TD Ameritrade has once again come in my way, very annoying! It is not letting me buy options for BP!
Damn you TD Ameritrade! It keeps saying system unavailable!
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TD Ameritrade Again Comes in my Way: Blocks Buying $BP Options
Thursday, June 10th, 2010Is it a good time to invest in tech stocks? – Appl, HPQ, CSCO, MS, HPQ, GOOG, LEAP, ATVI
Wednesday, May 12th, 2010Technology is big right now thanks to companies like Apple (NYSE:APPL) and HP (NYSE:HPQ) buying up companies and launching innovative products. Many investors look at getting into tech stocks because there is so much room for growth and the industry moves so fast. So, for 2010, should you be investing in technology or is the technology industry having trouble along the lines seen in other sectors?
The market sell off this week has hurt many of the gains seen in the technology market recently. The sell off of the past few days has caused many to worry about the stability of the global economy. The S&P 500 lost 7% of its value during the second week of May, while the Dow Jones lost 700 points.
Which sector took the biggest hit with this sell-off? It was the technology sector.
Three of the main indexes for the technology industry (NASDAQ Composite Index, Morgan Stanley High-Tech Index, Philadelphia Semi-Conductor Index) all saw their values fall. One company that really took a hit was Apple and that worries many investors because Apple has been riding high with the release of the iPad. In the past week, Apple lost 10 percent of its value and the stock dipped below $200. While it rose, it was below the high it reached in April. One of the main reasons for this was the announcement by Nokia that it was launching a patent-infringement suit against Apple for the technology being used in the iPhone and iPad devices.
Apple was not the only company to lose value. Cisco (NASDAQ:CSCO) lost three percent of its value and fell by 78 cents.
Microsoft l (NYSE:MS) lost 77 cents a share, which is 2.7 percent of its value.
HP (NYSE:HPQ), which recently saw an increase in its share value thanks to the purchase of Palm, had a 3.3 percent decrease of $1.60.
Google (NASDAQ:GOOG), the technology powerhouse, saw a decrease as well. Its stock dipped by $5.53 a share to $493.14, which marks the first time since 2009 that the company’s stock has been below $500 a share.
Leap Wireless International (NASDAQ:LEAP) lost 15 percent of its value, or $2.52 after they announced a first-quarter loss of $68 million, which is $18 million more of a loss than the company had a year ago.
Not all stocks fell though. Activision Blizzard Inc (NASDAQ:ATVI) was up seven cents a share after it was announced that World of Warcraft and Call of Duty game sales were doing very well, doubling the first-quarter earnings of the company.
Anyone can tell you that the tech market is a volatile one. While there is the possibility to make a lot of money with it, you can lose a lot of money. The tech industry collapsed in the early-2000s after a very rapid growth. Many lost money but anyone who bought 100 shares of Google for one dollar now sees their profits up by 500 times. So, it is a good market to be in but it can be chaotic. That being said, currently tech stocks are dealing with some major hits and it may be a few months yet before the tech sector recovers.
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Manufacturing Sector Continues To Grow in March & April 2010
Sunday, April 11th, 2010The manufacturing sector of the United States continues to grow and it continues to do so at a staggering pace. In fact, many investors are feeling that the manufacturing sector will help improve the economy and bring the country out of its deep recession. With the manufacturing sector gaining steam, that means more jobs for the people who need them, and by extension, more spending money that helps fuel the American economy through retail sales.
For the eighth straight month, the U.S. manufacturing industry grew and it did so at a faster pace than has been seen in the past five years. What does this mean? This means that the manufacturing sector is recovering and with it, the economy of the entire country.
Many investors look at the manufacturing sector as a way to determine the health of the economy, no different than looking at consumer demand levels and unemployment. One reason for this growth, most experts feel, is the climbing export rates of manufactured goods and the stockpile adjustments of the industry.
In a report issued by the Institute for Supply Management, the manufacturing industry was growing at its fastest rate since July 2004, which coupled with the fact that the U.S. economy has grown for the 11th month in a row, shows investors that yes the economy is indeed improving.
The Purchasing Managers Index rose from 56.5 percent in February to 59.6 percent in March. This shows that the sector is indeed expanding at a faster rate and the PMI score remains well above the average of the past 12 months, which sits eight percent down at 51.8 percent.
The new orders index also rose by two points, as did production, which rose by 2.7 percent. Prices rose by eight percent and the inventories of manufacturers rose by eight percent as well. The only trouble spot in all of this was the drop of one percent in the employment index for the manufacturing sector.
In all the manufacturing industries, 18 in all, only one did not report growth. As well, according to KPMG International, a tax advisory firm, the net balance of 65.7 percent for executives in the manufacturing industry, should increase in the next 12 months as well.
Some economists are still worried though about how employment will be affected by an upswing in the sector and whether investments will come back in their previous levels. That all being said, it is generally considered that when the manufacturing industry is doing well, the rest of the economy will soon be doing well.
For economists and investors, the news that the manufacturing sector is improving is good news. This means that there will hopefully be more jobs, more money and more sales, which will help get the American economy out of its recession and back into positive territory. The coming months could be very good for the manufacturing sector and the economy.
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Home Sales Increase by a Surprising Amount During April 2010: Sign of Economic Recovery?
Sunday, April 11th, 2010The home market of the United States has suffered greatly in the past few years. Foreclosures are at epic levels, and banks have been falling like flies as more and more of their homeowners lose their homes. It has been a serious situation and many investors are hoping that the bad times are in the past and better times for homeowners and banks are ahead.
The home market in 2008 and 2009 was nothing short of awful. It was a horrible time to be investing in real estate and it was a horrible time to be a homeowner. Millions of people were losing their homes and the purchase of homes was down to its lowest levels in decades. Many investors were worried about just how low the real estate market was going to go, but it appears that things may be improving in 2010 and that is good news to many homeowners and real estate investors.
Home Sales are Improving
Pending home sales in the United States went up by just over eight percent in February, which is making some investors think that the housing market is improving thanks to the tax credit created by the government to help spur home buying. According to the National Association of Realtors, pending home sales rose from a 90.2 reading in January to 97.6 in February. Real estate agents feel that this is the sign of a second surge in home sales coming thanks to the home-buyer tax credit. The reading indicator is based on contracts that have been signed to purchase homes, but is not a representation of the finalization of the purchases. This usually comes two months after signing the contract.
Pending home sales in February 2010 were 17.3 percent higher than they were in 2009, when the index for February was only 83.2.
The tax credit offered by the government is aimed to revive the housing sector by giving credits to individuals buying their first homes, but this tax credit only lasts until April 30.
The increase in home sales was a big surprise to experts who were expecting a slip due to the big winter storms that had hit the country during that month.
Will the upward trend continue?
Will this continue? Well, the real test will be to see if things continue to improve in May, after the tax credit has expired. If home sales continue to increase and foreclosures go down, then there is a good chance that the housing market will keep recovering. Many experts in the United States hope the housing market recovers like Canada’s which has seen huge growth for a year now, which has helped to lift up the entire economy of the northern neighbor to the United States.
The housing market continues to improve and many experts hope that this stays the case for months to come. With the tax credit and increases in February, only time will tell if things improve for the American housing market.
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