Reuters:   Banks paid out billions of dollars in bonuses last year while losing money. Reuters:   The US closed  its car “clunkers” program just as it began as funds ran out. Reuters:   Obame faces more questions about his health care plan. Reuters:   A Congressional bill would affect OTC derivative holdings. Reuters:   Japan announced record deflation. Reuters:   Ford (F) has slowed the [...]

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“It is not the strongest of the species that survives or the most intelligent that survives. It is the one that is the most adaptable to change.” —Charles Darwin2008 in Review: Has the Easy Market Call Come and Gone?As regular readers know I've had a cautious even bearish view towards equities and credit over the past couple of years. The handwriting was on the wall and both seemed woefully overvalued. That being said my long-standing target for the S&P 500 of 750-800 was reached this autumn a level that has held even in the face of awful economic news. ...

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Today is the tale of two story’s about BAC’s health. On the one hand Bloomberg wrote today how BAC’s purchase of Merrill was a “steal” based on company filings with the SEC. On the other hand, bank analyst wrote just the opposite on BAC’s health last night. In fact, Whalen discredited BAC’s SEC filings. And rather than being a steal, the implications of the MER and CFC acquisitions by BAC are that BAC’s equity is worth zero and bondholders might have to take a 30% or more haircut next year.[More...]

If you've been reading my stuff for the past few years, then you've been ahead of the real estate pack every step of the way. I warned you well in advance that the housing market would implode ... that the mortgage industry would collapse ... and that virtually ...[More...]

(7:11am ET) There was plenty of economic data released in the US during the day; however the equity market sidetracked until 2pm ET, when with prices at modest losing levels on the week until that point, suddenly, and for no discernable reason, there was a rally that left the indexes with small gains through Thursday. Perhaps traders were anticipating a positive quarterly report from Google (GOOG +2.4% on +151% of average daily trading volume)? After the close, the company did not disappoint, beating both revenue and EPS estimates. The company posted net income of $1.42 billion ($5.16/share), up +8% from the $1.31 billion ($4.84/share) recorded during the same period a year ago. Revenue for 1Q2009 increased +10% to $4.07 billion, from $3.7 billion, excluding traffic acquisition costs. On average, analysts had expected earnings per share of $4.93 and revenue of $4.08 billion, according to Yahoo Finance. For the first[More...]

(8:25am ET) The main focus of traders today will be the 1Q2009 earnings report from JP Morgan (JPM), and the close scrutiny of the data and hype that will follow. After hitting a low of $14.93 in early March, JPM has rallied +118.1% to yesterday’s close of $32.56. There was a high of $34.15 on Tuesday. http://tinyurl.com/da6dcv JP Morgan reported Q1 net income of $2.14 billion, or $0.40/share, down -10% from a year earlier, but beat analysts' expectations. Revenue increased +48% to $25.03 billion. WSJ reported that CEO Jamie Dimon said the firm extended about $150 billion in new credit to consumer and corporate customers during the quarter. With a last hour rally spurred by the real estate investment trusts (REITS) ($DJR +8.7%) and Banks ($BKX +5.1%) in the Financial sector (XLF +4.8%), the US equity[More...]

Schaeffer's Laura Houser takes a look at activity on the Street after the market close

Schaeffer's Laura Houser takes a look at today's options activity

Schaeffer's Laura Houser takes a look at today's options activity

Schaeffer's Mark Fightmaster takes a look at activity on the Street after the market close

Guests: Greg Ip, WSJ and Jon Markman of MSN Money look for answers to many of the questions investors are asking: What will the Fed do? Will food costs continue to rise? Recession? Markets? Best strategies for profits in difficult market conditions. $85 for sushi for 3: Greg provides Andrew with a solution...