Patrick O'Connor 
Buffett Investing $5B in Goldman Sachs
Posted by Patrick O'Connor on 9/23/08 2:43 pm
Financial stocks are rebounding in aftermarket trading after Warren Buffett announced that Berkshire Hathaway will purchase $5 billion worth of preferred Goldman shares and receive warrants to buy…
Another Volatile Session on Wall Street
Posted by Patrick O'Connor on 9/16/08 1:58 pm
AIG is still scrambling for cash and the Fed surprised some investors by keeping interest rates unchanged. As a result, today’s trading session bounced in and out of…
Lehman Goes Bankrupt, Merrill Sold, AIG Desperate for Cash
Posted by Patrick O'Connor on 9/15/08 10:57 am
A wild weekend of deal making on Wall Street changed the financial landscape by historic proportions. Lehman Brothers could not raise capital to survive, Merrill Lynch read the…
Lehman Shares Plummet on Capital Fears
Posted by Patrick O'Connor on 9/9/08 9:56 am
Shares of Lehman Brothers tanked today after rumors said the country’s fouth-largest investment bank was no longer discussing a deal with Korea Development Bank. Investors fear Lehman will…
U.S. Treasury Bails Out Fannie and Freddie
Posted by Patrick O'Connor on 9/8/08 11:43 am
The U.S. Treasury on Sunday moved swiftly to backstop the burgeoning credit crisis by seizing mortgage giants Fannie and Freddie. Read full reports from several sources at the…
Fed Report Shows Economy Slowing
Posted by Patrick O'Connor on 9/3/08 12:52 pm
Nearly all 12 Fed districts across the nation reported signs of a slowing economy in the Beige Book report.
The Housing Market Correction Could be Over
Posted by Patrick O'Connor on 8/28/08 11:24 am
The housing market correction could be over—if rent-to-price ratios are an inaccurate gauge of valuations Most people believe that nationwide housing prices still need to fall significantly for…
Many Hedge Funds Still Shorting Financials and Going Long Commodities
Posted by Patrick O'Connor on 8/26/08 1:07 pm
Hedge funds that stayed the course in July by betting against financials and in favor of commodities appear to be well positioned, according to a Reuters article.
Europe’s Biggest Economy Declining Rapidly
Posted by Patrick O'Connor on 8/26/08 12:39 pm
Germany’s weakening economy is threatening to pull down the 15-country eurozone with it. As a result, the euro hit a six-month low against the U.S. dollar today. Read…
FDIC ‘Problem List’ Grew 30% in Q2
Posted by Patrick O'Connor on 8/26/08 12:31 pm
U.S. FDIC insured banks are floundering. The entire group reported net income of $4.96 billion in the second quarter, down from $36.8 billion in the same quarter last…
New Home Sales Not Encouraging
Posted by Patrick O'Connor on 8/26/08 12:13 pm
New home sales rose 2.4% in July, but they plummeted 35.3% year/year and June’s data got revised significantly lower. June’s annualized sales pace fell from 530,000 to 503,000,…
Financial Sector Hammers Market on Monday
Posted by Patrick O'Connor on 8/25/08 3:03 pm
A slew of bad news in the financial sector on Monday wiped out all of the market’s gains from Friday and more.
Another Bank Failure
Posted by Patrick O'Connor on 8/25/08 2:48 pm
Columbian Bank and Trust of Topeka, KS became the ninth bank failure this year. Federal regulators shut down the bank on Friday. Watch Video
Nobel-Winning Economists Forecast Global Recession
Posted by Patrick O'Connor on 8/21/08 11:47 am
14 Nobel laureates in economics, including Myron Scholes and Joseph Stiglitz, said at a conference in Germany today that the world is likely headed for a recession.
