Shares of Bank of America (NYSE: BAC ) are surging today following a drop in mortgage rates and a better-than-expected June jobs report. With two hours left in the trading session, the nation's second largest bank by assets is up by 1.48%, narrowly underperforming the broader sector's KBW Bank Index (DJINDICES: ^BKX ) , which is higher by 1.94%.
The recent talk in the market has pivoted around one thing: the Federal Reserve. At the end of May, Fed chairman Ben Bernanke intimated that the central bank could soon begin to reduce its support for the economy, which currently consists of $85 billion in bond purchases a month. The consequences would be higher long-term interest rates, lower bond prices, and presumably depressed stock prices as well, given that investors seeking yield would flood back into fixed-income securities.
In fact, we've already seen many of these come to fruition. Interest rates on the 10-year Treasury have climbed by more than 100 basis points since the end of April. Mortgage rates shot up from less than 3.5% to roughly 4.3% today. And the S&P 500 has fallen by nearly 3% since Bernanke's first announcement.
Top 10 Beverage Companies For 2015: Ishares Trust Dow Jones United States Financial (IYG)
iShares Dow Jones U.S. Financial Services Index Fund (the Fund) seeks investment results that correspond generally to the price and yield performance of the Dow Jones U.S. Financial Services Index (the Index). The Index measures the performance of the financial services sector of the United States equity market and is a subset of the Dow Jones U.S. Financials Index. The Index includes companies in sectors, such as banks and investment management/brokers.
The Fund invests in a representative sample of securities included in the Index that collectively has an investment profile similar to the Index. The Fund�� investment advisor is Barclays Global Fund Advisors.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Mary Anne & Pamela Aden]
So, for now, the US stock market is the best overall market. So continue holding the stocks you have, which are mostly doing very well. If you want to buy new positions and increase your stock allocation, the following ETFs are among the strongest ETFs, and we recommend them for purchase: SPDR KBW Bank (KBE)
Consumer Discretionary SPDR (XLY)
Merrill Lynch Retail HOLDRS (RTH)
iShares Dow Jones US Financial Service (IYG)
PowerShares Dynamic Leisure & Entertainment (PEJ)
Subscribe to The Aden Forecast here��/P>
Top 5 Companies To Buy Right Now: Mastercard Incorporated(MA)
MasterCard Incorporated, together with its subsidiaries, provides transaction processing and related services to customers principally in support of their credit, deposit access, electronic cash and automated teller machine payment card programs, and travelers? cheque programs. Its payment solutions include payment programs, marketing, product development, technology, processing, and consulting and information services. The company provides transaction processing services comprising transaction switching, which include authorization, clearing, and settlement; connectivity services, such as network access, equipment, and the transmission of authorization and settlement messages; and other payment-related services consisting of products used to prevent or detect fraudulent transactions, cardholder services, professional consulting and research services, compliance and penalty, account and transaction enhancement services, holograms, and publication services. MasterCard Incor porated manages and licenses payment card brands, including MasterCard, MasterCard Electronic, Maestro, and Cirrus. The company?s payment programs, which are facilitated through its brands, include consumer credit, debit and prepaid programs, commercial payment solutions, and contactless payment solutions. It serves approximately 22,000 financial institutions. The company was founded in 1966 and is headquartered in Purchase, New York.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Mani]
MasterCard Incorporated (NYSE: MA) will release its third-quarter financial results on�Oct.31. The company will host a conference call to discuss these results at�9:00 a.m.�Eastern Time.
- [By Ben Levisohn]
Leave to MasterCard (MA) to undo all the good work Visa (V) did yesterday.
ASSOCIATED PRESSShares of MasterCard dropped 5% to $75.68 today after reporting earnings that missed analyst forecasts. Its miss also dragged down Visa, which fell 2.5% to $215.43, American Express (AXP), which declined 1.9% to $85.02 and Discover Financial Services (DFS), which closed down 2.1% at $53.65.
That’s in sharp contrast to yesterday, when Visa rose 1.7% after beating earnings, lifting MasterCard, American Express and Discover Financial Services with it.
The Wall Street Journal has the details on MasterCard’s earnings:
The Purchase, N.Y., company posted a profit of $623 million, or 52 cents a share, up from $605 million, or 49 cents a share, a year earlier. Both periods reflect the company’s 10-for-1 stock split, which MasterCard announced late last year.
Revenue climbed 12% to $2.13 billion, boosted by a 13% increase in processed transactions and a 18% jump in cross-border volume, which measures payments made in one country with a card issued by a bank in another country.
The results fell short of analyst estimates that called for the company to earn 60 cents a share on $2.14 billion in revenue.
