Notable Analyst Rating Changes 12/17: NWSA, UNM, LNC, PTV Upgraded; ADP, AEM, FGXI, OC Downgrades Dec 17, 2009 10:51AM

UPGRADES:
Pali Research upgrades News Corporation (NASDAQ: NWSA) from Sell to Neutral. Click Here for more color.

Deutsche Bank upgrades Unum (NYSE: UNM) from Hold to Buy. Price target increased from $25 to $26. Click Here for more color.

Morgan Stanley upgrades Lincoln National (NYSE: LNC) from Equalweight to Overweight.

KeyBanc upgrades Pactiv Corporation (NYSE: PTV) from Hold to Buy. Price target $30. Click Here for more color.


David Moenning’s Daily State of the Markets: 7/22 Jul 22, 2009 09:28AM

Still Going…

Although it was a bit of a struggle yesterday, the bulls, like the Energizer bunny are still going. Stocks managed to advance for a seventh straight session on Tuesday and finished at another new cycle high while the NASDAQ, which is clearly the market leader this year, made it an even ten straight days of green screens.

So far, the rally has pushed the constituents of four-letterland up nearly +10% (9.74% to be exact) over the past two weeks of trading while the S&P currently sports a gain of +8.58% and the Dow has romped +9.44% during the recent bull run.

However, yesterday’s session wasn’t all peaches and cream as the banks in general and regional banks in particular had a rough go and the testimony from Ben Bernanke wasn’t entirely upbeat. In addition, the earnings parade had its share of lowlights to accompany the high profile earnings ...


David Moenning's Daily State of the Markets: 10/20 Oct 20, 2008 10:36AM

A Day of Rest?

After an insanely wild ride over the past couple of weeks, Friday appeared to be a day of rest for the markets. Although, I will have to admit that a drop of 127 points or 1.4% isn’t normally something you just shrug off as unimportant. However, given the violence we’ve seen lately, Friday’s intraday volatility of a mere 550 points seemed a little on the light side.

One of the major reasons for our assessment is that the results of Friday’s trading did nothing to impact the charts. On a chart basis, it looked like a lighter volume day of consolidation, which, believe it or not, is actually a good thing right now.

Our thinking is this was the type of day that helps the bulls argue that last Friday’s key-reversal day will wind up marking the low of the move. As we’ve been saying, if October ...


David Moenning's Daily State of the Markets: 10/02 Oct 2, 2008 09:43AM

What, No Financing For Botox?

Here’s a link to listen to an Audio Version of the report:

Sometimes it takes a piece of anecdotal evidence to make a situation really hit home. I’m not talking about the average homebuyer’s inability to get a mortgage here. And I won’t bore you again with the fact that AT&T (T) can’t seem to sell commercial paper with a maturity longer than a day, or even the troubles at GM (GM) and Ford (F) – No, I’m talking about the REALLY important stuff here.

Yesterday, as I was leaving my daughter’s final plastic surgery follow-up appointment (as explanation, her cheekbone and eye orbital were broken playing softball this summer but she has since fully recovered, thanks in no small part to the tremendous skill of this doctor) I overheard the receptionist telling a patient that the company they had used to provide financing for Botox ...


David Moenning's Daily State of the Markets: 7/23 Jul 23, 2008 09:52AM

Never Mind?
Here’s a link to listen to an Audio Version of the report:

For what seems like forever and a day, “the trade” among the hedge fund types (aka the evil speculators) was to be long “stuff” (oil, steel, coal, natural gas, etc) and be short just about anything in the financial sector. But, with the powers-that-be telling us once again that we’ve seen the worst in the financial crisis and convincing anyone that will listen that it’s simply un-American to short bank stocks, “the trade” has now been reversed. So nowadays, the way to print money in your leveraged portfolio is to be long just about any old bank or broker and to be short all the stuff that makes the world go around.

However, the advent of the “new trade” and the corresponding gains in the financials, brings up an interesting question. Since the financials are now sporting ...




Jan 24, 2008 10:05AM David Moenning's Daily State of the Markets: