16 Best Stock Newsletters
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Does it make sense for ALL investors to invest in the S&P 500? What if youâre not 100% comfortable investing all your money in the stock market? This article looks at how the S&P 500 works, along with some pros and cons of investing in the S&P 500, so you can make a more informed decision for YOUR portfolio.
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Investing is frequently filled with complicated jargon that can make it difficult to understand how your investments are actually performing. The Capital Gains Yield is one of these terms. While most brokerages calculate this number for you on all of ⦠Continue reading â
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The S&P 500 matched its longest winning streak of the year Thursday as data continued to suggest that the Federal Reserve just might have some breathing room soon.
The Department of Labor reported that 234,000 Americans applied for unemployment benefits during the week ending July 2 â 4,000 more claims than the previous week, and the highest such level in nearly six months.
“It’s never a good thing to see layoffs, but the pressure on wages may have now peaked,” says Jamie Cox, managing partner for financial planner Harris Financial Group. “A few more weeks of these types of numbers and maybe, just maybe, financial conditions are tight enough to allow the Fed to throttle back on the scale of rate increases.”
A much stronger indicator of whether the U.S. central bank will do just that comes tomorrow morning, in the form of the June jobs report.
“The key for tomorrow’s jobs report is that it furthers the idea that we’ve hit ‘peak hawkishness’ with the Fed and ‘peak inflation,'” says Tom Essaye, editor of the Sevens Report. “If the jobs report reflects those two realities, it’ll likely spur a continued relief rally. If it implies the opposite, look for another painful decline.”
Also helping to drive stocks was data suggesting global supply-chain disruption might be easing. Jeffrey Roach, chief economist for independent broker-dealer LPL Financial, notes that New York Fed data showed that global supply chains were under less pressure in June compared to May.
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“The small improvement in supply chains will eventually filter through to improved consumer pricing,” says Roach, who adds that supply-chain effects take about four months to affect headline consumer prices.
Energy stocks (+3.6%) were the top sector Thursday, led by the likes of APA (APA, +7.8%) and Devon Energy (DVN, +5.2%). Data from the Energy Information Administration showed a recent snap-back in gasoline demand, helping U.S. crude oil futures rebound 4.3% to $102.73 per barrel.
Technology stocks (+2.1%) also produced robust gains, largely on the back of the semiconductor industry. Just a few days after Micron (MU, +2.6%) warned that it expected demand for consumer-product components to wane, Samsung triggered a relief rally after saying it expected second-quarter revenues to improve by 22%; Qualcomm (QCOM, +5.8%), Advanced Micro Devices (AMD, +5.2%) and Nvidia (NVDA, +4.8%) were among the beneficiaries.
The S&P 500 (+1.5% to 3,902) posted its fourth consecutive gain to equal its previous 2022-best streak during the end of January and beginning of February. The Nasdaq Composite (+2.3% to 11,621) also made it four in a row, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average (+1.1% to 31,384) strung together two days of black ink.
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Other news in the stock market today:
You know how you’ve heard that you should pay off your debt before you start investing? Well ⦠that’s not necessarily true. Sometimes it pays to knock out your IOUs first, but depending on how high or low your interest rate on that debt is, investing might actually be a better use of your money.
That’s just one example of several investing myths that are often touted as conventional wisdom.
Most of the time (but not always), the people who peddle these misconceptions don’t have ill intent â sometimes, they pick it up from other people they respect, and sometimes, things that used to be true have simply changed over time. All the same, these myths could result in financial decisions that aren’t right for you.
Today, we’d like to put some of these myths to bed. Read on as a group of financial experts review seven of the most common investing myths and explain why they don’t hold up.
Kyle Woodley was long AMD and NVDA as of this writing.
Through the sheer luck of the calendar, investors will be able to enjoy yet another long Fourth of July weekend away from their brokerage accounts. That’s because the stock market is closed on the Fourth of July; Independence Day falls smack-dab on Monday, July 4 this year.
Bond traders get a slightly sweeter deal. Not only are the bond markets closed completely on Monday, but they also shut down early Friday, July 1, calling it quits at 2 p.m.
Regular trading hours for both the stock market and the bond market resume on Tuesday, July 5.
The following is a schedule of all stock market and bond market holidays for 2022. Please note that regular trading hours for the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) and Nasdaq Stock Market are 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Eastern on weekdays. The stock markets close at 1 p.m. on early-closure days; bond markets close early at 2 p.m.
Date | Holiday | NYSE | Nasdaq | Bond Markets* |
---|---|---|---|---|
Monday, Jan. 17 | Martin Luther King Jr. Day | Closed | Closed | Closed |
Monday, Feb. 21 | Presidents’ Day/Washington’s Birthday | Closed | Closed | Closed |
Thursday, April 14 | Maundy Thursday | Open | Open | Early close (2 p.m.) |
Friday, April 15 | Good Friday | Closed | Closed | Closed |
Friday, May 27 | Friday Before Memorial Day | Open | Open | Early close (2 p.m.) |
Monday, May 30 | Memorial Day | Closed | Closed | Closed |
Monday, June 20 | Juneteenth National Independence Day (Observed) | Closed | Closed | Closed |
Friday, July 1 | Friday Before Independence Day | Open | Open | Early close (2 p.m.) |
Monday, July 4 | Independence Day | Closed | Closed | Closed |
Monday, Sept. 5 | Labor Day | Closed | Closed | Closed |
Monday, Oct. 10 | Columbus Day | Open | Open | Closed |
Friday, Nov. 11 | Veterans Day | Open | Open | Closed |
Thursday, Nov. 24 | Thanksgiving Day | Closed | Closed | Closed |
Friday, Nov. 25 | Day After Thanksgiving | Early close (1 p.m.) |
Early close (1 p.m.) |
Early close (2 p.m.) |
Friday, Dec. 23 | Christmas Eve (Observed) | Open | Open | Early close (2 p.m.) |
Monday, Dec. 26 | Christmas Day (Observed) | Closed | Closed | Closed |
Friday, Dec. 30 | New Year’s Eve (Observed) | Open | Open | Early close (2 p.m.) |
* This is the recommended bond market holiday schedule from the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association (SIFMA). This schedule is subject to change.
When it comes to the stock and bond markets alike, if a holiday falls on a weekend, market closures are dictated by two rules:
The “core trading” stock market hours for the NYSE and Nasdaq are 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. on weekdays. However, both exchanges offer premarket trading hours between 4 and 9:30 a.m., as well as late trading hours between 4 and 8 p.m.
Bond markets typically trade between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m.
The stock markets close at 1 p.m. on early-closure days; bond markets close early at 2 p.m.
The first session of the holiday-shortened week was a wild one, as a deep Tuesday morning dip evolved into a severely split market featuring pockets of red and green alike.
On one side, you had big dips in economically sensitive sectors. Energy (-4.0%) fared the worst thanks to a drastic decline in U.S. crude oil futures, which plunged 8.2% to $99.50 â the commodity’s lowest finish in more than two months.
“This move came on the back of an ever-increasing number of economic indicators (Goldman Sachs US Financial Conditions Index, Citi US Economic Surprise Index, ISM orders) now pointing to sustained weakening of financial conditions as well as Street expectations,” says Michael Reinking, senior market strategist for the New York Stock Exchange.
Also weighing on oil was a strengthening U.S. dollar, which closed the session at a 19-year high. (Remember: Oil is priced in U.S. dollars, so a strong dollar will weigh on oil prices, and vice versa.) The aforementioned worries of weakness hampered other sectors, too, including materials (-2.0%) and industrials (-1.5%).
“Shifting to a more near-term view, with commodity prices coming a bit back down to reality, some investors may view this as a welcome sign that inflation is beginning to cool â the main driver of recent volatility,” adds Chris Larkin, managing director of trading for E*Trade.
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However, other parts of the market â namely, those pinned to the ground by rising interest rates â came off the mat as recent weakness in Treasury yields continued.
The 10-year T-note yield fell as low as 2.78% on Tuesday, sending communication services (+2.4%) and consumer discretionary (+2.2%) stocks higher. Facebook parent Meta Platforms (META, +5.1%), Google parent Alphabet (GOOGL, +4.2%) and Amazon.com (AMZN, +3.6%) â all members of the “FAANGs” â were among the session’s noteworthy winners.
That resulted in markedly divergent results among the major indexes, which all finished well off their morning lows. The Dow Jones Industrial Average, led lower by Chevron (CVX, -2.6%), dipped 0.4% to 30,967, while the S&P 500 finished with a tame 0.2% uptick to 3,831. The Nasdaq Composite, however, popped 1.8% to 11,322.
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Other news in the stock market today:
Inflationary pressures (and related stock-market pain) are hardly exclusive to investors in U.S. equities. For instance, the iShares MSCI Emerging Markets ETF (EEM) â one of the most popular funds holding emerging markets stocks â entered bear-market territory this year and is currently off 19% year-to-date.
Like with anything that’s down, investors might put EMs on their buy-the-dip list. BofA Securities does warn that a comeback isn’t necessarily imminent â but emerging markets won’t be down forever.
“We stay bearish into the summer but see emerging long-term value. Don’t turn bullish before central banks panic about recession more than inflation,” say BofA’s David Hauner and Claudio Irigoyen. But they add that “2023 is starting to come into focus: it might get better for EM. The EM-US growth differential is one of the more reliable top-down indicators. For 2023, our mid-year forecast update implies the best such number in a decade.”
Thus, investors would do well to at least start building their EM wish lists.
But if you find individual names to be a bit too risky, emerging markets mutual funds allow you to enjoy some of this category’s explosive upside while decreasing the chances that a single-stock blow-up will torpedo your portfolio. We look at five top emerging market funds.
A broad down day for the major indexes put the cherry on the melted sundae that was the stock marketâs first half of trading in 2022.
The S&P 500 declined 0.9% on Thursday to 3,785, securing a 20.6% decline for the yearâs first six months â its worst such performance since bombing out by 21% during 1970âs first half.
A glimmer of hope for today’s hurting investors: That year, the S&P 500 followed up its implosion with a 26.5% rebound through New Yearâs Eve. Whether we get the same remains to be seen, but Dan Wantrobski, technical strategist and associate director of research at Janney Montgomery Scott â who provided us with a potential market-bottom target yesterday â notes that the market is pretty oversold right now, and that we could at least see a short-term bounce.
“If one materializes, continue to watch for initial resistance first toward 4,100-4,200, then closer to the 4,400-4,500 zone [after that],” he says.
But for now, investors are licking their wounds.
“The S&P 500 reached an all-time high on the very first trading day of the year, but then promptly suffered through one of its toughest first-half performances ever, along with a pummeling in most major financial markets,” says Douglas Porter, chief economist for BMO Capital Markets. “The challenging environment started and ended with inflation â and the increasingly urgent central bank campaign to control it â further aggravated by the Ukraine invasion in late February.”
Now? Energy-driven supply shocks are forcing global growth expectations lower even as inflation remains red-hot.
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The market received a potential sign that price gains might moderate, though it wasnât enough to lift investor spirits. The Bureau of Economic Analysis reported that the personal consumption expenditure (PCE) index for May rose 0.2% month-over-month (MoM), below expectations for 0.4%. Core PCE (which excludes food and energy, and is the Federal Reserveâs preferred measure of inflation) was up 0.3% MoM.