Government Bailout Looking More Likely for Fannie and Freddie
Posted by Patrick O'Connor on 8/18/08 10:44 am
The odds of the Treasury backstopping Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are looking stronger by the day. Freddie Mac experienced weak bids for some of its debt at…
Economy Appears to be Slowing Rapidly
Posted by Patrick O'Connor on 8/12/08 12:44 pm
The Philadelphia Federal Reserve Bank today lowered its third quarter GDP estimate from 1.7% to 1.2%. And it cut Q4 growth down to 0.7% from 1.8%. “A weaker…
JPMorgan Writing Down Another $1.5B
Posted by Patrick O'Connor on 8/12/08 11:48 am
JPMorgan Chase revealed in a regulatory filing today that it is writing down another $1.5 billion. The nation’s third largest bank is making the move about half way…
Another Large Financial Company Expected to Fail
Posted by Patrick O'Connor on 8/12/08 11:29 am
75% of the 146 European and North American financial institutions surveyed by Greenwich Associates expect a large financial firm to fail within 6 to 12 months. 60% think…
Gas Prices Need to Fall Further
Posted by Patrick O'Connor on 8/11/08 10:42 am
Gasoline prices are down only 7% from their highs, and nine states are still paying more than $4 per gallon for regular. They need to come down a…
Sabotaged Pipeline Threatens Oil Supplies
Posted by Patrick O'Connor on 8/7/08 10:38 am
The Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) pipeline that transports 1% of the world’s oil was damaged by Kurdish separatists who claimed responsibility. Watch Video. Oil prices rose more than $2 at…
McDonald’s Dollar Menu Could Soon Be Gone
Posted by Patrick O'Connor on 8/7/08 10:03 am
Not long after posting second-quarter profits that exceeded expectations, McDonald’s announced it is considering raising prices and eliminating its highly popular Dollar Menu.
Citigroup Agrees to Buy Back Auction Rate Securities, Pays Fine
Posted by Patrick O'Connor on 8/7/08 9:55 am
Citigroup today agreed to buy back or help unload $19.5 billion in auction-rate securities from customers and pay a $100 million fine for selling illiquid bonds that some…
Los Angeles Bank Could Get Hammered by Option ARMs
Posted by Patrick O'Connor on 8/6/08 11:35 am
A Los Angeles bank that was ranked one of the top five banks in the country could be in big trouble due to its exposure to ‘option ARMs’.
Morgan Stanley Freezes Home Equity Credit Lines
Posted by Patrick O'Connor on 8/6/08 11:28 am
Some Morgan Stanley clients will have access to reduced credit lines, but thousand will be shut off completely.
Famous Bond Fund Manager Predicts Gov’t Rescue of Fannie and Freddie
Posted by Patrick O'Connor on 8/6/08 11:27 am
Pimco’s Bill Gross today predicted that the U.S. government will be forced to rescue Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac by the end of the third quarter. Watch Bill…
Freddie Mac Cuts Dividend, Announces Giant Loss
Posted by Patrick O'Connor on 8/6/08 11:08 am
Freddie Mac chopped its dividend by 80% and posted a quarterly loss that was three times worse than estimates. Stock gets hammered. Read More. Bloomberg.com Almost one out…
Falling Oil Prices and Less Hawkish Fed Ignite Rally
Posted by Patrick O'Connor on 8/5/08 12:54 pm
Oil prices fell almost another $3 per barrel today, down to $118.55, and the Fed kept interest rates unchanged at the FOMC meeting, as expected. However, the market…
Economy Contracted Late Last Year and Grew Less Than Expected in Q208
Posted by Patrick O'Connor on 7/31/08 12:32 pm
Today’s GDP report revealed the economy was weaker than expected late last year and for the first half of 2008. The economy fell 0.2% in Q407, a -0.9%…
Financials Lead Stock Market Lower
Posted by Patrick O'Connor on 7/28/08 12:13 pm
On Wednesday, the House approved sweeping legislation designed to help the housing market, including support for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to help homeowners refinance mortgages, and a…
Liquidity Concerns at WaMu Escalating
Posted by Patrick O'Connor on 7/24/08 9:29 am
Shares of Washington Mutual dropped substantially yesterday after the nation’s biggest savings and loan reported a $3.3 billion second-quarter loss, and its stock is continuing to slide now…
Stronger Dollar Causes Sell Off in Commodities
Posted by Patrick O'Connor on 7/23/08 5:51 am
