Category Archives: Cocktail Stocks Blog

The S&P 500 has been on a tear so far this year, climbing more than 9 percent to a new 52-week high amid growing confidence the U.S. economy will avoid recession and Europe’s sovereign credit crisis will not devolve into … Read More

Initial public offerings still have a bad reputation with many investors. There are some reasons for cynicism. After all, a number of companies with poor business fundamentals or weak management have been foisted on the investing public, particularly during stock … Read More

On Friday, February 3, 2012, the Nasdaq Composite and S&P 500 Information Technology Indices broke to fresh 11-year highs on the back of a stronger-than-expected January employment report. While the rally in technology stocks is part of a broader move … Read More

Financials were the worst-performing sector in 2011, with the S&P 500 Financials Index falling more than 17 percent compared to a total return of about 2.1 percent for the broader market including dividends. But so far this year the picture … Read More

For much of the past year and a half, stocks have been held hostage to macroeconomic events and fears about the ongoing Eurozone debt crisis. In a world of rising correlations, stock-specific drivers and catalysts are all-too-often ignored. A careful … Read More

Global stock markets have rallied over the past couple of weeks due, in part, to easing concerns about the European sovereign debt crisis. While trading was thin in the final, holiday-shortened week of trading for 2011, the yield on Italian … Read More

Timespreads are an important consideration when evaluating the near-term direction of commodity prices. This is a fundamental that’s a lot easier to understand that it sounds. A futures contract is nothing more than a contract to accept delivery of a … Read More

The entire coal mining sector opened lower this morning after Arch Coal (NYSE: ACI), the second-largest coal miner in the US, announced that it would miss production targets from it’s Mountain Laurel met coal mine in the US. Mountain Laurel … Read More