk Southern (NYSE:NSC) gained 4.14% and hit a new 52 week high. Expeditors International (Nasdaq:EXPD) shares gained 3.09% on the session. Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) shares rose 3.37% as airline stocks surged across the board. UAL Corporation (Nasdaq:UAUA) gained 6.07% on the day. Continental Airlines (NYSE:CAL) shares popped 6.64% on higher than normal daily volume. Healthcare stocks were also very strong today. For a group that usually makes small moves, there were some substantial notable winners. Johnson and Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) gained 2.37% on slightly higher than normal volume. The biggest winners from the group came from the biotech sector. Celgene Corporation (Nasdaq:CELG) shares rose 3.45% today. Genentech (NYSE:DNA) shares surged 4.33% on the session. Amylin Pharmaceuticals (Nasdaq:AMLN) gained 4.52% on double its normal volume. Alkermes (Nasdaq:ALKS) shares jumped 5.36% in today's trading. The services sector showed some impressive strength today. Corinthian Colleges (Nasdaq:COCO) popped 11.5% on huge volume today. Mastercard (NYSE:MA) shares surged 7.71% after their CFO issued some very positive comments about the company's prospects going forward. Expedia (Nasdaq:EXPE) shares gained 5.71% continuing their recent strong run. Best Buy (NYSE:BBY) charged higher by 4.82% on more than double its normal volume after positive comments from a Piper Jaffray analyst. The McGraw Hill Companies (NYSE:MHP) gained 4.28% on the session. Accenture (NYSE:ACN) also had a strong day, gaining 4.27%. Most major retailers had a strong day despite weak results from Sears. Kohl's (NYSE:KSS) shares rose by 2.33% on the session. Macy's (NYSE:M) gained 3.17% for the trading day. As energy prices plummeted many stocks that have had big runs lately pulled back today. ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP) shares lost 1.73% today. Anadarko Petroleum (NYSE:APC) shares fell 3.18% today. Diamond Offshore Drilling (NYSE:DO) and Ultra Petroleum (NYSE:UPL) fell by 2.77% and 4.5% respectively. 52 week highs - Salesforce.com (NYSE:CRM) shares gained 1.88% on the session
- EarthLink (Nasdaq:ELNK) This company is showing some signs of life lately and investors are rewarding the stock.
- Landstar Systems (Nasdaq:LSTR) This transportation company has done amazingly well. Shares gained 1.88% today.
The revision higher to 0.9% for Q1 GDP growth was a positive backdrop to today's session as well. The more economic news that comes out where things don't look so bad, the more attractive the valuation for stocks will look. If it turns out that the economy holds up far better than most predicted then stocks could well have a nice run, but that is still an unanswered question at this point.
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May28
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Stocks spent most of the day in negative territory today as oil prices rebounded from yesterday's lows, but the buyers stepped in at the end of the day and sent stocks slightly higher for a second straight session. The Dow...
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Earlier today Polo Ralph Lauren (NYSE:RL) shocked the street with a huge earnings surprise to the upside. Analysts had been expecting the company to earn 65 cents per share, but they came in with results of $1.00 per share. As...
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May27
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The stock market had a strong start to the holiday shortened week today. After a very bad week last week, the bulls got things off to a better start this week. The Dow finished higher by 68.57 points. The S&P...
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Today's sector in focus is the exchange sector. The exchanges were all very much in favor just a year ago, and many were hitting new 52 week highs. Fast forward to today and you have many of these stocks much...
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May26
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The earnings season has slowed down dramatically, but there are still several notable companies that will report this week. This holiday shortened week will likely be full of plenty of volatility. In the past few days wall street has once...
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May22
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While it hasn't quite actually been made official yet by the Federal Reserve, I think its quite clear that they are now becoming more concerned about inflation than the economic recession. The recession, or downturn, whatever it actually ends up...
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Wall Street goes through cycles just the way many other things do in life, the difference is, at the top and bottom of their cycles stocks generally get way overdone. Today I wanted to take a look at five different...
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May21
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Two big factors led to the major selloff in the markets today. One of them we have had around each day lately, oil. The other was a new problem for the markets today, the Fed. Minutes from the most recent...
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May20
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Boone Pickens hurt the stock market greatly today. How did he do that you ask? Well early today Pickens said "producers are running out of oil" and that he believes oil will reach $150 a barrel this year. This caused...
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May19
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It is the state of our economy today. It is the state of oil prices today. There is simply no way around things like this happening. Today Jevic Transportation announced that it will close its doors after 27 years of...
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Today was a rather disappointing day on the street if you are a bull. There have been too many of these types of strong morning rallies and an afternoon selloff lately. Early this afternoon the Dow was higher by 150...
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May18
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Earnings season is winding down and most of the big players have already reported their results, but there are still a few very notable companies, especially in the retail group that will report in the coming week. I wanted to...
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May15
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Just yesterday I spoke of the disappointing up day, but today it was a completely different story. Today the major indices finished very near their session highs and had a terrific follow through from yesterday's tepid rally. The Dow finished...
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May14
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Stocks finished the day slightly higher, but at the end of the session it was more of a question of what could have been than anything else. Stocks had substantial gains chipped away at significantly in the final hour of...
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May13
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Today the stock market finished in a very mixed pattern, with the Dow and S&P 500 finishing slightly lower, and the Nasdaq finishing marginally higher. Stocks were lower for the majority of the day, but rallied back toward unchanged late...
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May12
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Today was a big day for all the Blackberry lovers out there, the new BlackBerry Bold 9000 was unveiled by Research in Motion (Nasdaq:RIMM). In this press release RIM's CEO says "The new BlackBerry Bold represents a tremendous step forward...
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May 8
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Today was the day for same store sales across the retail sector. Considering how they have done in recent months, the retailers released some pretty impressive numbers as a whole today. There were pockets of real strength along with some...
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May 7
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When the Fed moved to lower interest rates last week it took the fed funds rate down to 2.00%. Around the internet and all across business televisions most guests and most bloggers had proclaimed this the end of the Fed's...
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May 5
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Just last week I wrote about the possibility of a changing of the guard on wall street. Inside the post I wondered aloud whether the short-term large losses in oil prices and oil stocks, and commodity prices and commodity stocks...
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May 4
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Earnings season will continue in high gear this week as many more major companies will report their results. With the FOMC meeting and the jobs data out of the way, earnings will take center stage even more than they have...
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Just yesterday Microsoft (Nasdaq:MSFT) decided it was no longer worth it to pursue Yahoo (Nasdaq:YHOO). The software tech giant pulled its $42.3 billion bid for Yahoo, and decided against raising the offer price. Yesterday there were last minute discussions between...
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May 3
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Inflation is defined as an increase in the price of a basket of goods and services that is representative of the economy of a whole. It is an upward movement in the average level of prices. Let's talk more on...
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May 1
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Today was an interesting day on Wall Street. The overall market was very strong and the major indices all saw major gains, but if you look inside the sectors you will find an interesting picture. The normal suspects that have...
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