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Monthly Archives: January 2010

Stock Idea from a Trick of the Trade

January 11, 2010
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Stock Idea from a Trick of the Trade

My stock idea for today stems from a trick of the trade that I have begun to formalize after reviewing most of my 2009 trades.  Basically, when you get (a) an institutional quality stock that trades hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of shares per day that, (b) moves up to or close to new highs, preferably after a multi-week basing period, and (c) marches higher at least seven or eight days in a row, you’re usually looking at a “blast-off” of sorts.  The stock is a buy on any pullback. It doesn’t always work out, but my experience...

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Salesforce.com: A Stock Pick for the Working World

January 10, 2010
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Somewhat related to the working world (which I discussed yesterday) is my stock for today, Salesforce.com (CRM), which was featured in Cabot Top Ten Report on August 24. Here’s what Editor Michael Cintolo wrote about Salesforce.com then: “Salesforce.com was founded a decade ago by a former Oracle executive, and today it’s a leading vendor of Customer Relationship Management (CRM) services … which explains the stock’s symbol. But unlike Oracle, which sells software, Salesforce.com sells access to its network, which is where all the software is located; that’s cloud computing. Modules that customers can access include sales, service and support,...

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Workers are Unhappy … Or Are They?

January 9, 2010
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Workers are Unhappy … Or Are They?

Much fuss was made this week after a report was released that showed U.S. job satisfaction at its lowest level in two decades. In a time when millions are out of work, you’d think people would be happy to have almost any jobs. The Conference Board, a research firm funded by about 2,000 companies, commissioned the report, called “I Can’t Get No … Job Satisfaction, That Is.” The Conference Board concluded that “Americans of all ages and income brackets continue to grow increasingly unhappy at work,” and this message was widely discussed and repeated. The report was based on...

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Why January is Very Important in 2010

January 8, 2010
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Why January is Very Important in 2010

For those who missed it, Barron’s had a great little write-up about the market’s finish in 2009 and what it could portend for 2010.  While I am not the biggest fan of seasonality studies (i.e., the market goes up X% of the time between July and September, etc.), this one caught my eye.  Here’s what was written (thanks to John K. Harris, author and market historian): There have been 24 times in the 82-year history of the S&P 500 when that index hit its yearly high in December.  (It did so again in 2009.)  In those 24 instances, the...

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How the Market Actually Works

January 7, 2010
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How the Market Actually Works

The beginning of a new year is a natural time to clear your mental decks and remind yourself of the basic principles of successful investing.  Don’t worry:  I’m not going to spend two pages detailing my system, which I know would cause more than a few glazed eyeballs. But, for my first post of 2010, I wanted to start off with a section I like to call “How the Market ACTUALLY Works.” What does that mean?  Simply that so much of the advice and so-called facts that you hear on TV and read about in financial magazines is basically...

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