Blog

Suez Canal Blockage Only a Distraction for Oil Markets

• 2021/03/30

• 3 minutes

The containership that ran aground in the Suez Canal on March 23 and is currently blocking this key trade route is sending ripples through global commodity...

Is the 2021 Economic Recovery Overhyped?

Gary Ashton

• 2021/03/16

• 3 minutes

Many analysts and economists ask themselves if the market is correctly pricing in a 2021 economic recovery or if waiting until 2022, or even 2023, is more...

Will Target Hit the Bull s Eye This Earnings Season?

Gary Ashton

• 2021/03/01

• 3 minutes

Consumer-related earnings come fast and furious this week, with five large-cap names reporting full-year results. On Tuesday, the market will hear from Ross...

Home Depot vs. Lowe s – Does Home Depot Offer Value Now?

Gary Ashton

• 2021/02/22

• 3 minutes

Several consumer cyclical stocks are in line to report FY20 and 4Q20 earnings. The largest is Home Depot (NYSE: HD) who reports on Tuesday 23rd February with...

Oil: Recovery or Relegation – Where Will the Price Go from Here?

Gary Ashton

• 2021/02/15

• 3 minutes

Last week oil prices recovered to pre-Covid19 pandemic levels, with Brent oil futures trading well over $60 per barrel. Additionally, oil prices are trading...

Ford vs. General Motors – Who Comes Out on Top?

Gary Ashton

• 2021/02/08

• 3 minutes

Next week US automobile giants Ford (NYSE: F) and General Motors (NYSE: GM) are due to report full-year (FY) results as the 2020 earning season kicks into...

Is Now the Time to Buy “Activity Stocks?”

Gary Ashton

• 2020/12/07

• 3 minutes

A debate is opening in the Wall Street analyst community if it is now the time to buy what they call “activity stocks” versus “stay-at-home stocks?”...

Growth vs. Value Stocks – Do Dividends Matter?

Gary Ashton

• 2020/11/16

• 3 minutes

Value investing was all the rage before the Great Financial Crisis of 2007 because buying shares cheaper than the rest of the market tended to lead to more...

Booking Holding Inc. Vs. Expedia Group Inc. - What is the Deal?

Gary Ashton

• 2020/11/03

• 3 minutes

Later this week, two major online travel companies report 3Q earnings, but analysts' expectations are currently opposed. The Street expects Booking...

Is Market Relief Just Around the Corner?

Gary Ashton

• 2020/10/30

• 3 minutes

It has been a rough week on Wall Street. The major averages are trading lower on an unexpected surge in US Corona Virus cases and jitters over the upcoming...

Will The Tech Boom Continue?

Gary Ashton

• 2020/10/26

• 3 minutes

It is a big week for big US tech companies with Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL), Facebook (NASDAQ: FB), Alphabet (NASDAQ: GOOGL), Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN), and Twitter...

OPEC’s Production Dilemma

Gary Ashton

• 2020/10/20

• 3 minutes

OPEC is again staring down an empty oil barrel as the cartel struggles to develop a strategy for 2021 as US crude oil futures trade around $40 per barrel. In...

Is 3Q Earnings Season the Start of the Turnaround?

Gary Ashton

• 2020/10/12

• 3 minutes

Earnings season kicks off this week. Things gear up on Tuesday when JPMorgan Chase (NYSE: JPM), Citigroup (NYSE: C), and BlackRock (NYSE: BLK) report their...

How Will the US Presidential Debate Impact the Markets?

Gary Ashton

• 2020/09/28

• 3 minutes

Markets will be fixed on the upcoming US Presidential debate in Cleveland, Ohio on Tuesday where President Trump and former VP Joe Biden will square off for...

Is Delta Air Lines Drowning in Debt?

Gary Ashton

• 2020/09/21

• 3 minutes

Last week Delta Air Lines (NYSE: DAL) announced the largest debt deal in history for an air carrier with a total borrowing of $9 billion. According to a...

Is High Yield Debt a Safe Investment?

Gary Ashton

• 2020/09/09

• 3 minutes

Moody’s Analytics reported in last week’s market outlook that corporate bond issuance reached record highs for August at $156 billion for...

Can Crude Oil Stay Above $40?

Gary Ashton

• 2020/08/17

• 3 minutes

Traders and investors are keeping a close eye on the oil market as prices have largely remained above $40 per barrel for several weeks. Some are concerned...

