AP - The Standard & Poor’s 500 index is up for the year. And for once, it was the housing market that sent stocks soaring.
Asian stocks mixed ahead of US bank “stress tests” (AP)
AP - Asian markets were mixed Tuesday after the previous day’s big rally as investors turned cautious ahead of the U.S. government’s “stress tests” for the 19 largest American financial companies later this week.
Up Coming
For the investor seeking good returns, they want to recognize early the up and coming stocks. These are stocks of companies that are rapidly growing sales and profits. When these companies start positing strong quarterly results, there tends to be a lag time when investors begin to realize these companies’ good fortunes. Acute investors who are aware of these companies’ potential long-term profit growth will invest into these stocks. They are positioning themselves to reap substantial gains as other investors finally acknowledge these companies’ healthy profits.
A common trait of up and coming companies is that they have unique offerings, allowing them to differentiate themselves from the competition and even give them pricing power. Due to robust demand, these companies are registering strong top and bottom line gains. Even with high growth rates, the managers of these companies are able to control costs and maintain healthy profit margins.
As for natural resource companies, the up and comers are those that are finding significant new deposits. Furthermore, they are also successfully bringing up their new discoveries into production. These resource companies are able to keep costs under control, complete their projects on time and are located in politically stable countries
Penny stocks make it the most
BL Research Bureau The trading favourites in the current rally have been the stocks that were priced ‘below Rs 15’. 26 of the 34 stocks priced Rs 15 or below in the BSE 500 basket have outperformed the Sensex between the March 9 low and now.
These stocks have on an average delivered more than 40 per cent returns while the Sensex returned 36 per cent. The one stock among the ‘penny’ picks that would have let down investors was Marksans Pharma. The stock declined by 4 per cent in the above period.
Stocks such as S.Kumars Nationwide, Lok Housing and Country Club have risen more than 90 per cent in this period. Also among the top runners were NIIT, Sujana Towers and Megasoft; all three delivered over 80 per cent returns. In the Sensex pack, the best performer (Tata Motors) has managed a close to 80 per cent return.
Penny stocks are generally picked by traders for their low absolute value while fundamentals are often given lesser weight or ignored. In the penny stocks list in the BSE 500, there are three stocks that are still trading below their face values. The stock of Himachal Futuristic Communications for instance has risen 42 per cent in the period, but is still below its face value of Rs 10. Cals Refineries too is below its face value of Re 1, despite surging 74 per cent from the March 9 low. The other stock below face value is Mascon Global; the stock (face value Rs 10) rose 11 per cent in this period but is trading at Rs 3.6.
South Floridians charged in penny stock fraud
The Securities and Exchange Commission has filed a civil complaint against three South Floridians and their New York attorney for their roles in an alleged illegal penny stock distribution scheme worth some $3.9 million.
Frank C. Calmes, Lynn D. Rowntree and Manny J. Shulman are alleged to have devised a scheme to illegally sell large amounts of the stock of small companies, after arranging for the companies’ shares to be publicly quoted, according to the complaint, filed Thursday in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida.
The illegal stock distributions were allegedly facilitated by baseless legal opinion letters written by New York attorney James E. Pratt, according to the complaint.
The complaint also alleges that Calmes and Shulman took control of Younger America, one of the companies they helped become publicly traded, and disseminated false information to facilitate illegal sales of its stock by themselves and others.
According to the complaint, many of Shulman’s illegal sales were made through accounts held by his wife, Krystal A. Becnel, who is named in the complaint as a relief defendant.
Stocks recharge the advance
Premier Energy Corp.: announced that it has acquired a majority interest in Karbon CJSC, which is engaged in the business of producing oil and gas from the North-Kopanskoye Oilfield, exploring and, if warranted, developing new commercial reserves of oil and gas. As consideration for the acquisition, the Company issued 107,406,000 shares of common stock.
Companies mentioned in this penny stock in play include:
Premier Energy Corp. (PNRC) is trading down $0.03 at $0.60.
Stocks fall as White House rejects GM, Chrysler plans
Traders on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange. The Dow Jones industrial average lost 254 points by the closing bell.
Markets sink as Washington takes an aggressive stance on the automakers, which may go into bankruptcy. Hints of more trouble among banks also help reverse the recent Wall Street rally.
Reporting from New York — The stock-market rubber band snapped back Monday, stinging investors who had been enjoying a powerful rally in recent weeks, as the threat of carmaker bankruptcies underscored the economy’s problems.
The Dow Jones industrial average skidded more than 250 points and foreign markets fell.
The sell-off, led by financial stocks, wasn’t exactly a surprise; traders had been bracing for one almost since the recent rally began. From March 9 to late last week, the Dow surged 21% and the Standard & Poor’s 500 index gained 23% — representing for each index a typical two-year gain, or more, in less than three weeks.
