First things first: You won't find any stock or ETF recommendations in this column. There's no shortage of advice on the hot investments for the coming year during the holiday season. But as far as I'm concerned, the best financial moves you can make -- and need to make ASAP -- aren't about the outlook for corporate earnings growth or capitalizing on geopolitical trends. Far more important is how good a job you're doing at taking the best care possible of yourself and your family. Here's my checklist of must-do items for 2007. read more?
We've all been waiting on the edge of our collective seat for the first bumptious, exciting and far-reaching strategic move from Alan Mulally, the airplane man who was appointed CEO of Ford (F) amid a business media pant-and-squeal attack.
And the move is? He created a post. That's right, folks, a post, a product of his sweeping "flatter management" approach. Holy '90s flashback, Batman. That sound you hear echoing from Michigan to Wall Street is expectations falling with a clank. read more?
NEW YORK (AP) -- Lehman Brothers and Bear Stearns sent a not-so-subtle message to Wall Street on Thursday when announcing 2006 results -- the word "record" appears a combined 37 times in their earnings reports. Surging stock and bond markets, coupled with an unprecedented level of takeover activity, has turned the big investment houses into corporate cash machines. It is also delivering stratospheric bonuses to top employees, with Goldman Sachs Group Inc. doling out a staggering $16 billion this year. read more?
Dow closes at new high; profit outlooks overshadow oil
NEW YORK (MarketWatch) - U.S. stocks closed sharply higher Thursday, with the Dow Jones Industrials Average setting a record close, after positive forecasts from some household names helped investors shrug off an upcoming cut in oil output.
Gains in energy shares lent support, after crude spiked above $62 a barrel as the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries confirmed it will cut output by another half a million a barrels a day starting Feb. 1. See full story. read more?
NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- U.S. stocks closed lower Tuesday, after the Federal Reserve noted a "substantial cooling" in the housing market but also kept its emphasis on inflation fighting in the statement accompanying its decision to leave interest rates unchanged. While some market participants hoped the Fed might open the door for eventual rate cuts next year, policymakers maintained a bias towards more tightening as they still see inflation as a risk. See full story. read more?
SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Money managers who own shares of Apple Computer Inc. -- and the Wall Street analysts who follow the company -- believe firmly that Chief Executive Steve Jobs has more iPod magic up his sleeve. That faith in Jobs as a consumer-product visionary has helped drive Apple's stock price up 76% from its mid-July lows. Its shares closed Friday not far from the all-time high of $93.16 they touched Nov. 27.
Yet even those who are bullish on prospects for the technology giant say Apple's reliance on its handheld music player to power sales and profit growth cannot sustain it forever. "We believe Apple needs to find new areas of growth," wrote Caris & Co. analyst Shebly Seyrafi in a Thursday note to clients. read more?
NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- U.S. stocks closed higher Friday, posting a weekly gain, as investors digested a slightly stronger-than-expected November jobs report, and with investors buying recently battered shares in the technology sector. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 29 points to close at 12,307. For the week, the blue-chips average rose 113 points, or 1%, marking its first weekly gain in three weeks.
Citigroup Inc. was the biggest gainer among blue chips Friday, advancing 2.3%. Acording to Richard Bove, analyst at Punk Ziegel & Co., the stock moved on rumors that the bank will announce the spin-off of large portions of its business next week and that Al de Molina, the departing chief financial officer of Bank of America Corp. , will replace Charles Prince as chief executive of Citigroup. Bove called both rumors "nutty". read more?
U.S. stocks close higher as data show growth, low inflation
NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- U.S. stocks closed higher on Tuesday after data showed service-sector growth improving in November, while inflation was weaker than expected in the third quarter, fueling hopes of a soft landing for the U.S. economy. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 47 points to close at 12,331, just off its intraday high of 12,335 and slightly below its all-time closing high of 12,342. Coca Cola Co. was the biggest gainer among blue chips, rising 2.5% to $48, a 2 1/2-year high, after Merrill Lynch raised its price target on the stock to $51 from $48. The S&P 500 Index rose 5 points to 1,414, and the Nasdaq Composite Index gained 4 points to 2,452. read more?
Slumping Yahoo Inc. to Undergo Biggest Shake-Up in More Than 5 Years SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- Yahoo Inc. will undergo its most extensive shake-up in more than five years, hoping to snap out of a malaise that has ravaged its stock and provoked one of its own top executives to bluntly question the Internet powerhouse's direction. Under the overhaul announced late Tuesday, Yahoo vowed to rein in a sometimes-rambling product expansion that has bogged down its earnings growth and threatened its position as the Internet's most popular site as more buzz built up around upstarts like MySpace and YouTube.
The streamlining will bunch Yahoo's disparate operations into three core groups focused on its Web site's audience, advertising network and technology. As part of the reorganization, Yahoo Chief Financial Officer Susan Decker will assume an even more prominent management role and Dan Rosensweig, the company's chief operating officer, will be shown the door in March when the makeover is expected to be completed. read more?
$16.5 billion deal between custodian firm will create 11th largest financial firm
NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- Investors cheered Monday's $16.5 billion merger agreement between Bank of New York Co. and Mellon Financial Corp. that ranks as the largest marriage of asset managers and creates the nation's No. 1 custodial bank. News of the deal, which will also create the 11th largest financial institution in the U.S., was the latest sign of a pickup in industry consolidation and it lifted shares across the banking sector. Custodial banks handle account and transaction paperwork for financial institutions, and also, in a growing business, provide clients with services like securities lending. read more?
NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- U.S. stocks were trading higher on Monday, as positive momentum from a flurry of mergers, including a mega deal in the banking sector, offset bad news for Pfizer Inc. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 69 points at 12,262. Pfizer fell 11% after news it halted development of a once-promising cholesterol drug. But the impact on the blue-chip average was offset by a spate of mergers, especially news that Bank of New York Co. agreed to buy Mellon Financial Corp. to create a $43 billion giant ranked as the world's largest custodian of financial assets. read more?
Since the 2000 tech crash, large-cap growth stocks have lagged their counterparts by historic proportions. Time to buy. Big earnings boosts. Big market valuation increases. Big price/earnings multiples. Big futures. That's what large growth stocks are all about. But these issues also are big on volatility. They have this Icarus-like trait of flying high, then plunging. Lately, however, they are showing signs of heading up once again. If so, now is a good time to get back in, while large growth shares are still relatively cheap. read more?
Market volatility to remain amid jobs, manufacturing data
SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- U.S. stocks are expected to remain choppy next week as investors look to key employment and manufacturing reports to determine whether the economy is headed for a recession next year. "Volatility is...going to be one of the hallmarks," of the coming trading sessions, said John Caldwell, investment strategist at McDonald Financial Group. The market's tone has been set by this week's reports of the first contraction in the manufacturing sector since April 2003. read more?
WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) -- The weakening data could soon force the Federal Reserve to change its tune and acknowledge that an economic slump is as big a risk as a sustained breakout in inflation. "The mounting evidence that growth has slowed further in the fourth quarter is bolstering the case that the next Fed move will be a rate cut -- perhaps as early as the first quarter," wrote Nigel Gault, chief U.S. economist for Global Insight, in his weekly note to clients. read more?