Consumer Staples vs. Cyclicals – Where to Invest?

Gary Ashton

• 2020/08/03

• 3 minutes

Investors are paying attention to the health of the US consumer to understand how the US economy is performing after the Coronavirus lockdown. Some of the...

Big Week for Big Tech

Gary Ashton

• 2020/07/27

• 3 minutes

This week is a big one for big technology names in the S&P 500 index reporting 2Q20 earnings. First up is Facebook (NASDAQ: FB) and PayPal (NASDAQ: PYPL)...

Could Hertz Stock Sale Still Happen?

Gary Ashton

• 2020/06/22

• 3 minutes

The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) put a stop to the $500 million stock sale of Hertz (NYSE: HTZ) after indicating there were problems with the...

Was Warren Buffett Wrong to Sell Airlines?

Gary Ashton

• 2020/06/08

• 3 minutes

In a Rose Garden speech on Friday, President Trump said famed investor Warren Buffett was wrong to sell airline stocks because they “went through the...

Health Care ETFs – Winners and Losers

Gary Ashton

• 2020/05/25

• 3 minutes

Health-related issues have dominated news headlines in the first quarter of 2020, capturing investors’ attention and increasing interest in healthcare and...

Negative Interest Rates – Who Will Blink First – The Fed or The Market?

Gary Ashton

• 2020/05/18

• 3 minutes

Other central banks, such as those in Europe and Japan, are doing it. President Trump tweets about it. The market is already pricing it in Fed Fund Futures....

Has Oil Finally Turned the Corner?

Gary Ashton

• 2020/05/18

• 3 minutes

Last week the International Energy Agency (IEA) released its Oil Market Report for May, where they revised 2Q20 oil demand upward by 3.2 million barrels per...

Peak 1Q Earnings Season This Week – Communication Services in the Crosshairs

Gary Ashton

• 2020/05/04

• 3 minutes

This week moves into peak 1Q earnings season with 110 large-cap S&P 500 companies (with a market value between $10 billion – $200 billion) reporting...

Big Tech Up Next for 1Q Earnings This Week

Gary Ashton

• 2020/04/27

• 3 minutes

This week it is big tech’s turn to report 1Q financial results. Google/Alphabet (NASDAQ: GOOGL) kicks things off on Tuesday, followed by Facebook (NASDAQ:...

Winners and Losers on Full Display As 1Q Earnings Season Ramps Up

Gary Ashton

• 2020/04/21

• 3 minutes

This week's 1Q earnings season moves into a higher gear with the release of results for 98 companies in the S&P 500 equity index. Analysts will...

Will 1Q US Bank Earnings be a Nightmare on Wall Street?

Gary Ashton

• 2020/04/13

• 3 minutes

As a friend of mine recently said to me, “What a year this week has been.” Despite terrible news on the jobs front, US stocks had their best week in 45...

How to Correctly Invest in a Downturn

Gary Ashton

• 2020/04/07

• 3 minutes

As the Coronavirus crisis rolls on, US economists are quickly revising down their GDP growth expectations. For example, economists expect 1Q to contract 5%...

In This Crisis Rating Agencies Regain Credibility

Gary Ashton

• 2020/03/27

• 3 minutes

Most investors remember the reputational beating credit rating agencies such as Standard & Poor’s, Moody’s, and Fitch Ratings took over their inflated...

Is President Trump’s $1 Trillion Bazooka Enough?

Gary Ashton

• 2020/03/23

• 2 minutes

In response to US equity markets falling by 30% from their highs, this week US President Trump announced a significant fiscal package to coincide with the...

Pain In The Oil Patch

Gary Ashton

• 2020/03/09

• 3 minutes

Last week was a bad one for crude oil as the black gold closed more than 9% lower on Friday alone after press reports confirmed that Russia refused to...

Finding Opportunity with Stock Screener

Gary Ashton

• 2020/03/09

• 3 minutes

Volatility is the name of the game in the markets lately. The S&P 500 index finished last week broadly unchanged but traded in a 235-point range as...

Finding Value with Bubble Charts

Gary Ashton

• 2020/02/13

• 3 minutes

One of the most versatile tools on the Finscreener.org site is the Bubble Chart. Bubble Chart is an X and Y axis graphing tool that allows users to plot...