“Most measures of inflation have likely peaked, although tight inventories of oil, gas, and diesel mean risks to energy prices are still to the upside.” says Bill Adams, chief economist for Comerica Bank. Still, “Americans are running faster just to stay even,” he adds, as rising costs of living absorbed all the increased spending power from added jobs and higher wages in May.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average followed the S&P 500 lower, dipping 0.8% to 30,775 â a 15.3% first-half loss. The Nasdaq Compositeâs 1.3% drop to 11,028 locked in a massive 29.5% decline over 2022âs first six months.
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Other news in the stock market today:
Stock market investors don’t exactly have an easy path in the year ahead. Lindsey Bell, chief markets and money strategist for Ally Invest, provides a sobering outlook:
“Pessimism is everywhere you look. Consumers, business leaders, economists and my neighbors are all downbeat about the future of economic growth. Inflation has taken on greater significance in this view as the consumer inches ever closer to a tipping point on higher prices. The Fed’s commitment to tame inflation is leading to more confusion and uncertainty for investors. The greatest fear is that the Fed will force a recession by rapidly increasing interest rates.”
Obviously, 2022 has been a brutal year for most investors. So why not heed one of the rare strategies to do quite well?
Danelfin, an artificial intelligence (AI)-driven analytics platform, uses AI to analyze more than 900 fundamental, technical and sentiment data points per day for 1,000 U.S.-listed shares and 600 stocks listed in Europe. As we’ve checked in on it throughout the year, it has done well against the market â and especially well of late. The fintech’s top 10 stock picks generated a price return of 2.1% from March 11, which is the last time we looked at Danelfin’s picks. The S&P 500? It’s down 7.5% during that span.
Read on as we look at what Danelfin AI system says are the top stocks to watch right now.
U.S. equities managed to escape negative territory Friday and finish in the black despite some downbeat economic data â a welcome beginning to 2022’s second half after a dreadful performance through the midway point.
Front and center Friday was the Institute for Supply Management (ISM) manufacturing index, which delivered its weakest reading in two years. The index’s June reading of 53.0, which was down considerably from May’s 56.1, fell well below economists’ forecasts for 54.5 and marked its lowest point since June 2020.
“The new orders component was particularly rough,” say Wells Fargo economists Tim Quinlan and Shannon Seery. “It slipped 5.9 points to 49.2, which marks the first contraction reading since May 2020, when the economy was coming out of pandemic-related lockdowns.”
The pair add that while the report demonstrates slower manufacturing activity, supply problems are continuing to ease. “In short, the report piles onto weaker consumer data received this week and signals investment spending is starting to weaken too.”
From a sector standpoint, utilities (+2.5%) and real estate (+1.8%) were among Friday’s biggest winners as investors appeared to chase yield. But the most noteworthy individual equities were heading in the other direction. Kohl’s (KSS, -19.6%) plunged after announcing it had ended its attempts to sell the company, putting the kibosh on Vitamin Shoppe owner Franchise Group’s plans to buy the struggling retailer. Kohl’s also reduced its second-quarter sales forecast.
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Meanwhile, computer memory firm Micron Technology (MU, -3.0%) warned that it expected its components for smartphones to decline by 5% year-over-year, and PC products to decline 10%. That weighed on the entire industry, as shown by an 3.5% decline in the iShares Semiconductor ETF (SOXX).
The broader markets, however, shrugged off early-session declines and finished with decent gains to kick off 2022’s second half. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 1.1% to 31,097, the S&P 500 improved 1.1% to 3,825, and the Nasdaq Composite climbed 0.9% to 11,127.
And remember: It’s a long weekend for investors, with the stock and bond markets both closed Monday for the Fourth of July.
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Other news in the stock market today:
The possibility of recession isn’t just being felt in stock prices â it’s also being felt in dealmaking. Well, to be precise, a lack thereof. Says Quincy Krosby, chief equity strategist for independent broker-dealer LPL Financial:Â
“As fears of an imminent recession rise, de-risking in capital markets continues as SPAC (Special Purpose Acquisition Companies) deals, which enjoyed tremendous investor enthusiasm while real rates were negative, continue to unwind. The IPO (initial public offering) calendar remains on hold until markets stabilize and risk appetite returns. Similarly, volume in private equity deals, as well as merger-and-acquisition announcements, have slowed as the overall investing environment faces a host of challenges associated with the global campaign to curtail inflation.”
