Filed under: Major Movement , Competitive Strategy , Barrick Gold (ABX) , Commodities , Federal Reserve Back in the late 1970s, the Hunt brothers from Texas tried to corner the silver market . That drove prices to $48 an ounce. Now, 31 years later, silver is shooting higher again. The March silver futures contract closed at $32.296 per ounce , up 72 cents. Since gold is expensive, investors are turning to silver to hedge against inflation. Many fear that the Federal Reserve will not be able to control the spike in commodity prices. The Fed is buying $600 billion of treasuries and keeping interest rates near zero. Continue reading Silver Near a 31-Year High Silver Near a 31-Year High originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Sat, 19 Feb 2011 12:50:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink | Email this | Comments
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Market Wrap-Up for Feb.18 (JWN, CF, DLR, SWK, EOG, WTW, more)
We’re saw a gradual rise for the DOW as other indices remained fairly flat, finishing what has been a generally solid week for the averages. We added a new yield-focused name to our recommended list today, while also removing three growth names from our list as well. Be sure to check out Dividend.com Premium for those stories if you did not read the e-mail alerts we sent out earlier today. Elsewhere, earnings results are lifting shares of Digital Realty Trust ( DLR ), a recent addition to our recommended list. Nordstrom ( JWN ) bounced off of earlier levels and closed higher following the company’s earnings report, as well as news the company was buying a private sales e-commerce company. Wall Street upgrades pushed several stocks higher, including Stanley Black & Decker ( SWK ), EOG Resources ( EOG ), and Raytheon ( RTN ). On the downside, fertilizer play CF Industries ( CF ) sold off after reporting better-than-expected results. Weight Watchers ( WTW ) also gave back just a smidgen of yesterday’s huge gains. The speculation in the venture capital space continues to rage on as we continue to hear about huge rounds of money being raised at ever-climbing market valuations. Mark Cuban just came out with some comments that echoed what I have been saying about the “game” that is going on, where eventually regular investors get burned with the usual late invitations to participate (post-IPO after the insiders have already cashed…
Market Wrap-Up for Dec.23 (CF, POT, AGU, NKE, BBY, more)
Tom and I just wrapped up a great new video today where we run down the potential market themes dividend investors will face in 2011. As I started mentioning the past few days, I’m beginning to think the financials will see an uptrend in 2011. We see the pipeline of mergers, IPOs, rising interest rates, and rising dividends (the TARP handcuffs could be close to coming off) as the catalyst for higher prices. It’s still considered a bit of a contrarian call, but as we crunch the earnings estimates, it looks like much of the bad news has likely been already priced into most of the financial stocks. Our fear when it comes to gold is that with many retail investors embracing the yellow metal after a four-fold run-up the last few years, the gains could be a bit tougher to come by as we head into 2011. Now there could be wild cards and events that could cause gold to rally of course, but based on the sentiment we see, the gains could still be a struggle. If you have been riding the momentum higher, don’t be afraid to put a stop order in to prevent any quick pullbacks from wiping away your gains. We also talk about the rising danger facing municipalities and how pensions may not be as safe as they once were in the public sector. The importance of this is to hit home the fact that investors need several income sources as they build toward retirement. No Social Security “cost of
Market Wrap-Up for Dec.17 (BMO, MI, ACN, ORCL, MA, V, more)
We’re happy to announce our new Dividend ETFs section on our site today! We want to bring our subscribers a roster of ETF options for anyone considering a bit more diversification and exposure to international markets. We do not currently rate the ETFs, but do give readers the trend direction to follow. The data will be updated each day, so be sure to check it out. Also, Tom and I just wrapped up our “Top 3 Market Themes of the Week” video , so be sure to give it a look. Lots of good stuff! Some good news came out this morning for investors, as it appears the Bush tax cuts are well on their way (as we figured they would). This is one less worry for the markets at this point, but with the upward price action we have seen the last 19 months or so, any worries have been easily handled by investors. At some point this could change and it would mean the investing climate could get trickier. We’ll be sure to keep readers posted as to when we see the potential danger signs. We swapped two new names on to our recommended list this morning, while removing two previous recommendations. Be sure to check out the post if you did not read the e-mail alert we sent out this morning. Interesting news out today from Bank of Montreal ( BMO ), which is looking to acquire former TARP recipient Marshall & Ilsley ( MI ). It is a bit of a strange move for the Canadian banking play to want to buy one of the more struggling bank plays, with other banking companies in the same market cap range that are acting better from a stock price performance standpoint. Investors are none too happy, with BMO shares finishing down 7%. On the earnings front, investors cheered results from Oracle Corp ( ORCL ) and Accenture ( ACN ). These former recommendations are still on our radar and we are watching both stocks closely. Some investors were surprised there was no rebound today for credit card plays MasterCard ( MA ) and Visa ( V ) following yesterday’s big drop on debit card fee concerns. Looking ahead to next week, earnings will continue to be light, with notables such as Darden Restaurants ( DRI ), Nike ( NKE ) and Walgreen Co. ( WAG ) set to report. Be sure to catch up with our latest watchlist updates, including the new
