In the late 1960’s, the central bank of Mexico was looking for ways to bring more American tourists — and their U.S. dollars — into the country. Acapulco, on the Pacific side of the country, had already become a tourist mecca… Read More

BP’s (NYSE: BP) web site is filled with a wide range of Gulf-spill related updates. The energy giant is overwhelming visitors with frequent updates in a bid to show that it is taking matters quite seriously. Lost in all those updates, investors may have missed a fairly… Read More

There are literally thousands of companies that have been built on how people behave. Most of the time, these companies exist to serve people’s demands for something convenient, necessary or entertaining. But some companies exist because everyone is prone to mistakes. These are the kinds of investments… Read More

By the end of Monday’s trading, investors began to question whether China will really follow through with plans to boost its currency. Earlier in the day, we opined that change is coming, albeit more slowly than many would like. Even after the dust settled and many China-related stocks gave back their gains, shares of metals makers – especially aluminum producers – held onto sharp advances. Both Alcoa (NYSE: AA) and Century Aluminum (Nasdaq: CENX) rose more than +10% on intra-day basis on Monday,… Read More

By the end of Monday’s trading, investors began to question whether China will really follow through with plans to boost its currency. Earlier in the day, we opined that change is coming, albeit more slowly than many would like. Even after the dust settled and many China-related stocks gave back their gains, shares of metals makers – especially aluminum producers – held onto sharp advances. Both Alcoa (NYSE: AA) and Century Aluminum (Nasdaq: CENX) rose more than +10% on intra-day basis on Monday, and were holding most of those gains in Tuesday trading. For both of these firms, investors need to brace for some short-term pain but real long-term gains. A Tough Start to Earnings Season Alcoa, which always kicks off earnings season, will likely set a somber tone. Analysts have been lowering their second-quarter profit forecast from $0.28 to $0.16 during the past few weeks, and that still looks too high. Spot pricing for aluminum has been… Read More

The past weekend’s news that China will allow its currency, the yuan, to appreciate against the dollar sent positive waves through the market for much of Monday’s trading session. Aluminum and steel stocks were up, as were domestic consumer plays in mainland China. But,… Read More

Among the biggest losers in Tuesday’s early trading are Patriot Coal (NYSE: PCX), Walgreen (NYSE: WAG) and USG (NYSE: USG). Top Percentage Losers — Tuesday, June 22, 2010 Company Name (Ticker) Intra-Day Price Intra-Day % Loss 52-Week High 52-Week Low Patriot Coal (NYSE: PCX) $13.98 -13.7% $24.25 $4.97 Walgreen (NYSE: WAG) $28.33 -6.0% $40.69 $12.29 USG (NYSE: USG) $14.20 -5.4% $25.59 $8.71 *Table includes companies with minimum market capitalizations of $200 million and three month trading volumes of at least 100,000 shares. All percentage returns… Read More

Among the biggest losers in Tuesday’s early trading are Patriot Coal (NYSE: PCX), Walgreen (NYSE: WAG) and USG (NYSE: USG). Top Percentage Losers — Tuesday, June 22, 2010 Company Name (Ticker) Intra-Day Price Intra-Day % Loss 52-Week High 52-Week Low Patriot Coal (NYSE: PCX) $13.98 -13.7% $24.25 $4.97 Walgreen (NYSE: WAG) $28.33 -6.0% $40.69 $12.29 USG (NYSE: USG) $14.20 -5.4% $25.59 $8.71 *Table includes companies with minimum market capitalizations of $200 million and three month trading volumes of at least 100,000 shares. All percentage returns are listed as of 12:20PM Eastern Standard Time. Click on ticker symbols for up-to-the-minute price quotes and percentage gain data. Another Shoe drops for Walgreen Fast on the heels of a dust-up with rival and partner CVS Caremark (NYSE: CVS), Walgreen (NYSE: WAG) just delivered a sobering bit of news Tuesday morning: Quarterly sales are weak and expenses are too high. That combination led to a profit shortfall, pushing shares down -6%. #-ad_banner-#Some of the weakness is beyond management’s control. For example, it… Read More