The fix for that could be the very same thing that would help the stock market get back on its feet: a better-than-expected second-quarter earnings season.
That kind of upside surprise, of course, is no guarantee. So for now, caution is key â and investors looking for a little protection have a wealth of options. These 10 defensive ETFs, for instance, have widely outperformed the broader market and offer stability for anyone expecting more turbulence before the skies finally clear.
A slow macroeconomic news day resulted in one of the lowest-volume sessions of 2022, though a few individual equities endured more than their fair share of volatility.
The S&P 500, which finished with a small gain Wednesday, posted the index’s smallest intraday range for the year, according to Michael Reinking, senior market strategist for the New York Stock Exchange. “That bit of stability is welcome after the violent reversal seen during yesterday’s session, which saw the early 1% gain in the S&P 500 turn into a 2% loss when all was said and done.”
Not so for the energy sector (-3.5%), where recent whipsawing continued. U.S. crude oil futures declined 1.8% to $109.78 per barrel as traders waited for news from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and their allies (together, OPEC+), which are meeting today and tomorrow. That clipped oil and gas stocks including Devon Energy (DVN, -6.1%) and APA (APA, -6.9%).
A few individual stocks hit the mat even harder. Bed Bath & Beyond (BBBY) fell 23.6% after announcing that quarterly revenues had plunged by 25% to a worse-than-expected $1.46 billion, and that same-store sales (revenues earned in stores open at least 12 months) were off by 24%. And worse âthe ship just lost its captain, as BBBY said CEO Mark Tritton has left the company.
Another firm in troubled waters is Carnival (CCL, -14.1%), which dragged down the entire cruise line industry Wednesday after a price-target cut from Morgan Stanley. Analyst Jamie Rollo now sees the stock going to $7 per share (-32% from yesterday’s closing price), with a worst-case scenario in which a global downturn sends the stock to zero.
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“If there is a demand shock that causes trip cancellations or weak bookings ⦠liquidity could quickly shrink,” he says.
Industrymates Royal Caribbean (RCL, -10.3%) and Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings (NCLH, -9.3%) swooned in sympathy.
The major indexes didn’t move much, however. The Dow Jones Industrial Average improved by 0.3% to 31,029, while the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite slipped marginally to 3,818 and 11,177, respectively.
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Other news in the stock market today:
How low will the market go, and when will it hit its nadir? While there’s no crystal ball that has the exact answer to either of these questions, Dan Wantrobski, technical strategist and associate director of research at Janney Montgomery Scott, is happy to project a possible bottom, but he stresses that’s not the point.
“We still believe the U.S. equity markets are entering the bottoming process of a correction cycle that began well over a year ago,” says Dan Wantrobski, technical strategist and associate director of research at Janney Montgomery Scott. “There is still likely more volatility to come, and within such a framework, we continue to believe the 3,100-3,200 range is a distinct possibility for the S&P 500 in the weeks ahead (before a final low is confirmed).”
However, he says the goal here shouldn’t be to trade these markets on a short-term basis or try to pinpoint an exact bottom. “Rather, it should be to take advantage of significant multiple compression in valuations relative to the long-term growth prospects for the U.S. When viewed from this lens, we believe those investors with longer-term horizons can start to put some money to work in the current environment.” As in, now.
Thus, keep an eye on values. Kiplinger columnist James A. Glassman recently disclosed his own wish list of stocks to buy while they’re down. But the general thrust for investors right now is, if it’s high-quality and bargain-priced, now might be the time to bite â as long as you’re patient. Keep that in mind as you explore these 15 value stocks that seem ripe for a renaissance.