Market Wrap-Up for Dec.3 (WAG, PVH, BTU, DD, COST, more)
With this morning’s jobs’ number worse than expected, we could likely see the Democrats and Republicans align on extending the “Bush Era” tax cuts. This could lead to the capital gains tax rates remaining the same, also good news for dividend payouts as well. Well-known bond guru Bill Gross of PIMCO was on the wires earlier, saying the Federal Reserve will likely be unable to raise interest rates for several years. Income investors will need to be alert to this continuing trend and look for the best investment vehicles that will take the place of savings accounts and CDs. The good news is you’ll need to look no further than dividend-paying stocks as a great source to help your current retirement/wealth goals. Taking a peek at today’s action, the averages were able to muster late gains following the weak monthly unemployment report. Phillips-Van Heusen ( PVH ) traded lower following the company’s earnings results. Safeway ( SWY ) was also lower on a negative analyst call. Walgreen Co. ( WAG ) was up on solid November sales data. Also higher were shares of Dupont ( DD ) and Peabody Energy ( BTU ), following bullish analyst commentary. Gold and oil prices pushed higher on the weak economic data from the morning as well. Looking ahead to next week, earnings will be continue to be light, with notables such as Costco ( COST ) and National Semiconductor ( NSM ) coming out with earnings results. Be sure to catch up with our latest watchlist updates, including the new reports on earnings/story stocks, analyst upgrades/downgrades and how those names performed on the week. All that will be available this weekend on Dividend.com Premium , and as always, you can view our current recommendations on our industry-leading Best Dividend Stocks List. Have a great weekend everybody, and thanks for reading! Be sure to visit our complete recommended list of the Best Dividend Stocks , as well as a detailed explanation of our ratings system here .
Market Wrap-Up for Nov.26 (FCX, MA, SPG, AEM, NEM, more)
The markets got off to a shaky start this morning as overseas markets were in worry mode about the tensions in the Korean peninsula, as well as the lingering economic concerns surrounding Ireland and possibly other European countries. The trading in the day after Thanksgiving is almost always on the light side as the equity markets closed early (1:00pm Est.). This was always a day I did very little on, but was a great day going through my accounts to make sure my positions were what I expected, and that I had not inadvertently made any transaction errors over the course of time. It happens to the best of investors, so be sure to double-check all your transactions every so often. Some of the names that pushed us lower today were Freeport McMoran ( FCX ), Mastercard ( MA ), PetroChina ( PTR ), and Simon Property Group ( SPG ). Gold-mining plays also lagged, with Agnico-Eagle Mines ( AEM ), and Newmont Mining ( NEM ) both lower. Del Monte Foods ( DLM ) bucked the early drop on news the company is going to be acquired. Private equity firms are continuing to make their moves. They will look geniuses if the equity markets hold up well, as the usual plan is to unlock hidden values and streamline operations in order to get the company ready for either a sale or IPO in due time. Looking ahead to next week, earnings will be extremely light, with notables such as Barnes & Noble ( BKS ) and Kroger ( KR ) coming out with earnings results. Be sure to catch up with our latest watchlist updates this weekend on Dividend.com Premium, and as always, you can view our current recommendations on our industry-leading Best Dividend Stocks List. Have a great weekend everybody, and thanks for reading! Be sure to visit our complete recommended list of the Best Dividend Stocks , as well as a detailed explanation of our ratings system here .
Market Wrap-Up for Nov.19 (NKE, WLT, CLF, WYNN, DIS, BA, more)
It’s been pretty amazing to see the trend of quick morning spikes, followed by 5-6 hours of a tight trading range whenever we get the triple digit gains on the Dow (which we saw again yesterday). This type of action certainly stirs the pot for market conspiracy theorists. We all know the Federal Reserve has been active in the financial markets with liquidity, so the action should not be too much of a shock. The key thing to watch is if the pattern starts to change. Here at Dividend.com, we’ve been able to successfully navigate through any sort of market environment as we look for the best dividend investment opportunities we can find. Investors need to focus on this area as well. There have been too many people that have remained on the sidelines for fear of the markets tumbling. Sitting in cash for long periods of time rarely makes for the best strategy. We’re certainly not known here as the most bullish of market pundits, but we don’t want investors to get hooked on trying to time the markets either. We still have a number of potential new recommendations we are eying, but also know that we may need to make changes to our current list if need be. As we look at today’s action, there were some well-known plays that powered higher, despite the sluggish averages. Nike ( NKE ), Wynn Resorts ( WYNN ), Walter Energy ( WLT ), and Cliffs Natural Resources ( CLF ) paced the gainers’ list. On the flipside, Disney ( DIS ) and Boeing ( BA ) were a couple of weak performers. Be sure to check out the “Market Themes” video for some notes on this week’s action and a look toward next week. Speaking of next week’s holiday-shortened trading, there will be fewer earnings on the board, but we will be getting reports from Deere ( DE ), Tiffany ( TIF ) and Analog Devices ( ADI ), to name a few. Be sure to catch up with our latest watchlist updates this weekend on Dividend.com Premium, and as always, you can view our current recommendations on our industry-leading Best Dividend Stocks List. Have a great weekend everybody, and thanks for reading! Be sure to visit our complete recommended list of the Best Dividend Stocks , as well as a detailed explanation of our ratings system here .