The threat of higher interest rates from a Federal Reserve president and stronger-dollar rhetoric from Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson is extending a slide in commodity prices today. Oil…
Merrill’s Earnings Announcement Throws Cold Water on Financials
Posted by Patrick O'Connor on 7/17/08 2:02 pm
U.S. financial stocks rebounded significantly off their lows during the past two trading sessions, but Merrill Lynch’s second-quarter earings announcement after the market’s close today unleashed a dose…
U.S. Stocks Get a Boost from $5 Drop in Oil Prices
Posted by Patrick O'Connor on 7/16/08 10:59 am
U.S. crude oil inventory data for the week ending July 11 surprised the market when reports indicated that supply jumped by 3 million barrels instead of dropping the…
Wells Fargo Spurs Relief Rally in Financials
Posted by Patrick O'Connor on 7/16/08 10:28 am
Wells Fargo’s better-than-expected second-quarter earnings announcement and 10% dividend increase gave financial stocks a reprieve today. But most were already aware that Wells Fargo’s exposure to lower quality…
Government’s Bailout Plan Fails to Buoy Financials
Posted by Patrick O'Connor on 7/14/08 1:16 pm
The Bush administration asked Congress on Sunday to approve its plan to rescue Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac by offering the two institutions substantially increased lines of credit…
Questionable Accounting Rule Allows Banks to Record Gains Instead of Losses
Posted by Patrick O'Connor on 7/9/08 8:24 am
Believe it or not, there’s an accounting rule that allows banks to record gains when the value of their debt goes down. Sounds crazy, but it’s true—and banks…
Financial Stocks Drop to New Lows
Posted by Patrick O'Connor on 7/7/08 10:18 am
Several financial stocks plumbed new lows today, driving the S&P 500 Financials Index down to levels not seen since 2002. Freddie Mac (FRE) and Fannie Mae (FNM) led…
Manufacturing Index Confirms Stock Market’s Narrowness
Posted by Patrick O'Connor on 7/1/08 11:01 am
Today’s national manufacturing report from the Institute for Supply Management reinforces that there are very few areas in the stock market worth being long. Most of the hot…
Politicians Make a Move Against Oil Speculators
Posted by Patrick O'Connor on 6/27/08 9:27 am
The U.S. House of Representatives approved a bill yesterday that targets oil speculators. The bill passed by a 402-19 vote. If the measure passes the Senate and gets…
Downgrades and Oil Price Surge Hammer Stocks
Posted by Patrick O'Connor on 6/26/08 12:19 pm
Multiple downgrades from Goldman Sachs in the automobile and brokerage sectors and another run-up in oil prices sank stocks today to new 2008 lows. Goldman Sachs analysts cut…
Consumers are an Unhappy Bunch
Posted by Patrick O'Connor on 6/24/08 1:36 pm
The Consumer Confidence Index sank 7.7 points in June to 50.4, a 16-year low, and well below the 56.0 consensus. The details were gruesome: current conditions index fell…
Analysts Say Gasoline Prices Would Fall to $2 if Congress Acted
Posted by Patrick O'Connor on 6/23/08 1:33 pm
Election-year hyperbole may have hit higher highs today when four analysts told Congress that retail gasoline prices would drop to $2 and oil to $65-$70 if Congress would…
China Agrees to 96% Increase in Ore Prices
Posted by Patrick O'Connor on 6/23/08 12:51 pm
China is setting commodity prices around the world, and its agreement to a 96% increase in iron ore prices today is helping to drive some of our top-10…
Global Energy Summit in Saudi Arabia Disappoints
Posted by Patrick O'Connor on 6/23/08 10:51 am
As expected, the energy summit in Saudi Arabia on Sunday failed to solve the issues that are driving oil prices higher. Saudi Arabia announced a production increase of…
Rising Oil Prices Series: Part VI
Posted by Patrick O'Connor on 6/19/08 1:51 pm
This post contains Navellier top-ten energy stock holdings. This article is the sixth and final installment of a multi-part series about rising oil prices. In this column, we’ll…
Survey Reveals Which Countries are Gaining and Losing Mutual Fund Allocations
Posted by Patrick O'Connor on 6/19/08 1:16 pm
A recent Merrill Lynch survey of 204 fund managers from around the world exposed which countries are gaining mutual fund assets and which ones are losing them. The…
Should Congress Allow More Offshore Oil Exploration?
