An excerpt from the new book 'The Dick Davis Dividend: Straight Talk on Making Money from 40 Years on Wall Street'- reprinted with permission of the author and publisher:???The Durability of Major Trends Is Underestimated A tough part of an investment analyst?s job is forecasting change, especially trying to predict when that change will occur. What makes it difficult is that at any given time, the odds favor a trend in force remaining in force. In its early stages, it?s unclear whether a developing trend will last. But once it takes hold, once it gets its sea legs and gets used to its surroundings, it?s usually reluctant to go away. The more it hangs around, the stronger, the more confident, and the more anchored it becomes. This type of stability is often viewed with skepticism by an investment world that is in constant flux. It?s a world where stocks, groups, and styles continually move into and then outof favor. It?s a world of shifting currents with a myopic focus on the short term. It?s the kind of world that looks mostly for endings, not lastings. And it?s the kind of world that typically forecasts the demise of any trend that perseveres to multiyear status.Complete Story »
The Dow Jones Industrial Averagefell 178.11 points (-1.32%), the Standard &Poor's 500index lost 20.5 points (-1.37%), and the Nasdaqdecreased 32.75 points (-1.23%).Complete Story »
Japanese game console maker Nintendo announced Friday it will issue rainchecks for its mega-hit console the Wii that guarantees consumers a Wii by the end of January.Complete Story »
IndexUniversesubmits: IndexUniverse.com assistant editor Heather Bell recently spoke with H.Bruce Bond, founder and CEO of PowerShares, about what's next for thefast-growing ETF provider.Complete Story »
IndexUniversesubmits: Since their inception, exchange-traded notes [ETNs] have been acknowledged as a useful vehicle for gaining exposure to some of the more exotic areas of the market. Goldman Sachs is upholding ETNs' reputation with the launch earlier this week of the Claymore CEF Index-Linked GS Connect ETN (GCE).Complete Story »
Hickey and Walters (Bespoke) submit: Following Tuesday's 25 basis point cut in the Fed Funds rate, most investors were disappointed that the Fed did not cut enough. However, the releases of November's PPI and CPI show that the Fed probably had an early peek at these numbers and decided that they could not cut 50 basis points in the face of such elevated inflation levels.Complete Story »
Gilat Satellite Networks Ltd. (Nasdaq: GILT) provides Internet Protocol [IP] based digital satellite communication and networking products and services.Complete Story »
HSBC Holdings (HBC)will be paid the US$ equivalent of $1.46 billion by Taiwan's government to take over Chinese Bank, a unit of the failed Rebar Group. HSBC plans to invest $300M to $400M of new capital into Chinese Bank to boost its capital ratios.Complete Story »
Shares of Black &Decker (BDK)hit a 52-week low Friday after the company lowered its profit target because of a product recall and weak sales in North America.Complete Story »
Torosubmits:Profit margins are falling. When I checked last Friday, sales per share for the S&P 500 was $940.90 while earnings per share was $80.39, giving the market a profit margin of 8.5%.Complete Story »
Chrysler and Nissan (NSANY)are reported to be in private preliminary discussions about cooperating in auto production and supply, although sources say there is no plan to take equity stakes in each other. Respective corporate spokespersons declined to comment.Complete Story »
