After a slow start to the day, the record-setting Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJINDICES: ^DJI ) hasn't been stopped from rising even higher, despite misgivings from wary investors over its year-to-date surge. As of 2:15 p.m. EDT, the blue chip index has pulled in gains of 20 points, or around 0.1%. Most stocks are in the green today, helped by falling jobless�claims reported by the Labor Department. Let's catch up on the stories and movers you need to know.
Mixed reactions around the market
AT&T (NYSE: T ) hasn't been able to take advantage of the Dow's record gains today, and the telecom stock has weighed down the index from even bigger gains. Shares have fallen more than 1% to rank among the top Dow laggards even after the company announced the launch�of a no-contract, prepaid wireless service today, called Aio Wireless.
Aio looks to follow in the steps of competitor services�targeting customers who aren't interested in traditional two-year phone contracts. While AT&T won't offer LTE with the Aio plans, it does offer unlimited data, talk, and text at a price range of $40 to $70. With AT&T's contract memberships growing at a slower rate than competitors such as Verizon (NYSE: VZ ) , the firm's willingness to expand beyond traditional contract boundaries is a good move to capture new customers.
Top Telecom Stocks For 2015: McDonald's Corporation(MCD)
McDonald?s Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, operates as a worldwide foodservice retailer. It franchises and operates McDonald?s restaurants that offer various food items, soft drinks, coffee, and other beverages. As of December 31, 2009, the company operated 32,478 restaurants in 117 countries, of which 26,216 were operated by franchisees; and 6,262 were operated by the company. McDonald?s Corporation was founded in 1948 and is based in Oak Brook, Illinois.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Sue Chang]
McDonald�� (MCD) �is projected to report third-quarter earnings of $1.51 a share, according to a consensus survey by Thomson Reuters.
- [By Dividend Growth Investor]
McDonald�� Corporation (MCD), together with its subsidiaries, franchises and operates McDonald�� restaurants primarily in the United States, Europe, the Asia Pacific, the Middle East, and Africa. This[/color]dividend champion has paid dividends since 1976 and increased distributions on its common stock for 36 years in a row.
Best Blue Chip Stocks To Invest In Right Now: Philip Morris International Inc(PM)
Philip Morris International Inc., through its subsidiaries, engages in the manufacture and sale of cigarettes and other tobacco products in markets outside of the United States. Its international product brand line comprises Marlboro, Merit, Parliament, Virginia Slims, L&M, Chesterfield, Bond Street, Lark, Muratti, Next, Philip Morris, and Red & White. The company also offers its products under the A Mild, Dji Sam Soe, and A Hijau in Indonesia; Diana in Italy; Optima and Apollo-Soyuz in the Russian Federation; Morven Gold in Pakistan; Boston in Colombia; Belmont, Canadian Classics, and Number 7 in Canada; Best and Classic in Serbia; f6 in Germany; Delicados in Mexico; Assos in Greece; and Petra in the Czech Republic and Slovakia. It operates primarily in the European Union, Eastern Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Asia, Canada, and Latin America. The company is based in New York, New York.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Morgan Housel]
For most of the last decade, investors scooped up stocks that had big international exposure with the idea that they would provide a hedge against a weakening dollar. Companies that do most of their business overseas, like Coca-Cola (NYSE: KO ) (73% overseas), Philip Morris International (NYSE: PM ) (all overseas), and Intel (NASDAQ: INTC ) (85% overseas), looked compelling as a hedge against the U.S. economy's faults.
- [By Holly LaFon]
His top four holdings are Philip Morris International (PM), Nestle SA Reg (NSRGY), Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A), CIE Financiere Rich (CFRHF).
Philip Morris International (PM)
- [By Matthew Coffina]
Philip Morris International (PM)
Among our holdings, Philip Morris is arguably the most exposed to depreciating emerging market currencies, since it doesn�� have any US sales. Unfortunately, currency fluctuations are an unavoidable tradeoff for emerging markets��relatively stable cigarette volumes.
