Totally Free Market Analysis.com

Updated News on the Market

Weekly Update 9/11/09

Well, it looks like the stock market forgot to take a holiday this last week. The S&P was up 2.6% by weeks end and now its up 54.4% since the low in March.

The Federal Reserve reported that consumer credit dropped $21 billion back in July which is not good. So far we are looking at 6 straight drops in credit. Our trade deficit rose to $32 billion. The Cash for Clunkers program helped jump auto exports 24.5% and imports rose by 21.5%.

It is getting close the to end of Corporate earnings season. 75% of S&P 500 companies have gone above analysts' Q2 earnings predictions.

Totally Free Market Analysis.com

Totally Free Market Analysis.com

Updated News on the Market

Weekly Update 9/4/09

Great news even thought the S&P was off 1.7% this week, but the index has risen 52% since the low back in the first part of March. We are starting to see some signs of recovery and manufacturing and housing numbers are gaining momentum. The commerce Dept. reports that factory order rose 1.3% by the end of the second quarter. Pending home sales index increased by 3.2% as well. Good news, we had the largest increase in residential spending in four years.
New claims for jobless workers fell 4,000 down now to 570,000 by the end of August. Total unemployment rate is near 9.7% and avg hourly earnings bumped 2.6% (thanks min wage).

Totally Free Market Analysis.com

Totally Free Market Analysis.com

Updated News on the Market

Weekly Update 7/31/09

Really good news for the stock market, this marked the third
straight week with a gain.  The S&P was ahead even though its
slight gain 0.86% was small, was still positive.  Its gain
over the past two weeks was 4.1% and 7%.  The S&P 500 Index closed at 987.48 on July 31, a level last
exceeded on Nov. 4, 2008, the day of the presidential election.

Bloomberg reported that about 75% of S&P 500 companies have exceeded
analysts' second-quarter earnings forecasts. If the trend continues, it would
represent the best performance of companies exceeding analyst expectations since
Bloomberg began keeping records in 1993. The data also revealed that companies
have beaten forecasts by an average of 9%, even as earnings declined 31%.

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Weekly Update 6/26/09

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The S&P 500 Index fell again for the second week in a row, down -0.20%.

This small fall could be just a small break in the rally or a foreshadow of a start os summer sell-off, still too close to call. We continue to get mixed positive and negative economic news almost on a daily basis. There does however seem to be some positive results from our government's effort to stablize things.

On a good note, the was a increase of 2.4% in exisiting home sales as reported by the National Association of Realtors. There is now only a 9 1/2 month supply of unsold existing homes vice the 11.3 month supply from November of last year.

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Second Principle of Stock Market Investing

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Plan your stock market analysis attack with a
three step process:  G.Q.V

1. Growth Potential


2. Quality Company


3. Value Priced

Growth Potential

This is the place to start when beginning your research for a company or
product to invest in.  Normally the basis for growth is the potential
for an increase in sales and revenue.  Companies that do well in these
two areas and usually rewarded with higher share prices.  Sometimes a
solid history of growth could mean that a company is headed in the right
direction.  You can obtain reports about a public company's earnings
every quarter and a proposed EPS, or earnings per share.  Another great
place for your research is the web at several different sites:
MSN Money,
Sharebuilder,
Yahoo Finance.

Quality Company

A quality company is one that is built on strong principles and has a
strong drive to become profitable.  How a company does against its
competitors will show you well that company is performing and will perform. 
If the company sells a product, how well is that product branded and what
market share does it control.  Another good way to evaluate that
company is to see if it has generated a strong return for its shareholders
in the past.  Look for the leaders of the pack.

Value Priced

The starting point on this part is to look at a company's P/E or
price/earning ratio.  The is defined as a comparison of the stock price
to its earnings.  Basically it is how much you are paying for a dollar
of a company's earnings.  You can take a historical look at past P/E
ratios to determine what the current stock value is based in today's
dollars.  You could also compare the P/E ratio of competitor stocks to
see where the one you are looking at stacks up.  A good practice is to
look at the earnings per share growth rate to the P/E ratio.  If the
P/E ratio is under or near the EPS growth rate, it could possibly signal a
good value to buy. 

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Weekly Update 6/17/09

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It looks like the over all market is actually up 0.7% as of last weeks end. The largest news is that oil prices are up to levels from last October 2008. Oil prices are up to around $72 a barrel with a possible rise in oil demand.

Not much new news this week as well. Exports declined quicker than imports with a trade deficit increase by 2.2%. Good news is that retail sales rose for the first time in three months last May. Jobless claims were at the lowest levels in Jan 09, but continue to climb currently to just under 7 million.

First quarter earnings for the S&P Index companies fell almost 40% from 2008 Q1. Companies’ new challenges are to regain profitability. The Labor Department reported that there was an increase of 1.6% of non-farm business productivity. However, most of this increase can be due to the reduction of companies’ work forces.
So far March 9th looks like to be very near the bottom of the bear market and some may consider profit taking at the market has climbed back up to present levels.

Overall debt is still a major driving force behind the current crisis and we need to maintain caution. GDP may still be lower than the past few years. Asset diversification and proper allocation still remains to be the key investing strategy in weathering this stock market.

- written by Bob Feazall

First Principle of Stock Market Investing

Totally Free Market Analysis.com

The first principle of stock market investing is that it is definitely not like a casino. The market does not act like a place where people who are "lucky” get huge rewards for little or no effort. In a casino, you can make “some” calculated plays, but everyone knows that after a length of time, the HOUSE wins. This is not true with the stock market. In the stock market, people can use all type of research, news, and current economy conditions to make well informed and sound investment decisions.

Try and think of stock market investing like planting a flower or a tree. You take all sorts of steps to pick the right seed/sapling, one that you will be proud to see grow. The type of plant is important, does it need sunlight, lots of water, shade, or a certain soil type. You must choose carefully where your want your plant to grow. You feel assured that if you have made solid preparations, that you will be rewarded with something beautiful to look at. The same thing goes for building, ie growing a large and beautiful stock portfolio.

Stock market investors plan their portfolios in this manner. They have learned that over the years, consistency is the key ingredient to being successful. Contributing from your savings on a usual schedule and continuing to invest in up or down markets will prove triumphant.

Now, investing on these proven concepts does not seem as exhilarating as winning it big at the casino with no effort, but you will be far better off with much lower overall risk and a larger reward.

Take a look at the other principles on this website to learn (plan your planting) about where to invest your hard earned dollar.