The big news in the financial markets today is that New Orleans largely escaped the wrath of hurricane Gustav, which hit land about 85 miles west of the city, and lost some of its luster on the way in to shore. Still, oil companies haven’t tallied any potential damage yet and that could change... (Read More)

In the words of the immortal Chris Farley . . . “Holy Shnikey’s!” That was my reaction after watching Dell’s stock tank after what pundits are billing as an “underwhelming” second quarter earnings performance. Investors seemed to agree on Thursday, as Dell stock fell 13% to under $22... (Read More)

Just getting back from Virginia and an investment conference on Monday and Tuesday. A good friend of mine who runs a five-star Morningstar market neutral fund says that, for the first time in a year, he can see the clouds breaking for the financial markets. He said that large cap stocks would rise... (Read More)

The stock market is reveling in the revamped Q2 GDP number, which rose from 1.9% to 3.3% after being adjusted by the U.S. Budget Office. Maudlin media types are torqued off because the new number doesn’t fit their “economy is going to Hell” script, especially on the day Barack Obama will... (Read More)

A lousy way to start off the week on Wall Street. Stocks were down 250 points by 1 PM Monday, mostly from downbeat earnings expectations from financial giant AIG. Adding fuel to the fire was a modest spike in oil prices (to $115 per barrel) mostly due the onslaught of the hurricane season and ... (Read More)

It's football season and time for the old "option" play - with Cisco Systems, IBM and Hewlett-Packard lining up in the backfield. Options are a riskier way of investing on stocks. Essentially, options allow you to buy or sell a company's stock at a stated price and a stated date. Investors who bet... (Read More)

Salesforce.com is one of those companies that business writers and Wall Street investors refer to as an “upstart” or a “growth” company. But those days may be over. The company pioneered the concept of software-as-a-service, which enables companies and individuals to access software over... (Read More)

I spend a lot of time on this blog talking about specific technology companies that could take off and add some real beef to your financial portfolio (or warn you about tech stocks that could cut into your market gains). What I'd like to do more is to discuss countries where the opportunity to... (Read More)

Last week saw a potential top in commodities prices, as both oil and gold prices seem to have stalled out from their upward march in 2008. That should have spelled relief for the stock market, which has been down by 13% in 2008, as measured by the Dow Jones Industrial Average. Yet, it didn’t.... (Read More)

I've written about the importance of knowing your investments before you buy them. You might remember the story about Fidelity Magellan mutual fund legend Peter Lynch, who would spend his Saturdays walking around Boston looking to see where shoppers were spending their money. Then he'd invest... (Read More)

Markets are down about 50 points in mid-afternoon trading on Tuesday, mostly due to investor worries about continued woes in the financial services sector. In short, nobody is buying the notion put forward by Wall Street optimists that the credit crunch – now one-year-old – is coming to an... (Read More)

Internet Broadband subscribers are being peeled away by cable television and there’s really not much the phone companies can do about it, analysts say. That could move a lot of money around on Wall Street. According to Leichtman Research Group, cable companies added 887,000 high-speed Internet... (Read More)

This week doesn’t bode well for the overall stock market, even though the Dow Jones was up 300 points on Friday, and even though tech stocks have held up well over the past few weeks in a volatile traading environment. My chief concern is the Russia military action in Georgia. This weekend, the... (Read More)

Oil is falling again, off $31 from its July high of $148 a barrel, but some analysts think this is bad news. Paul Kedrosky, a strategist at Ten Asset Management sees oil falling more and settling as low as $90 a barrel and takes his case to Tech Ticker today to explain why this is a negative for... (Read More)

Here’s a factoid that might interest you. The one-day record holder for a movie premiere is Spiderman 3, which brought in $59 million in ticket sales on its opening day. The one-day record for a video game – Grand Theft Auto IV – earned $310 million on its opening day. Last year, video... (Read More)

A good friend of mine thinks that data technology access kingpin Qualcomm can be to the wireless market in the 2010’s what Microsoft was to software in the 1980’s and 1990’s. Granted, Qualcomm is smack in the sweet spot – the premier provider of high-speed data access products and services... (Read More)

Three questions for the week, plus a new opportunity for profit growth in the technology market . . . 1. What Will the Fed Do? - The Federal Reserve is in a fragile position, as is the economy. With the Fed scheduled to announce its next move on interest rates tomorrow morning, what will they do?... (Read More)

Thursday saw another horror show on Wall Street, with the Dow tanking 200 points over the weaker-than-anticipated GDP number and the shaky job market (the U.S. unemployment rate rose to 5.7% today). Still, tech stocks seemed to navigate the tumult of bad news in surprisingly robust fashion. We... (Read More)

First, the not-so-good news, then on to some encouraging revenue numbers for Motorola. Below I’ve condensed today’s big economic news as reported by the Associated Press, with the second quarter gross domestic product numbers coming in less than expected . . . -- Economic growth clocked in... (Read More)

Information Week has a great piece out on how IT CEO’s are riding out the rough economy. Surely, the 266 hike in the Dow Jones Industrial Average today, thanks to lower oil prices and a report indicating increased consumer sentiment, should soothe the jangled nerves of even the most downcast... (Read More)

I was going to write that the Q2 quarterly numbers (not just in the tech sector but across the board) were better than most experts predicted. For the most part, that’s true. U.S. companies have performed fairly well for the past quarter, thanks especially to increased sales overseas and a... (Read More)

Stocks are up this morning - up 56 points a half-hour after the open - thanks to a higher-than-expected durable goods report. In real-speak, that means that heavy equipment and bulk manufacturing buyers broke open their checkbooks last month and bought more bulldozers and crates of metal than Wall... (Read More)

AT&T’s stock is up two percent today after announcing that second quarter revenues rose 30 percent – an uptick that many pundits are ascribing to its booming wireless business. Me? I’d say that, more directly, the high profile partnership with Apple and the iPhone have fueled that boom in... (Read More)

The good news in the stock market today is the continued drop in oil prices, with a barrel of sweet, light crude dipping below $125 for the first time since June. Already, commuters are seeing that decline priced in at the pump, with a gallon of gasoline falling below $4.00 per gallon – in some... (Read More)

Sometimes the financial media should just, well, shut up. This week, using Apple’s most recent guidance statements, is good proof of that. By any measure, Apple just had one of its best quarters ever. The new Apple iPhone is a mega-hit. Consumers love the brand. Even Mac PC and iPod sales are... (Read More)