Does anyone ever believe anybody who says, “We’ll be fine”? My guess is that this phrase is met with an awful lot of skepticism, as it should be. It’s a bit too nonchalant, isn’t it? Especially when it comes on the back end of a $4.1 billion investment. Yes, those are the words that came out of CEO Steve Wynn’s mouth after the opening of the — what CNBC calls — lavish Wynn Palace in Macau: In every business there are good years and bad years. For our return on investment, I expect we will be fine. Wynn Resorts… Read More

Does anyone ever believe anybody who says, “We’ll be fine”? My guess is that this phrase is met with an awful lot of skepticism, as it should be. It’s a bit too nonchalant, isn’t it? Especially when it comes on the back end of a $4.1 billion investment. Yes, those are the words that came out of CEO Steve Wynn’s mouth after the opening of the — what CNBC calls — lavish Wynn Palace in Macau: In every business there are good years and bad years. For our return on investment, I expect we will be fine. Wynn Resorts (Nasdaq: WYNN) opened its $4.1 billion Wynn Palace on Monday, August 22, in the middle of a gambling slump. From CNBC: July marked Macau’s 26th consecutive monthly gaming revenue decline, with gross gaming revenues declining 4.5 percent during the month on a year-over-year basis. Daiwa estimates Macau’s GGR will fall by 10 percent in 2016 from the prior year. So that’s why Steve Wynn’s comments don’t inspire a lot of confidence from me. #-ad_banner-#But I have to say that this slump is a bit heavier than I expected it to be. I’ve spent a lot of time researching and… Read More

A recent breakout sets shares up for a rally to last year’s highs and possibly beyond. As the broader market moves sideways in a fairly tight range, we must dig a little deeper for opportunities. After all, quiet markets let the underlying conditions develop away from prying eyes. #-ad_banner-#And as the market awaits Friday’s speech by Federal Reserve Chief Janet Yellen — where everyone hopes to get a clue as to when interest rates will finally be raised — the auto sector is showing some quiet strength. We are seeing short-term rallies in automakers, parts suppliers and tire makers.  Today’s… Read More

A recent breakout sets shares up for a rally to last year’s highs and possibly beyond. As the broader market moves sideways in a fairly tight range, we must dig a little deeper for opportunities. After all, quiet markets let the underlying conditions develop away from prying eyes. #-ad_banner-#And as the market awaits Friday’s speech by Federal Reserve Chief Janet Yellen — where everyone hopes to get a clue as to when interest rates will finally be raised — the auto sector is showing some quiet strength. We are seeing short-term rallies in automakers, parts suppliers and tire makers.  Today’s trade, Lear Corp. (NYSE: LEA), a manufacturer of automotive seat systems and electronic modules, has been trading mostly sideways but with a rather dramatic inflow of money for the past two months.   The majority of fundamental analysts following Lear rate it a buy or strong buy, with none rating it a sell. And even a chart watcher can appreciate a forward price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio below 9. However, it is the chart itself that offers the most compelling reason to buy LEA. In June, the stock took a big hit along with many of its peers, dropping 15% in two… Read More

Oil prices are dragging down the market this morning as we got news that China is ramping up exports of refined products and the U.S. rig count increased again. But lately, I’ve been hearing a saying again and again in regard to oil prices: “Low prices are a cure for low prices.” Pithy “truths” like this make for a good quip, but they tend to overlook a number of important factors, like the forces responsible for the price slump and whether those forces are actually changing direction. For example, even though oil prices have been low for nearly two years… Read More

Oil prices are dragging down the market this morning as we got news that China is ramping up exports of refined products and the U.S. rig count increased again. But lately, I’ve been hearing a saying again and again in regard to oil prices: “Low prices are a cure for low prices.” Pithy “truths” like this make for a good quip, but they tend to overlook a number of important factors, like the forces responsible for the price slump and whether those forces are actually changing direction. For example, even though oil prices have been low for nearly two years now, we still haven’t seen a transition to a recovery for energy companies. If low prices aren’t triggering increased consumption, then the problem doesn’t lie with prices, but with the economy itself. —Sponsored Link— Protect Yourself From ‘Market Shaking’ Events Get your free email alerts containing breaking market headlines, political and world news, sudden movements of stocks, bonds, metals, commodities and more that can have a positive or negative impact on your portfolio. Politics and My Portfolio’s mission is to provide investors with timely and reliable information to protect themselves. Subscribe… Read More

