|
|
Featured Sponsor |
| Today's issue is sponsored by Fisher Investments:
Eight investing mistakes you should avoid this year.
Don't wait to find out if you're making costly investment errors.
Instead, download the latest report by Forbes columnist Ken Fisher
called "The Eight Biggest Mistakes Investors Make." Even if you
avoid just one of these mistakes, you'll be glad you acted now!
Click here to download your report!
www.fi.com |
|
| Market Summary |
Wall Street staged a recovery on Tuesday as investors scooped up bargains and anticipated another rate cut by the Federal Reserve. The Dow Jones Industrial Average shot up more than 880 points and came off a 5-year low. Broader stock indicators also bounced higher. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index added 91.59 points and the Nasdaq added 143.57 points. The market initially fluctuated after the Conference Board said its index of consumer confidence has fallen to 38 in October. Analysts were expecting a reading of 51. By mid-afternoon trading, investors were looking beyond this news and pushing the market higher on bets that the Federal Reserve will announce additional interest rate cuts on Wednesday. A recovery in global markets also gave investors a boost of confidence. In corporate news, U.S. Steel (X: Charts, News, Offers) announced that profits more than tripled in the third-quarter. Whirlpool (WHR: Charts, News, Offers) reported a decline in third-quarter profits and said it will cut 5,000 jobs by the end of the year. U.S. light crude oil for December delivery fell 60 cents to $62.62 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Treasury prices slumped, raising the yield on the 10-year note to 3.77% from 3.68% late Monday. The dollar gained versus the euro and the yen.
| More Markets Data
|
| Market News |
Whirlpool Corp. (WHR: Charts, News, Offers) said Tuesday it is eliminating about 5,000 jobs this year and next, due in large part to the long downturn in the U.S. housing market. The nation's largest home appliance maker also reported that its earnings fell 7 percent during the third quarter on lower global unit volumes and higher material costs. Whirlpool lowered its earnings outlook for the year and announced price increases. Company officials received more sobering news Tuesday upon learning that consumer confidence had plunged to its lowest level on record. The Conference Board reported that its index dropped to 38 in October from 61.4 in September. That bunker mentality makes it more likely shoppers will retrench further, throwing the economy into a tailspin. (Source: Yahoo! Finance) Full Story
|
Google (GOOG: Charts, News, Offers) has settled a three-year class action lawsuit with authors and publishers, paving the way for more books to be available online. The Internet giant agreed to pay $125 million to cover legal fees incurred by the lawsuit as well as to set up the Book Rights Registry, a not-for-profit that will work with authors, publishers and other rightsholders to ensure they receive any money owed to them for their works under the agreement. The settlement is subject to approval by the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. If approved, the agreement will allow readers in the U.S. to search through millions of in-copyright books, including hard-to-find out-of print works, and preview them online. It will also give them the option to purchase online access to many of these books. (Source: TheStreet) Full Story
|
Boeing Co. (BA: Charts, News, Offers) and its striking Machinists union have agreed to a tentative four-year labor deal that could end a 53-day walkout that has shut the company’s commercial airp*** factories, cut into profits and delayed jet deliveries. The union representing 27,000 production workers in Washington state, Oregon and Kansas went on strike Sept. 6 after rejecting a final contract offer by the company. Sticking points were job security and health benefits. More than 90 percent of members are expected to vote on the agreement, reached late Monday, in the next three to five days. Members of the Machinists union walked off the job even as the economy slid into turmoil and credit markets froze. The seven-week strike is their fourth against Boeing in two decades and has cost Boeing an estimated $100 million a day in deferred revenue and pushed back scheduled deliveries of its commercial airp***s, including its long-awaited 787 jetliner. (Source: MSNBC) Full Story
|
|
| Test your business savvy against the BizJumble! | B-School brainiacs, tenacious corporate titans, superior sellers, and masterful managers-put your business knowledge to the ultimate test with the new BizJumble game!
Race against the clock to unscramble the term that matches the featured definition from BusinessDictionary.com.
Think you have the sharpest mind in the conference room?
Put your skills to the test!
|
|
| Featured Article from the InvestorGuide University |
Advanced Bond Concepts
Learn about callable and non-callable bonds, zero-coupon bonds, secured and unsecured bonds, tax-deferred bonds, put provisions, and other advanced bond concepts.
Read the Full Article |
Browse the InvestorGuide University
|
|
| Market Analysis |
Three months ago, the world was running out of oil. Seriously. I kid you not. Everywhere you turned, you heard whispers that the day of petroleum reckoning was at hand. Now there's too much oil, prodding OPEC to cut production targets for the first time in two years. Last week, the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, confronted with the halving of oil prices since July, announced a 1.5 million barrel-a-day cut in output. World markets greeted the news of reduced oil supply by pushing prices down further. Crude oil fell $3.69 a barrel Friday to $64.15. Yesterday, oil dropped another 93 cents to $63.22, a 17-month low. How quickly things change. Or do they? All speculative bubbles have a kernel of truth behind them to justify their existence. This time around it was China and India. These emerging Asian giants were gobbling up all the commodities the world could produce to fuel their rapid industrialization. (Source: Bloomberg) Full Story
|
Is the market and economic turmoil nothing more than a crisis of confidence? To listen to Ben Bernanke and Hank Paulson, you might think so. "At the root of the problem is a loss of confidence by investors and the public in the strength of key financial institutions and markets," Bernanke told the Economic Club of New York on Oct. 15. On Oct. 20, Paulson went further, explaining the bank recapitalization program this way: "Our purpose is to increase confidence in our banks and increase the confidence of our banks so that they will deploy, not hoard, their capital. And we expect them to do so, as increased confidence will lead to increased lending." (Source: BusinessWeek) Full Story
|
It is hard to imagine that markets are not being affected by the potential for major changes in U.S. tax policy. Sen. Obama says he wants tax rates back where they were in 2000, while Sen. McCain says he wants to keep income tax rates down to a maximum of 35%. With both the House and Senate under Democratic control, Obama will have an easier time following through on his plans than McCain. Obama has also said he wants to push up tax rates on investment and does not agree that corporate tax rates should be cut. Obama's proposals would not only harm the investment landscape, but they would also make the tax system substantially more "progressive." In particular, Obama wants to raise taxes on "the rich," but "cut" taxes for 95% of Americans. He does this by giving $500 to anyone who is in the workforce and earns between $8,000 and $75,000 per year. In addition, he would use tax credits to further subsidize daycare, college and unwed (working) parents. (Source: Forbes.com) Full Story
|
| More news and commentary | |
|
|
|
Back to newsletter list
