FeedPosted Oct 27th 2009 7:45AM by Melly Alazraki (RSS feed)
Filed under: Before the bell, International markets, Market matters, BP p.l.c. ADS (BP), U.S. Steel (X), Valero Energy (VLO), Economic data, Johnson Controls (JCI), Oil

U.S. stock futures drifted higher Tuesday morning, pointing to a somewhat flat beginning on Wall Street this morning after yet another sell-off day Monday despite a series of strong earnings releases. Investors await several economic releases due out this morning, including housing and consumer confidence, looking for direction.
Economic releases this morning include September durable goods orders at 8:30 a.m. Eastern, which is expected to have risen. At 9 a.m., the August Case-Shiller Home Price Index is due out. Prices are expected to have continued their slide. At the same time, October's Conference Board reading on consumer confidence will be released. Economists expect confidence has improved slightly.
Continue reading Before the bell: Futures waver ahead of economic reports, more earnings
Posted Jul 29th 2009 10:30AM by Jim Cramer (RSS feed)
Filed under: China, Market matters, Johnson and Johnson (JNJ), Altria Group (MO), Chesapeake Energy (CHK), Hershey Co (HSY), Merck and Co (MRK), U.S. Steel (X), BHP Billiton Ltd ADR (BHP), Freep't McMoRan Copper (FCX), Commodities, Union Pacific Corporation (UNP), Cramer on BloggingStocks
TheStreet.com's Jim Cramer says the plunge in China overnight is being blamed on the industrial metal, so expect some carry-over. It turns out copper was the metric. Drats, I thought it was the dollar or oil. I thought we were supposed to buy the cyclicals on earnings being better than expected. I thought we might be buying the minerals and the steels and the oils off the morning proxy of the Baltic Freight Index, known as the Baltic Fright Index in the days when it kept going down, and kept us out of the
Freeports (NYSE:
FCX) (
Cramer's Take) and
Vales (NASDAQ:
VALE) (
Cramer's Take) and
Union Pacifics (NYSE:
UNP) (
Cramer's Take) and
U.S. Steels (NYSE:
X) (
Cramer's Take).
Silly me.
Continue reading Cramer on BloggingStocks: Copper inventory build threatens the cyclicals
Posted Jul 28th 2009 7:40AM by Melly Alazraki (RSS feed)
Filed under: Before the bell, International markets, Earnings reports, Market matters, Viacom (VIA), BP p.l.c. ADS (BP), U.S. Steel (X), Valero Energy (VLO), Economic data, Teva Pharm Indus ADR (TEVA), Commodities, Oil, Housing

U.S. stock futures declined Tuesday morning after managing to close higher on Monday to extend the remarkable rally in the markets in the last two weeks. Today, more earnings are on tap, and investors will also focus on housing data coming out before the opening bell. Finally, there is a hearing about the energy trading that would be of interest to investors.
What on many investors' minds these past recent days is how long will the rally continue. The market, on Monday, on the one hand showed resilience following some disappointing earnings and pressures from sellers trying to cash in profits. On the other hand, the surprise climb in housing sales perhaps should have triggered a more convincing positive performance. While no doubt some would want to take some profit of the table in the coming days, more positive news from corporate results to economic data indicating a better third quarter could sustain markets.
Continue reading Before the bell: Futures edge lower ahead of housing data, more earnings
Posted Jun 9th 2009 11:40AM by Eric Buscemi (RSS feed)
Filed under: Analyst reports, Analyst upgrades and downgrades, U.S. Steel (X), Nucor Corp (NUE), Analyst initiations, Marvell Technology Group (MRVL)
Analyst upgrades:
- Keefe Bruyette upgraded American Capital (NASDAQ: AGNC) to Outperform from Market Perform on expectations the company's book value and earnings are trending higher. The firm raised its target price to $22.
- Jefferies upgraded Spartan Stores (NASDAQ: SPTN) to Buy from Hold as it believes the company's EPS and sales momentum will return with the Michigan economy likely bottoming out. Despite upgrading, the firm lowered its target price to $18 from $24.
- Morgan Stanley upgraded U.S. Steel (X) to Overweight from Equal Weight due to its favorable product mix and leverage to improving operating rates.
- CSX Corp. (NYSE: CSX) was upgraded to Buy from Neutral at Goldman.
- Mueller Water (NYSE: MWA) was raised to Perform from Underperform at Oppenheimer.
- Marvell Technology (NASDAQ: MRVL) was upgraded to Outperform from Underperform at JMP Securities.
Continue reading Analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations: CSX, JBL, MRVL, NUE, STT, X ...
Posted May 5th 2009 10:30AM by Jim Cramer (RSS feed)
Filed under: Microsoft (MSFT), Apple Inc (AAPL), Cisco Systems (CSCO), Intel (INTC), Market matters, Bank of America (BAC), Black and Decker (BDK), Research in Motion (RIMM), United Parcel'B' (UPS), U.S. Steel (X), Freep't McMoRan Copper (FCX), Wells Fargo (WFC), Cramer on BloggingStocks
TheStreet.com's Jim Cramer says it's hard not to capitulate when your clients demand irrationality. When I was weighted short and we would have these seemingly endless days of rallying, it was the mornings that would get me. The mark-ups of the futures, the refusal of Asia or Europe to go down, the "tone." It was relentless.
