Trading Ideas

(Bloomberg) — The chemical industry became the latest sector to be hit by the coronavirus after German giant BASF SE warned the outbreak could lead to the lowest growth in production since the financial crisis more than a decade ago.The slump in demand may see the supplier of plastics and additives slide to a second straight year of falling profit, BASF said in a statement on Friday. The epidemic will have a significant impact worldwide, particularly in the first and second quarters, which won’t be fully offset during the remainder of the year.The setback comes at a time that BASF …read more […]

(Bloomberg) — Commodities were punished in an across-the-board sell-off as investors took fright at the coronavirus crisis, with energy, metals and agricultural raw materials driven lower. Even gold, a traditional haven asset, took a hit.The stampede away from risk assets trampled oil, copper, iron and palm oil, with no appetite for dip-buying before the weekend. Bullion’s drop stoked speculation investors needed funds to meet margin calls in equity markets, which were tanking on a welter of negative headlines about the disease.The widespread losses, coinciding with the slide in equities, signal rising fears that demand for commodities will be crushed as …read more […]

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Investors who take an interest in Royal Dutch Shell plc (AMS:RDSA) should definitely note that the CEO & Director, Ben… …read more […]

“The rebound of the economy after the outbreak will continue to be a long-term project,” Baidu CEO Robin Li said in an internal letter obtained by Reuters. The potential fall for first-quarter core revenue – sales made from advertising – was even steeper, with Baidu forecasting a slide of 10% to 18%. “Baidu will also struggle more than other internet companies in China due to its greater reliance on the advertising market,” said Haris Anwar, an analyst at financial markets platform Investing.com. …read more […]

(Bloomberg) — Fear gripped Asian markets Friday after the biggest rout for equities on Wall Street since 2011, with investors flocking to the yen and bonds to find shelter from the expected blow to corporate earnings from the coronavirus.With the likes of Citigroup Inc. analysts saying they want to see markets “closer to panic” before going all-in on global equities, there was no appetite for dip buying ahead of the weekend. The Topix Index slid over 4%, and Shanghai and Seoul saw declines of over 3%. U.S. futures tumbled after a 4.4% plunge Thursday. Crude oil collapsed below $46 a …read more […]

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Headlines moving the stock market in real time. …read more […]

Allianz chief economic advisor Mohamed El-Erian weighs in on the major selloff gripping Wall Street. …read more […]

U.S. stocks plunged this week. Protect your 401(k) by taking these four steps. …read more […]

(Bloomberg) — Beyond Meat Inc. shares reversed earlier gains and fell in spite of revenue that blew past analyst estimates — a sign investors may be looking for more than rapid sales growth from the faux meat maker.The company’s fourth-quarter sales of $98.5 million exceeded the highest analyst projection and helped push full-year revenue beyond expectations to $297.9 million. Beyond Meat forecast 2020 sales of $490 million to $510 million, also beating the average analyst estimate.Chief Executive Officer Ethan Brown said the company is “only scratching the surface” of the U.S. restaurant market, but investors may be impatient for a …read more […]

Due to coronavirus-related issues, these companies expect their profits to miss expectations Continue reading… …read more […]

The company has been aggressively cutting costs by laying off staff and selling assets to pay down its $38.54 billion debt pile following its $38 billion acquisition of Anadarko Petroleum. Occidental had also previously lowered its spending plans for the year and trimmed production goals to safeguard its dividend at a time when investors have been pressuring oil and gas companies to boost shareholder returns. Occidental reported fourth quarter production of 1.42 million barrels of oil equivalent per day (boepd), in line with its preliminary expectations announced earlier this month. …read more […]

Now let’s talk about all the red we’ve been seeing this week.
What you’re witnessing in the market right now is a combination of three things…

The market was priced for perfection. That means there was no room for “error” or a virus.
The market fears a lack of continuity of government with the elections coming this fall. Like him or hate him, President Trump is a known quantity. His potential opponent is unknown at this point.
The machines that account for 80% of the trading on Wall Street and the fund managers who must sell to mimic the market cause the type of …read more […]

I get a lot of questions from investors about exchange-traded funds, or ETFs. Many investors are curious about whether exchange-traded funds should have a place in their portfolios.
Perhaps the best place to start in this discussion is to define what an ETF is.
An ETF is a set of securities put together to track a certain index. One of the more popular ETFs, for example, was constructed to track the performance of the S&P 500. This is the SPDR S&P 500 ETFTrust (NYSE: SPY).
Prior to the creation of ETFs, it was very difficult for an individual investor to actually invest in …read more […]