The economic data continues to be bleak these days with housing numbers continuing to worsen showing more and more that housing is far from a bottom.  Additionally, Bernanke flinched for the first time yesterday in his testimony mentioning that the economic future  is unusually uncertain despite expressing confidence in the recovery for most of the past year.  Despite these developments, stocks are up big today!  The Dow is up over 200 points.  Why?
Well, earnings have been great.  Corporations are continuing to produce impressive profits and are earning cash.  The problem …

Amazon.com (AMZN) has a major uphill battle for the long-term viability of its Kindle product.  With the release of the Apple iPad – a far superior product in my opinion – Amazon is most likely feeling the heat.  Amazon has recently updated its Kindle DX product with a new graphite finish and a price cut down to $379.  Amazon also cut the price of the Kindle to $189 in an attempt to compete effectively on price.
Don’t get me wrong, the Kindle is still a great device for individuals looking for …

To the average person, this might seem like it violates common sense, but this is a fairly common move for public companies.

How absurd in today’s high-octane stock market where stocks like Apple (AAPL), Amazon.com (AMZN) and Research In Motion (RIMM) are all the rage.  Great article today about a top adviser with an excellent track record over the last 30 years.  Charles Allmon has had a model portfolio with about 80% parked in cash for the last 20 years.  During the 90′s dot-com boom, his strategy was considered insane, but the last decade has proven different.
What I find very interestingly from his strategy is that his 20% position in stocks is …

Palm, Inc (PALM) is an interesting story.  The stock has taken a beating in recent days due to an acknowledgement that they simply aren’t selling as many of their phones as analysts had hoped.  I believe that PALM is not a good investment by any means, for a few raesons that I’m going to outline here.
The Strategy
PALM’s stock was trading terribly for a long time.  Then, when they finally announced details of the upcoming Pre phone, it seemed like the stock had a resurgence and moved significantly higher (the stock …

GDP results came in at 5.7% (this will be revised lower when nobody is paying attention just like last quarter), yet the market still couldn’t hang on to its 100+ gain (Dow).
The Dow closed down 53 points and ended the week at 10,067.  The S&P closed down 10 points to 1073.  The Nasdaq closed down 32 points to 2147.
Today saw a huge drop in one of the market leaders of 2009, Apple Inc. (AAPL).  This is a perfect example of how a stock can drop even when the company is …

Despite a soft economy and crappy consumer confidence, Apple has shown they can beat the trends with fantastic products and services. News has recently come out stating that 3 million iPhones have been sold in its first month of the new iteration of the iPhone going on sale. Also, 60 million applications have been purchased through the new AppStore. Jobs was quoted as saying he has never seen anything like it when it comes to software.
The news was welcomed with a great reaction in the markets with …

I have written before about Apple bucking the trend of the economic environment and thriving despite weak consumer confidence. Why does this happen? Superior products, superior service and a superior strategy. It is simply quite amazing. This week the next generation iPhone went on sale around the world to lines of people. Huge sales and sold out inventories were the result. Now, if you don’t own Apple (AAPL) stock, you do own a company that is having similar results with their products or services, right?