Who would have thought that this could have happened so soon? Either way, it was reached. The DOW close above 9000 (9069.29 to be exact). The S&P 500 has been on a tear, closing at 976.29. Lets not forget that the NASDAQ is now at 1973.60. The past two weeks of trading have been great for the markets.
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With that being said, what are we to expect in the coming weeks? If you’ve been listening to the talk on the street, you’ve heard both sides of the possibilities. “It’s only going to get higher” or “the markets are going to correct themselves”. Those are the only two choices.
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After listening to all the opinions that where flying today, I would have to agree that the markets are due for a correction. How can it not? I don’t know about you, but I don’t really see a reason to be all optimistic about the stock market. Add on to the fact that many traders and investors have made a lot of money in the last four months. There will be some profit taking very soon.
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With all the talk about health care and the Cap and Trade bill, if these two bills pass, corporations are going to find it hard to keep making the earnings that the investors want to see. The taxes that will be imposed onto these industries are going to break them as well as the country’s GDP.
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In the last few months I’ve made some great gains in the markets and I’m not willing to give them back anytime soon. At this time I’m sitting more than half my portfolio on the sidelines, while I wait for the other shoe to drop (and it will). Don’t get me wrong, I do believe that there will be some gains to be made in many other sectors and that’s why I’m watching the tech sector. They (tech sector) don’t have the government issues to deal with, like most of the others ones.
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Which ever way you plan on playing the markets in the coming weeks, do your due diligence.

Tags: Economy, Government spending, Investments, NASDAQ, Stock market news, Stock trading

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It seems that the stock market doesn’t react the way it should when important economic news is released. Over the last two months there has been negative news reports released that would normally cause the indicies to drop, but instead they have responded in the opposite manner.
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The same goes for the good news that is also released. Look at how the news came out yesterday about the billions of dollars that will be paid back by ten of the major banks. You would think that the news would make investors and traders want to invest in these companies, making the price rise, well it’s wasn’t the case. As a sidebar comment, It amazes me that the money isn’t being returned to the Fed’s, instead it will be held by the Treasury Department just in case it will be needed again. My opinion is that the money will be used in the department’s slush fund and never returned to the tax payer.
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The talk is out again about drilling in the Gulf of Mexico. The talks should have never halted. How are we to ever take control of our economy if we are depending on foreign countries to supply us with our energy needs? Oil is abundant in the gulf and we are not taking advantage of it, but I guess it’s OK since Russia is working with Cuba to drill in the gulf. That’s real good that they are doing so, this way they can also sell oil to us and we won’t be dependent on the Middle East. If you’re not sure, that last comment was a sarcastic one. Keep an eye on the alternative energy sector for some good gains. When oil gets above $70-$80 per barrel, solar and wind energy becomes more feasible and profitable as an investment.
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The politicians are not doing the job that they were sent to Washington to do. The spending in this country is way out of control and needs to be pulled back. The private sector has to take charge of their future. We can not expect the government to come to their rescue. If the company can’t make a profit, then it needs to close no matter how many people it will affect. In the long run, having the Federal government get involved will only hurt more than it would have originally.
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Keep your eyes on the stock market and be ready to raise capital (cash). I expect a pull back soon enough.

Tags: Alternative energy, Economy, Federal Reserve, Financials, Government spending, Investments, Stock market news, Stock trading, Treasury Dept.

