FirstAlert: 11-11:15 A.M. Investrend / Bestcalls
Conference calls are often impacted by market trends, geopolitical conditions, news coming from conferences and economic releases.
S&P Heading Comfortably Lower (By Dr. Joe Duarte) -- The slide to the down side in the S&P 500 (SPX) could take on a new character, comfortable. What we mean is that now that the government's plans are mostly out, and deemed to be mostly ineffective, at least judged by the markets' response, we could see a different set of developments, as the selling takes on a more orderly tone. But, selling remains the dominant theme in this market. And there are plenty of reasons. Here's one example. According to The New York Times: "In the last six weeks alone, the Obama administration has essentially transformed Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac into arms of the federal government. Regulators have ordered the companies to oversee a vast new mortgage modification program, to buy greater numbers of loans, to refinance millions of at-risk homeowners and to loosen internal policies so they can work with more questionable borrowers." So, unless we're missing something, the government is repeating the mistakes that got Fannie and Freddie into trouble in the first place, except now it's OK. because it's the government doing the deed. In fact, here's what's happened: "Lawmakers have given the companies access to as much as $400 billion in taxpayer dollars, a sum more than twice as large as the pledges to Citigroup, Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase, General Motors, Wells Fargo, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley combined," with the excuse being that "those actions as essential to battling the economic crisis." Well, so is controlling government spending and not killing the incentive of entrepreneurs to succeed by overburdening them with taxes and regulations. What does it all mean? Try this take on things. Whether the government is taking over the economy by design or by blunder (the latter is most likely), the effect is still the same. And by the time the midterm elections get here in 2010, it may be too late, as too many changes will have likely been made, and some sort of stability, not necessarily a recovery, though, may be in the works. In other words, by 2010 people may have already adjusted to the new lay of the land, and that will be the way things are in the future, with bureaucrats counting how many times each of us breathes in a day so that they can tax it and fund their latest pet project. Either way, markets aren't going to get comfortable with the notion that the U.S. government is likely to own a significant portion of the companies that dictate the tone of the U.S. economy any time soon. And that's why, even though the rate of descent may slow, the path of least resistance for now remains down.
The Investrend Earnings Calendar features American Railcar (NASDAQ: ARII), expected at $0.28; American Safety Insurance (NYSE: ASI), expected at $0.48; Copart (NASDAQ: CPRT), expected at $0.37; Joy Global (NASDAQ: JOYG), expected at $0.76.
The Investrend Economics Calendar lists ADP Employment for February (8:15 a.m.), ISM Services Index for February (10 a.m.), EIA Petroleum Status Report (10:30 a.m.), Fed releases Beige Book (2 p.m.).
The Investrend Events Calendar showcases AMGN, BIIB, DNA at IBC Life Sciences Antibody Development & Production Conference; CSCO, AMCC, ONNN, RACK at Morgan Stanley Technology Conference; CXG, PCX, STR at UBS Natural Gas, Electric Power and Coal Conference; DFT, AEC at Citi 2009 Global Property CEO Conference; EL, PERY at Argyle Executive Forum Leadership in Luxury and Brand Protection Forum; TRA at Wall Street Access Ag Day; TWC, CMCSA, CBB, ACXM at Deutsche Bank Securities Media and Telecommunications Conference; ZION, NAL, AF, WBS, FNB at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods Regional Bank Conference.
The Investrend Money Index is an indicator of the depth of market direction or indirection. While not always including the same stocks, the NYSE/NASDAQ 50 Most Actives indicate the direction in which the mass of money is flowing. Last session's trading showed 23 advancers versus 26 decliners and one unchanged. Advancers were led by Dell Inc. (NASDAQ: DELL) up 8.54%, Ventas Inc (NYSE: VTR) up 8.42%, Amer Express Inc (NYSE: AXP) up 6.87%. Decliners followed American Capital, Ltd. (NASDAQ: ACAS) down 36.97%, Metlife Inc (NYSE: MET) down 16.90%, Gen Electric Co (NYSE: GE) down 7.76%, Ual Corporation (NASDAQ: UAUA) down 7.51%, Genzyme Corporation (NASDAQ: GENZ) down 7.15%.
Vote in the Investrend Poll Question of the Day at Investrend Information (http://www.investrendinformation.com).
Investrend Website of the Day: http://www.metafilter.com/78406/Presidential-Inauguration-Videos
Quote of the Day: "Show me a good and gracious loser and I'll show you a failure." Knute Rockne
Today is: Benjamin Harrison Day, National Grammar Day, Old Inauguration Day.
Happy Birthday: Henry the Navigator, John H. Trumbull, Knute Rockne, Paul Mauriat, Ed "Big Daddy" Roth, Paula Prentiss, Chris Squire, Kay Lenz, Jim Dwyer, Patricia Heaton, Ray Mancini.
Today in History: Chinese astronomers observed a total eclipse of the sun in 1275. Hernan Cortes arrived in Mexico in 1519 in search of the Aztec civilization and their wealth. Samuel Cole opened the first tavern in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1634. William Herschel made the first sighting of the Orion Nebula in 1774. In New York City, the first U.S. Congress met in 1789 and declared the new Constitution of the United States in effect. Vermont was admitted as the 14th U.S. state in 1791. In the first ever peaceful transfer of power between elected leaders in modern times, John Adams was sworn in as President of the United States in 1797, succeeding George Washington. Gottlieb Daimler unveiled his first automobile in 1887. In 1925, Calvin Coolidge became the first President of the United States to have his inauguration broadcast on radio. Peter Bent Brigham Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts, announced in 1954 the first successful kidney transplant. The S&P 500 stock market index was introduced in 1957, replacing the S&P 90. The first Cray-1 supercomputer was shipped to the Los Alamos National Laboratory, New Mexico, in 1977.
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