Market Playground

America’s Jobs Deficit: Why It’s Still More Important than the Budget Deficit

Posted 03 Feb 2012 — by Robert Reich
Category Economy, Government, Politics

By Robert Reich

The most significant aspect of January’s jobs report is political. The fact that America’s labor market continues to improve is good news for the White House. But as a practical matter the improvement is less significant for the American work force.

President Obama’s only chance for rebutting Republican claims that he’s responsible for a bad economy is to point to a positive trend. Voters respond to economic trends as much as they respond to absolute levels of economic activity. Under ordinary circumstances January’s unemployment rate of 8.3 percent would be terrible. But compared to September’s 9.1 percent, it looks quite good. And the trend line – 9 percent in October, 8.6 percent in November, 8.5 percent in December, and now 8.3 percent – is enough to make Democrats gleeful. Read More

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Capstone Turbine (NASDAQ:CPST) Moving Again On Heels Of Another Big Order

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Posted 03 Feb 2012 — by VFC's Stock House
Category Capital Goods, CPST, Energy, GE, Investing, Market News, Stocks, Trading, TTNP

By VFC’s Stock House

Although trading in much different sectors, shares of Capstone Turbine Corporation (NASDAQ:CPST) have had a similar trading pattern as Titan Pharmaceuticals (OTC:TTNP) – another company long followed by VFC’s Stock House - over the past couple of years, and just on the heels of TTNP’s most recent price run, shares of CPST are again starting to roll.

Again having dropped below a buck a couple of months ago after flying to the two dollar earlier in the year last year, Capstone has rebounded from those lows and closed Thursday at just below the $1.40 mark as news of another significant order for the company’s low-emission microturbines circulated the wires. Read More

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Hot Mover Update: GelTech Solutions (GLTC) Busts Through A Buck

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Posted 02 Feb 2012 — by VFC's Stock House
Category GLTC, Investing, Market News, Stocks, Trading

By VFC’s Stock House

GelTech Solutions' FireIce Demonstration

One of this week’s hot movers, GelTech Solutions (OTC:GLTC), bursted through a dollar on Thursday afternoon, supported by trading volume that was more than ten times the normal average. Volume had been increasing over the past week on anticipation that distribution for FireIce, GelTech’s flagship product that could quickly revolutionize the firefighting industry, would quickly boom now that governments around the globe have started taking notice of the potential revenue and resource savings that FireIce could provide.

The growing volume is an indicator that new investors are taking notice of this company and its technology, and with national-level approvals and qualifications having been awarded GelTech through 2011, 2012 is destined to become a year of significant growth in distribution. Read More

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Why AutoZone (NYSE:AZO) and Advanced Auto Parts (NYSE:AAP) are Chasing Clunkers

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Posted 02 Feb 2012 — by Covestor
Category AAP, AZO, Investing, Market News, PBY, Retail, Services, SHLD, Stocks, Trading

By Rocco Huang

This is the third in a series on how some businesses can prosper in a stagnating economy. See also:Entertainment Stocks: Selling Dreams to the Have-Nots and Extreme Value Stores: Occupy the Poor in the same series.

Personal injury lawyers are nicknamed “ambulance chasers” because they hear “ka-ching” when someone gets hurt in an accident. For a similar reason, DIY (Do It Yourself) auto shops, which sell you replacement parts, are equally happy to see more of your vehicles break down or in need of repair.

Why do I like to invest in DIY auto shops in this poor economy? Let me first give you two shocking numbers: Read More

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Stocks On The Move: IMUC, GLTC, SIGA, CELH, TTNP

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Posted 02 Feb 2012 — by VFC's Stock House
Category CELH, CLDX, DNDN, GLTC, IMUC, Investing, Market News, ONTY, SIGA, Stocks, Trading, TTNP

By VFC’s Stock House

ImmunoCellular Therapeutics (OTC:IMUC): A recent financing deal brought shares of ImmunoCellular Therapeutics (IMUC) crashing down towards a dollar earlier this year, but encouraging pipeline news, high volume and new institutional interest has quickly revived the share price and the stock closed Wednesday seventy percent higher than is January lows.

A surge in the Dendreon (NASDAQ:DNDN) share price has led to a sector-wide rebound, thanks to reinvigorated Provenge sales, and other cancer immunotherapy companies have benefited as a result; ImmunoCellular, Celldex Therapeutics (NASDAQ:CLDX) and Oncothyreon (NASDAQ:ONTY), to name a few.

The revived interest in Dendreon may have potential investors of the sector taking a deeper look at earlier-stage cancer immunotherapy companies – such as IMUC – and may like what they see, given the potential for treatments like ImmunoCellular’s ICT-107 to pick up where Provenge left off and usher in the next generation of such treatments. The manufacturing and logistical advantages held by ICT-107 could lead to much more attractive pricing options – and could also stave off the early marketing troubles endured with Provenge, should the treatment make it to market – which leaves significant room for IMUC share price upside, both in a short and long term speculative nature. Read More

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The Republican Myth of Obama’s “Entitlement Society”

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Posted 01 Feb 2012 — by Robert Reich
Category Government, Market News, Politics

By Robert Reich

Robert Reich

One of the few things Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich agree on is that President Obama is turning America into “European-style welfare culture.”