Among the biggest winners in Tuesday’s early trading are Jefferies (NYSE: JEF), Lloyd’s (NYSE: LYG) and Lincare (Nasdaq: LNCR). Top Percentage Gainers — Tuesday, June 22, 2010 Company Name (Ticker) Intra-Day Price Intra-Day % Gain 52-Week High 52-Week Low Jefferies (NYSE: JEF) $24.79 +8.4% $30.99 $17.82 Lincare (Nasdaq: LNCR) $32.83 +6.7% $33.45 $13.88 Lloyd’s Group (NYSE: LYG) $3.48 +4.2% $7.47 $2.88 *Table includes companies with minimum market capitalizations of $200 million and three month trading volumes of at least 100,000 shares. All percentage… Read More

Among the biggest winners in Tuesday’s early trading are Jefferies (NYSE: JEF), Lloyd’s (NYSE: LYG) and Lincare (Nasdaq: LNCR). Top Percentage Gainers — Tuesday, June 22, 2010 Company Name (Ticker) Intra-Day Price Intra-Day % Gain 52-Week High 52-Week Low Jefferies (NYSE: JEF) $24.79 +8.4% $30.99 $17.82 Lincare (Nasdaq: LNCR) $32.83 +6.7% $33.45 $13.88 Lloyd’s Group (NYSE: LYG) $3.48 +4.2% $7.47 $2.88 *Table includes companies with minimum market capitalizations of $200 million and three month trading volumes of at least 100,000 shares. All percentage returns are listed as of 10:52AM Eastern Standard Time. Click on ticker symbols for up-to-the-minute price quotes and percentage gain data. Jefferies Posts a Great Quarter, but… Investment bank Jefferies (NYSE: JEF) delivered impressive quarterly results on Tuesday morning, and shares up +8%. Sales rose a moderate +13% from a year ago, while net income jumped a hefty +37%. Per-share profits of $0.41 were more than +10% ahead of forecasts. All of the upside came… Read More

At a weekend get together, I heard from many family members and friends about what they consider to be must-reads to stay up to speed on a daily basis. All seemed to agree that weekly news magazines such as Time and Newsweek seemed to be losing their relevance, moving too slowly in a world that has ever-shortening news cycles. Others noted that the Internet keeps them informed, but acknowledged that there is still a large credibility gap between journalism and blogging. And a few others noted that their local papers in cities such as Minneapolis or Miami were losing their… Read More

At a weekend get together, I heard from many family members and friends about what they consider to be must-reads to stay up to speed on a daily basis. All seemed to agree that weekly news magazines such as Time and Newsweek seemed to be losing their relevance, moving too slowly in a world that has ever-shortening news cycles. Others noted that the Internet keeps them informed, but acknowledged that there is still a large credibility gap between journalism and blogging. And a few others noted that their local papers in cities such as Minneapolis or Miami were losing their ability to broadly cover important events as they continue to gut their newsrooms. And all seemed to agree that News Corp.’s (Nasdaq: NWS) The Wall Street Journal, New York Times Company’s (NYSE: NYT) The New York Times, and Gannett’s (NYSE: GCI)  USA Today  still managed to maintain devotees with their respective foci on business news (WSJ), international and domestic politics and policy (NYT), and consumer-friendly sports, entertainment and “light news” (USA). Yet many investors have concluded that these publishing powerhouses are facing a mortal decline, and are still dubious of these stocks, even as… Read More

If you read my article from late last week, you know about my family farm in Kansas. And you’ll also remember that I work out of the StreetAuthority offices in Austin, Texas. So what do those two places have to do with today’s investment idea? One word:… Read More

In the early 1970s, the concept of “light beer” hadn’t yet caught on with most beer drinkers, particularly men. So to help promote its new Miller-Lite brand, Miller Brewing turned to ad agency McCann-Erickson — which came up with an ingenious idea. The company began running a… Read More