There’s no arguing that utility stocks have knocked it out of the park this year. Year to date, the Dow Jones Utility Average is up better than 18%. Utility stocks are always attractive to income oriented investors because of their dividend yields. But is now the time to buy?  Probably not. In fact, I recently recommend taking profits in utility bellwether Southern Company (NYSE: SO). But it looks like investors will get an opportunity relatively soon to pick up some high quality names in this dependable, dividend paying sector. It’s been quite… Read More

There’s no arguing that utility stocks have knocked it out of the park this year. Year to date, the Dow Jones Utility Average is up better than 18%. Utility stocks are always attractive to income oriented investors because of their dividend yields. But is now the time to buy?  Probably not. In fact, I recently recommend taking profits in utility bellwether Southern Company (NYSE: SO). But it looks like investors will get an opportunity relatively soon to pick up some high quality names in this dependable, dividend paying sector. It’s been quite a run for the average. Utility stocks have returned more than twice the S&P 500 year to date; 18.1% versus 8.29%. However, it looks as if the utility rally is running out of gas. The average is down 4.1% since its July peak. #-ad_banner-#Why? Interest rates, maybe? Probably not. Typically, as rates rise, utility stock prices soften. Utility companies are heavily dependent on the debt markets for operational financing. Usually, utility stock holders become nervous when interest rates rise. Higher borrowing costs can put the squeeze on margins, earnings and eventually the beloved dividends utility companies are known for paying. Read More

Today I’d like to dust off one of our favorite strategies for dealing with a pullback: getting paid to buy stocks at a discount. If you’ve followed along with StreetAuthority Daily for a while, then you’re probably familiar with my colleague Amber Hestla and the put-selling strategy she uses in her premium newsletter, Income Trader. For those that are unfamiliar, you can in effect get paid for the chance to buy stocks at a discount by utilizing a conservative strategy that involves selling put options contracts. And in a market making new all-time highs week after week, I don’t have… Read More

Today I’d like to dust off one of our favorite strategies for dealing with a pullback: getting paid to buy stocks at a discount. If you’ve followed along with StreetAuthority Daily for a while, then you’re probably familiar with my colleague Amber Hestla and the put-selling strategy she uses in her premium newsletter, Income Trader. For those that are unfamiliar, you can in effect get paid for the chance to buy stocks at a discount by utilizing a conservative strategy that involves selling put options contracts. And in a market making new all-time highs week after week, I don’t have to tell you that the available “discounts” on quality companies are far and few between. Here’s how it works. Let’s say you really want to buy software giant Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT). But at a recent price of just over $57.50 per share, you feel like the stock is a little expensive. At that price, the stock has a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.6, which is pretty rich when compared to its five-year average of 20. Consequently, that P/E is also a good deal above the broader market’s current valuation (the S&P 500’s P/E is about 20). You’d feel a lot… Read More

Ah, the unmistakable growl of a Harley… Here in Wisconsin, it’s Harley country. We’ve even got a museum that lauds the Milwaukee-based company. #-ad_banner-#But on August 18, 2016, Harley had a little less defiance in its growl. Harley-Davidson (NYSE: HOG) agreed to pay a $12 million fine for selling after-market parts designed to increase performance and power, but had the unlucky effect of emitting more emissions than was allowable under EPA rules. It’s a tricky rule… Harley believed it was following the law by stating that the “super tuner” part was only to be used for competition. The EPA investigation… Read More

Ah, the unmistakable growl of a Harley… Here in Wisconsin, it’s Harley country. We’ve even got a museum that lauds the Milwaukee-based company. #-ad_banner-#But on August 18, 2016, Harley had a little less defiance in its growl. Harley-Davidson (NYSE: HOG) agreed to pay a $12 million fine for selling after-market parts designed to increase performance and power, but had the unlucky effect of emitting more emissions than was allowable under EPA rules. It’s a tricky rule… Harley believed it was following the law by stating that the “super tuner” part was only to be used for competition. The EPA investigation found that most of them were being used on public roads. The company sold some 340,000 of them. In the settlement with the EPA, the company did not admit to wrongdoing, but did agree to stop selling the super tuners in its dealerships, buy back and destroy the dealerships’ stocks of super tuners and deny customers’ warranty claims if they are in use of the part. There has been no official word on how much that will cost Harley, though I don’t think it’ll be as big a blow to the company as the emissions scandal was for Volkswagon (OTC:… Read More