Best Blue Chip Stocks To Invest In Right Now: International Business Machines Corporation(IBM)
International Business Machines Corporation (IBM) provides information technology (IT) products and services worldwide. Its Global Technology Services segment provides IT infrastructure and business process services, including strategic outsourcing, process, integrated technology, and maintenance services, as well as technology-based support services. The company?s Global Business Services segment offers consulting and systems integration, and application management services. Its Software segment offers middleware and operating systems software, such as WebSphere software to integrate and manage business processes; information management software for database and enterprise content management, information integration, data warehousing, business analytics and intelligence, performance management, and predictive analytics; Tivoli software for identity management, data security, storage management, and datacenter automation; Lotus software for collaboration, messaging, and so cial networking; rational software to support software development for IT and embedded systems; business intelligence software, which provides querying and forecasting tools; SPSS predictive analytics software to predict outcomes and act on that insight; and operating systems software. Its Systems and Technology segment provides computing and storage solutions, including servers, disk and tape storage systems and software, point-of-sale retail systems, and microelectronics. The company?s Global Financing segment provides lease and loan financing to end users and internal clients; commercial financing to dealers and remarketers of IT products; and remanufacturing and remarketing services. It serves financial services, public, industrial, distribution, communications, and general business sectors. The company was formerly known as Computing-Tabulating-Recording Co. and changed its name to International Business Machines Corporation in 1924. IBM was founded in 1910 and is based in Armonk, New York.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Tom Aspray]
The latest catalyst was the poor economic news out of China, which spurred liquidation in many of the emerging markets, further depressing their currencies. Several notable earnings' misses from several stocks, like International Business Machines (IBM) and Kansas City Southern (KSU), made many nervous about their portfolios as KSU was down 14% on Friday.
Best Blue Chip Stocks To Invest In Right Now: Chevron Corporation(CVX)
Chevron Corporation, through its subsidiaries, engages in petroleum, chemicals, mining, power generation, and energy operations worldwide. It operates in two segments, Upstream and Downstream. The Upstream segment involves in the exploration, development, and production of crude oil and natural gas; processing, liquefaction, transportation, and regasification associated with liquefied natural gas; transportation of crude oil through pipelines; and transportation, storage, and marketing of natural gas, as well as holds interest in a gas-to-liquids project. The Downstream segment engages in the refining of crude oil into petroleum products; marketing of crude oil and refined products primarily under the Chevron, Texaco, and Caltex brand names; transportation of crude oil and refined products by pipeline, marine vessel, motor equipment, and rail car; and manufacture and marketing of commodity petrochemicals, plastics for industrial uses, and fuel and lubricant additives. It a lso produces and markets coal and molybdenum; and holds interests in 13 power assets with a total operating capacity of approximately 3,100 megawatts, as well as involves in cash management and debt financing activities, insurance operations, real estate activities, energy services, and alternative fuels and technology business. Chevron Corporation has a joint venture agreement with China National Petroleum Corporation. The company was formerly known as ChevronTexaco Corp. and changed its name to Chevron Corporation in May 2005. Chevron Corporation was founded in 1879 and is based in San Ramon, California.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Tyler Crowe]
Even though the country has so much oil, it has struggled to keep up production growth and has asked for outside help. This week, Venezuela has signed financing deals with Chevron (NYSE: CVX ) , Schlumberger (NYSE: SLB ) , and Russia's Rosneft that will total $5.6 to expand production. The country hopes to increase production from 3 to 5 million barrels per day by 2015.
- [By Jonas Elmerraji]
Surprisingly, one of the names that's correlating the highest with the S&P 500 right now is oil and gas supermajor Chevron (CVX). Just like the S&P, Chevron is trading in a very well-defined trend channel. The key difference is that the Chevron trade is further along; this stock is bouncing off of trendline support this week. That means it's time to be a buyer.
Commodities and materials stocks are seeing some buoyancy this week, but Chevron's price action is different -- it's been more sustained over the course of 2013. This stock's proximity to trendline support right now makes it the best-in-breed oil name in my view. As geopolitical risks propel oil prices, the real story at CVX is the fact that support is just a few points away. That makes Chevron a great setup from a risk management perspective.
Speaking of risk management, if you decide to jump into shares here, I'd recommend keeping a protective stopprotective stop just above the 200-day moving average.
- [By Alex Planes]
Tale of the tape
Chevron (NYSE: CVX ) has only been a current Dow component since 2008, but it first joined way back in 1930, when it was still Standard Oil of California. Chevron's dubious 1999 removal hindered the index's growth for years, but investors who held on enjoyed gains of nearly 150% before the oil supermajor was reinstated. Chevron has ranked as America's third largest company on the Fortune 500 for several years running, a position befitting one of the largest integrated oil and gas companies in the world.
