GDP Contraction, the Fed, and the Dow Jones – Week of April 27 – May 1, 2020

By Kuldip K. Ambastha The Dow Jones had three down and two up days this week. The coronavirus pandemic has continued to wreak havoc all around the world, and the American capital markets were affected. During 1Q2020, the USA’s GDP (gross domestic product) annualized contraction rate was 4.8%. This figure was announced on Wednesday, April …

Retail Sales and Factory Output – Week of April 13-17, 2020

By Kuldip K. Ambastha The coronavirus pandemic continues to wreak havoc all around the world. In the USA, retail sales declined by 8.7%, making for a record decline. The previous record was 3.9% in November 2008, during the Great Recession / global financial crisis (GFC) era. Clothing and accessories sales declined 50.5%. Food services and …

What Caught Our Attention in the Investment World? – Week of April 6-10, 2020

By Kuldip K. Ambastha Carnival Corporation (CCL) is well-known as a cruise operator and as a prominent travel / leisure company. This British-American company has struggled recently due to the coronavirus pandemic seen worldwide. However, during this week, the company had strong days on Monday, April 6, 2020 and Tuesday, April 7, 2020, returning 20.3% …

Jobs, Unemployment, and the Dow Jones – Week of March 30 – April 3, 2020

By Kuldip K. Ambastha The Dow Jones was up and down this week day by day, similar to what has been seen in the past few weeks. Due to the coronavirus pandemic and its related public health concerns around the world, massive changes have been seen in the USA and these changes have been affecting …

Government Stimulus and the Dow Jones – Week of March 23-27, 2020

By Kuldip K. Ambastha Per the table seen above, the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) took investors on a volatile ride this week. Down days were seen on Monday and Friday. Up days were seen on the Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday in between. This pattern in the DJIA was observed due to the federal government’s …

What Caught Our Attention in the Investment World? – Week of January 20-24, 2020

By Kuldip K. Ambastha and Anil K. Ambastha On Tuesday, January 21, 2020, China Eastern Airlines Corporation Limited (CEA) stock dropped by 10.4% for the day. China Eastern Airlines is a major Chinese airline company which offers international, domestic, and regional flights. The company is headquartered at Shanghai Hongqiao International Airport in Changning District, Shanghai. …

What Caught Our Attention in the Investment World? – Week of September 30-October 4, 2019

By Anil K. Ambastha and Kuldip K. Ambastha On September 26, Interactive Brokers (IBKR) announced a new IBKR Lite service effective from October that will feature unlimited, commission-free trades of U.S.-listed stocks and exchange traded funds (ETFs) along with no account minimum or inactivity fee. This news caused only a mild reaction on September 26 …

What Caught Our Attention in the Investment World? – Week of September 23-27, 2019

By Kuldip K. Ambastha and Anil K. Ambastha BlackBerry Limited (BB) is a prominent Canadian company, previously known as “Research In Motion.” The general public knows BlackBerry Limited best as the developer of the BlackBerry brand of phones and tablets, but in more recent years the company now provides enterprise software and services. From 2001 …

What Caught Our Attention in the Investment World? – Week of August 19-23, 2019

By Anil K. Ambastha and Kuldip K. Ambastha Following its stellar second-quarter earnings due to the success of its store investments, online sales, and same-day delivery along with a stable outlook for the remainder of the year 2019, shares of a discount store chain, Target (TGT), had their biggest-ever one-day gain of 20.4% on Wednesday, …

What Caught Our Attention in the Investment World? – Week of August 5-9, 2019

By Anil K. Ambastha and Kuldip K. Ambastha Following its second-quarter earnings report featuring lower than expected losses, higher than expected revenues, a year-over-year 39% increase of active users to 30.5 million, and bright future guidance, shares of a TV streaming platform operator, Roku (ROKU), rose by 20.9% on August 8. The company has lifted …