When it comes to income, I’m a fan of real estate investment trusts (REITs). After all, what’s not to like? This sector was almost custom-made for dividend investors.  It’s still a relatively young asset class, with main legislative documents regulating its functioning only signed in 1960. The general idea: allow individuals with smaller capital an opportunity to invest in commercial real estate and benefit from its income generation and other opportunities without actually buying properties.  This income has the potential to grow — as does the value of the properties. By law, REITs are required to pay out at least… Read More

When it comes to income, I’m a fan of real estate investment trusts (REITs). After all, what’s not to like? This sector was almost custom-made for dividend investors.  It’s still a relatively young asset class, with main legislative documents regulating its functioning only signed in 1960. The general idea: allow individuals with smaller capital an opportunity to invest in commercial real estate and benefit from its income generation and other opportunities without actually buying properties.  This income has the potential to grow — as does the value of the properties. By law, REITs are required to pay out at least 90% of their annual taxable income to investors. This too is attractive, especially today, as bond yields continue to slide.  —Sponsored Link— 6% Yields On Stocks That Doubled Only the strongest stocks pay regular 4% to 6% yields while growing your savings, too. Discover 9 stocks with a solid record of raising dividends on a regular basis — and each one passed tests with flying colors. Get the list, free. REITs are also excellent portfolio diversifiers. This asset class has relatively low correlation with other financial assets, which is unique. This… Read More

The U.S. stock market looked sluggish for the second consecutive week, with all major indices moving 1% or less. The best performer thus far in 2016 has been the small-cap Russell 2000, which closed last week up 8.9% year to date.  The two strongest sectors of the S&P 500 last week were energy (2.5%) and materials (1.2%). This is more evidence of the strength in the commodity space that I have been talking about since the first quarter. Of the 38 commodity-related ETFs that I track, only grains and solar remain in major downtrends, as defined by their… Read More

The U.S. stock market looked sluggish for the second consecutive week, with all major indices moving 1% or less. The best performer thus far in 2016 has been the small-cap Russell 2000, which closed last week up 8.9% year to date.  The two strongest sectors of the S&P 500 last week were energy (2.5%) and materials (1.2%). This is more evidence of the strength in the commodity space that I have been talking about since the first quarter. Of the 38 commodity-related ETFs that I track, only grains and solar remain in major downtrends, as defined by their 200-day moving averages. #-ad_banner-#​Where’s The Pullback? For the past several weeks, I have been warning of the stock market’s vulnerability to a pullback or correction before prices move appreciably higher. While the market hasn’t yet declined, it hasn’t moved meaningfully higher either. In the past month, the benchmark S&P 500 is up just 0.5%.   So, what’s holding the market up? In our first chart, we see that daily total net assets invested in the SPDR S&P 500 ETF (NYSE: SPY) have been above their 21-day moving average since July 1, indicating a trend of monthly expansion that my research… Read More

Seven years into a bull run and stocks are undeniably expensive. FactSet Research finds that every sector but one is trading above its five- and ten-year average price-to-earnings ratio on a forward basis.  There’s good reason for higher P/E ratios, stock prices keep rising even as the companies in the S&P 500 have reported five consecutive quarters of lower earnings. As investors rush in to send the market to new highs, their share of earnings is getting smaller. #-ad_banner-#And stocks may be set to get even more expensive throughout the rest of the year. Analysts expect earnings to decline for… Read More

Seven years into a bull run and stocks are undeniably expensive. FactSet Research finds that every sector but one is trading above its five- and ten-year average price-to-earnings ratio on a forward basis.  There’s good reason for higher P/E ratios, stock prices keep rising even as the companies in the S&P 500 have reported five consecutive quarters of lower earnings. As investors rush in to send the market to new highs, their share of earnings is getting smaller. #-ad_banner-#And stocks may be set to get even more expensive throughout the rest of the year. Analysts expect earnings to decline for a sixth straight quarter when reports start coming out in October. The question is, how much more expensive can stocks get before investor enthusiasm starts to crumble? Is there any value left in the market? How Much More Expensive Can Stocks Get? Companies in the S&P 500 are trading at a 20% premium to the average 10-year forward P/E multiple. Nine of the ten sectors in the index trade above their five- and ten-year average multiples with premiums on 10-year multiples ranging from 24.6% (consumer staples) to 7% (information technology).  Investors will need to remain exuberantly optimistic if the… Read More