The Yummies are Causing the All-Time Stock Market Highs

Many have wondered why the stock market continues to make all-time highs, almost every day. This exceptional rise may be due to the Yummies, the Young Upwardly Mobile Millennials. Yes, the Millennials, also known as Generation Y. Many traits have been ascribed to this generation, but you don’t ever hear the members referred to as being invetor-oriented.

So let’s look at the facts. Legg Mason Global Asset Management, the 20th largest asset manager in the world, produced the 2017 Global Investment Survey, and the Summary of U.S. Results are very enlightening.

For example, did you know that Millennials invest more in non-cash investments than the Generation X or the Baby Boomers? As a matter of fact, 77% of Yummies apply their funds toward these assets, versus 75% for Gen x and 69% for Baby Boomers.

Let’s look at some definitions before continuing. Legg mason consideres Millennials to be between the ages of 18 and 35, Gen X at age 36 to 52, with Baby Boomers ranging from 53 to 71 years old.

Some other interesting factoids about the Yummies. They invest three times as much as Boomers in non-traditional investments. Plus, a far greater percentage of Yummies put their money into investment real estate than the Baby Boomers.

But what is most amazing is the fact that 11% of the Yummies invest in gold and precious metals versus only 7% of the Gen Xers and a measly 2% for the Baby Boomers.

When the respondents were asked which investment categories they believe offer the best opportunities over the next 12 months, 46% of the Yummies said domestic stocks, with Gen X and Boomers closely agreeing, both at 42%. International stocks came in second as an investment opportunity in the opinion of the Millennials.

Finally, 87% of Yummies have saivings, investments, or both but only 81% of Boomers have these assets, and just 75% of Millennials.

Many wonder why the FAANG stocks, Facebook (FB), Apple (AAPL), Amazon (AMZN), Netflix (NFLX), and Google (GOOG), continue to rise. So now you know. If you are wondering who is driving up the price of stocks and cryptocurrency, you need look no further than the Yummies.

by Fred Fuld III

Disclosure: Author owns AAPL and AMZN.

5 Ways to Protect Yourself From a Stock Market Crash

Don't be the fish in a Bear Market

The first day of this year, 2016, the stock market tanked. As I write this on Wednesday, January 6, the Dow Jones Industrial Average is down 237 points.

If you are concerned about the stock market and you think we are heading into a bear market, there are certain ways to protect yourself on the downside.

Here is a list of five ways to trade which can provide some protection during a period of falling stocks.

Short Stocks 

1. You can short stocks. If you have never shorted a stock before, this is what happens in simple terms. You borrow stock, you sell the stock, and eventually you have to buy the stock back eventually to return the stock that was borrowed, hopefully at a much lower price. (You don't actually see all this happening; it all happens electronically.) The different between what you sale the stock for and the price you buy it back is your profit (or loss). Traders should be aware that this can be a very risky trade and the potential loss from selling short is infinite.

Buy Put Options 

2. You can buy put options to protect stocks that you currently own, or you can buy a put on a stock you believe is going to drop. A put is the right to sell a stock at a certain price within a set period of time.

Here is an example. A stock is trading at 50, you buy a put with a strike price of 49. The strike price is the price at which you can put the stock to someone. You pay 1 for the option. If the stock drops to 45, your one dollar option increases to at least 4 (the difference between the 49 and the 45). If the stock closes at 49 or higher, then the option expires worthless, so your loss is limited to the cost of the put.

Writing Covered Calls

3. Writing calls against your stocks is one way to help protect your portfolio on the downside. Maybe you don't want to sell out of you stock positions, but you want some way to help reduce the loss on the downside. You can write covered calls. There is the chance that your stock could get called away if the stock starts to rally, but it just means that you made money on the transaction.

An example would be if the stock sells at 50 and you write a call with a strike price of 51 for 1. If the stock remains at the same price at option expiration, you make 1 per share. If the stock goes up to 53, you will get called away at 51 making 1 on the stock plus you collect another 1 for the sold option, for a total profit of 2. If the stock drops to 47, you lose 3 on the stock but you make 1 on the sold call for a net loss on 2. Without the written call, your net loss would be 3 on the stock.

