Why are gun stocks tumbling?
It's unclear what's triggering the recent plunge in shares of Smith & Wesson and Sturm Ruger. We may be seeing a correction after a runup around the presidential election.
Updated 5 p.m. ETGun stocks are seeing the post-election blues.
Shares of Smith & Wesson (SWHC) and Sturm Ruger & Co. (RGR) recovered slightly Tuesday from some pretty steep declines over the last week. Smith & Wesson's stock price finally turned up by 4% Tuesday after sliding 13% over two trading days. Sturm Ruger rose less than 1% after suffering a 17% drop in the last week.
It looks like these stocks are correcting to levels seen before the November presidential elections. Investors jumped into these stocks as the election approached, figuring they would rise as shoppers stampeded into gun stores. And that did happen: Gun dealers made a record number of background-check requests on Black Friday, with 154,873 requests going to the FBI's call centers.
No one totals the actual number of guns sold, but those background-check requests are a good sign that firearms were flying out the doors.
But as the Motley Fool's Sean Williams points out, gun orders tend to return to normal levels after the elections are over, and "investors realize that they've bid shares up far beyond the gun makers' potential."
Some gun buyers are fearing a crackdown on firearms by President Obama, who suggested in one of the presidential debates that he was in favor of reintroducing an assault weapons ban. The National Rifle Association is fanning those fears, featuring a commentary on its site from CEO Wayne LaPierre saying that "an anti-gun Supreme Court, a U.N. Arms Trade Treaty, and a sweeping gun ban aren't just a possibility in a second Obama term. They're a near certainty."
Investors were speculating all day Monday about why gun stocks were down. "Ironically, the gun plays are quickly turning into falling knives," wrote one trader on Twitter. Another said that Sturm Ruger is "doing what it always does, runs like crazy then corrects very hard -- good poster child for why chasing is stupid." Still others said the correction was overblown, and that gun stocks would recover soon.
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I always find it interesting how a liberal will reject all facts he finds distastefl and manufacture "Facts" more to their liking. There is a thumbs down on my last post. Naturally there is no rebutal to any of it.
DO liberals not believe we have 16 trillion national debt?
Do they not believe Obama has a 1.3 trillion +/- annual deficit.
Do they not know or beleive that Obama's tax plan raise a pitiful 70 billion (expriation of cuts for everyone making 200,000 or more?
Do they belive that that 70 billion is actually equal to 1300 (the deficti).
Of course, there is not point in wondering about people who will not refute and argument nor refute it.
So sad.
The left has been trying to steal the guns away from hard working Americans for years. The only time you see anything on this site/network resembling guns is something of bad news. MSNBC, NBC and the likes will whine, cry and kick about guns because they know they can not win this battle. Period! Even most Obama supporters are smart enough to own guns which is the ONLY thing I have in common with any Obama supporter.
You think the Unions are fighting hard and kicking and screaming, try taking guns away. This will indeed be the final act of the liberals before the Democrat party dries up.
This just MORE..MSNBC...B.U.L.L.Shytte
Go anywhere..Or online..And SEE..How ..BACKORDERED..
ALL TYPES OF GUNS ARE...
Since THE COMMNDER COMMIE TOOK OFFICE..
GUNS and AMMO Sales Have SOARED..
Oh..Hey MSNBC..
Don't FORGET TO B.S.About other entities..That CHairman MEOW..FEELS..Are Threatening..
KEEP TRASHING, FORD,...WAL-MART...VOLKSWAGEN,, Mac DONALDS...RED LOBSTER..
And On and On..KEEP SPINNING...IT's Beyond Sardonic..and SURREAL..
I am a 62yr.old Texan. I grew up with guns. I was taught to shoot how to hunt, and how to safely handle guns since I was a boy. I now have my own ranch, and I am teaching my nieces and nephews how to hunt and shoot ( they love it ). I do like the semi autos ( what you call assault weapons ). We have a serious wild hog problem here. If they get in your garden they will destroy it in minutes. They destroy wildlife habitat and range land. With the semi autos I can kill at least 2X-3X as many as with a bolt action. Coyotes are also a problem. With a semi auto I can tumble them on the run. You city apartment liberals do not walk in my boots. Do not dictate your city values on me. If you have a problem with Texas, do not come here. We all have guns and will shoot, I will watch my neighbors back and they will watch mine.
