Based on Monday’s market direction, it looked like the broader indices were in for a second straight week of mauling and a continuation of a down January. The selling pressure subsided through the week, however, and we’ve actually finished up slightly. It’s a little worrying to me to see a miss on the jobs number (yes, it was a miss) and then see the market finish up on Friday. This price action reeks of the old “bad is good” we thought we may have turned the corner on (“bad is good” is a Fed induced phenomenon where bad news is interpreted by the market as good news because the “bad” could spur more QE).
We’re still in limbo between a market functioning normally (i.e. based on fundamental variables) and a Federal Reserve pumping closer to $100B than $0 into an economy on a monthly basis. As noted last week, it will be a bumpy and interesting ride as the Fed unwinds its unprecedented monetary campaign.
Four Stories You Can’t Miss from This Week As a long time reader you’ll know we’ve talked a lot about buybacks and how we think that a robust economy is more likely to spur bullish CEOs to invest in their businesses rather than buying back their company’s shares. Obviously, Tim Cook’s been more apt to listen to Carl Icahn’s demands that Apple (in fairness to Icahn, he does own $4B worth of AAPL stock) buy back its own stock rather than invest in growing the company. In fact, Apple announced it bought back $14B of shares recently. The move for CVS to remove all tobacco products from its stores can’t and shouldn’t go unnoticed. We’re analyzing the exposure to the tobacco industry here based on holdings of Altria Group (MO
) and Reynolds American (RAI) in our Best Dividend Stocks List. Here are 10 Big Stocks going ex-dividend next week. Wha
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