Several analysts at BofA Merrill Lynch reinstated coverage on rather large group of stocks in the small- and mid-cap E&P sector this morning.
With a Buy rating:
Mariner Energy (NYSE: ME) and an $18 price target
Newfield Exploration (NYSE: NFD) and a ...
UPGRADES:
Goldman Sachs upgrades RadioShack (NYSE: RSH) to Buy and added the stock to their Conviction Buy List. The firm raised their price target from $21 to $25. Click Here for more color.
JMP Securities upgrades QUALCOMM (NASDAQ: QCOM) from Market Perform to Market Outperform. The firm also set a $60 price target.
Bank of America upgrades Biogen Idec (NASDAQ: BIIB) from Underperform to Neutral. Price target increased from $48 to $58.
Bank of America upgrades American Axle (NYSE: AXL) from Underperform to Neutral. Price target increased from $7 to $9.
Not Entirely Logical, But...
While it may have been logical to assume that Thursday would be a quiet day in front of the all-important jobs report, I think everyone will agree that logic doesn’t always have a place in the stock market. Instead of quivering in front of the Big Kahuna of economic reports or recoiling after the very long list of retailers that turned in numbers for May that were nothing short of dismal, stocks actually advanced smartly on Thursday. And so just like that, the Dow and the NASDAQ are back to within… no wait, scratch that… both actually finished at new cycle highs yesterday.
So, with some lousy data on the state of the shopping mall and a big economic number on tap, the question of the day yesterday was: Why the heck did stocks go up?
In short, there were four not-so straightforward reasons for the rally ...
Don’t Fight the Tape?
When I got started in the business of the stock market back in the early 1980’s, the first two Wall Street-isms I learned were “Don’t fight the Fed” and “Don’t fight the Tape.” The idea behind each of these beloved clichés is that it rarely, if ever, pays to argue with Ms. Market or the folks that control the purse strings.
Perhaps the other big message to be taken out of these two phrases is that when dealing with the stock market, the words ‘could,’ ‘should,’ and ‘would’ should be removed from your vocabulary. You see, as an investor your primary job is to keep your portfolios in line with what the market IS doing instead of what you or someone else thinks it ought to be doing.
In fact, the reason I began penning my morning missive was to make sure that I kept myself ...
Now It’s a Ballgame
Although everybody on the planet could see that stocks were extended, bumping into resistance and due for a rest, up until yesterday morning we really didn’t have much of a ballgame going between our two teams. With apologies to the Michigan State fans, despite almost everything lining up their way, the bears had performed much like the Spartans did in the first quarter Monday night. The shot selection was bad, the aim was off the mark, and the bottom line is their opponent just appeared to be too strong.
Until the opening bell rang yesterday morning, that is. Unlike the NCAA finals, it really doesn’t matter that the bear camp gave away the first two days of this particular contest, during which our furry friends basically stunk up the joint. But yesterday the shots started to fall, the team hit the boards with enthusiasm, and ...
