The big news on the financial channels this morning was Microsoft's offer to buy Yahoo (YHOO). Yawn, Yawn. If I owned Yahoo shares, I would take my money and run.
Microsoft is a mature company, no debt, and no longer a grower. Yahoo is one of my favorite website for quick financial information. The combination of two slow growers should result in a larger slower grower, but you never know what can happen with a little financial engineering.
The big buzz word in the corporate world is "synergy" when companies merge.. While synergies may exist with Microsoft and Yahoo, they didn't exist with others.
During the lying and cheating years of 1995-2000, two companies who were losing money would merged, and then viola, they would suddenly emerge as profitable.
The stock market continued its oversold rally after news broke that a plan may be in the works to bailout MBIA and ABK. CNBC reported that a group of banks including Citigroup, Wachovia, and six European banks were working with the New York State Insurance Superintendent to bailout the insurers.
As it stands, the S&P is facing stiff resistance in the 1370-1440 range. A decisive break above 1440 on high volume would confirm a resumption of the bull market. A decisive break below 1370 would confirm that we have more work to do on the downside.
This morning’s jobs report confirms what we have been saying for quite some time. The Labor Department said the economy lost 17,000 jobs in January. Economists (late to the party again) were expecting 70,000 new jobs, but instead saw the first contraction of the labor market in more than four years. The unemployment rate rose to 5%.
I am pleased that my call on the bank stocks is beginning to bear fruit. I still think their will be several hurdles ahead, but at least we are heading in the right direction.
Our newest Top 10 pick for the Dynamic Growth ETF Portfolio, iShares Dow Jones US Financial Sector (IYF) is up 7.02% so far this week. Congrats!
Here's some news that's being ignored by the political dog and pony show (debates), as the media continues to deflect the public's attention;
