Latest Posts

  • Entertainment 0

    Dividend Smackdown: Microsoft Vs. ExxonMobil

    Big-tech behemoth Microsoft Corporation (MSFT) leapfrogged ExxonMobil Corporation (XOM) last week to become the second-largest company in the world by market cap. MSFT stock weighs in at a valuation of $405 billion compared to $402 billion for XOM stock. Both still have a long way to go before catching up with Apple Inc.’s (AAPL) world-leading $671 billion market cap, but the reversal is telling. Just a year ago, Exxon was considered the bluest of blue chips, and Microsoft was a tech dinosaur that had been left in the dust by Apple, Google (GOOG) and others. But today, with crude oil prices in freefall and with Microsoft resurgent under CEO...
    On November 21, 2014 / By
  • Entertainment 0

    Chart Of The Day: Validus Holdings

    The Chart of the Day belongs to Validus Holdings (NYSE:VR). I found the stock by sorting the All Time High list for the best Barchart technical buy signals then used the Flipchart feature to review the charts. Since the Trend Spotter signaled a buy on 9/26 the stock gained 4.09%. Validus Holdings, Ltd., through its principal operating subsidiary Validus Reinsurance, Ltd., is a global provider of short-tail lines of reinsurance including property catastrophe, property pro-rata and property per risk, marine and energy, and other specialty lines. Validus was formed in December following the significant natural catastrophes of 2005 with an experi...
    On November 21, 2014 / By
  • Entertainment 0

    What Record Stock Buybacks Say About Economic Growth

    For all the obfuscation surrounding the topic of stock buybacks and corporations returning record amounts of cash to their shareholders, the bottom line is as simple as it gets. This is what you are taught in CFO 101 class: if you see organic growth opportunities for your business, or if you want to maintain the asset quality generating your cash flows, you invest in (either maintenance or growth) capex. if there are no such opportunities, you return cash to investors (or, maybe spend a little on M&A unless you are Valeant (VRX) in which case you spend everything and then much more). That’s it. Well, based on this shocking chart fro...
    On November 21, 2014 / By
  • Entertainment 0

    Easy Money, Slower Growth: The Growing Disconnect Between Stock Markets And Economies

    Promises of additional monetary easing measures seem to arrive on a weekly basis, providing a boost to share prices globally as investors are encouraged to take on more risk. At the same time, we’re seeing increasing signs of a global slowdown. History has taught us that the “stock market is not the economy.” We are seeing perhaps the most extreme example of this today. Global Easing China is the latest country to join the global easing party, lowering its one-year benchmark deposit rate by 25 basis points to 2.75%. Back in June, the ECB moved to negative interest rates. Mario Draghi is ramping up his “whatever it takes” rhetor...
    On November 21, 2014 / By
  • Entertainment 0

    Gold Daily And Silver Weekly Charts – Comex Option Expiration Monday

    Next week will be a short trading week because of the US Thanksgiving holiday. Monday will be the last Comex option expiration for the year, for the December contract. We may wish to brace for shenanigans. We are reaching a more critical point in the markets, but do not, absolutely do not, expect this to be easy.   The big changes come when we least expect them, and then as a thief in the night. Betting on short timeframes with leveraged bets is a losing trade 99 times out of 100. And if you hit it big one time, you may chase that adrenalin high again and again, until you are exhausted by the time things really break your way. Gold and silv...
    On November 21, 2014 / By
  • Entertainment 0

    Kendall Jenner Opens Up About Distancing Herself From Her Famous Family, Focusing On Her Modeling Career

    Kendall Jenner is trying to distance herself from her famous Kardashian/Jenner family in an effort to make it as a serious model. Jenner, 19, spoke to ABC’s “Nightline,” where she admitted that she’s trying to make a name for herself despite being a part of a family that is in the news constantly and in tabloid magazines. “I’m not trying to use a family or anything,” Jenner said. “In reality, I worked pretty hard for this … It wasn’t like I just got it magically and it just happened.” According to Yahoo, Jenner’s hard work has definitely paid off. The young model was name...
    On November 17, 2014 / By
  • Technology 0

    NASA eyes revolutionary aircraft wing technology

    Scientists at NASA are testing a new aircraft wing surface capable of changing shape during flight, which aims to make airliners quieter and significantly boost fuel efficiency. Researchers have replaced an airplane’s traditional aluminum flaps with “shape-changing assemblies” that can form bendable and twistable surfaces, according to NASA. “Flight testing will determine whether flexible trailing-edge wing flaps are a viable approach to improve aerodynamic efficiency and reduce noise generated during takeoffs and landings,” it said, in a statement. Part of a research project called Adaptive Compliant Trailing Edge (ACTE), which inv...
    On November 12, 2014 / By
  • Entertainment 0

    Mercury Prize 2014: Young Fathers win

    Edinburgh-based hip-hop trio Young Fathers have won the 2014 Barclaycard Mercury Prize for the best British or Irish record of the last 12 months. Their record, Dead, beat 11 other albums from acts including Damon Albarn, Bombay Bicycle Club and bookmakers’ favourite, FKA Twigs. “We’ll take it in our stride,” said band member Graham ‘G’ Hastings. “We always wanted to make something bigger than the city we were living in.” The winner of the £20,000 prize was announced by DJ Nick Grimshaw at the Roundhouse in north London. In a brief acceptance speech, the band’s Alloysious Massaquoi said s...
    On October 30, 2014 / By
  • Real Estate 0

    Six Ways to Free Up Land for Desperately Needed Housing

    Perfectly good lots aren’t being developed for homes, even though hundreds of millions of people worldwide live in homes that are unsafe, inadequate, or barely affordable, says a new report by McKinsey Global Institute. Even in densely populated New York City, the report says, one of every 10 acres of land zoned for residential development is vacant. “Unlocking land supply at the right location is the most critical step in providing affordable housing,” the report’s authors write. Land may be cheap and plentiful in rural areas, but in the cities that the world is flocking to it’s “not uncommon” for land costs to exceed 40 percen...
    On October 25, 2014 / By
  • Finance 0

    Market turmoil: Gift for mortgage refinancers?

    A sudden plunge in mortgage rates this week raised an urgent question for millions of Americans: Should I refinance my mortgage? Across the country, homeowners and would-be homeowners eager for a bargain rate fired off inquiries to lenders. The opportunity emerged from the tumult that seized financial markets and sent stock prices and bond yields tumbling. Rates on long-term mortgages tend to track the 10-year Treasury yield, which fell below 2% for the first time since May 2013. Accordingly, the average rate for a 30-year fixed mortgage, mortgage giant Freddie Mac reported, dipped below 4% to 3.97% — a tantalizing figure. As recently as Ja...
    On October 20, 2014 / By