Monday, March 12, 2012

March 12, 2012 - Monday's Weekly Links

Here's this past weeks "great reads" in my opinion:

"Tech Stocks Slip as Zynga Gets Downgraded" - By Dan Gallagher

Key Excerpt: In a note to clients, J.P. Morgan analyst Doug Anmuth lowered his rating to neutral, citing the fact that Zynga had reached his $15 price target. "We attribute the recent move to increased investor focus on social gaming, the potential for legalization of online gambling, and optimism in the soon-to-be launched Zynga platform," he wrote. "We are also positive on these fronts, but we believe some of the potential upside is now being factored into the stock and it will likely take some time for both online gambling and Zynga.com traction to materialize." 

"Back to Back $DJIA Down Friday/Down Mondays..." - By Jeffrey Hirsch

Key Excerpt: Since January 2000, there have been 133 DF/DM occurrences and all but 3 preceded a market decline sometime during the next 90 calendar days. Declines were greatest in bear market years, averaging a 14.1% loss compared to bull market declines of 4.8%.  However, as our Yahoo Finance Breakout pals Matt Nesto and Jeff Macke point out today three benchmarks are already down. The Russell 2000 Index of small cap stocks has declined 3% in the past week, though it was up fractionally today. The Dow Transports is off almost 5% in the past month stirring up the Dow Theory camp. Gold was hammered down 5% in one day last week on Tuesday. 

"S&P 500 Down Gaps 1%+" - By Bespoke Investment Group

Key Excerpt: Since the start of 2011, the S&P 500 tracking SPY ETF has opened lower by 1% or more 28 times.  As shown below, the ETF has bounced and gone higher from the open to the close on just 35% of these days (10 out of 28).  The average performance of SPY from the open to the close on these days has been -0.34% (-0.40%).  At least based on recent history, traders shouldn't be expecting a big market turnaround today.


"Gold ETF Investors were not Scared Away..." - By Tom McClellan


Key Excerpt:  In fact, total assets in GLD and IAU, the two biggest gold bullion ETFs, actually rose slightly that day, and have continued upward in the days since then.  It is as if investors viewed that selloff as more of a buying opportunity than a reason for worry. What makes this interesting is that the crowd's view of that as an opportunity does not usually work out to be true. It turns out that the actual really good buying opportunities occur when these ETF investors hold the opposite view.  When we see a very fast drop in ETF assets, that is the sign of public fear about gold prices that marks a good bottom for gold prices.  But when you see these assets rise as gold prices are falling, those instances are typically followed by a further decline in gold prices, to more completely scare people away so that the next uptrend can begin.

 "LinkedIn is Barely Profitable" - By Jim Edwards

Key Excerpt: LinkedIn may have more than doubled revenue last year to $522 million but it actually rendered itself less profitable by nearly tripling its sales and marketing costs. It earned net income of just $26 million. The company could have been a lot more profitable if it hadn't increased its sales and marketing staff to 844 people (up from 313 in 2010), a runup of 270 percent.

"Iphone Fails to Gain China Share as Samsung Lead Triples" - By Bloomberg News

Key Excerpt: “I don’t expect Apple to replace Samsung any time soon,” Gartner analyst Sandy Shen said in an interview. “China Telecom is the nation’s smallest carrier, so the extent to which they can help Apple is quite limited.” The 16.8 percentage-point gap in China between Cupertino, California-based Apple and Samsung almost doubled from the third quarter. While Samsung is No. 1 and Apple No. 5 in China, the global story is different: Worldwide, Apple passed its Suwon, South Korea-based competitor to become the biggest smartphone vendor in the fourth quarter, according to Gartner. 

"Good Jobs Report Means Fed Should Sit Tight" - By Paul La Monica


Key Excerpt: "Repeat after me. There is no need for more QE. There is no need for more QE. There is no need for more QE. The strong February jobs report is a sign that the economy is continuing to steadily improve. When the Federal Reserve's policy committee meets next week, it will hopefully note this rebound and not talk about the need for more monetary stimulus. Since the financial crisis of 2008, the Fed has already done two rounds of QE, or quantitative easing. Through those programs, the Fed bought about $1.6 trillion in Treasury bonds in order to keep long-term rates low" 

"Stock Markets Gain as Greek Crisis Nears Deadline" - By Eileen Connelly

Key Excerpt:  "Investors were keeping their eyes on a 3 p.m. EST deadline for private investors to decide whether to swap $140 billion in Greek government bonds for new ones worth much less.
If not enough private bondholders take part in the exchange, Greece could default in the next two weeks. Greek government officials told The Associated Press that participation was above 75 percent. Athens will release final results Friday morning. The Labor Department said early Thursday that the number of people seeking unemployment benefits rose slightly more than expected last week. The four-week average remained near a four-year low, however, and applications are down 14 percent since October."

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