Catatonic
If there’s one thing – – just one thing – – to remember as we move through 2018, it is this: bull markets die on good news, not bad news. With all the sunshine and flowers kicking around – -massive tax cuts, bonuses being handed out to American workers by the truckload, worldwide peace, and even […]
3M Beats Q4 Earnings On Organic Growth, Guides Up
Driven by broad-based organic growth across all segments and geographies, 3M Company (MMM – Free Report) reported strong fourth-quarter 2017 results with healthy year-over-year increase in adjusted earnings and revenues. GAAP earnings for the reported quarter were $523 million or 85 cents per share compared with $1,155 million or $1.88 per share in the year-earlier quarter. The year-over-year decline […]
A New Record For The Stock Market
It’s been more than 19 months since the last 5% dip in the S&P 500 Index. That’s a new record. This is just the sixth time we’ve gone more than a year without a 5% correction. The previous record of 394 days ended in July 1996. That was at the beginning of one of the […]
November New Home Sales Down 9.3% In December
This morning’s release of the December New Home Sales from the Census Bureau came in at 625K, down 9.3% month-over-month from a revised 689K in November. Seasonally adjusted estimates back to September were also revised. The Investing.com forecast was for 676K. Here is the opening from the report: Sales of new single-family houses in December 2017 were […]
Another Positive Year Ahead For Gold, Says The World Gold Council
In a year when the S&P 500 hit all-time highs, gold also held strong, finishing 2017 up 13.5 percent, according to the World Gold Council. Gold’s annual gain was the largest since 2010, outperforming all major asset classes other than stocks. Contributing to this gain was a weaker U.S. dollar, stock indices hitting new highs and geopolitical […]
Swissy Surges After SNB Signals “Intervention” Needed
The Swiss Franc is surging this morning against the dollar and euro following comments by the SNB President on FX intervention. Notably Jordan’s comments come as EURCHF nears its pre-peg-break “carnage” levels. Swiss National Bank President Thomas Jordan says interventions needed for adequate monetary conditions, according to interview with CNBC… and that sparked a plunge in EURCHF […]
Biogen Q4 Earnings Miss, Sales Top, 2018 View Upbeat
Biogen Inc. (BIIB – Free Report) reported fourth-quarter 2017 earnings per share of $5.26, which missed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $5.44 by 3.3%. Earnings, however, rose 4% year over year as higher revenues made up for higher operating costs. Sales came in at $3.31 billion, up 15% from the year-ago period. Sales also surpassed the Zacks Consensus […]
3 Examples Of Consumer Brand Destruction
One of the few durable long-term competitive advantages a company can build over its competitors is developing a CONSUMER BRAND INTANGIBLE ASSET. A strong consumer brand represents a statement of value to customers. It allows a company to focus all of its efforts – marketing, product development, business strategies – around its brand. It sets […]
5 Affordable Market-Beating Stocks With Dividend Growth
Although rising rates and a skyrocketing stock market have dulled the attractiveness for dividend stocks, Trump’s biggest tax overhaul in decades is luring investors to these. This is because lower corporate taxes would boost companies’ profitability leading to fatty dividends and in turn outperformance of stocks having a history of dividend growth year over year. […]
Euro Spikes As Market Unimpressed With Draghi FX Remarks
Ok, so Mario Draghi is of course on the tape and the FX market is watching this closely because, well, because the euro has continued to surge in the new year thanks to a confluence of factors including, but not limited to, upbeat data, hawkish minutes from the ECB’s December meeting, news that China may […]
