• Find news for:

Minyanville Headlines

Go Green and Invest Ethically 11:25 AM

We like to think of ourselves as ethical investors all year round at Minyanville. But did you know this is official National Ethical Investment Week and an estimated $2.71 trillion can be characterized as ethical investments?We checked in with the guy who wrote the book about it. He’s Leland Hevner president of the National Association of Online Investors and author of The Perfect Portfolio: A Revolutionary Approach to Personal Investing.Ethical investments he says can take the form of faith-based investments (companies that take a stance on something like Planned Parenthood) clean...

The Impact of an Absent Climate Crisis At Minyanville 11:20 AM

A remarkable event occurred last Friday. Someone hacked into the computer files of the University of East Anglia’s Hadley Climate Research Unit. Hadley the United Kingdom’s primary climate-change site has long been a proponent of human-caused global warming. Scanning some of the emails between Hadley members and other strong global-warming proponents across the globe revealed some rather unscientific comments.Here are a few from a column by James Delingpole of the UK Telegraph newspaper from November 20:  Manipulation of evidence:I’ve just completed Mike’s Nature...

If Global Warming Is a Lie, Will Green Investments Go Cold? 10:59 AM

If there’s one trend that's exploded in recent years it's been “going green.” As a result the overwhelming majority of companies on the face of the earth have been falling over one another for ways to prove their green bona fides. Not to be outdone the investment business has joined in the ranks of the committed as well. We have ETFs and mutual funds that invest solely in green companies; investment banks have green tech analysts; and maybe the biggest bonanza of them all the huge potential for trading carbon credits as envisioned in a “cap and trade” program. ...

Electronics, Online Sales Roar in November At Minyanville 10:46 AM

After showing signs of improvement in early fall sales of clothing and luxury goods weakened a bit the first half of November compared with a year ago when stores pulled shoppers in with massive discounts figures released Tuesday show.Electronics sales have grown solidly this month however compared with the first half of November last year when stores didn't discount electronics as much.And online sales where growth had slowed this year are roaring back."It was a little bit softer " said Michael McNamara vice president at SpendingPulse referring to the weak apparel and luxury...

Retailers Gird for Battle with Black Friday Deals At Minyanville 10:37 AM

Retailers are stocking the store shelves with care in hopes that consumers will soon be there. Major retailers are counting on deals and coupons to coax consumers out of their spending hibernation. Black Friday and Cyber Monday are less than a week away and retailers like Walmart (WMT) Sears (SHLD) and Target (TGT) are rolling out commercials and circulars to promote the deals that the industry is hoping will start a holiday shopping frenzy. Walmart said its stores will open at 5 a.m. on Nov. 27 the day after Thanksgiving known as Black Friday. The world’s largest retailer plans ...

The Many Bells and Whistles of Hewlett-Packard 10:35 AM

I have to thank the good man upstairs this morning -- I forgot to set my alarm last night but my internal alarm clock worked like a charm: I only got up 10 minutes later than usual. Asian stocks gave up some ground overnight. The Hang Seng and the Nikkei were off 1.53% and 1.01% respectively. European stocks were lower this morning too. And here in the US we’re currently trading lower.Here’s what I’m seeing this morning:Hewlett-Packard (HPQ): Mark Hurd & Co packed a fourth-quarter profit excluding items of $1.14. Not bad as the Street was at $1.13. It ...

The Reprioritization of Consumer Debt 10:30 AM

A fundamental cornerstone to the American financial system has been the belief that in good times and in bad consumers would pay their mortgage first and everything else second.Recent data no longer support this.As most Minyans know well mortgage delinquencies and defaults across all categories of borrowers continue to reach new heights. At the same time though the credit card industry is reporting that delinquencies and charge-offs have stabilized.This isn’t normal -- at least from a historical perspective. (Traditionally mortgage delinquencies peak prior to credit cards).This...

How to Choose Among Equivalent Trades 10:03 AM

Minyan Jack writes:  I read through your blog and also did a simple analysis this morning. It shows clearly that the collar is equivalent to put credit spread as well as bull call spread.In the option studies I've found it's difficult to determine which to choose (put credit spread or bull call spread) when entering a trade.One thing I considered is: If I would like to buy the stock at lower price I'll go for put credit spread. Is that right?Also in spread e.g. bull call spread there are three types of options:a) buy ITM call sell ATM callb) ...

