It's going to get ugly today

Posted on by The INO.com Team

It's 7:30 a.m. EST and the markets are nervous and jittery.

It 's not going to be an day.

U.S. Equity markets are under heavy pressure this morning before the opening.

Here are the key support levels to watch today in the major indexes.

DOW: 13,400 SUPPORT
NASDAQ: 2,770 SUPPORT
S&P: 1,489 SUPPORT


I would not be surprised to see these levels give way as early as today. If that happens watch out!!!

Investors are nervous, very nervous as todays economic news goes from bad to worse.

Stay alert and focus on the trends.

More than half a century ago, then-General Motors President Charles Wilson was quoted as having said, “What’s good for General Motors is good for the country.” That quote came to epitomize the auto giant’s arrogance. ... Fifty years later the world has changed as General Motors takes its biggest hit ever .... 38 billion dollars. OUCH!!! now that's going to leave a mark.

Adam Hewison

Is OPEC To Blame?

Posted on by lindsay

Adam Hewison, president of INO.com and co-creator of MarketClub goes head to head with attorney and Wall Street Journal analyst

Who is to blame for the price of crude oil...
is it the consumers or OPEC?

Excerpt from show...


Hewison: "Well let me say this, it's absolutely not OPEC's fault. I can sum this up in three words, it's demand, demand, demand. Demand from China, demand from India, and demand from the United States. We use 21 million barrels of oil everyday in this country. Half of it goes into consumer's tanks and the only way we are going to ween ourself off is probably get higher gas prices in our cards and higher millage on our cars."

Regan: "Well we've got high gas prices, I mean we've seen it... and it doesn't really have the impact you'd think."

Hewison: "No, because people have to get to work, they have to go to work. Your going to pay whatever it takes you to get to work, you're going to pay what's at the pump."

CNBC is a registered trademark/copyright of CNBC and Affiliates

U.S. Stocks To Extend Losses Next Week - Hewison on MarketWatch

Posted on by lindsay



U.S. stocks to extend losses next week
Turmoil on Wall Street, Citi, to take toll


By Carly Mozee, MarketWatch
Last Update: 7:00 AM ET Nov 3, 2007

SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) - U.S. stocks will extend their losses next week as concern over poor earnings, oil nearing $100 a barrel, and more turmoil in the banking and brokerage industries promise to rock Wall Street for a second week, with Citigroup, Inc. at the center of the action on Monday after an emergency weekend board meeting.

The market's attention is poised to stay trained on the financial sector after the group suffered its worst week in years as Merrill Lynch & Co.'s (MER: 56.00, -1.28, -2.2%) chief executive was forced out and Citigroup's (C: 35.82, -1.91, -5.1%) board prepared to decide whether to accept the resignation of CEO Chuck Price as well.

"The market is obsessed with these credit problems. People feel like they're standing in a mine field and they don't know where all the mines are," said Brian Gendreau, investment strategist at ING Investment Management. "We're looking for an opportunity to go back into equities. I just don't think next week is going to be the time. There's still just too much uncertainty."

The unraveling of the subprime mortgage crisis on Wall Street shook the financial service sector and much of the stock market during the past week, with uncertainty about the extent of losses in the collateralized debt obligations business locking up many of the global credit and derivatives markets.

Earnings worse then expected

The worsening state of quarterly results from Corporate America may pull stocks lower as well, with a 1.6% decline in earnings, down from a 1% decline last week, according to data from Thomson Financial. Investors will assess results next week from Cisco Systems Inc. (CSCO: 33.08, +0.54, +0.9%), General Motors (GM: 36.10, -0.89, -0.1%), oil firm Total SA (TOT: 78.79, -0.43, +0.5%), American International Group (AIG: 59.66, +0.54, +0.9%) and Walt Disney Co. (DIS: 33.94, +0.02, +0.1%).

Also to come will be Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke's congressional testimony on the outlook for economy, monthly sales figures from retailers, and the first look at consumer sentiment in November heading into the all-important holiday shopping season.

News from Citigroup could be a highlight of the new trading week, with the board of the country's largest bank expected to hold an emergency meeting this weekend, The Wall Street Journal reported late Friday. CEO Charles Prince is expected to offer his resignation, and the subject of more write-downs could be part of the discussion, according to the Journal.

