Stock Market Analysis - 12-11-2008
The trendline holds for now. The auto bailout was encountering resistance in the Senate and has now officially failed. I can’t say I’m sorry except for the fact that they’re threatening to give TARP money to the automakers now instead, which would be a big bailout with even less restrictions. Hopefully that won’t happen, but of course stupider things have been done before.
On a different note, I always find it amusing when some company tries to blatantly cash in on the misfortune of others. In this case, TokBox was parking their free taco truck outside of Yahoo (YHOO) to try to lure a few of the 1500 newly laid off Yahoos to their company. The point though, is that while some companies are doing poorly, others are still doing well and looking to hire. This carries over to stocks, where some are floundering and others are flourishing. Look for those that are flourishing now and get ready to buy them when the money starts flowing back into the market. And no, I’m not recommending TokBox, who isn’t even a public company, so don’t bother looking them up if you haven’t heard of them before.
Stock Market Analysis - 11-17-2008
Nothing too exciting again today. The market was shaky for a while, poking into the positive before staging another last minute dive that pushed towards the bottom support line again. While not the most important news, the most interesting news of the day to me was Jerry Yang’s stepping down from Yahoo (YHOO). You can bet that YHOO will be seeing some major changes in the future, and it will be interesting to see what those are. YHOO will probably get a boost tomorrow on the news, but will it spill over into other techs?
Stock Market Analysis - 11-14-2008
The descending triangle continued as the week closed out on a low note again. Volume perked up a little, so maybe the fall to new lows will come soon. The big news this week will probably be the auto industry bailout that’s picking up steam. I guess you might as well try to get your piece of the pie when the government is handing out money right now. If this passes through, where do we stop?
The American auto companies aren’t just hurting because of the recent economic crisis, they’ve been hurting for years due to the fact that they make cars that aren’t competitive with their foreign counterparts. Should The Gap (GPS) get bailed out whenever they make clothes that aren’t fashionable and don’t sell? I think Yahoo (YHOO) needs a little help too. Rather than bugging the government for money, maybe they should be finding all the big investors, like Warren Buffett, who continues to plow money into companies that run good businesses and are worth investing in. If even the most risky speculators don’t want to buy their stocks and bonds, why should that burden be pushed onto all of the common taxpayers?
Stock Market Analysis - 10-16-2008
A late market rally sent the markets soaring. There was solid volume today, but the NYSE ended with slightly more down volume still (46% up vs 50% down). However, the Nasdaq was overwhelmingly up (87% up vs 13% down) as Ballmer sparked the YHOO merger rumors again, only to have MSFT issue an official statement that they have no interest in YHOO. After the market close GOOG also delivered an unexpectedly good earnings report that sent the stock up 10% after hours. I wouldn’t be surprised to see the bounce follow through tomorrow to close out the week, but once again, don’t expect it to last very long. Will it be enough to get another good short opportunity?
Yahoo Drama
For those that missed it, the Yahoo board vote looks like it’s shaping up to be some drama now. While the outcome didn’t change, the results changed from being supportive of the current board to barely eking out reelection. While they claim this was a single isolated incident of erroneous vote tallying, it has to make you wonder how it could happen on an election so scrutinized. I would guess that they actually make errors quite often, but that it really doesn’t matter since most votes are usually decided by a select few anyway. It definitely gives a little more support to everyone that believes in wild corruption and manipulation by Wall Street though.
Akamai Technologies (AKAM) - 07-30-2008
Akamai is a huge name to anyone that follows internet stuff. While they don’t have the front facing presence of GOOG or YHOO, chances are you’ve gone to more than a few sites that use them for content delivery without even knowing it. They just gave their quarterly report after the close and are trading below $26 (down almost 17%) in the after hours due to weak guidance and only meeting expectations. I’m only showing the weekly chart above, since this is just another one that I want to keep in mind for the distant future if it gets too oversold. Look for how much support $25 lends in the near term, and then see where this one is when the economy finally turns around (assuming their market position and fundamentals haven’t deteriorated of course).