The World According to TARP! At Minyanville 10:00 AM

“We'll take the house. Honey the chances of another plane hitting this house are astronomical. It's been pre-disastered. We're going to be safe here."- The World According to GarpBill Gross said in his December investment outlook last week that the“systemic risk”of new asset bubbles are rising with the Federal Reserve keeping interest rates at record lows.Under what PIMCO has termed the “new normal ” investors should be prepared for lower-than-average historical returns with heightened government regulation lower consumption slower growth and a shrinking...

How to Leave Your (Financial) Comfort Zone 09:38 AM

Editor's Note: Minyanville welcomes back Jessie Smith who is sharing her journey from financial fiasco to fiscal fitness every Tuesday and Thursday in Going for Broke ... and Back.This morning the alarm went off at 5:10 a.m. I actually got out of bed because of a nagging lesson that I learned years ago and that was ringing in my ears when the alarm went off.Lesson Number One: Sometimes you have to do displeasing actions in order to get pleasing results. Sunday was one of the most beautiful days we have had in November in years. You know how I ...

Upgrades & Downgrades: Tiffany's Time to Shine At Minyanville 09:23 AM

The Dow rose to a fresh high for the year stocks snapping a three day slide in emphatic fashion as unexpected strength in October existing-home sales proved positive for equities even amid increasing concerns over negative equity. On this the 150th anniversary of On the Origin of Species Origin Agritech (SEED) shares are surging before the bell after more than doubling yesterday; enriched investors may thus be able to bid on the world’s most expensive bathroom book at auction today. On an otherwise up day we witnessed a sky-is-falling session for Tyson Foods (TSN) (-1.45% on...

Two Ways To Play: Banking News Sends China's Stocks Tumbling At Minyanville 08:35 AM

China Takes a Tumble Chinese stocks took a tumble last night after the country’s banking authority said lenders who don’t meet their reserve requirements could be punished by limiting their market access.In a story by Dow Jones the China Banking Regulatory Commission said capital adequacy requirements will now be at 10% up from 8% last year. There's speculation that the agency could raise the requirement up to 13% by the end of 2010 but the CBRC denied these claims.Nonetheless the move is the latest sign that China is becoming increasingly worried about risks building in the...

Don't Let the FDIC's Quarterly Profile Fly Under the Radar At Minyanville 08:27 AM

Editor's Note: This article was written by Richard Suttmeier chief market strategist at ValuEngine.com which is a fundamentally-based quant research firm in Princeton New Jersey that covers more than 5 000 stocks every day.The FDIC’s Third-Quarter Banking Profile Is Released Today at 10 a.m.The economic calendar shows several economic reports out today including: Preliminary Real GDP for the third quarter of 2009 which should be revised downward from 3.5% in last month’s advanced reading. Some say the downside revision could be below 3% which will not be expected by the market.The...

Will Emerging Market Outperformance Last? At Minyanville 08:17 AM

The MSCI Emerging Markets Index has notched up a massive 72.3% gain for the year to date and an even more impressive 101.4% since the March 9 low. Although emerging markets were the clear leaders during the initial months of the recovery the MSCI World Index has subsequently done some catching up but still lags with gains of 26.7% and 69.3% for the two measurement periods. The chart below shows the performance of the MSCI Emerging Markets Index relative to the Dow Jones World Index. Needless to say an upwardly sloping line means outperformance by developing stock markets. Should ...

Judging Credit Default Swaps' True Value 11/23/09

Editor's Note: This article was written by Edward Hoofnagle of Ebusinessware Thought Leadership. Have you ever really taken a moment to think about the implications of a thriving Credit Default Swap (CDS) market on sovereign debt?First a word about the Credit Default Swap market size. Because Credit Default Swaps are private bilateral agreements there's really no single source to determine the outstanding notional amounts.However much has been done to centralize trades and the Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation has illustrated a view of market size with some figures that the...

More Minyanville headlines...

More News

Market Report

News by Symbol

Today's Investing Articles

Breaking News

News by Topic

News by Industry

MSNBC News

MSN Money

Search MSN Money

Message Boards

Site Status