Best Blue Chip Stocks To Invest In Right Now: Apple Inc.(AAPL)
Apple Inc., together with subsidiaries, designs, manufactures, and markets personal computers, mobile communication and media devices, and portable digital music players, as well as sells related software, services, peripherals, networking solutions, and third-party digital content and applications worldwide. The company sells its products worldwide through its online stores, retail stores, direct sales force, third-party wholesalers, resellers, and value-added resellers. In addition, it sells third-party Mac, iPhone, iPad, and iPod compatible products, including application software, printers, storage devices, speakers, headphones, and other accessories and peripherals through its online and retail stores; and digital content and applications through the iTunes Store. The company sells its products to consumer, small and mid-sized business, education, enterprise, government, and creative markets. As of September 25, 2010, it had 317 retail stores, including 233 stores in the United States and 84 stores internationally. The company, formerly known as Apple Computer, Inc., was founded in 1976 and is headquartered in Cupertino, California.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Evan Niu, CFA]
There may be a handful of engineering challenges that Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL ) faces in making a Retina iPad Mini, many of which seemingly conflict with the strategic purchase of the smaller tablet, but the Mac maker is still expected to deliver such a device in the near future.
Best Blue Chip Stocks To Invest In Right Now: Visa Inc.(V)
Visa Inc., a payments technology company, engages in the operation of retail electronic payments network worldwide. It facilitates commerce through the transfer of value and information among financial institutions, merchants, consumers, businesses, and government entities. The company owns and operates VisaNet, a global processing platform that provides transaction processing services. It also offers a range of payments platforms, which enable credit, charge, deferred debit, debit, and prepaid payments, as well as cash access for consumers, businesses, and government entities. The company provides its payment platforms under the Visa, Visa Electron, PLUS, and Interlink brand names. In addition, it offers value-added services, including risk management, issuer processing, loyalty, dispute management, value-added information, and CyberSource-branded services. The company is headquartered in San Francisco, California.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By WWW.GURUFOCUS.COM]
During the quarter, Visa (V) reported strong year-颅��ver-颅��ear growth with earnings up 14%, as the business continues to operate at a superior level ��very much in-颅��ine with the past several years. Visa has been a core holding for our clients since October 2008 and rarely has a year gone by without the Company and its partners having to contend with lawsuits and legislation aimed at limiting pricing power and 4 distribution. 2014 is no exception, though most of the news has been favorable, with a ruling for "no change" to Visa's exclusivity for high-颅��alue signature transactions. We continue to see Visa's pricing power as being derived from VisaNet's superior value proposition relative to substitutes, particularly paper-颅��based payments, automated clearinghouse (ACH), and more recently, "cryptocurrencies" (e.g. Bitcoin). While these emerging payment platforms, including PayPal and Square, represent very legitimate substitutes to traditional interchange, in our view they are not quite "good enough," as evidenced by merchant acceptance that is largely sequestered to small businesses. While we have been net sellers of Visa over the past 18 months, it has been solely due to valuation ��our primary tool for risk management at Wedgewood. We believe Visa will continue to maintain its superior competitive positioning, as competitors find it difficult to achieve the network-颅��ffect benefits that have compounded the value proposition of VisaNet, particularly as acceptance and issuance of the Visa brand continues to expand.From David Rolfe (Trades, Portfolio)'s Wedgewood Partners first quarter 2014 commentary.
Also check out: David Rolfe Undervalued Stocks David Rolfe Top Growth Companies David Rolfe High Yield stocks, and Stocks that David Rolfe keeps buying
Currently 0.00/512345Rating: 0.0/5 (0 votes)
- [By Dan Newman]
"Bitcoins" either sound like a futuristic, implantable, laser-guided and rocket-pack equipped form of money, or the latest coin-shaped chocolate snack. In reality, it's probably a bit of both. The bitcoin, a digital currency, started the year worth about $15. Less than four months later, one bitcoin now trades above $70. While this past performance may be enticing and a sign of its legitimacy as a future currency, the bitcoin market is full of risks -- risks that may make bitcoins worth as much as a foil-wrapped piece of sugar. Bitcoin: A Crypto-Currency Bitcoin is based around the idea of a currency created and transacted through cryptography instead of issued and tracked through a central bank. And to add to its mystique, the creator of bitcoin only goes by a pseudonym and has never been positively identified. Instead of any legal authority, bitcoin transactions are verified through peer-to-peer interactions. If a user sends bitcoins to another user's "wallet" file, that transaction is verified through other users, and is written into the collective transaction log. And given the ease of transactions, any fees for transfers are minimal. Instead of a mint, bitcoins are created through a process called "mining," where computers attempt to solve for a certain number, and once found, are rewarded with new bitcoins. The rewards decrease with time, however, and there will only ever be about 21 million bitcoins created, three-quarters of which by 2016, and all by 2140. Even if you don't understand any of the above, the recent jump in valuation probably still has your interest. But there are plenty of reasons to continue to educate yourself before attempting to trade in bitcoins.