Bearish ETFs 

4. Bearish exchange traded funds, also known as Bearish ETFs are investments that have a goal of providing the daily inverse of a stock index. The bearish ETFs are very volatile investments that are designed for short term trading, and not as long term investments. They achieve their performance through the use of various financial instruments including futures contracts, options,  collars, swap agreements, short positions, and other derivatives.

Double and Triple Bearish ETFs 

5. Double and triple bearish ETFs can provide a 200% or 300% opposite return of a sector or market. Listed at WallStreetNewsNetwork.com are over a dozen commonly traded triple bearish ETFs which investors can use to get a 300% play.

An example is the Direxion Daily S&P 500 Bear 3X Shares ETF (SPXS). This ETF has the goal of making 300% of the inverse of the performance of the S&P 500. What that means is, if the S&P 500 drops 2% in one day, the ETF should go up in value by 6%. Alternatively, if the S&P 500 rises by 2%, the ETF should drop by 6%, which would be a significant loss.

Another one of the bear market protection tools is an ETF called the ProShares Trust UltraPro Short QQQ ETF (SQQQ). The goal of this fund is to replicate three times the inverse of the NASDAQ 100 index using various types of derivatives. An example of what that means is that if the stock market, in terms of the NASDAQ 100 drops by 1%, this ETF should rise by 3%.

This index includes such stocks at Amgen (AMGN), Apple (AAPL), Baidu (BIDU), Cisco (CSCO), eBay (EBAY), Facebook (FB), Google (GOOG), Intel (INTC), Microsoft (MSFT), Netflix (NFLX), Starbucks (SBUX), Tesla (TSLA), Whole Foods (WFM), and Yahoo (YHOO).

Investors can be more specific in terms of what sectors will drop, or will drop the most. If you think energy stocks will tank, you could buy the Daily Energy Bear 3X Shares ETF (ERY), which attempts to track 300% of the inverse of the Energy Select Sector Index. For financial services companies, an option is the Daily Financial Bear 3X Shares ETF (FAZ).

For those that are bearish on gold, a triple bearish gold ETF called the Daily Gold Miners Bear 3X Shares ETF (DUST) is available. The ETF's objective is to make 300% of the opposite of the NYSE Arca Gold Miners Index.

For a free list of the most commonly traded triple bearish ETFs which can be downloaded, go to WallStreetNewsNetwork.com.

Just remember that losses on the double and triple bearish can be substantial when the stock market rises.

One other option is to just ride out the market drops. Let's hope for a nice bull market for this year.

Disclosure: Author has various positions, including bullish, bearish, and neutral option positions, in DIS, AAPL, EBAY, YHOO, and TWTR.

By Stockerblog.com

Top Halloween Stocks

Halloween Jack-O-Lanturn Pumpkin

Just a couple more days to go until Halloween. Have you bought your candy yet, not just to pass out to the trick-or-treaters, but to help out the candy companies? Look for treats, not tricks, in the following Halloween stocks.

Watching horror movies is one of the popular activities of teenagers on Halloween. Netflix (NFLX) has a huge number of scary movies in its collection of titles. The stock has a trailing price to earnings ratio of 284 and a scary forward P/E of 410.

One of the leading studios of scary movies is Lions Gate Entertainment (LGF), which has made such films as American Psycho, Ginger Snaps, Route 666, The Devil's Rejects, House of the Dead 2, Saw VI, See No Evil, Hostel: Part II, My Bloody Valentine 3D and numerous others. Lionsgate has a P/E ratio of 33 and sports a yield of 0.9%.

Of course, the big beneficiaries of Halloween are the candy companies. Hershey Foods (HSY) is the large chocolate and confectionery company made famous by its Hershey Kisses and Hershey Bars. The stock has a P/E of 35, and a yield of 2.5%.

Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory (RMCF) is a very low cap Colorado based company which makes and markets chocolate and candy. The stock has a P/E of 18 and a yield of 4.3%.