In his standard stump speech Romney charges Obama with creating a nation of dependents. “Over the past three years Barack Obama has been replacing our merit-based society with an entitlement society.”

Gingrich calls Obama “the best food-stamp president in American history.”

What’s their evidence? Both rely on federal budget data showing direct payments to individuals shot up by almost $600 billion, a 32 percent increase, since the start of 2009.

They also point to Census data showing that 49 percent of Americans now live in homes where at least one person is collecting a federal benefit – Social Security, food stamps, unemployment insurance, worker’s compensation, or subsidized housing. That’s up from 44 percent in 2008. Read More

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GelTech Solutions (OTC:GLTC): Volume and Price Increasing

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Posted 01 Feb 2012 — by VFC's Stock House
Category GLTC, Investing, Market News, Stocks, Trading

By VFC’s Stock House

With another five percent price increase in the bags on a day that saw the second highest trading volume of the new year, it could be time to start considering GelTech Solutions (OTC:GLTC) for a continued move towards a dollar – if not higher – as the company looks to revolutionize firefighting as we know it.

As previously noted, the company’s lead product FireIce is primed for a boom in global growth as testimonials of its success in assisting firefighting efforts continue to spread and governments worldwide begin to understand the potential savings of infrastructure and resources that could accompany the widespread use of GelTech’s technology, which suffocates fire much more effectively than water alone. Read More

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Extreme Value Stores: DG, FDO, WMT

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Posted 31 Jan 2012 — by Covestor
Category AAPL, DG, Economy, FDO, Investing, Market News, Retail, Stocks, Trading, WMT

By Rocco Huang

This is the second in a series on how businesses can prosper in a stagnating economy. You may also be interested in reading Entertainment Stocks: Selling Dreams to the Have-Nots in the same series.

The consumer retail business is all about getting people to part with their money willingly and happily. One of the highest achievements in this trade is to convince someone to walk away with your over-priced product believing that he’s scored a bargain.

In recent years, partly helped by the poor economy, extreme value retail stores such as Dollar General (NYSE:DG) and Family Dollar Stores (NYSE:FDO) have steadily taken market share away from Wal-Mart Stores (NYSE:WMT).

How do they manage to occupy the hearts, minds, and wallets of the poor? Read More

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Three New Indian Stock Buys: HDB, INFY, RDY

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Posted 31 Jan 2012 — by Covestor
Category Emerging Markets, HDB, INFY, Investing, Market News, RDY, Stocks, Trading

By John Linnemeier

I just got back from a short trip to India, and, as usual, I found that actually being in a country gives me a much better picture of what’s happening than just reading newspapers here in the States. The Indian stock market might have recently been in a slump, but the economy is going great guns. As they say, in the short-term the market is a voting machine, but in the long-term it’s a weighing machine. I believe in India long-term. In a global economy with increasingly strong Internet connections, India is on an even playing field with the rest of the world, and they’re going to kick some butt.

I bought shares of HDFC Bank Limited (NYSE:HDB), the best private bank in India. Unlike the State Bank of India, which is a classic example of a horrendously run government owned enterprise, it’s efficient and does all of the things that a good bank is supposed to do. Essentially, it’s a play on the Indian middle class, and that’s one of the best bets I know. Read More

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The Biggest Risk to the Economy in 2012, and What’s the Economy For Anyway?

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Posted 30 Jan 2012 — by Robert Reich
Category Economy, Government, Market News, Politics

By Robert Reich

Robert Reich

Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner, speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos a few days ago, said the “critical risks” facing the American economy this year were a worsening of Europe’s chronic sovereign debt crisis and a rise in tensions with Iran that could stoke global oil prices.

What about jobs and wages here at home?

As the Commerce Department reported Friday, the U.S. economy grew 2.8 percent between October and December – the fastest pace in 18 months and the first time growth exceeded 2 percent all year. Many bigger American companies have been reporting strong profits in recent months. General Electric Company (NYSE:GE) and Lockheed Martin (NYSE:LMT) closed the year with record order backlogs.

Yet the percent of working-age Americans in jobs isn’t much different than what it was three years ago. Yes, America now produces more than it did when the recession began. But it does so with 6 million fewer workers. Read More

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United Parcel Service (NYSE:UPS) or FedEx (NYSE:FDX)?

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Posted 29 Jan 2012 — by Covestor
Category AMZN, Dividends, EBAY, FedEx, Investing, Market News, Retail, Services, Stocks, Trading, Transportation, UPS

By Tyler Kocon

While traditional retailers will still capture the lions’ share of consumer attention, the growing Internet market and smartphone revolution will drive demand for e-commerce like never before.

Big time players in the online shopping realm like Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) and eBay (NASDAQ:EBAY) have seen revenues increase steadily since 2008. eBay’s revenues have risen from $8.54 billion to $9.156 billion since 2008, which translates to an increase of 7.2%. Similarly, Amazon’s have risen from $19.166 billion to $34.204 billion in the same timeframe, an increase of a whopping 78% (as of 1/25/12 according to Yahoo! Finance).

While investing in retail-oriented companies is an acceptable strategy, traditional investors might need to take a look outside of the box to find potential gains. Online retailers like Amazon do not maintain brick-and-mortar storefronts. Instead, they rely on a vast and integrated system of logistics to transport their goods to their customers. Instead of making a play on the actual retailers, why not turn to the companies that provide the backbone for their business? Read More