Daily Markets - Financial News And Opinions

Why Did Berkshire Hathaway Signifcantly Reduce Its Stake In Exxon Mobil?
The Stock Market Offers Something For Everyone
Forex Trading Review For 18/02/2010
Did Goldman Sachs Knowingly Hide Risk Associated With Greece?
Video: Burger King To Serve Up Starbucks Coffee
Printing Of More Paper Debt In Both America And Europe
Why Water ETFs Could Grow Into A Major Investment Opportunity
Forex Trading: USD/JPY’s Bullish Signal In The Short Term
Three Walls Of Worry: Stock Market Corrections Explained
Dell - Not Buying Its Laptops Nor Its Stocks
Know The Risks And Rewards Of ETFs
Video: The Day Ahead: US Jobless Claims

Why Did Berkshire Hathaway Signifcantly Reduce Its Stake In Exxon Mobil?

Posted: 18 Feb 2010 03:50 AM PST

Berkshire Hathaway (BRK-A) released its most recent 13-f Tuesday afternoon. The information revealed unusual activity in Berkshire Hathaway’s portfolio during the fourth quarter. There was a lot of buying and selling of various positions.

Overall, Warren Buffett was a net seller in the fourth quarter of 2009. This is hardly surprising since Warren Buffett needed to raise cash to finance the acquisition of Burlington North Sante Fe. Warren Buffett reduced his stake in 11 out of the … [visit site to read more]

The Stock Market Offers Something For Everyone

Posted: 18 Feb 2010 03:01 AM PST

The market can be in only one of three conditions at any one time: trending, consolidating or reversing. With four out of six up-days and it sounds as if the pundits believe all the world’s cares have been resolved and the market has resumed its march to new heights. So which is it? An up-trend, a consolidation or a reversal?

In truth, asking which condition the market is truly in today is actually a trick question because there are several answers depending on one’s trading time … [visit site to read more]

Forex Trading Review For 18/02/2010

Posted: 18 Feb 2010 02:41 AM PST

USD Dollar (USD)

The Dollar gained against all majors as higher estimated earnings and economic data signaled the global recovery is gaining momentum and Several Federal Reserve policymakers said they want to begin selling securities relatively soon as a way to cut back their massive supply of cash to the financial system . NASDAQ and Dow Jones increased by 0.55% and 0.39% respectively, crude oil rose by 0.45% closed at 75.4$ a barrel, Gold(XAU) decreased by 0.4% closed at 1115.5$ an ounce. … [visit site to read more]

Did Goldman Sachs Knowingly Hide Risk Associated With Greece?

Posted: 18 Feb 2010 02:04 AM PST

As more details are released about Goldman Sachs’ (NYSE:GS) derivative transactions that allowed Greece to disguise its overall financial health, the question begs as to the integrity of this very storied Wall Street franchise. In short, I would define Goldman Sachs as 'The Great Enabler.”

How did 'The Great Enabler’ operate? Recall that Goldman CEO Lloyd Blankfein indicated a few months back that Goldman Sachs was doing “God’s work.” He failed to mention that the deity to which … [visit site to read more]

Video: Burger King To Serve Up Starbucks Coffee

Posted: 18 Feb 2010 01:00 AM PST

Burger King and Starbucks have signed an agreement to offer the “Seattle’s Best Coffee” line in 7,250 restaurants. … [visit site to read more]

Printing Of More Paper Debt In Both America And Europe

Posted: 18 Feb 2010 12:50 AM PST

At a time when more and more offices are going paperless, governments in most of the developed world are doing the opposite. Finance ministers from Washington to London, Tokyo, Madrid, and, most pointedly, Athens, are attempting to paper over gaping financial chasms in the global economy by issuing ever greater quantities of currency and debt. But paper can only stretch so far.

The key problem facing the western world is the 80-year decline in central banking discipline. In truth, these … [visit site to read more]

Why Water ETFs Could Grow Into A Major Investment Opportunity

Posted: 17 Feb 2010 11:20 PM PST

As one of the primary things humans need for survival, demand for clean, drinkable water isn’t going to go away. In fact, it’s a situation that’s becoming increasingly dire. This makes exchange traded funds (ETFs) that hold companies on a mission to produce clean water an opportunity.

Most of the world is made up of non-potable salt water, and the drinking water that humans need for survival accounts for about 3% of the earth’s water. Dan Denning & Chris Mayer for The Daily Reckoning say … [visit site to read more]

Forex Trading: USD/JPY’s Bullish Signal In The Short Term

Posted: 17 Feb 2010 10:20 PM PST

Daily: The USD/JPY has been very choppy. You can retracements from the current intermediate downtrend have been strong, but have picked up the current short-term bullish action to be indicative of a larger scale bullish mode. (Refer to Daily Video Technical Update 2.12.2010-second pair; and Weekly Technical Update 2.12.2010).
What are some clues that the current rally is it - that this is the rally to begin a new bullish mode? We don’t even have a lower higher bottom yet, though this … [visit site to read more]

Three Walls Of Worry: Stock Market Corrections Explained

Posted: 17 Feb 2010 09:20 PM PST

Stock markets around the world are down about 10 percent since their January highs. Complacency, which was so high only weeks ago, has quickly vanished. Worries, if not outright angst, have returned.

However, if you take a closer look, you can detect interesting differences in the “walls of worry” building up in three major regions of the world. And since it’s often said that stocks climb walls of worry, these could lead to the next leg up for stock prices …

Wall of Worry #1: Europe - … [visit site to read more]

Dell - Not Buying Its Laptops Nor Its Stocks

Posted: 17 Feb 2010 08:01 PM PST

Before any investment in a company I try to do business as a consumer with that company. Balance sheets can only tell you so much about the “true” story of a business. When the option came up to buy a new laptop for my wife I thought, Dell (NASDAQ:DELL) stock has been interesting to me for some time, let’s give them a go.

Let me tell you, it wasn’t pretty. After going through far too many pages and a number of strange web errors on the dell site my order was lodged. Content to write off … [visit site to read more]

Know The Risks And Rewards Of ETFs

Posted: 17 Feb 2010 07:01 PM PST

Few things are perfect, and exchange traded funds (ETFs) are no exception. While ETFs have done much for investors of all types, along with all of their benefits come some risks that you should keep in mind, too.

ETFs come with a variety of advantages that far outweigh the risks. But an informed investor is a good investor. Not all ETFs are right for all investors, so knowing their benefits and drawbacks can help you use them more effectively.

Let’s start off with the good stuff … [visit site to read more]