Then I would get to the office and, after a long period in which all I heard were downgrades, I would be greeted by upgrades, where I would always scream, "Now? Now they upgrade
Intel (NASDAQ:
INTC) (
Cramer's Take)?" Or, "He's putting
Research In Motion (NASDAQ:
RIMM) (
Cramer's Take) on the list now, after this run?" Or, "
Wells Fargo (NYSE:
WFC) (
Cramer's Take) goes from hold to buy? After it ran up 4 points? What is he thinking?"
Continue reading Cramer on BloggingStocks: The pain of being rational
Posted May 2nd 2009 2:40PM by Trey Thoelcke (RSS feed)
Filed under: Earnings reports, Time Warner (TWX), Pfizer (PFE), Motorola (MOT), Exxon Mobil (XOM), Viacom (VIA), Revlon (REV), Netflix, Inc. (NFLX), Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMY), Domino's Pizza (DPZ), Procter and Gamble (PG), U.S. Steel (X), Under Armour'A' (UA), E*TRADE (ETFC)
Here are some highlights from this past week's earnings coverage from BloggingStocks:
Continue reading Earnings highlights: P&G, DreamWorks, E*Trade, Netflix, Under Armour, Humana and more
Posted Apr 28th 2009 9:50AM by Jim Cramer (RSS feed)
Filed under: General Motors (GM), Market matters, McDonald's (MCD), Citigroup Inc. (C), Bank of America (BAC), Chevron Corp (CVX), Yum Brands (YUM), U.S. Steel (X), Cramer on BloggingStocks
TheStreet.com's Jim Cramer says opportunities will arise, but it's still too early. You can't fight the unseen. Whether it be a local E. coli outbreak for Taco Bell or Chernobyl or SARS or swine flu, you have to let the epidemic run its course before the obvious buying opportunity. What do we know about this swine flu now? 1) It is not under control, and 2) We haven't had fatality counts yet in this country that will freak people out.
Does it matter that the president says it is not out of control? Not to investors. This is a convenient excuse to sell everything consumer, including anything that needs people to go out and do something that is not at home.
Continue reading Cramer on BloggingStocks: Wait for clarity on this flu outbreak
Posted Mar 16th 2009 9:00AM by Jim Cramer (RSS feed)
Filed under: Microsoft (MSFT), Dell (DELL), Hewlett-Packard (HPQ), Intel (INTC), General Motors (GM), Exxon Mobil (XOM), Market matters, 3M Corporation (MMM), Citigroup Inc. (C), JPMorgan Chase (JPM), Bank of America (BAC), Chevron Corp (CVX), U.S. Steel (X), Wells Fargo (WFC), Politics, Oil, Cramer on BloggingStocks, Recession, Financial Crisis
TheStreet.com's Jim Cramer says economic fundamentals haven't changed enough to make last week's rally a lasting force. Stocks are the tools to tell the tale, and last week made you want to own stock. The banks showed you they need not be wards of the state,
GM (NYSE:
GM) (
Cramer's Take) acted as if didn't need to be a ward of the state and oil held its own. Drug companies, among the enterprises with the best balance sheets, decided to "give up" and combine in the face of diminishing returns courtesy of changes in governments worldwide, but particularly in the United States, that would impinge on long-term profitability.
Most important, the backtracking of Obama in his position toward business, something that would never be articulated but most surely occurred as the stock market was no longer ignored -- a Bill Clinton moment in a tone-deaf White house -- set a better tone for risk-taking.
Continue reading Cramer on BloggingStocks: Don't let this rally fool you
Posted Feb 13th 2009 9:45AM by Jim Cramer (RSS feed)
Filed under: China, Market matters, Caterpillar (CAT), Centex Corp (CTX), Lennar Corp'A' (LEN), U.S. Steel (X), Freep't McMoRan Copper (FCX), Stocks to Buy, Union Pacific Corporation (UNP), Cramer on BloggingStocks
TheStreet.com's Jim Cramer says stocks you'd sell on America alone are buys when you consider that great engine in Asia. Here's some real tension. The best stocks to play China with may be the worst stocks to own here. Look at
Freeport (NYSE:
FCX) (
Cramer's Take) yesterday, which did that giant and hugely successful secondary. There is no doubt in my mind that housing starts won't even get to 600,000 this year, not after that travesty of a stimulus bill -- or when considering the reaction expressed by the stocks of
Lennar (NYSE:
LEN) (
Cramer's Take) and
Pulte (NYSE:
PHM) (
Cramer's Take) and, perhaps most hobbled,
Centex (NYSE:
CTX) (
Cramer's Take).
There is also no doubt that China's stock market being up 35% means that Freeport's Asian arm, the biggest, will soon be getting huge orders.
Continue reading Cramer on BloggingStocks: In the great tug of war, China wins
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