ARTICLES

August jobs growth fails to meet expectations. Job growth is slowing in America, based on the latest data for August from the Bureau of Economic Statistics. 130,000 jobs were created in America, below the 160,000 consensus. Not only that, job growth for 2019 has averaged 158,000 jobs per month, against a gain of 223,000 jobs per month on average in 2018. One bright spot, however, has been that wages have started to rise, with a 0.4 percent monthly increase and a 3.2 percent year-over-year increase. With unemployment still near record lows of 3.7 percent, wage growth is a sign that employers are acting ...
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Seven other states and District of Columbia join the probe. A multistate investigation of Facebook (FB) for possible antitrust violations was announced, led by New York State Attorney General Letitia James. The probe will focus “on Facebook’s dominance in the industry and the potential anticompetitive conduct stemming from that dominance.” Facebook shares fell nearly 2 percent on the day. The probe is separate from the antitrust concerns and investigation currently underway by the Federal Trade Commission, which recently accepted a $5 billion settlement from Facebook over privacy policies. State attorneys general in Colorado, Florida, Iowa, Nebraska, North Carolina, Ohio, Tennessee, and the District ...
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There are a lot of ways to make money in the market. But even if you find that rare company that can move ten-fold and provide one of the best profits of your lifetime, that will take time.Most investors get impatient. Trading Tips’ Andrew Packer explains why you should be looking at blue-chip bargains ...
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Inventory drop nearly double than expected. EIA petroleum estimates for the week indicated a 4.8 million barrel drop in crude oil inventories. This was nearly double the estimate for a 2.5 million barrel drop. Gasoline dropped 2.4 million barrels, about 1 million barrels more than expected, and more than last week’s decline of 2.1 million barrels. Distillates, which were expected to increase, also dropped 2.5 million barrels. Overall, the data shows robust demand for oil at current prices in the mid-$50 range. Over the past three months, the weekly data has shown a 60.2 million barrel decline, indicating that the summer driving ...
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Put option buying bets on decline. The October 4th $26 put options on Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) saw over 10,400 contracts trading—a 41-fold increase over the prior open interest of 250 contracts. With 28 days left to go and with shares around $32, the bet is that shares will decline nearly 19 percent. At just $0.15 for the option, or $15 for the full contract, the trade may simply be a hedge following the strong rally this week on the announcement of new trade talks. Advanced Micro Devices is an industry-leading name in the semiconductor space with computing and graphics processing technologies ...
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Consumer goods company faces significant downside. A research note released by Spruce Point warns that Church & Dwight (CHD) may see 35-50 percent downside in the coming months. That’s based on the deteriorating retail environment for CHD products, recent leveraged acquisitions made at a premium leading to rising debt, and the company’s aggressive financial accounting practices. The research note includes the growth of the company’s goodwill on its balance sheet, an accounting item that has gotten companies like Kraft Heinz into trouble this year. Church & Dwight is best known for Trojan brand prophylactics, Arm & Hammer baking soda, and other consumer goods ...
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Directors make multi-million dollar buy. Multiple insiders are making a buy at cosmetic company Coty (COTY). On September 4th, director Robert Singer bought 35,000 shares, a $325,000 purchase that increased his stake in the firm by nearly 15 percent. And director Peter Harf bought just over 1,050,000 shares, shelling out $9.98 million to do so, increasing his stake by 10 percent. Data for the past three years indicate that insiders have been buyers in that time, with their volume spiking this year. Coty is a beauty and cosmetics company that licenses brands such as Burberry, Hugo Boss, Calvin Klein, Gucci, and Tiffany among ...
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Bank cites weak arguments for merger. Citigroup weighed in on the potential merger between tobacco giants Altria (MO) and Philip Morris (PM) —and sees little upside or reasons for shareholders to approve a deal at the current time. The evidence for a stronger merged company looks weak, and recombining the two companies back into one offers little upside for the business of either company. Philip Morris investors may even be worse off, as the international company would add the risks of investing in the U.S. tobacco market. Both tobacco companies have stated that they are “in talks” to potentially merge, but no ...
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