bitcoincharts.com Glitches Not having any legal regulation, bitcoin has attracted plenty of thieves through the websites that create trading markets: In 2011, the third-largest trading site, Bitomat, lost its wallet file, which held 17,000 bitcoins worth more than $200,000 at th - [By WWW.DAILYFINANCE.COM]
Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg via Getty Images MasterCard (MA), the world's second-largest debit and credit card company, said it was extending its zero-liability policy for cardholders in the United States to include all PIN-based and ATM transactions. The move follows several data breaches at U.S. companies including one at Target (TGT) late last year involving the theft of about 40 million credit and debit card records. "The move by MasterCard just enhances the sense of security for people at a time when it has been shaken up significantly in recent times," said Gil Luria, an analyst with Wedbush Securities. Zero-liability protection currently covers card transactions that require a customer's signature but doesn't apply if an account holder's personal identification number, or PIN, was used for unauthorized transactions. The new policy will take effect in October. Zero-liability protection means the account holder won't be held responsible for unauthorized transactions. Larger rival Visa's (V) zero-liability policy doesn't apply to PIN-based and ATM transactions, according to information available on the company's website. "The changes that we're making in cardholder protection combined with our efforts to move the U.S. payments industry to EMV chip technology will help deliver safer shopping experiences to consumers," said Chris McWilton, president of North American markets for MasterCard. The two companies have urged banks and retailers to meet an October 2015 deadline for the adoption of "EMV" chip technology that would make it safer to pay with plastic. "This all comes back to the adoption of EMV. Of all the cards that are breached at ATMs, a majority of them are non-EMV cards. This is just another way for the company to impress upon the importance of quickly adopting EMV cards," said Philip Philliou, managing partner of Philliou Partners, a firm that helps banks and retailers select payment processors. U.S. cards issued by MasterCard will also
- [By Dan Caplinger]
2. A simple savings account
Savings accounts aren't popular among financial institutions because they aren't big revenue generators. The profits from prepaid cards come from merchant charges that Visa (NYSE: V ) and MasterCard (NYSE: MA ) collect, keeping a portion and giving the rest to card-issuing institutions. That's likely where SpendSmart expects to get the money to pay Bieber's $3.75 million endorsement fee.
Best Blue Chip Stocks To Invest In Right Now: Colgate-Palmolive Company(CL)
Colgate-Palmolive Company, together with its subsidiaries, manufactures and markets consumer products worldwide. It offers oral care products, including toothpaste, toothbrushes, and mouth rinses, as well as dental floss and pharmaceutical products for dentists and other oral health professionals; personal care products, such as liquid hand soap, shower gels, bar soaps, deodorants, antiperspirants, shampoos, and conditioners; and home care products comprising laundry and dishwashing detergents, fabric conditioners, household cleaners, bleaches, dishwashing liquids, and oil soaps. The company offers its oral, personal, and home care products under the Colgate Total, Colgate Max Fresh, Colgate 360 Advisors' Opinion:
- [By Dividend Growth Investor]
In a previous article, I outlined that it is getting more difficult to find quality dividend paying stocks to buy. Most of the usual suspects like Kimberly-Clark (KMB) or Colgate-Palmolive (CL) are very overvalued today, which prevents me from adding to my positions there. Other companies like Chevron (CVX) are attractively valued today, but unfortunately my portfolio is overweight in them. Currently I find the oil sector to be cheap and have some of the lowest P/E ratios in the market. However, I would hate to be concentrated in one sector which is exposed to the fluctuating prices in its commodity products.
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