The centerpiece of President Trump’s tax plan is a 15 percent corporate tax rate. Republicans in Congress aren’t quite as aggressive. The House GOP plan envisions a 20 percent corporate tax rate, while Senate Republicans have yet to coalesce around a specific plan. Notwithstanding the absence of a unified approach, you would think that the stage is set for a big reduction in America’s anti-competitive corporate tax rate, which is the highest in the developed world (if not the entire world) and creates big disadvantages for American workers and companies. If only. While I am hopeful something will happen, there are lots of poten...
Today marked a very slow trading day on light volume. In tonight’s video let’s talk SNAP. If you want to trade this stock here are some tips that will save you money. Also, don’t expect the rest of the week to be slow. Here’s what to expect by Wednesday… Video Length: 00:07:10...
“The world would be better off if people tried to become better, And people would become better if they stopped trying to be better off. For when everyone tries to become better off, nobody is better off. But when everyone tries to become better, everyone is better off. Everybody would be rich if nobody tried to become richer. And nobody would be poor if everybody tried to be the poorest. And everybody would be what he ought to be if everybody tried to be what he wants the other fellow to be.” Peter Maurin As you may have heard a nor’easter will be blowing up the coast and through the northeastern US late tonight and tomor...
Interest rates are on the rise and Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) have been struggling. The iShares U.S. Real Estate ETF (IYR) has fallen nine straight days, the longest streak since its inception in 2000. If you listen to the pundits, they will tell you that rising rates are the culprit. You’ll often hear that higher interest rates are unquestionably bad for REITs. That may be the case in recent weeks, but if we look at the longer-term evidence, just how tied to interest rates are REIT returns? As it turns out, not as much as you might think. We have data on the FTSE/NAREIT U.S. Equity REIT Index going back to January 1972. Since t...
While researching a company today, I bumped into a chart that included the stock price and the average Wall Street price target (chart below). It provided me with a good early morning chuckle. I’m sure most of you have seen similar charts and have noticed the same thing. Specifically, Wall Street price targets are often highly correlated to stock prices. If a stock goes up, the price target goes up. If a stock goes down, the price target goes down. Tell me the price of a stock and I’ll tell you what Wall Street believes the company is worth. It’s a very reactive valuation process, and in my opinion, not a very accurate one. It’s one o...
SAN ANTONIO, March 13, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Payment Data Systems (Nasdaq:PYDS), an integrated electronic payment solutions provider, today announced that it has entered into a non-binding Letter of Intent to acquire Singular Payments, LLC (“Singular”). Singular Payments is a Fintech payments provider that relies upon innovative technology to process payments for merchants in healthcare and other niche verticals nationwide.Singular is primarily focused on custom software integrations of their flat rate payment processing offerings and their proprietary, simple-to-use electronic bill presentment and payment (EBPP) platform whic...
The bullion markets offer their own commentary about conservatives’ state of mind since Donald Trump’s election. They are optimistic for the first time in years. Just look at the sales statistics from the U.S. Mint. Bullion coin sales have fallen sharply as investors see less reason to seek safe haven in the form of physical metal. During Obama’s presidency, and during the campaign when it looked as if Hillary might succeed him, conservatives and libertarians aggressively bought American Eagle coins and other bullion products. The mint set new sales records nearly every year. The mindset that drove the retail buying changed in November....
Sterling enjoyed its strongest one-day rise versus the U.S. dollar in more than 2 weeks. According to an article in the Independent newspaper and a spokesman for U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May, Article 50 will not be triggered this week. In today’s vote, the House of Lords overwhelming opted to overturn the amendments to the Brexit bill. This sends the bill back to the House of Lords who are unlikely to reject the will of the people (although if they do we could see more back and forth). Once both Houses of Parliament agree on the language in the bill, it would be sent for Royal Assent and become law, whereby allowing May to trigger Articl...
What is this spreadsheet telling us? Among the major indexes, the large cap SPY has gained ground on the small caps, and that is often a sign of a weakening medium-term trend. It was just a couple weeks ago that IWM was the leader. Plus, these indexes are all skewed far right, and that usually indicates that the best time to buy has passed based on a risk-reward basis. The Sectors show the inflation-sensitive Energy and Materials shifting left, while the rate-sensitive financials are in the top spot. Plus, the mega-cap XLG is gaining strength meaning that investors are focusing on the slower growing companies with very strong balance sheets. ...
Written by Sean Mason Here’s some small stocks making big moves today, Monday, March 13, 2017 – and the reasons why. 1. The stock of DiaMedica Therapeutics Inc., (TSXV: DMA; OTCQB: DMCAF), a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company developing synthetic protein treatments for neurological and kidney diseases, has jumped 26% so far today (2:30PM) to $0.27 after announcing what it called “positive results” from its Phase Ib bridging trial. According to Dr. Todd Verdoorn, Chief Scientific Officer of DiaMedica, “We… have identified an intravenous dose of DM199 that mimics the currently approved version of the drug and ...