Quarter’s End As we near the end of the third quarter, stocks are up 6% for the quarter and 15% for the first nine months of the year. These returns are of the S&P 500 stock index, which is running a bit ahead of the popular Dow Jones Industrials Average. The S&P includes Apple and [...]
When To Sell Apple hesitated briefly and then went through $700 a share. That’s twice its low of the last year, a period that saw it claim the title of the world’s most valuable public company. I’m asked now if I think it will split its stock. I don’t know, however, it really doesn’t matter. [...]
Walking A Tightrope Stocks continue to walk a tightrope above the perils of some country fleeing the Euro Zone or of this country falling off the dreaded “fiscal cliff.” Our political campaign exacerbates these dangers yet the stock market keeps on rolling. As we move into fall, the averages are all holding above their psychologically [...]
Summer’s End Investors had a good summer in the stock market. As we approach the end of August, Federal Reserve Chairman Bernanke is expected to indicate whether the economy needs another shot of bond buying by the Fed or if the recovery has strengthened sufficiently to forego this assistance. Recent stock market advances indicate that [...]
Election Coming; What’s Next? Stocks continue on track for their best August in 20 years. No major developments have taken place recently in the problems of the Euro Zone or of the “fiscal cliff” here, so the market’s strength may be a reaction to an unaccustomed absence of bad news. Whatever the reason, an improved [...]
Global Bargains Stocks pushed through the prevailing anxieties to end July with a 2% gain. That put them ahead 10% for the year so far. Not bad, particularly in the face of media warnings that the economies of both the U.S. and Europe face imminent collapse. Each faces complex and serious problems but responsible people [...]
Election Year And Stocks Turbulent currents continue to make the stock market work slowly upstream. Troubling news from the Euro Zone pushed stocks back this summer although the market (S&P 500) is still eight percent ahead for the year so far as we approach August, historically the least volatile month for stocks. Readers have asked [...]
Weeding And Seeding Stocks appear to be firming up as if they were going to the gym for workouts instead of to their creditors for financial workouts. Some of their support is coming from an absence of any more dramatically bad news from Europe. Those troubled economies are prompting companies with global sales to temper [...]
A Long, Warm Summer Midsummer arrived on schedule as did the first wave of quarterly earnings reports. The summer is hot, the reports lukewarm. First returns show decent results in sales and earnings despite a sluggish economic recovery but the forecasts are guarded. Europe’s uncertainties and its slumping economies are beginning to impact the sales [...]
Hiding From Risk Stocks kept their course during a challenging quarter. After selling off in May and rallying in June, the market ended off three percent for the three-month period. For the first six months of 2012, the Dow Jones Industrials gained five percent and the more broadly based S&P 500 index was up eight [...]
End Of The Quarter Stocks continue to oscillate in a range roughly between 12,000 and 13,000 on the Dow Jones Industrials Average. With news from Europe and political fighting here, stocks are not sticking with short-term trends. After a good first quarter, the market went into a correction in May, reversed briefly to an uptrend, [...]
On The Bargain Counter The stock market managed to work itself back into an uptrend with volume rising on consecutive up days. No sooner had it achieved this short-term reversal of May’s “correction” than a 200-point down day put its new uptrend under pressure. As economic developments here and in Europe have not produced any [...]
Home On The Range Stocks continue to oscillate in what Wall Street likes to call a “trading range.” With all the nerve- wracking news from Europe and unsettled political quarrelling here, it is no wonder that investors do not feel at home on this range. As usual, the public mood exaggerates stock market conditions. Things [...]
After a miserable month of May for the stock market, stocks managed to firm up for a small streak of three straight up days. The overall situation in the Euro Zone has not improved but there are scattered signs that the self-interests of the largest nations will divert them from the unsuccessful austerity budgets they [...]
A Facebook in the Crowd Facebook is back in the headlines with its public stock sale coming in a week. This promises to be a very hot offering with most underwriters taking firm orders only from their larger customers. Those who can’t get in should take comfort in the knowledge that its stock price for [...]
Police Use Taser to Subdue Assault Suspect
An assault involving three men escalated into a struggle with Laguna Beach police, who ultimately deployed a taser twice to subdue the younger combative suspect in the 300 block of Cozumel around 1:15 a.m. Friday, May 10, police said. Police ultimately arrested Laguna Beach resident Sergio Gabriel Borgognone, 51, for allegedly resisting arrest and his [...]