Tootsie Roll Industries (TR) makes all kinds of candy for trick-or-treaters including Tootsie Rolls, Tootsie Roll Pops, Caramel Apple Pops, Charms, Blow-Pops, Blue Razz, Zip-A-Dee Pops, Cella's, Mason Dots, Mason Crows, Junior Mint, Charleston Chew, Sugar Daddys, and Sugar Babies. The stock has a P/E of 31` and a yield of 1.1%.

Halloween costumes and decorations are available at discount retailers such as Wal-Mart (WMT). It has a P/E of 12, and a yield of 3.4%.

If you like interesting sectors of stocks, such as college stocks, cloud computing stocks, and chocolate and candy stocks, check out WallStreetNewsNetwork.com.

Disclosure: Author didn't own any of the above at the time the article was written.

By Stockerblog.com

Halloween Stocks in September?

Halloween Jack-O-Lanturn Pumpkin

The Halloween ads started several days ago, even though it was just the middle of September. Halloween is celebrated in United States, England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand, so there should be plenty of stock treat opportunities. The following are stocks which may benefit from the holiday, but do your research as some of them may be tricks instead of treats.

Watching scary movies is one of the popular activities of teenagers on Halloween. Netflix (NFLX) has a huge number of horror movies in its collection of titles. The stock has a trailing price to earnings ratio of 230 and a forward P/E of 342.

One of the leading studios of scary movies is Lions Gate Entertainment (LGF), which has made such films as American Psycho, Ginger Snaps, Route 666, The Devil's Rejects, House of the Dead 2, Saw VI, See No Evil, Hostel: Part II, My Bloody Valentine 3D and numerous others. Lionsgate has a P/E ratio of 33 and sports a yield of 0.7%.

Of course, the big beneficiaries of Halloween are the candy companies. Hershey Foods (HSY) is the large chocolate and confectionery company made famous by its Hershey Kisses and Hershey Bars. The stock has a P/E of 36, and a yield of 2.6%.

Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory (RMCF) is a very low cap Colorado based company which makes and markets chocolate and candy. The stock has a P/E of 19 and a yield of 4.0%.

Tootsie Roll Industries (TR) makes all kinds of candy for trick-or-treaters including Tootsie Rolls, Tootsie Roll Pops, Caramel Apple Pops, Charms, Blow-Pops, Blue Razz, Zip-A-Dee Pops, Cella's, Mason Dots, Mason Crows, Junior Mint, Charleston Chew, Sugar Daddys, and Sugar Babies. The stock has a P/E of 29 and a yield of 1.1%.

Halloween costumes and decorations are available at discount retailers such as Wal-Mart (WMT). It has a P/E of 13, and a yield of 3.0%.

If you like interesting sectors of stocks, such as college stocks, cloud computing stocks, and chocolate and candy stocks, check out WallStreetNewsNetwork.com.

Disclosure: Author didn't own any of the above at the time the article was written.

By Stockerblog.com

Protect Yourself From Crashing Stock Markets with the SQQQ ETF

Last Friday morning at 8am, I wrote an article called 5 Ways to Protect Yourself in a Bear Market. Since then, the stock market has, well to put it bluntly, crashed. Using the Dow Jones Industrial Average (since that is the index that the media likes to use), by the end of the day on Friday, the index was down over 530 points. Then yesterday, Monday, the stock market was down 588 points (and had actually dropped around 1100 points intra-day). Today, the market tanked again, falling over 200 points. Hopefully, you did something to protect your portfolio.

One of the bear market protection tools is an ETF, an exchange traded fund, called the ProShares Trust UltraPro Short QQQ ETF (SQQQ). The goal of this fund is to replicate three times the inverse of the NASDAQ 100 index using various types of derivatives. What that means is that if the stock market, in terms of the NASDAQ 100 drops by 1%, this ETF should rise by 3%.

This index includes such stocks at Amgen (AMGN), Apple (AAPL), Baidu (BIDU), Cisco (CSCO), eBay (EBAY), Facebook (FB), Google (GOOG), Intel (INTC), Microsoft (MSFT), Netflix (NFLX), Starbucks (SBUX), Tesla (TSLA), Whole Foods (WFM), and Yahoo (YHOO).