How to Find Investment Opportunities with Finscreener

Gary Ashton

• 2020/02/10

• 3 minutes

Investing can be intimidating at times, even for experienced investors. Luckily Finscreener.org is here to help make the security selection process more...

What to Watch When BP, Total and Conoco Report This Week

Gary Ashton

• 2020/02/03

• 3 minutes

This week is another full one for the oil and gas sector with BP (NYSE: BP) and ConocoPhillips (NYSE: COP) reporting 4Q19 results before the opening bell on...

Is the Energy Sector Running on Fumes?

Gary Ashton

• 2020/01/27

• 3 minutes

America’s largest oil companies report 4Q19 earnings this week. Chevron Corporation (NYSE: CVX) and Exxon Mobil Corporation (NYSE: XOM) report numbers...

Earnings Season Moves Into High Gear

Gary Ashton

• 2020/01/20

• 3 minutes

Earnings season moves into full gear this week, with 58 companies in the S&P 500 index reporting 4Q financial results. Out of those companies, four...

US Bank Earnings Kick Off 4Q Earnings Season

Gary Ashton

• 2020/01/13

• 3 minutes

This week the US banks will kick off fourth-quarter earnings season with JP Morgan (NYSE: JPM) and Wells Fargo (NYSE: WFC) announcing before the market open...

Will Oil Derail the World Economy in 2020?

Gary Ashton

• 2020/01/04

• 3 minutes

Oil prices ended last week up more than 3% on Friday when news broke that the United States killed a top Iranian general in a drone strike at the airport in...

Is Boeing Still an Investable Stock?

Gary Ashton

• 2019/12/22

• 3 minutes

Last week was a tough one in the history of The Boeing Company (NYSE: BA), with the company announcing in a press release that it will need to stop...

Three Tech Stocks to Watch This Week

Gary Ashton

• 2019/12/08

• 3 minutes

Third-quarter earnings season rolls on this week with some heavy hitters in the US tech sector. Specific names lined up to report after the market close on...

What the Oil Market May Be Telling Us About 2020

Gary Ashton

• 2019/11/30

• 2 minutes

Crude Oil took a big hit last Friday, ending the day down 4.63% in holiday-thinned trading after Russia’s Energy Minister Novak seemed to indicate Russia...

Mixed Bag of Earnings This Week

Gary Ashton

• 2019/11/26

• 2 minutes

Earnings season rolls on this week with a mixed bag of earnings ratings from Finscreener.com. According to our data, no fewer than 12 large-cap S&P 500...

Four Retail Names to Watch This Week

Gary Ashton

• 2019/11/18

• 3 minutes

Third-quarter earnings season rolls on this week with some heavy hitters in the US retail sector. Specific names lined up to report on November 19th are Home...

Which Nine Large Cap S&P 500 Stocks Could Beat the Street This Week

Gary Ashton

• 2019/11/03

• 2 minutes

The third-quarter earnings season in the US is in full force. FactSet report that 71% of the companies in the S&P 500 have reported financial results for...

Will the US Open a Second Front in the Global Trade War?

Gary Ashton

• 2019/10/07

• 3 minutes

When the global economy seems to be facing an uphill battle, the US is set to impose an additional $7.5 billion worth of tariffs annually on a range of EU...

Is It Time for Investors to Turn Defensive?

Gary Ashton

• 2019/10/07

• 3 minutes

Last week was particularly turbulent for US equity markets with the Dow Futures (CME GROUP: YM) down 890 points by Wednesday with the release of a weak...

What Does Fitch Ratings Know About War in The Middle East?

Gary Ashton

• 2019/10/02

• 3 minutes

The credit rating agency Fitch Ratings took the credit market by surprise when it unexpectedly announced it was downgrading Saudi Arabia’s debt credit...

Rising Middle East Tensions - Winners and Losers

Gary Ashton

• 2019/09/24

• 3 minutes

In the latest round of increasing tensions in the Middle East, US President Trump last week announced the deployment of US defence forces to Saudi Arabia and...

$100 per Barrel Oil – Not So Fast

Gary Ashton

• 2019/09/16

• 2 minutes

It seems a weekend is a long time in the oil market. Late last week the International Energy Agency (IEA) published their monthly oil market report where...

How Sick Is The “WeWork” Unicorn?

Gary Ashton

• 2019/09/16

• 3 minutes

Space-sharing firm WeWork was supposed to be the next Wall Street unicorn. A unicorn firm is a nickname given to start-up companies that become a quick...