Posted by Patrick O'Connor on 6/18/08 9:53 am
Today President Bush advised Congress to lift certain bans on offshore oil exploration in existence since 1981, and accused Democrats of blocking his energy initiatives. Bush also blamed…
Rising Oil Prices Series: Part V
Posted by Patrick O'Connor on 6/18/08 8:58 am
This post contains Navellier top-ten energy stock holdings. This article is the fifth installment of a multi-part series about rising oil prices. In this column, we’ll discuss how…
Expectations for Higher Interest Rates Have Changed Dramatically
Posted by Patrick O'Connor on 6/17/08 12:51 pm
Just one week ago the fed funds futures contract was pricing in a zero percent probability for a quarter point interest rate hike at the next FOMC meeting…
Downgrades in Regional Banking Sector Punish Stock Market
Posted by Patrick O'Connor on 6/17/08 11:51 am
U.S. stocks resumed their declines today after Goldman Sachs downgraded regional banks and estimated that U.S. banks in general will have to raise another $65 billion in capital…
Rising Oil Prices Series: Part III
Posted by Patrick O'Connor on 6/12/08 11:08 am
This post contains Navellier top-ten energy stock holdings. This article is the third installment of a multi-part series about rising oil prices. In this column, we’ll review how…
Rising Oil Prices Series: Part IV
Posted by Patrick O'Connor on 6/12/08 10:58 am
This post contains Navellier top-ten energy stock holdings. This article is the fourth installment of a multi-part series about rising oil prices. In this column, we’ll discuss why…
Market’s Rebound on Retail Sales Report Could be Temporary
Posted by Patrick O'Connor on 6/12/08 8:22 am
The main stock indexes regained some ground today after the May retail sales report came in stronger than expected. Sales were up 1.0% for the month, double the…
Corn Prices Hit Another New High
Posted by Patrick O'Connor on 6/11/08 10:39 am
Corn prices hit a fresh all-time high for the fifth consecutive day today after flooding increased in the Midwestern states. The Agricultural Department released a reduced corn-production forecast…
Oil Prices Rebound Significantly After Inventory Data
Posted by Patrick O'Connor on 6/11/08 9:23 am
Oil prices shot up more than $6 per barrel after inventory data indicated that U.S. supplies fell by a whopping 4.56 million barrels for the week ending June…
Have Global Interest Rates Bottomed?