Since the close last Thursday, SQQQ has risen from 24.33 to 31.10, an increase of 27%. The nice thing about using an ETF such as this is that you don't have to short stocks, you don't have to use options, and you don't have to use margin. Not a bad over three business days.

However, you should be aware that if the market goes against you, in this case if the market rises, your loss on the ETF can be substantial. If the market goes up 1%, you would lose 3% on the ETF.

The triple bearish ETFs are just another tool at your disposal to protect your portfolio and make money when stocks drop. They should only be used on a short term basis. For a free list of other triple bearish ETFs, go to WallStreetNewsNetwork.com.

Treat Your Portfolio to Halloween Stocks

Halloween Pumpkin

Halloween comes from the words All Hallows' Evening. Although Halloween originally came about from religious related celebrations, it has now become a very commercialized October 31, involving not only the purchase of candy, but also costumes, party food and beverages, pumpkins, decorations, and DVDs and admission tickets to scary movies.

Let's start with the horror films. Netflix (NFLX) has many scary motion pictures that you can watch on Halloween night. The company has a price to earnings ratio in the nosebleed area of 138, and a scary high forward PE of 70. Earnings for the latest reported quarter were up an incredible 141%, on a 25.3% spike in revenues. The next earnings report is scheduled for October 15. The company should benefit from Redbox shutting down its video streaming service on October 7.

There is also Lions Gate Entertainment (LGF), a top producer of scary movies, such as See No Evil, Route 666, The Devil's Rejects, American Psycho, Ginger Snaps, House of the Dead 2, and Saw VI.  The stock trades at 27 times trailing earnings and 18 times forward earnings. Quarterly earnings rose an unbelievable 218% on a drop of 21% in revenues. The stock even pays a dividend, currently at 0.9%.

Candy companies should be the biggest beneficiaries of Halloween. WallStreetNewsNetwork.com has turned up a list of a dozen candy companies. The Hershey Company (HSY) is the largest chocolate and confectionery company in North America, famous for Hershey Bars and Hershey Kisses. The stock has a trailing price to earnings ratio of 25, a forward PE of 21, and pays a tasty yield of 2.3%. Quarterly earnings up 5.4%, with a 4.6% increase in sales.

Tootsie Roll Industries (TR) has a niice variety of trick-or-treater candy including Tootsie Rolls, Sugar Daddys, Charms, Blow-Pops, Blue Razz, Zip-A-Dee Pops, Cella's, Tootsie Roll Pops, Caramel Apple Pops, Mason Dots, Mason Crows, Junior Mint, Charleston Chew, and Sugar Babies. The stock trades at 28 times earnings and pays a yield of 1.1%

Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory (RMCF) is a candy maker headquartered in Durango, Colorado. The company produces such candies as caramels, clusters, creams, mints, and truffles. The stock trades at 21 times trailing earnings and 14 times forward earnings. The dividend payout rate is a delicious 3.5%.

Additional candy and chocolate stock can be found at WallStreetNewsNetwork.com, which also includes various financial and company information. Hopefully, some of these stocks won't trick your portfolio but will provide it with a treat.

Disclosure: Author did not own any of the above at the time the article was written and has no plans to do so in the next 72 hours.

By Stockerblog.com

Free SmartScan Trend Analysis for Stocks

While the broader market continues to move higher on almost a daily basis, choosing the best stocks is more important than ever. Should you own large blue chips or momentum stocks like Netflix (NFLX) and Tesla (TSLA)? When is the right time to buy and when is it too late to get in?

You can analyze any symbol using MarketClub’s  Smart Scan and Trade Triangle technology at no cost. Let's say you wanted to see the analysis for Facebook (FB), or you can choose any other stock. You can check it out HERE.

The analysis shows what to look for next, a full complimentary analysis, the latest Trade Triangle entry and exit signals, and current market data. You can even use it to check an ETF or even a futures contract.
  This service allows you to quickly examine some important questions such as:
- Have the indexes bottomed out or peaked?
- Is a reversal in the near future?
- Is it too late or too early to go long
- Is it too late or too early to short?

