Down 72% in 6 Days

This week, another Chinese company came under scrutiny as possibly perpetrating fraud on its shareholders. Toronto-listed and China-based Sino Forest is under investigation by the Ontario Securities Commission (the SEC’s Canadian counterpart), after a report released by research firm Muddy Waters,... Read the full story

Apparel Stores Hit Hard by Rising Costs

This week’s Market Mover is an entire industry, apparel stores. In the past week stock prices of many apparel stores like Gap (NYSE:GPS), Pacific Sunwear of California (NASDAQ:PSUN), Aeropostale (NYSE:ARO), and New York & Company Inc. (NYSE:NWY) have fallen by more than 5% (Chart 1). With a combination... Read the full story

Kentucky Derby Owner Hits 52-Week High

This year a record-breaking 164,858 people attended the 137th running of the Kentucky Derby, breaking a 37 year record. The race was watched by an additional 14.5 million people on television. The stock price of the Derby owner, Churchill Downs Inc. jumped to a new 52-week high on the news, and in response... Read the full story

Coal, an Export Story

Over the past year U.S. exports of metallurgical coal (met-coal) have nearly doubled in dollar terms. Increased trade of metallurgical coal, used in the steelmaking process, has led to consolidation in the coal mining industry as major players scale-up to meet the demands of globalized competition. Toward... Read the full story

Bottom Fishing the Stock Market

Markets are bullish, as new highs on the NYSE, AMEX, and NASDAQ outpaced news lows by 8 to 1 last week. A total of 1,109 new highs were recorded, compared to only 137 new lows. Investors should thoroughly examine any stocks trading at new lows in this market. There are probably some hidden gems, but... Read the full story

Low Fliers

The airline industry has predictably been hit hard by recently elevated oil prices. AMR and Delta Air, along with jet leasing company Air Lease all hit 52 week lows last week. Jet fuel alone could represent 40% of airlines’ operating costs when oil prices are above $100/barrel. Jet fuel kerosene closed... Read the full story

Investors Flock to Consumer Staples

Hitting new highs last week were a number of consumer non-cyclical (staples) stocks. Household names, including Kraft, Coca-Cola, JM Smucker, HJ Heinz, Unilever, and Hershey all made the new highs list. Meanwhile the major market averages have failed to regain their February peaks and show signs of... Read the full story

Chinese Fraud: Tip of the Iceberg?

Welcome to the first post in our new Stock Market Movers column. This new area of the website will focus on explaining and analyzing some of the market’s best and worst performing stocks. The focus will be on stocks reaching 52 week highs and lows, and those with extreme short term price changes. Below... Read the full story