Jefferies’ Jason Kupferberg and team recommend buying the dip:
The notoriously lumpy rebates line was even higher than expected in 4Q, which spoiled an otherwise generally solid 4Q. Opex and other expense (JV losses) also weighed a little on EPS, and while the optics of [a MasterCard] miss ($0.57 vs. JEFe/Str.= $0.60) for the first time in a while are causing shares to sell off…our initial look at the print shows no reason for significant concern; we view the pullback as an especially good buying opportunity.
Is anyone buying?
Top 5 Companies To Buy Right Now: MicroChannel Technologies Corp (MCTC)
MicroChannel Technologies Corporation, incorporated on February 28, 2005, is a development-stage company. The Company is focused on the identification, acquisition, and development of new and potentially commercial opportunities.
As of August 31, 2013, the Company is not engaged in any business operations. As of August 31, 2013, the Company had no revenues.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Peter Graham]
Small cap stocks Bonamour Inc (OTCBB: BONI), Firstin Wireless Technology Inc (OTCMKTS: FINW) and Microchannel Technologies Corp (OTCBB: MCTC) have been attracting attention from variosu investment newsletters lately with at least two of these stocks being the subject of paid promotions. Of course, there is nothing wrong with properly disclosed paid promotions or investor relation types of activities as its up to investors and traders alike to do their due diligence. So how hot are these small cap stocks? Here is a quick reality check that might cool your appetite:
Top 5 Companies To Buy Right Now: UnitedHealth Group Incorporated(UNH)
UnitedHealth Group Incorporated provides healthcare services in the United States. Its Health Benefits segment offers consumer-oriented health benefit plans and services to national employers, public sector employers, mid-sized employers, small businesses, and individuals; and non-employer based insurance options for purchase by individuals. It also provides health and well-being services for individuals aged 50 and older; and for services dealing with chronic disease and other specialized issues for older individuals, as well as health plans for the beneficiaries of acute and long-term care Medicaid plans. This segment offers its services through a network of 730,000 physicians and other health care professionals, and 5,300 hospitals. Its OptumHealth segment provides health, financial, and ancillary services and products that assist consumers through personalized health management solutions; benefit administration, and clinical and network management; health-based financi al services; behavioral solutions; and specialty benefits, such as dental, vision, life, critical illness, short-term disability, and stop-loss product offerings. The company?s Ingenix segment offers database and data management services, software products, publications, consulting and actuarial services, business process outsourcing services, and pharmaceutical data consulting and research services. Its Prescription Solutions segment provides integrated pharmacy benefit management services comprising retail network pharmacy contracting and management, claims processing, mail order pharmacy services, specialty pharmacy, benefit design consultation, rebate contracting and management, drug utilization review, formulary management programs, disease therapy management, and adherence programs to employer groups, union trusts, managed care organizations, Medicare-contracted plans, Medicaid plans, and third party administrators. The company was founded in 1974 and is based in Minne tonka, Minnesota.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Sean Williams]
Perhaps no name stands out more in this process than Quality Software Systems, which was awarded a $55 million contract in 2011 to develop the federal data services hub that'll be responsible for certifying health plans being offered and ensuring they remain within compliance. The interesting thing worth noting here is that UnitedHealth Group (NYSE: UNH ) subsidiary Optum actually purchased Quality Software Systems in 2012. This means a subsidiary of the largest health insurer in the country is helping develop the software that'll house health-benefits data.
- [By Jon C. Ogg]
UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE: UNH) saw more give-back on earnings. This is the largest health insurance provider out there and it is hard to imagine that things would have been great with the healthcare initiative being such a blunder. Shares were down by 2.2% at $73.14 right before the closing bell on Thursday.
- [By Dan Caplinger]
On Thursday, the Dow Jones Industrials (DJINDICES: ^DJI ) rose 32 points, falling just short of setting another new high. Still, the Dow managed to do much better than the rest of the stock market, as both the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq lost ground on the day. A large set of earnings reports last night and this morning added volatility on several fronts, as a mixed earnings season begins to draw to a close. Within the Dow, though, Merck (NYSE: MRK ) and UnitedHealth Group (NYSE: UNH ) were the biggest decliners on the day.
- [By Sean Williams]
UnitedHealth Group (NYSE: UNH ) , the nation's largest health-care provider, for instance, has plans to hire close to 600 people in the Carolinas alone, with a good chunk of that hiring being nurses and nurse practitioners. These health-benefits organizations aren't hiding the fact that Obamacare will keep them busy, which should give colleges and the public a clue to start thinking in terms of nursing degrees.�
No comments:
Post a Comment