Obama: It's a Great Time to Buy Stocks

Ignore the political crowd, the president's been great for business

(NEWSER) - President Obama doesn't get much political credit for it, but the numbers show his economic policies have been a resounding success. Since he took office, the S&P 500 is up 41%, credit spreads have narrowed, commodity prices have surged, and housing prices have stabilized, writes Mike Dorning of Bloomberg . GDP grew 5.9% in the fourth quarter, far more than analysts predicted, and job losses have slowed. More»

It's decent news, but let's not get carried away

(NEWSER) - The Dow hit 10,000 today, but most analysts aren't exactly falling off their chairs in excitement:

• Mark Hulbert, MarketWatch: "It would be entirely in investors' rights to feel pretty good about it. But they're not, on the whole. That's surprising, and suggests to contrarian analysts" that a "strong wall of worry" still exists.
• Brett Arends, Wall Street Journal: "Hold the cheering. The rally in US share prices only looks impressive if you ignore what's happening overseas." Our surge pales in camparison, and "investors should be more cautious now than they were a few months ago."

Markets propelled by strong earnings from Intel, JPMorgan

(AP) - The Dow Jones industrial average reached 10,000 today for the first time since Oct. 7, 2008. The milestone, which triggered a whoop from the trading floor, was buoyed by surprisingly strong earnings reports from Intel and JPMorgan. The latter stoked the market's optimism as it handily beat Wall Street's expectations, reporting a profit of $3.59 billion for the July-September period. More»

None of investors' gambles go public in second quarter

(NEWSER) - Wall Street has not been kind to venture capitalists in the second quarter. For the first time since 1978, not one company they backed went public, taking away their source of big paydays, the New York Times reports. Observers cite a number of reasons, including lousy market conditions, a shift to investment in alternative energy companies that require time, and a lack of investor interest in the ventures themselves. More»

Record-high $1.5B earnings fail to placate nervous investors

(NEWSER) - Despite reporting record-high earnings, Apple saw its stocks fall more than 11% after the market closed today, the New York Times reports. Apple's lowered 2nd quarter earning expectations may have sparked the drop, analysts say, unless investors are anxious about the high-end electronics market in general as the US economy slows down. More»