In the last few year’s H-P’s (HPQ) strategy on printers has changed from capturing the market share based on number of printer’s sold to ‘number of pages printed’ on H-P printers. While H-P has a 47% market share in the printer’s business, only about 1.6% of world’s total pages are printed on H-P machines. This would be the focus of H-P’s strategy as it moves ahead.
McDonald’s (MCD) – Impressive Sales Growth
With an increased suite of product offerings, McDonald’s (MCD) continues to show impressive sales growth as compared to its competitors. The overall sales worldwide rose by 16.3% and the same-store sales grew by 8.2%. This boost has come from markets outside of US. While, the US market grew by 4.4%, Europe grew by 10.8% and the rest of world grew by an impressive 12.0%. The news is the latest in a series of good reports for McDonald’s, including the October’s third-quarter filing, which reported net income up 27% despite increased dairy costs, mostly on cheese.
Wal-Mart’s Profits Up and 4thQ Expectations are High
Americans may be turning to their favorite discount retailer for savings as the oil producing nations of the world extract more money from their pocketbooks. Wal-Mart (WMT) announced today its 3rd quarter profits rose nearly 8% and the company upwardly adjusted their earnings predictions for the year.
Crude Nears $100 – Covered Calls on Green Companies and ETFs
As oil approaches $100 a barrel, consumers are beginning to become seriously interested in alternative energy, energy saving technologies and other green (and potentially less expensive) technologies.
The Weak Dollar, GM Losses and High Oil – Bearish Trades on ETFs
The Market news yesterday and today is somewhat discouraging. The trinity of bad news came in the form of GM taking a $37 billion dollar loss on their third quarter profits, China is considering dumping their considerable reserve of US currency for the stronger and more stable Euro and Oil surpassing inflation adjusted highs as it trades at nearly $100 a barrel.
Fox News, Fox Business News, The Wall Street Journal, and News Corp’s Entry into Georgian Opposition Politics
Rupert Murdoch’s flagship news channel rose to prominence by doggedly vilifying those who opposed whatever views were being espoused. Fox recently launched a new business news channel to tie into its acquisition of the Wall Street Journal and yesterday it was announced News Corp (NWS) obtained a controlling portion of an opposition media corporation in the former Soviet state of Georgia.
Chevron and Exxon Release Earnings this Week – Covered Calls
Two of the world’s largest oil companies, Exxon (XOM) and Chevron (CVX), are gearing up to release their quarterly profit reports this week. Let’s take a look at some of the reasons ($93/barrel oil) the numbers might be good and some of the rationale behind why some analysts believe the companies might come in lower than expected.
Options on Index ETFs
The Dow is up about 1500 points (13%) over the past year and at its high earlier this month, the index was up over 2000 points. The NASDAQ is up around 20% over the past year. These are delicious results and it would be nice if the next 52 weeks were guaranteed to be as prosperous.
October Covered Call Trades Yield 3.6% to 15.4%
October was a successful month for the blog. Many of the trades we listed on the blog came in profitable. The trades listed in the following table are some of the trades making money for the month of October.
Housing Markets in Most Developed Countries Following US Lead
The USA Today, the Wall Street Journal, and the New York Times have all run articles recently on the likely fate of the worldwide housing market. The narrative is fairly similar: Home prices are falling after a decade of double-digit increases in some of the world’s hottest housing markets.