The information is free and informative. You can check it out at the following link:
http://club.ino.com/trend/?symb=AAPL&a_aid=CD3111&a_bid=6ae5b6f7

Happy Halloween Stocks

Today is Halloween. Are you prepared with lots of candy? Although it looks like there may be a long term shortage of cocoa due to the demand for chocolate, the chocolate companies appear to be in good shape for now. Besides, there are plenty of health benefits of chocolate.  So do you think candy and chocolate stocks will be tricks or treats?

Of course there are other ways of playing the Halloween market. Like the scary movie industry. Netflix (NFLX) has many horror movies to choose from. And then there is Lions Gate Entertainment (LGF), the major producer of scary movies. The company's movies include See No Evil, Route 666, The Devil's Rejects, American Psycho, Ginger Snaps, House of the Dead 2, Saw VI, etc.

Getting back to candy, WallStreetNewsNetwork.com has a free list of candy and chocolate companies, with a listing of about twelve stocks. Hershey Foods (HSY) is the large chocolate and confectionery company which is known for its Hershey Bars and Kisses. The stock has a trailing price to earnings ratio of 28, and pays a reasonable yield of 2.0%.

Tootsie Roll Industries (TR) is a producer of many types of candy for trick-or-treaters including Tootsie Rolls, Sugar Daddys, Charms, Blow-Pops, Blue Razz, Zip-A-Dee Pops, Cella's, Tootsie Roll Pops, Caramel Apple Pops, Mason Dots, Mason Crows, Junior Mint, Charleston Chew, and Sugar Babies. The stock trades at 38 times earnings and sports a yield of 2.7%

Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory (RMCF) is a confectionery manufacturer based in Durango, Colorado. The company makes such candies as caramels, clusters, creams, mints, and truffles. The stock trades at 44 times earnings. The yield is a delicious 3.5%. 

More candy and chocolate stock can be found at WallStreetNewsNetwork.com, which also includes the stock symbol, the P/E ratio, the yield, and the products.



Disclosure: Author did not own any of the above at the time the article was written.

By Stockerblog.com

Will Halloween Stocks Be Tricks or Treats for Your Portfolio?

Now that it's October, it is time to load up on candy, buy your costume for the upcoming parties, and decide on the scary movies you want to watch at the end of the month. It's also time to look for stocks that may benefit from Halloween.

Candy companies benefit the most from Halloween. Hershey Foods (HSY) is the large chocolate and confectionery company which is known for its Hershey Bars. The stock sports a trailing P/E ratio of 24, forward P/E ratio of 20, and pays a decent yield of 2.1%. Latest quarterly earnings were reported up 4.4% on a 6.1% rise in revenues.

Tootsie Roll Industries (TR) makes all kinds of candy for trick-or-treaters including Tootsie Rolls, Tootsie Roll Pops, Caramel Apple Pops, Charms, Blow-Pops, Blue Razz, Zip-A-Dee Pops, Cella's, Mason Dots, Mason Crows, Junior Mint, Charleston Chew, Sugar Daddys, and Sugar Babies. The stock has a P/E ratio of 36 and a yield of 1.2%. Quarterly earnings spiked 15.8% on a 3.1% boost in sales.

Netflix (NFLX) may be the primary beneficiary of the demand for horror films. The company has a significant number of scary motion pictures available for your viewing pleasure. The stock trades at 38 times trailing earnings and 73 times forward earnings. Quarterly revenues were up 12.8%, but earnings tanked by 91%. The company has 14.65 per share in cash. The stock does not pay a dividend.

The leading producer and distributor of scary movies is Lions Gate Entertainment (LGF). The company has made has made such films as American Psycho, Ginger Snaps, Route 666, The Devil's Rejects, House of the Dead 2, Saw VI, See No Evil, The Evil Woods, My Bloody Valentine 3D and many others. The company has a forward price to earnings ratio of 12, with revenues rising by over 80% for the latest quarter versus the same quarter last year.

If you like interesting stock lists, such as casino stocks, cloud computing stocks, birth control stocks, coffee stocks, and China stocks, check out WallStreetNewsNetwork.com.

