With yet another market runup seemingly losing its steam, a lot of folks are wondering, “Was that it? Did we just top?” But while most investors stress out over what the market’s doing, smart traders are attuned to the secret of making safe bets using alternative entry points. Here’s everything you need to know to buy stocks safely using alternative entry points…
GM to Sell Opel to Magna; U.S. Foreclosures Improve in August; Bank of England Holds Rates Steady; Emerging Market Stocks at Expensive Levels; U.K. Housing Prices Rise 0.8% in August; Turkey GDP Down 7% in 2Q; Suntory in Talks to Buy Drinkmaker Orangina.
With vacation season ending in the Northern Hemisphere, we’ll start to see analysis rooted in experience and common sense driving stock prices. Through much of the summer, trading has been dominated by “quant” funds that are prone to “garbage in, garbage out” decision systems. You can see it in the tick-by-tick movements and in Level 2 quotes. These quant funds typically use backward-looking data on the U.S. economy to drive trading decisions, rather than assess how the outlook for the global economy has changed in the wake of last fall’s panic.
When the credit markets froze solid last year, equities hit the skids, the economy tanked and so did the number of announced mergers and acquisitions (M&A).
The recent stock market rally may not be a bear-market trap or a “dead cat bounce,” but may in fact be the first signs of dust from an oncoming and unexpected bull stampede.
The tiny double bottom that occurred shortly after the close of Comex trading on Wednesday afternoon may have been the low in gold for this move. Both were ever so slightly below $900. From there, gold rose gradually until about an hour after the London a.m. gold fix on Thursday morning. Then it declined gently until shortly after the London p.m. fix was in. From there, away it went…until a not-for-profit seller showed up in after-hours Globex trading in New York and capped the little price spike that occurred at 3:30 p.m. New York time.
When Pfizer Inc. (PFE) unveiled a $68 billion buyout offer for U.S. rival Wyeth (WYE) last week, it sparked hopes that the deal might re-ignite the moribund merger market. But when the Wall Street dealmakers take a closer look, those flames will likely be doused in cold water.
If there’s a proverb that captures the outlook for the U.S. economy in the New Year, it’s the one that says: “It’s always darkest before the dawn.”
The once booming business of private equity faces an uncertain future. What’s not uncertain, however, is that many private equity deals are imploding from the weight of leveraged debt and greed. Inevitable bankruptcies will result in higher unemployment and a deeper recession.
Seemingly under the radar, China’s Shanghai Composite Index has risen 17.7% since Nov. 1. Specifically – and not coincidentally – the index began its rise Nov. 10, the day after Beijing announced an ambitious economic stimulus plan that will pour $585 billion into housing, water-and-energy projects, airports, disaster relief and railroad construction over the next two years.