“You’ve got a market that was very stretched out in the short term,” said Al Goldman, chief market strategist at Wachovia Securities. “We were cruising for a bruising whether we had good news, bad news or no news.”
Still, some investors fretted that Monday’s decline could signal an end to the recent rally as the market approached what could be a difficult period.
The Labor Department’s monthly unemployment report Friday is expected to show that the country shed 659,000 jobs in March — roughly in line with February’s drop but still a huge number that would mean increased pressure on the economy.
Next week, companies will begin to release what are likely to be dreary first-quarter earnings reports that could weigh heavily on investor psyches.
The bottom line, many analysts said, is that an end to the recession isn’t coming soon enough to warrant a sustained stock rally now.
“At the end of the day, stock prices are determined by earnings,” said Dan Greenhaus, market analyst at Miller Tabak & Co. in New York. “And as long as earnings continue to come in less than expected, continue to decline, stock prices are going to have a hard time going up.”
The Dow fell 254.16 points, or 3.3%, to 7,522.02. It was down nearly 338 points an hour before the closing bell.
Monday marked only the second time that the Dow fell two days in a row since the March rally began. The index gave up 148 points Friday.
The S&P 500 skidded 28.41 points, or 3.5%, on Monday to 787.53. The Nasdaq composite index slumped 43.40 points, or 2.8%, to 1,501.80.
Foreign stocks tumbled, with shares dropping 3.5% in Britain, 5.1% in Germany and 4.7% in Hong Kong.
An index of the shares of 24 large banks sank 10% after Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner said Sunday that banks might need considerably more government money.
Bank of America declined 18%, Citigroup dropped 12% and JPMorgan Chase lost 9.3%.
The revived worries about the economy sent prices of oil and many other raw materials sliding.
Crude futures fell $3.97, or 7.3%, to $48.41 a barrel, their first close below $50 since March 18. An index of 19 commodities declined 3.2%.
The dispiriting news in the auto and banking sectors greased the way for the sell-off.
Investors were taken aback by the Obama administration’s unexpectedly hard line toward General Motors Corp. and Chrysler, which included a rejection of the companies’ restructuring plans and the forced departure of GM’s chief executive.
GM’s shares, which had more than doubled in this month’s rally, sagged more than 25%.
The developments greatly increased the odds that the companies could be forced to file for protection from creditors, while the administration’s aggressive stance stirred concern that the government could dictate intrusive terms to other troubled companies, particularly financial institutions.
The mood was further soured by Geithner’s comment that “some banks are going to need large amounts of assistance.” The remark was viewed as an early signal that the government’s so-called stress tests of major banks were yielding disappointing results.
The March rally was prompted by comments from Citigroup and Bank of America that they were notching operating profits in the first two months of the year. But the CEOs of Bank of America and JPMorgan Chase indicated Friday that March wasn’t going as well as January and February had gone.
China Moves Closer to Nasdaq-Style Market
SHANGHAI — The China Securities Regulatory Commission on Tuesday issued a rule governing initial public offerings in the planned Growth Enterprise Market, paving the way to launch a Nasdaq-style stock market in China.
The IPO rule published on the regulator’s Web site lowers the requirements for companies to list on the planned market, which is designed to help smaller companies raise capital.
The rule requires companies to have a minimum 10 million yuan, or about $1.5 million, of accumulated net profits in the two years prior to a listing, compared with at least 30 million yuan in the previous three years required for China’s main boards.
The regulator said the rule will take effect May 1. China has discussed plans for a listing venue for growth-oriented companies for at least nine years. No launch date has been set, though a number of rules have been announced governing the venue, which would be operated as a section of the Shenzhen Stock Exchange.
Venture capital firms and other early stage investors have welcomed the plans as a way to spur more investment into small companies that otherwise have trouble obtaining capital in China’s economy.
—Wynne Wang
When Citigroup (C) Becomes A Penny Stock
Two years ago, Citigroup shares traded for $55. Last week, after the government said it might own as much as 36% of the company, the stock dropped to $1.40. Citigroup is about to become a penny stock like AIG, which hit this milestone in the middle of last month.
Read More
Discover How Little-Known Penny Stocks Can Make YOU Reliably Richer… Without Risking A Cent!
You can still make money in today’s stock market with penny stocks. That’s the good news. Even after billions more in bank losses… even as foreclosures continue to soar… even as stocks on Wall Street fall apart.
In fact, in spite of those things. With a lot less risk. And plenty of confidence that you’re doing the right thing. How?
Please read this page very, very carefully. I’m going to show you why we’ve selected lucrative penny stocks, what experts are saying about penny stocks, the time to buy them, how much you might consider investing, how to see our simple system work “on paper” without spending a cent and much, much more only we can tell you.