Last month, the compnay reported a 57% drop in third-quarter profit after billions of dollars in write-downs related to the trouble credit markets.

Wall Street could also find itself weighed down by a further climb in commodity prices, particularly crude-oil which jumped 4.4% this week and closed above $95 a barrel on Friday.

"The all-important $100 level [for oil prices] may be a psychological breaking point for investors," said Michael Sheldon, chief market strategies at Spencer Clark, LLC.

The market found pockets of strength this past week, notably after the Federal Reserve delivered a widely expected quarter-point cut in its key interest rates to edged higher with help from Google, Inc. (GOOG: 725.65, +14.40, +2.0%) as it surpassed the $700-a-share level for the first time.

But the dismal news form the financial sector and quarterly profit misses at oil giant Exxon Mobile (XOM: 87.90, -0.03, 0.0%) and Chevron Corp. (CVX: 88.70, +0.22, +0.3%) contributed to weekly losses in the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DOW: 13,543.40, -51.70, -0.04%) and the S&P 500 ($SPX: 1,502.12, -7.48, -0.5).

"Holders of U.S. equities are nervous and holding on by their fingernails. There is going to be little or no good news coming any time soon," wrote Adam Hewison, president of INO.com, a technical analysis Web site.

Financial frets

Key indicies that track the financial group suffered heavy losses this week. The Amex Securities Broker/Dealer Index (XBD: 213.95, -6.00, -2.7%), which includes Merrill Lynch, dropped 5.6% and the KBW Bank Index ($BKX: 95.68, -0.86, -0.9%), which tracks 24 leading banks, fell more then 6%.

Gendreau said the unfolding impact of the credit market mess on the sector have sparked speculation about whether firms are withholding bad news or "if the firms themselves know the extent of the damages."

In addition to troubles at Citigroup and Merrill Lynch, investors grappled with Swiss bank UBS Ag's (UBS: 47.60, -1.67, 3.4%) report that its investment-bank segment took about $3.6 billion of write-downs due to subprime mortgage exposure, and the filing of a lawsuit by the New York Attorney General against a unit of First American Corp. The firm was accused of "colluding" with Washington Mutual Inc. (WM: 23.21, -0.06, -2.5%) to inflate the appraisal value of homes.

Earnings and economic reports

About 50 companies on the S&P 500 Index are scheduled to report results next week, including KKR Financial Holdings (KFN: 15.02, -0.05, -0.3%), Total SA (TOT: 78.79, 0.43, -0.5%), Revlon (REV: 1.13, -0.01, -0.9%), Time Warner Inc. (17.86, -0.02, -0.1%) and News Corp. (NWS: 22.03, -0.30, -1.3%), which is acquiring Dow Jones & Co. (DJ: 59.65, -0.02, 0.0%), parent of MarketWatch, the publisher of this report.

"Earnings estimates this quarter and next and looking towards 2008, are not particularly positive," said Owen Fitzpatrick, managing director or private wealth management at Deutsche Bank.

Of the 388 companies that have already posted results for the third quarter, 65% have beat analysts' targets, 13% have matched and 22% have missed, which is closely in line with past performances.

But dig deeper and investors will find the results that have come in better than estimates are only beating them by 0.2%, said John Butter at Thomson Financial.

In terms of economic reports, the ISM Services report is due Monday and the University of Michigan's consumer sentiment survey will arrive Friday.

Monthly sales from retailers will be released throughout the week.

The same-store sales estimates for October is for a 2.3% gain in October, down from growth of 3% last year, according to Thomson Financial, as the majority of the sectors tracked continue to report weaker compared with the year-ago period. Thomson's October same-sales report will be released Thursday.

"As we head into the upcoming months, it will be very interesting to see the extent to which the [same-store sales indicies] continue to recover for the holiday season," said analysts as Thomson.


 Carla Mozee is a reported for MarketWatch in San Francisco

*MarketWatch is trademarked and belongs to Dow Jones News, Corp.