Investors Climb Wall of Worry – What Really Matters

Gary Ashton

• 2019/09/13

• 3 minutes

It seems there is a new story every day about the impending global economic slowdown and imminent US stock market correction. Last week US non-farm jobs grew...

Three ETFs for a Bear Market (GLD, AGG & VIXM)

Gary Ashton

• 2019/08/20

• 3 minutes

Market volatility has picked up in recent weeks and investors are starting to worry that a market correction could be around the corner. In July this year,...

Is the US Economy Really on the Verge of Recession?

Gary Ashton

• 2019/08/20

• 3 minutes

It has been a tough week in the US equity markets, with the Dow Jones Industrial Index falling as much as 800 points on Wednesday, but finishing the week...

Will Walmart’s Results Be the Last Nail in the Coffin?

Gary Ashton

• 2019/08/12

• 3 minutes

Walmart (NYSE: WMT) is due to report second-quarter financial results before the opening bell on August 15th. Analysts will be closely watching these results...

Macroeconomy Worries Means Market Focus Turns to Energy Sector

Gary Ashton

• 2019/07/25

• 3 minutes

Market participants are growing increasingly worried about the health of the global macroeconomy. The US/Chinese trade dispute runs hot and cold, with...

Are Consumer Stocks Signalling a Market Top?

Gary Ashton

• 2019/07/16

• 3 minutes

The US stock market closed on a high last Friday with the Dow Jones Industrial Average over 27,000, and the S&P 500 Index over 3,000 after testimony...

Which Five Dow 30 Stocks Could Outperform in 2020?

Gary Ashton

• 2019/07/08

• 4 minutes

Investors are continuously looking for ways to improve performance in their stock portfolios. Professional investors call it alpha, the extra return you get...

Bottom Three S&P 500 Stocks this 2Q Earnings Season

Gary Ashton

• 2019/07/08

• 3 minutes

As second-quarter earnings season gets underway, several companies in the S&P500 will report results in July. We take a look at three potential losers...

Where to Invest in Emerging Markets if Fed Cuts Rates

Gary Ashton

• 2019/07/01

• 4 minutes

The market expects the US central bank (The Fed) to start cutting short-term borrowing costs this year. In previous economic cycles, Fed cuts tended to cause...

Are Defensive Stocks the Best S&P 500 Investment Right Now?

Gary Ashton

• 2019/07/01

• 3 minutes

Markets are likely to get a boost from the news over the weekend that the US and China agreed to restart trade talks at the G20 economic summit in Osaka...

Three Hot Dividend Paying Stocks

Gary Ashton

• 2019/06/24

• 3 minutes

A low and falling interest rate environment can be very challenging for investors dependent on income from their portfolios to meet spending needs. The...

US Fed Under Pressure to Slash Rates - Will They Buckle?

Gary Ashton

• 2019/06/24

• 3 minutes

This time last year, many Wall Street analysts and economists were expecting the central bank of the United States, also called the Federal Reserve Bank, or...

Five S&P 500 Stocks Hitting 52-Week Lows – And They are All Retail Names

Gary Ashton

• 2019/06/18

• 3 minutes

Five stocks in the S&P 500 equity index hit their 52-week low price in June, and they are all in the retail sector. The share prices of Nordstrom Inc...

What’s Better for Investments: ETFs or Individual Stocks?

Gary Ashton

• 2019/06/17

• 3 minutes

The investment landscape can appear overwhelming, sometimes, with so many investment choices. One of the more difficult decisions for the modern investor is...

Is It Time to Diversify Away from the US?

Gary Ashton

• 2019/06/13

• 2 minutes

Pessimism may be slowly creeping into the stock market. CNBC reported on Tuesday that two-thirds of Chief Financial Officers (CFOs) responding to the most...

Is Big Oil Headed for a Big Bust?

Gary Ashton

• 2019/06/10

• 3 minutes

Last week the oil market slipped into a bear market with prices down nearly 20% from their peak of $66.80 per barrel in April 2019. The quick pace of the...

Why Investors Are Rushing to Gold

Gary Ashton

• 2019/06/10

• 2 minutes

Gold prices hit their highest levels in 14 months on Friday as traders and investors aggressively increased expectations that the US Federal Reserve Bank may...

1 2 3 4 Next Last