Is Apple connected to the real economy? Apple is driven by consumer spending, but is their gain just someone else’s loss?

Apple Inc (AAPL) is the most popular company on the planet, and the most popular stock in the investing world. Apple has flat out been killing it.

This is pretty fascinating, but Apple (AAPL) is actually leading the market… lower. I wrote a post for Seeking Alpha at the end of last week how Apple had closed below its 200 day moving average for the first time since early 2009. Since the stock stopped making new highs a few months ago it has basically led the stock market lower. How significant is this? Well, it’s not 100%, but it’s definitely significant. Apple has been viewed as a major market mover and leader …

Tech land has already had a meteoric rise.  Look no further than the likes of companies like Apple and Amazon which have seen huge increases in share price and market cap.  The most interesting wave, however, of tech news might not even have materialized yet.
The most anticipated companies for possible investors aren’t even trading in the public markets yet.  Who am I talking about?  Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Groupon, etc.  These are the companies that investors are psyched to get in on.
RenRen (called the Facebook of China) has gone public on …

It pays to be a debtor in America. In the land of the Federal Reserve where your savings are constantly diluted by the printing of billions of dollars on a daily basis, your savings are literally losing purchasing power every minutes. Wonderful.

At the depth of the oil spill crisis, I decided to buy a bunch of shares of Transocean (RIG).  I got in on the shares in the low $50′s.  I didn’t time the trade perfectly, because the shares actually went on to go into the mid/low $40′s.  On situations like this, however, you don’t have to time the trade perfectly to do very well.  I bought the shares because I’ve always liked this company, and I saw that the focus of the public and the media was on BP, not …

I’ve become a bigger investing nerd recently.  As I mentioned the other day, I’ve been reading some annual reports from companies, namely Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (WMT) and Philip Morris International (PM).  Two stocks that I do invest in and discuss frequently on this blog.  One of the interesting components of the annual reports that I read over a few times is the comments on the long-term debt that each of these companies hold.
Another company that I’m fairly familiar with is Apple, Inc. (AAPL).  Interestingly, Apple holds no long-term debt and …

Apple, Inc. (AAPL) is the most widely followed stock in the world.  No company has the fans and the following that Apple has for both its products and its stock.  Truly, it’s an incredible company.  As an investor, I tend to be a bit cautious about any company with such a high degree of popularity.  It’s tough to get stocks that are so incredibly popular at bargain prices or at a point that represents good value (unless of course you bought below $100 a couple years ago amidst the Steve …