Posted by Patrick O'Connor on 6/10/08 1:41 pm
Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke and Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson have been taking the dollar’s value very seriously lately. They’re trying to stop its slide against other currencies in…
2-yr U.S. Treasury Prices Fell the Most in 12 Years Today
Posted by Patrick O'Connor on 6/9/08 12:17 pm
2-year U.S. Treasuries took a beating today when prices collapsed and yields shot up 0.365%, the biggest one-day jump in 12 years. 2-yr notes are extremely sensitive to…
Lehman Brothers Pre-Announces Colossal Loss
Posted by Patrick O'Connor on 6/9/08 11:26 am
Lehman Brothers today announced that it is expecting a $2.8 billion second-quarter loss, an amount greater than its earnings during the previous 8 years combined. During the past…
Rising Steel Prices Show Few Signs of Abating
Posted by Patrick O'Connor on 6/5/08 1:27 pm
This post contains steel stocks that are Navellier top-10 holdings (see bottom of post). Recent news has been filled with talk of rising oil and food prices, and…
Rising Oil Prices Series: Part I
Posted by Patrick O'Connor on 6/4/08 1:53 pm
This post contains top-ten energy stock holdings from Navellier & Associates’ all-cap portfolios. This article is the first installment of a six-part series about rising oil prices. In…
Rising Oil Prices Series: Part II
Posted by Patrick O'Connor on 6/4/08 1:39 pm
This post contains top-ten energy stock holdings from Navellier & Associates’ all-cap portfolios. This article is the second installment (Read Part I) of a multi-part series about rising…
Fed Chairman Bernanke Surprises World with Dollar Comments
Posted by Patrick O'Connor on 6/3/08 12:51 pm
U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke unexpectedly voiced concerns about the weakening U.S. dollar and its inflation ramifications today at the International Monetary Conference in Barcelona, Spain. Read…
S&P Lowers Credit Ratings at Big Securities Firms
Posted by Patrick O'Connor on 6/2/08 10:28 am
Credit crisis fears were renewed on Wall Street today when Standard & Poors lowered credit ratings for several of the largest securities firms in the U.S., and released…
Rising Food Prices Series: Part VII
Posted by Patrick O'Connor on 5/28/08 2:11 pm
This article is the seventh and final part of a multi-part series about rising global food prices. In this installment, we will discuss some of the investment opportunities…
T. Boone Pickens Thinks Oil will Hit $150 this Year
Posted by Patrick O'Connor on 5/20/08 1:45 pm
T. Boone Pickens says the high price of oil has nothing to do with speculators or a weak dollar driving prices higher and everything to do with supply…
Famous Analyst and Billionaires Predict Deepening Credit Crisis
Posted by Patrick O'Connor on 5/20/08 12:44 pm
The analyst who was the first to boldly predict serious problems in the banking sector last year said today that the credit crisis is going to get worse.…
Lawmakers Targeting Commodity Trading Rules
Posted by Patrick O'Connor on 5/20/08 11:27 am
What happens when commodity prices hit all-time highs during a presidential election year? We get more political grandstanding, more regulation, and probably no price relief. Today Senator Claire…
SanDisk Throws Cold Water on Rally
Posted by Patrick O'Connor on 5/19/08 1:07 pm
The stock market got off to a great start this week with the Dow climbing as much as 150 points by 1:29 Eastern, but then SanDisk (SNDK) spoiled…
Rising Food Prices Series: Part VI
Posted by Patrick O'Connor on 5/19/08 11:59 am
This post contains agricultural stocks that are in our top-ten holdings. This article is the sixth part of a multi-part series about rising global food prices. In this…
Rising Food Prices Series: Part V
Posted by Patrick O'Connor on 5/19/08 11:56 am
This post contains agricultural stocks that are in our top-ten holdings. This article is the fifth part of a multi-part series about rising global food prices. In this…
Rising Food Prices Series: Part IV
Posted by Patrick O'Connor on 5/19/08 11:41 am
This post contains agricultural stocks that are in our top-ten holdings. This article is the fourth part of a multi-part series about rising global food prices. In this…
Rising Food Prices Series: Part III
Posted by Patrick O'Connor on 5/19/08 11:39 am
This post contains agricultural stocks that are in our top-ten holdings. This article is the third part of a multi-part series about rising global food prices. In this…
Consumer Sentiment Drops to 28-year Low
Posted by Patrick O'Connor on 5/16/08 12:12 pm
The University of Michigan Consumer Sentiment Index continued its rapid plunge since July 2007 by falling an additional 3.1 points in the first half of May. The index…
Oil Prices Coming Down?