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The stimulus package was passed last week and Wall Street is letting Washington know that they are not happy. Since the package was passed, the DOW has dropped nearly 500 basis points, reaching a twelve year low of 7077.35 and closing at 7114 on Monday.
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The current stimulus package will cost American tax payers $778 billion. That’s after they’ve cut out all the unnecessary spending that was originally in the plan. Unfortunately, the Democrats that control the House are now in the process of passing another bill that will add up to about $410 billion in what they are calling “needed to fill the gaps that the first stimulus package left out”.
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This administration has only been in office for one month and they have already passed bills that will spend more money than the previous one did in it’s last year. Something that this administration campaigned on not doing.
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All this spending is going to have to be covered by some sort of tax increase and the one that will be hit first will be the capitol gains tax. It presently sits at 15%, but as President Obama stated on the campaign trail is that he feels that it needs to be raised to 25%-30%. If that is to happen, then expect the stock market to drop well below the 7000 mark.
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As this administration start to show their true agenda for this country, Wall Street will have no choice but to pull out their money to avoid unnecessary tax burdens.
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As for the economy, it won’t be any better. How can a company increase their profits, as well as their work force, if they become more tax burdened. If a business can not make a good profit, it will not attract stock holders. It all ties into one another.
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For the last couple of months, I’ve only been trading stocks that have taken a beaten because of the market as a whole has dropped. I don’t have the confidence in the stock market any longer and will do what I can to pull out the capitol that I have out of it. I stated before that I don’t typically short stocks and in times like this it too doesn’t sound like a great idea, but in bad economies, it’s much easier to make a profit shorting stocks than it is to go long.
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Whatever you decide to do with your trades, be aware that this economic turmoil is far from over.

Tags: Economy, Government spending, Stock investments, Stock Market, Stock trading, Treasury Dept.

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Well, it’s been three weeks since Obama has taken office and he’s already having a hell of a time trying to get his administration candidates approved as well as the stimulus package. To top it all off it seems that Wall Street along with Main Street have not confidence in the new President.
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The Dow had a horrible day today because of all the “politics as usual” mentality going on in Washington. The government laid out it plan for the financial bailout which basically told us nothing in regards to specifics. It seems that all that Tim Geithner told everyone was that the government will spend more than $1 trillion in private and public support, but really nothing else.
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Wall Street went on a selling spree to unload many stocks to take refuge in safer investment like gold and bonds. The DOW fell 382 points today which is over a 4.5% drop.
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The Treasury’s plan is to restore the credit markets. To work towards removing the bad assets from the bank’s books. They also state that it would help open the path for consumer and business loans. If it is anything like the first TARP plan, they know that they’re going to spend $1 trillion, but they have no clue as to how they’re going to spend it.
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All I got to say is that after last night press conference and today’s treasury announcement, they’re proving to me that this administration has no idea on how to fix this problem and take care of their lobbyist and other cronies at the same time. It’s sad to think that if they really wanted to end this nightmare of a recession, all they have to do is stop the federal spending, cut the taxes and the rest will take care of itself in a short period of time.
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Why would the government need to raise taxes if they aren’t spending as much money? If they have to cut jobs, so be it. If the corporate taxes were less along with payroll taxes, companies would be able to hire the people they would be laid off from the federal jobs that were cut to save on spending. I’m not a genius, but it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure that out. Go to any Ivory league college and ask an economic professor and they will tell you the same thing. The less they spend, the less they will need to raise taxes.
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As for the stock market, the DOW close at 7,888 and at this level it’s nothing but a buying opportunity for traders who are looking to a few good deals. Do your research and buy incrementally.
Happy trading.

Tags: Economy, Financials, Getting Started In The Stock Market, Government spending, How to make fast money, Investments, Stock market for beginners, Stock market news, Stock trading, Treasury Dept.

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Now that Barack Obama has been sworn into office as the 44th President, it’s time for him to get down to business and start doing the job that he’s been running for for the last two years. Who know if he’s really going to turn this economy around, but time will tell.
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On the day he took office, the stock market had it’s worse inaugural day of trading in history. The DOW fell 332 points. It started off bad right after Nancy Pelosi made statements about putting certain taxes in place. It did come back a little bit, but never was able to break even at any point of the day.
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Obama was sworn in at 12:00pm eastern standard time and then proceeded to make a speech that didn’t give any confidence to the markets. Unfortunately I don’t think his first week in office will do any good for the markets. I expect the market to drop quite a bit more before it has a turn for the better. The DOW closed below 8000 points on this historic day (in more way than one).
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Be cautious with any trades this week until we see some strength in the markets.
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We will have to wait and see what happens to the rest of the TARP money. It looks like there will be a lot of bickering in Washington before the money will be put to use. So like I said, be careful with your trades. If things go south over the next week, we’ll be able to pick up some beaten stocks at some great prices.
Happy Trading.