Supermodel Bundchen will work for EURO

Posted on by lindsay

Supermodel, Gisele Bundchen is refusing to be paid, if you're trying to hand her a wad of greenbacks. However, if payment comes in the form of the Pound, Loonie, or Euro, she'll take it to the bank, or to her broker. The Brazilian beauty is standing behind billionaires like Warren Buffett and Bill Gross in a growing line of investor who believe that the USD will continue to drop with plenty of momentum.

The USD has decreased over 34% since 2001, and with the state of the current US economy, is felt by some to keep a steady decline.

Bundchen asked that she be paid in Euro for a recent endorsement with Pantene Hair, and a promotion contract with Dolce & Gabanna's new designer fragrance. She has little faith in a USD rebound and claims that her currency request is only due to an uncertainty of the US dollar in the near future, according to her twin sister and manager, Patricia Bundchen.

There are analysts that passionately disagree with millionaire, model Bundchen. Bloomberg analysts expect the dollar to strengthen in coming months as a stronger-than-forecast reports suggest that the U.S. will not experience a recession.

So, although Bundchen won't fill her $1000 designer purse with $1000 USD, some analysis are saying just hold on... a bounce back is yet to come.

READ MORE HERE...

Money Management ... makes the all the difference in the world

Posted on by The INO.com Team

What a week!

Crude trades over $95 a barrel, gold hits new highs and Google breaks over $700 a share. On top of all that, the Fed cuts rates by a quarter point, giving the market what it wants, and stocks crater on Thursday.

So what's ahead ... more volatility?

"The past is the teacher of the future"
Old Hungarian Proverb

There is nothing new in the markets as financial history always repeats itself, which reminds me of one of my favorite market quotes. The quote is from former Fed chairman Alan Greenspan. The term he came up with is "Irrational exuberance" in a speech given at the American Enterprise Institute during the stock market boom of the 1990s. The phrase was interpreted by financial pundits as a typically cryptic warning that the market might be overvalued.

Although it is sometimes believed that Greenspan's comment was made near the height of the dot-com boom (and contributed to its downfall), it was actually said much earlier, in December 1996. Read more about it on Wikipedia.

The subject of todays blog posting is something you need more than ever in these volatile markets and that is money management.

In my previous Friday blog postings we discussed diversification and stops. These two disciplines are all part of your money management suite of tools. But there are two other elements that make up a successful money management strategy in my opinion.

The two missing elements I am talking about are and the importance of using FOCUS and DISCIPLINE.. You must have these two elements in your money management toolbox if you are going to succeed and make the kind of money that allows you to enjoy the good life.

Just imagine not having to worry about Fed actions, or stressing out about if some companies earnings is going to miss expectations.

Well, all that is possible with good money management. The tools we have discussed in our previous posts stops and diversification allow you the luxury of not worrying and stressing out over things you cannot control.

THE NUMBER ONE SECRET TO MONEY MANAGEMENT

All credit goes to the Oracle of Omaha, Warren Buffett for this secret. Mr Buffett who at 77 is a legend in the investment world. Here are Mr. Buffett two most important rules to investing.

Rule Number One: Never lose money.
Rule Number Two: Never forget Rule Number One.

If you follow this advice you will be very successful, perhaps like Mr. Buffett?

We were lucky enough to recently share some TV time with Mr. Buffett. You can watch it here.

Let's go back to our two topics today ... FOCUS and DISCIPLINE.

Here's an example of FOCUS.

Say you are bullish on a certain stock or futures market. You need to FOCUS on three key components. 1. Entry price. 2. Trade risk. 3. Profit potential.

Here's an example of DISCIPLINE.

This is what I believe is the difference between winners and losers in the market.

It can be all summonded up in one word DISCIPLINE!!!

Without DISCIPLINE the odds of being successfull in the market are against you.

Here's a simple recap of the four basic components that make up your money management game plan.

1. DIVERSIFICATION
2. STOPS
3. FOCUS
4. DISCIPLINE

Once you have mastered these four elements there is no doubt that you will be successful.

Next week The Friday Focus will take on the biggest hurdle most traders face and that is the importance of psychology in trading. Till then ... have a great weekend and a super profitable trading week.

Adam Hewison