The market rallied strongly on the Fed's announcement today and shot up about 2.5%. The Fed, chaired by Bernanke, cut rates by one half point surprising Wall Street which only expected a quarter point cut.

To excerpt the Feds announcement: "Economic growth was moderate during the first half of the year, but the tightening of credit conditions has the potential to intensify the housing correction and to restrain economic growth more generally. Today's action is intended to help forestall some of the adverse effects on the broader economy that might otherwise arise from the disruptions in financial markets and to promote moderate growth over time."

The NYSE had volume of 3.6 billion shares with 3,013 shares advancing while 345 declined for a gain of 301.28 points to close at 9,909.03. On the NASDAQ, 2.1 billion shares traded, 2,359 advanced and 657 declined for a gain of 70.00 to 2,651.66.

Continue reading Fed Cut and Market Rap: MHP, INTC, CIT, BID & KR

Fed Cut and Market Rap: MHP, INTC, CIT, BID & KR originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 18 Sep 2007 18:05:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Fifteen stocks have been reviewed, fifteen to go to complete the Dow Jones Industrials whittling. Of the first fifteen, five will be looked at again as possible value plays: Alcoa Aluminum (NYSE: AA), American International Group (NYSE: AIG), Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE: CAT), Disney (Walt) Company (NYSE: DIS) and Exxon Mobil (NYSE: XOM) . You can link to Part 1 of this series or Part 2 or Part 3 if you want to catch up. Comments are always welcome; on to the next five...

General Motors (NYSE: GM) has practically returned from the dead rising about 100% from it's lows 18 months ago, and it was the number one performing Dow stock last year. That's wonderful for shareholders and the UAW and the managers that steered the ship. Looking at it today as a stock investment I think it would take too much speculation to be an investor. I have no idea whether GM will produce some great car designs that will be appealing to future customers or whether they will effectively compete in the marketplace against worthy alternatives. I have no idea what will happen in UAW contract negotiations. When I look at the metrics it is a mess. All I can say is that for me GM stands for "Giant Mystery," and let others wiser than I support the shares.

Continue reading Serious Money: Whittling away at the Dow - GM, HPQ, HD, HON, & INTC: Part 4

Serious Money: Whittling away at the Dow - GM, HPQ, HD, HON, & INTC: Part 4 originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 01 Jun 2007 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Once again the Dow is up and the NASDAQ is down. Yesterday I posted Dow up, NASDAQ down -- the run to quality continues and today it looks like more of the same. The Dow closed at 13,383.84, up 37.06, and the NASDAQ closed down 21.15 to 2,525.29.

Although the Dow was up, my own portfolios had more losers than winners, even though I do not have many tech or internet plays. The good thing about that: I may be able to pick up some stocks that are on my watch list that have been just out of the range but now look like more of a bargain. Value investors should all be doing the same thing; watch your watch list and, if you do not have one, create one.

I think it is not just Dow stocks that did well, but also very large companies that are doing better. While the Dow consists of large cap dividend-paying companies, it also includes two NASDAQ stocks: Intel Corp (INTC), down $0.11 to $22.01, and Microsoft Corp. (MSFT), up $0.03 to $30.90, so even that presents a mixed message.

If I was an analyst I would be writing that this market; with each of the indices heading down a different path; is in search of some 'leadership' or 'conviction'. In the absence of such we are drifting and muddling along without a rudder. To me that is another indication that things may be topped out. Still, I maintain that all that is just Wall Street lingo, and I am not an analyst, so I say just stick to watching stocks one by one strictly investing on a fundamental basis.

Those of you who are new to BloggingStocks can check out my other stories and read Chasing Value or Serious Money to find more potential opportunities and verify my track record as well.

Sheldon Liber is the CEO of a small private investment company and the vice president for design and research at an architecture & planning firm. Check out his other posts for BloggingStocks here.

Closing bell or warning bell -- it tolls for thee! originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 15 May 2007 21:06:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Each passing generation seems to accept a greater level of intrusion into its life. When George Orwell wrote 1984, most people were aghast at the level of scrutiny by "Big Brother"-- this doesn't seem to be the case anymore! We accept that cameras follow us all day long, our email is screened and our wireless communications are not protected by the constitution. We accept that the president does not need a warrant to tap our phones if he thinks we are a risk to national security, or even just says so ... or perhaps we do not accept that last.

Our great grandchildren will have access to information about us that will give them insights never before imaginable. They will understand what made us tick better than ever before. There will certainly be internet archaeologists. They exist now, but they're called data miners.

Some day soon you may have an internet memory chip in your head that is installed at birth, giving you instant access to all data ever created -- a real memory chip. As scary as it sounds, it may be coming. Each generation accepts a greater level of techno insidiousness; just look at all the people happy to have a phone sticking out of their heads. Perhaps people will first have cell phones implanted in their heads before memory chips. Not only will it happen, but future generations will ask their grandparents why they wouldn't want such a thing.

Continue reading Brain chip implants coming to a generation near you?

Brain chip implants coming to a generation near you? originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 07 May 2007 13:35:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.