We’ve reached the tail end of earnings season. However, there are still a handful of notable stragglers left to report â including memory chipmaker Micron Technology (MU, $58.71), slated on the earnings calendar to unveil its fiscal third-quarter results after the June 30 close.
Micron, like so many of its fellow semiconductor stocks, has struggled on the charts in the first half of 2022, down 37% for the year-to-date.
Still, MU remains a “top pick in semis” for UBS Global Research analyst Timothy Arcuri (Buy).Â
“Amid macro concerns, we believe investors continue to overlook several key factors,” Arcuri says. The analyst points to lower supply amid raw material shortages and a delay in equipment lead times, as well as demand that will be buoyed by a ramp up in new cloud server platforms in 2023. Arcuri says MU also remains the leader in NAND.
“Given all of these industry and MU-specific factors, we expect MU’s [earnings per share] EPS to hold up very well,” he adds.
For Micron’s fiscal third quarter, analysts, on average, are calling for earnings of $2.46 per share, up 30.9% on a year-over-year (YoY) basis. Revenue is expected to arrive at $8.7 billion (+16.8% YoY).
Nike (NKE, $111.43) is one of two Dow Jones stocks scheduled to report earnings this week, with the fiscal fourth-quarter results from the athletic apparel retailer due out after the June 27 close.
NKE stock has had a rough run in recent months â off 33% for the year-to-date. And the company’s troubles have not been not limited to the charts.
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“Nike’s global trends were likely worse than expected in its fiscal fourth quarter due to much tougher China lockdowns than the company implied in its guidance,” says Credit Suisse analyst Michael Binetti.Â
However, the analyst believes that while global supply chains remain tough, “consumer demand for the brand remains very strong, and we think Nike has been pushing harder to get inventory out to end markets in the U.S. & Europe to help offset transitory sluggish China trends in the quarter.”
Binetti has an Outperform rating on the consumer discretionary stock â the equivalent of a Buy â and recently lowered his earnings per share outlook for Nike’s fiscal fourth quarter to 84 cents from 95 cents to reflect the impact of China’s lockdowns.
As for the Street: Consensus estimates are for Nike to report earnings of 81 cents per share (-12.9% YoY) and revenue of $12.1 billion (-2.2% YoY).
Walgreens Boots Alliance (WBA, $41.63) is the second Dow Jones component slated to report earnings this week. The drugstore chain is set to unveil its fiscal third quarter results ahead of the June 30 open.
Analysts are projecting a rough quarter for WBA due in part to a slowdown in COVID-19-related sales. Consensus estimates are for EPS of 92 cents (-33.3% YoY) and revenue of $32.0 billion (-5.9% YoY).
But what’s likely to draw the bulk of attention is any color related to the company’s plans for Boots. Late last year, WBA said it was undergoing a strategic review of the U.K.-based drugstore chain. And earlier this month, a Bloomberg report, citing people familiar with the matter, suggested a consortium of investors â including Apollo Global Management (APO) â made an offer for Boots.
The bid values Boots at over $6.3 billion, according to Deutsche Bank analyst George Hill (Hold). “The proposal offers WBA the option to retain a minority stake in Boots after any deal,” Hill adds. “We do not expect Walgreens to fully harvest the full value of the sale price, and expect the company will maintain a minority position.”
Walgreens Boots Alliance’s recent sale of 6.0 million AmerisourceBergen (ABC) shares will also bring the company’s cash flow into focus. The proceeds, according to WBA, will be used to pay down debt and support its strategic initiatives.
“As WBA continues unwinding its ABC stake, the company should see a significant influx of cash in the next twelve months, which will provide a lot of capital deployment flexibility as the company retrenches around its core U.S. business and leaves its empire building phase of most of the last decade behind it,” Hill says.
WBA ended its most recently reported quarter with $669 million in free cash flow, or the money left over after a company has covered the capital expenditures needed to grow its business.
Karee Venema was long NKE as of this writing.