Posted by Patrick O'Connor on 5/15/08 2:33 pm
Oil prices have almost doubled in the last year, but most energy industry executives believe that what goes up, must come down. In a 2008 KPMG survey of…
Rising Food Prices Series: Part II
Posted by Patrick O'Connor on 5/15/08 2:26 pm
This article is the second part of a multi-part series about rising global food prices. In this installment, we will explain one of the factors that is contributing…
Rising Food Prices Series: Part I
Posted by Patrick O'Connor on 5/15/08 8:01 am
This article is the first part of a multi-part series about rising global food prices. In this installment, we explain the factors that are contributing to a rise…
Cargo Container Shortage Slows Exports, Contributes to Inflation
Posted by Patrick O'Connor on 5/14/08 12:38 pm
U.S. exporters are running into serious bottlenecks at shipping ports. Not only is there a shortage of ships, there’s also a major scarcity of shipping containers. As a…
Are Investment Instruments Creating a Commodity Crisis?
Posted by Patrick O'Connor on 5/13/08 2:49 pm
During the past few years there has been an explosion of new investment instruments that have allowed investors to participate in the commodity markets unlike ever before. This…
MBIA and Ambac Could Still Lose Triple-A Ratings
Posted by Patrick O'Connor on 5/13/08 2:12 pm
After raising billions of dollars a few months ago to avoid losing the highest ratings from the likes of Moody’s and Standard & Poors, MBIA and Ambac could…
Pumping Up: Is a Gas Tax Holiday a Good Idea?
Posted by Patrick O'Connor on 5/9/08 8:45 am
When politicians start jawboning about gas and taxes, about the only certainty consumers can count on is that they’ll get more gas from their political leaders - and…
Chain-Store Sales Results Misleading
Posted by Patrick O'Connor on 5/8/08 10:59 am
Many financial news sources are cheer-leading the April chain-store sales results today, which were up a bigger-than-expected 3.6%. But when you scrape off the headline fluff, one can…
Housing Slump Could Push California City into Bankruptcy
Posted by Patrick O'Connor on 5/7/08 9:20 am
A 19% drop in housing values and subsequent tax collections helped push Vallejo, CA, a city on the bay between San Francisco and Napa Valley, to the brink…
National Manufacturing Unchanged
Posted by Patrick O'Connor on 5/1/08 10:39 am
The ISM Manufacturing Index held steady at 48.6 in April, matching March’s reading, but still in contraction territory (any reading below 50). Nevertheless, Wall Street was relieved the…
Analysts Expect One Last Interest Rate Cut Tomorrow
Posted by Patrick O'Connor on 4/29/08 10:42 am
Most Wall Street analysts expect the Fed to trim short-term interest rates tomorrow by one quarter of one percent (0.25%). And the majority also believes that such a…
Consumer Confidence at 5-year Low
Posted by Patrick O'Connor on 4/29/08 9:28 am
The Conference Board’s Consumer Confidence Index dropped to a five-year low in April after home prices continued to plunge, gasoline prices hit fresh all-time highs, and jobs became…
B of A Plans to Stem Foreclosures if Countrywide Takeover Approved
Posted by Patrick O'Connor on 4/28/08 10:43 am
In an attempt to gain approval from regulators for its takeover bid of Countrywide, Bank of America suggested plans that would help as many as 265,000 high-risk mortgage…
Some States are Already in a Recession
Posted by Patrick O'Connor on 4/25/08 9:05 am
A recent survey of all 50 state fiscal directors showed that some states are already in a recession, and several more could follow when the new fiscal year…
Oil Prices Could Hit $225 per Barrel by 2012
Posted by Patrick O'Connor on 4/24/08 10:42 am
No, that’s not a typo. CIBC analyst Jeff Rubin is predicting oil prices to gush to $225 per barrel by 2012. Note that oil prices are down significantly…
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