Disclosure: Author did not own any of the above at the time the article was written.

By Stockerblog.com

Top Halloween Stocks

Next month is Halloween month: candy, chocolate, tricks and treats. Since Halloween is practiced in United States, England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales, Canada, and occasionally in Australia and New Zealand, some Halloween related stocks may be treats. Here are some stocks which may benefit from the holiday, but beware; some of them may turn into tricks.

Watching scary movies is one of the popular activities of teenagers (and adults too) on Halloween, either in a theater or renting a DVD. Netflix (NFLX) ships millions of DVDs to customers each day, and has a huge number of horror movies in its collection of 100,000 titles. The stock has a forward PE of 38.

One of the leading studios of scary movies is Lions Gate Entertainment (LGF), which has made such films as American Psycho, Ginger Snaps, Route 666, The Devil's Rejects, House of the Dead 2, Saw VI, See No Evil, Hostel: Part II, My Bloody Valentine 3D and many, many more. Lionsgate has a forward P/E of 38.

Of course, the big beneficiaries of Halloween are the candy companies. Hershey Foods (HSY) is the large chocolate and confectionery company made famous by its Hershey Bars. The stock has a forward P/E of 22, and a yield of 2.8%.

Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory (RMCF) is a very low cap Colorado based company which makes and markets chocolate and candy. The stock has a P/E of 16 and a yield of 4.1%.

Tootsie Roll Industries (TR) makes all kinds of candy for trick-or-treaters including Tootsie Rolls, Tootsie Roll Pops, Caramel Apple Pops, Charms, Blow-Pops, Blue Razz, Zip-A-Dee Pops, Cella's, Mason Dots, Mason Crows, Junior Mint, Charleston Chew, Sugar Daddys, and Sugar Babies. The stock has a forward P/E of 26 and a yield of 1.3%.

Halloween costumes and decorations are available at discount retailers such as Target (TGT) which has a forward P/E of 15, and a yield of 1.9%. Wal-Mart (WMT) is another major Halloween retailer. It has a forward P/E of 14, and a yield of 2.3%.

If you like interesting sectors of stocks, such as casino stocks, cloud computing stocks, birth control stocks, and China stocks, check out WallStreetNewsNetwork.com.

Author does not own any of the above.

By Stockerblog.com

Microsoft Founder Paul Allen Suing a Bunch of Tech Companies

Paul Allen, one of the co-founders of Microsoft (MSFT), is suing Google (GOOG), Apple (AAPL), Facebook, YouTube, Yahoo (YHOO), eBay (EBAY), Netflix (NFLX), AOL (AOL), Office Depot (ODP), OfficeMax (OMX), and Staples (SPLS). He is claiming that the companies are infringing on the patents held by Interval Licensing LLC, another company he founded.

Highest Yielding Entertainment Stocks

It doesn't matter whether we are in a recession, a depression, or in a booming economy. People will always go to the movies, rent DVDs, or order a movie from Netflix (NFLX). The demand will always be there, the revenues will always continue.

With all this money rolling in, the revenues must be going somewhere. WallStreetNewsNetwork.com has just developed a free spreadsheet database of all the high yielding entertainment stocks and notes that pay dividends over 3%. Dividend stocks are a great way of reducing risk in your portfolio, especially if you are going into the show business sector.

Time Warner (TWX), which owns Warner Brothers, has a forward price-to-earnings ratio of 12.5 and a yield of 2.9%.

Regal Entertainment Group (RGC) operates a chain of theaters throughout the United States in mid-sized metropolitan markets and the suburbs. The company has a forward PE ratio of 14, and pays a very nice dividend of 5.2%.

Another motion picture chain that has theaters in North and South America is Cinemark Holdings Inc. (CNK), with a forward PE of 10.5, and an extremely generous yield of 4.9%.

There are actually 18 entertainment stocks and notes with yields above 2%, four of which yield more than 7%, all of which can be found at wsnn.com. Some of the stocks on the list are senior notes, which trade like preferred stocks.

Author owns TWX.

By Stockerblog.com