Archive
Oct 30, 2008
Red Friday: Coming to a Mall Near You
By Andrew Mickey, Q1 Publishing
It’s become somewhat of an annual tradition. After stuffing one’s self on the fourth Thursday in November, it’s customary to wake up at the same time as newspaper delivery boys, and line up for hours just before the official start of the holiday shopping season as retailers extend huge bargains.
As someone who has lived outside of the United States for a big part of my life, I can easily say there is nothing more American than the rampant consumerism following Thanksgiving Day.
It’s Black Friday and retailers celebrate the part of the year when the real profits are made. But this year Black Friday has all the potential of pushing retailers deeper into the red.
It’s become somewhat of an annual tradition. After stuffing one’s self on the fourth Thursday in November, it’s customary to wake up at the same time as newspaper delivery boys, and line up for hours just before the official start of the holiday shopping season as retailers extend huge bargains.
As someone who has lived outside of the United States for a big part of my life, I can easily say there is nothing more American than the rampant consumerism following Thanksgiving Day.
It’s Black Friday and retailers celebrate the part of the year when the real profits are made. But this year Black Friday has all the potential of pushing retailers deeper into the red.
Oct 28, 2008
5 Signs of a Market Bottom
By Andrew Mickey, Q1 Publishing
We’ve hit bottom!
Pundits around the world have signaled “All Clear” and it’s time to go all in, right?
Wrong.
We’ve been avoiding calling a bottom here at Q1 Publishing for months now.
However, that could be about to change. Four of our five bottom indicators are turning bullish and we’re just waiting for one more.
We’ve hit bottom!
Pundits around the world have signaled “All Clear” and it’s time to go all in, right?
Wrong.
We’ve been avoiding calling a bottom here at Q1 Publishing for months now.
However, that could be about to change. Four of our five bottom indicators are turning bullish and we’re just waiting for one more.
Oct 26, 2008
Don't Buy Into Stock Buybacks
By Andrew Mickey, Q1 Publishing
Bull Market - A random market movement causing an investor to mistake himself for a financial genius. – Anonymous
The bull market is over and the days when everyone was an expert are gone. Merely buying a stock and watching it go up day after day is history. “Buy and hope” is dead. But that doesn’t mean you can’t make money and get your portfolio back in shape. You can. You just have to separate the fact from fiction. And one of the most dangerous myths that could cost you even more money is that share buybacks are good.
You see, the world is not coming to an end. The economy will recover…eventually. A new bubble will form. And greed will replace fear. It always does.
And here’s the best part, a few companies will emerge stronger than they were before. The trick is to identify which ones will make the best of a bad situation.
This is a time when great companies increase their market share. The strong get stronger and well…the weak disappear. You can tell the difference by...
Bull Market - A random market movement causing an investor to mistake himself for a financial genius. – Anonymous
The bull market is over and the days when everyone was an expert are gone. Merely buying a stock and watching it go up day after day is history. “Buy and hope” is dead. But that doesn’t mean you can’t make money and get your portfolio back in shape. You can. You just have to separate the fact from fiction. And one of the most dangerous myths that could cost you even more money is that share buybacks are good.
You see, the world is not coming to an end. The economy will recover…eventually. A new bubble will form. And greed will replace fear. It always does.
And here’s the best part, a few companies will emerge stronger than they were before. The trick is to identify which ones will make the best of a bad situation.
This is a time when great companies increase their market share. The strong get stronger and well…the weak disappear. You can tell the difference by...
Oct 22, 2008
Supersized Survivors Defy Economic Gloom
By Guy Bennett, Q1 Publishing
You won’t find Lynn Landgraff featured in the pages of the Wall Street Journal or Businessweek. But she’s a good example of how some people are sidestepping the current economic turmoil.
Lynn owns and operates a McDonald’s (NYSE:MCD) in small town of Greer, South Carolina. According to the Greenville news, [Lynn] hired 65 people to work at her new store, and may be looking to hire about 10 more as business picks up during the holidays.
McDonald’s is an extremely resilient business. It has already survived the Italian based slow food movement and the Oscar-nominated documentary Super Size Me which showed the filmmaker gaining 30 pounds and developing toxic shock after eating nothing but McDonald’s food for a month.
You won’t find Lynn Landgraff featured in the pages of the Wall Street Journal or Businessweek. But she’s a good example of how some people are sidestepping the current economic turmoil.
Lynn owns and operates a McDonald’s (NYSE:MCD) in small town of Greer, South Carolina. According to the Greenville news, [Lynn] hired 65 people to work at her new store, and may be looking to hire about 10 more as business picks up during the holidays.
McDonald’s is an extremely resilient business. It has already survived the Italian based slow food movement and the Oscar-nominated documentary Super Size Me which showed the filmmaker gaining 30 pounds and developing toxic shock after eating nothing but McDonald’s food for a month.
Oct 21, 2008
California Economy Sends Warning Signal
By Guy Bennett, Q1 Publishing
There is no question that this area is in a recession. We are the canary in the mine shaft. - John Husing, California Economist
We are all living in the shadow of a gigantic question mark. What is happening to the global economy? Are we slipping into a recession? How bad will it be? Millions of Americans are asking: Will we lose our homes? Our dignity? Our ability to feed our children?
The fact is, nobody knows what is going to happen. In fact, most people aren’t exactly sure what is happening. Except that all the charts are pointing down.
Last week, I talked to a London-based investment banker who is convinced that that many senior bank officials do not understand their own “financial instruments”. Not just why they failed, by how they worked in the first place.
When the big picture is so cloudy, financial pundits look for smaller pictures to bring into focus. One popular obsession is trying to “call the bottom”. In other words trying to predict when stocks - as a group – will reverse their descent and begin going up (and yes this will eventually happen).
“The bottom” will come when we get the first signal that better economic times are ahead. Some financial analysts think we are there now. Others think we’ll get there in Q3, 2009. Like I said, no one knows.
As it turns out, the key to identifying the bottom this time around will be...
There is no question that this area is in a recession. We are the canary in the mine shaft. - John Husing, California Economist
We are all living in the shadow of a gigantic question mark. What is happening to the global economy? Are we slipping into a recession? How bad will it be? Millions of Americans are asking: Will we lose our homes? Our dignity? Our ability to feed our children?
The fact is, nobody knows what is going to happen. In fact, most people aren’t exactly sure what is happening. Except that all the charts are pointing down.
Last week, I talked to a London-based investment banker who is convinced that that many senior bank officials do not understand their own “financial instruments”. Not just why they failed, by how they worked in the first place.
When the big picture is so cloudy, financial pundits look for smaller pictures to bring into focus. One popular obsession is trying to “call the bottom”. In other words trying to predict when stocks - as a group – will reverse their descent and begin going up (and yes this will eventually happen).
“The bottom” will come when we get the first signal that better economic times are ahead. Some financial analysts think we are there now. Others think we’ll get there in Q3, 2009. Like I said, no one knows.
As it turns out, the key to identifying the bottom this time around will be...