I LOVE TEXAS.
Since the thread has gone political ....
The media is a master at the bait and switch and the Republicans fall for it. What is teh question or problem of the day? If you answered teh fiscal cliff you have fallen for the media deversion. THe media would have you beleive our PROBLEM is the expiration of the Bush era tax cuts. This narrative puts a focus on tax rates and Obama's "don't look over there, look at my tax plan to raise 70 billion by taxing teh rich and all the nations problems are over!" What is the real problem? The problem which COngress and the President need to solve is Obama's endless 1.3 trillion annual defict and his 16 trillion soon to be 20 trillion dollar debt! The fiscal cliff drama has ALMOST NOTHING TO DO with this, the real, problen. Obama's 70 billion or even 150 billion a year tax plan is a joke against the REAL PROBLEM. And tinkering with spending cuts which OBAMA INSANEly refuses to even think about addrssing have almost nothign to do with the REAL PROBLEM.
We must start talking about the end of the nation as we know it unless we truely address teh deficit. Teh bait and switch by the Democrats does not get us there. Until we start talking about theREAL problem we will be mired in the insignifacant weeds and political drama of blaming someone (obviously REpublicans) for the fiscal cliff silliness.
Wake America, the debt will crush you! Republicans, wake up and start talking about the real problme and the JOKE of Obama's lie about solving all our problems through insignificant taxes on the rich. ANd of course Obama's real plan is to raise YOUR TAXES! He wants to go over the cliff and raise everyone's taxes and then blame the Republicans. And even that will not solve the REAL PROBLEM.
Same old arguments pro and against firearm ownership throughout this string of comments. Anyone want to check out a few truths, try this:
The main reason for the 2nd Amendment was to provide for an armed citizenry who would be able to resist a tyranical usurpation of the Constitution. This is confirmed in many of the private letters and writings of the very individuals that framed the Constitution. Further, I don't think the argument that the Amendment applied to "muskets and black power arms" holds water as these men were intelligent enough to realize that armament would improve in the future and that black powder weapons would eventually go the way of the bow and suits of armor..
The second reason for the 2nd Amendment was to allow the citizen to have a means of self defense. Again, while not specifically stated in the Constitution, the letters and writings of our founding fathers support this concept completely.
Gun control does NOT equal crime and violence control. Again, I grew up in the late 40's and 50's. In those days one could obtain a firearm off the back of a comic book by just stating that you were over 18 years old and sending in the required money. No proof of age, no background check, no license, no federal form to fill out. A few days later your gun showed up in the mail. I recall one particular ad that offered a 20mm anti-tank rifle if you had the money. Crime was at an all time low. A murder was front page news for days or weeks and there were no gangs or drug wars, but guns were much more available and easier to obtain then ever. Almost everyone I knew had some sort of firearm including my father, a WWII navy veteran, who had two of those awful semi-automatic .45's.
The anti firearms folks like to rant about the 20,000 or so people killed each year by firearms. However that number includes gang and crime related killings, suicides and justified homicides such as shootings by police officers and citizens defending themselves or their family.
Piers Morgan made an interesting statement on TV the other day and I had to agree with him. In Britain they have strict gun control and only have 20 to 30 gun killings a year, agreed. However, crime in general is up just as it is in gun controlled Australia and Britain is much smaller with a much lower population than the U.S. Consider this, as the citizens are not armed, the bad guys don't need guns either. A knife, hunk of pipe or a club will work just fine on an unarmed citizen especially if three or four skels jump a man with a wife and kid with him or break into his home Also, people still commit suicide and there is gang and drug violence, just no guns.
Our problem is not firearms, it is the continuing break down in our society created by the very people that we have placed in positions of trust and power who now abuse it and this nations people for their own interests.
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MARKET UPDATE
[BRIEFING.COM] The S&P 500 settled lower by 0.8% after early strength turned into afternoon weakness.
Today's headline event came in the form of Ben Bernanke's testimony before the Joint Economic Committee. During his remarks, Chairman Bernanke said premature tightening of monetary policy could stall the pace of recovery. This followed weeks of conflicting remarks from FOMC members, which sparked speculation regarding possible changes to the Fed's policy course.
However, ... More
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