Forbes Stock Markets News

The markets are aware that too much free or nearly free money is going to cause trouble. Japan's equity indices saw it first-hand this week when their main stock market fell -7.9% in one session. All one has to do is look at our central banks ? they seem to be single-mindedly focusing on Consumer Purchasing Indexes and jobs while totally disregarding the by-product of quantitative easing: asset inflation. Further complicating matters for traders, it?s of little help when a central bank like the U.S. Federal Reserve appears to be incapable of explaining its actions.

News Corp. directors will move forward with billionaire CEO Rupert Murdoch's plans to shake-up the company, approving the split of slower growing assets from the more profitable businesses next month. The board also approved a $500 million stock repurchase program to follow the split.

(Kitco News) - Comex gold futures prices are modestly lower in early U.S. trading Friday. Some chart consolidation and a corrective pullback from Thursday?s solid gains are featured in quieter, pre-U.S. holiday trading Friday morning. It?s been a choppy week of trading in the gold and silver markets, and one take-away as markets close Friday will be that the bulls are showing resilience just when it appears a fresh leg down in price action is imminent. Comex June gold last traded down $1.00 at $1,390.60 an ounce. Spot gold was last quoted up $1.30 at $1,393.25.  July Comex silver last traded down $0.028 at $22.48 an ounce.

Sears Holdings, the struggling retail chain controlled by a reclusive hedge fund manager, continued to see fewer customers enter its stores and unable to distance itself from speculation that is slowly approaching liquidation.

There's an old saying on Wall Street about insider buying: there are many possible reasons to sell a stock, but only one reason to buy. Back on May 8, Prospect Capital Corporation's Director, Eugene S. Stark, invested $5,440.00 into 500 shares of PSEC, for a cost per share of $10.88. Bargain hunters tend to pay particular attention to insider buys like this one, because presumably the only reason an insider would take their hard-earned cash and use it to buy stock of their company in the open market, is that they expect to make money.

The directors of a company tend to have a unique inside view into the business, so when directors make major buys, investors are wise to take notice. Presumably the only reason a director of a company would choose to take their hard-earned cash and use it to buy stock in the open market, is that they expect to make money — maybe they find the stock very undervalued, or maybe they see exciting progress within the company, or maybe both. So in this series we look at the largest insider buys by company directors over the trailing six month period, one of which was a total of $995.3K invested across 2 purchases by Stanford L. Kurland, CEO at Pennymac Mortgage Investment Trust (NYSE: PMT).

The markets recovered some of their losses in the afternoon, despite continued uncertainty over the Federal Reserve's decision on when to pull back on monetary stimulus.

(Kitco News) - The U.S. dollar is in a long-term uptrend and the consequences of that mean commodities and countries whose economies depend heavily on commodity production will suffer, said a director of market strategy at a financial services group.

A study of analyst recommendations at the major brokerages shows that Argo Group International Holdings Ltd (NASD: AGII) is the #30 broker analyst pick among those stocks screened by The Online Investor for strong stock buyback activity. To make that list, a stock must have repurchased at least 5% of its outstanding shares over the trailing twelve month period. In forming the rank, the analyst opinions from the major brokerage houses were tallied, and averaged; then, the list of stocks with strong buyback activity was ranked according to those averages.

Canadian Oil Sands Ltd. (Toronto: COS) has been named as a Top 25 dividend stock, according the most recent Canada Stock Channel ''DividendRank'' report. The report noted that among the coverage universe, COS shares displayed both attractive valuation metrics and strong profitability metrics. The report also cited the strong quarterly dividend history at Canadian Oil Sands Ltd., and favorable long-term multi-year growth rates in key fundamental data points.

In trading on Thursday, shares of Supertel Hospitality Inc's 8% Series A Convertible Preferred Stock (NASD: SPPRP) were yielding above the 8% mark based on its monthly dividend (annualized to $0.80), with shares changing hands as low as $10.00 on the day. This compares to an average yield of 6.37% in the "REITs" preferred stock category, according to Preferred Stock Channel. As of last close, SPPRP was trading at a 1.90% premium to its liquidation preference amount, versus the average premium of 4.34% in the "REITs" category. It should be noted that the preferred shares are convertible, with a conversion ratio of 1.77. Click here to find out the 50 highest yielding preferreds, at PreferredStockChannel.com »

In trading on Thursday, shares of Simon Property Group, Inc.'s 8 3/8% Series J Cumulative Redeemable Preferred Stock (NYSE: SPG.PRJ) were yielding above the 6% mark based on its quarterly dividend (annualized to $4.1875), with shares changing hands as low as $68.01 on the day. This compares to an average yield of 6.10% in the "Real Estate" preferred stock category, according to Preferred Stock Channel. As of last close, SPG.PRJ was trading at a 41.80% premium to its liquidation preference amount, versus the average premium of 5.78% in the "Real Estate" category. Click here to find out the 50 highest yielding preferreds, at PreferredStockChannel.com »