- Home Depot nails its numbersThe home improvement chain's latest earnings show why it's crushing its rivals.
- Why Goldman thinks S&P 500 will hit 2,100
Growing dividends and low interest rates have the bank feeling bullish.
VIDEO ON MSN MONEY
Here are some things Yahoo should do to make its acquisition of Tumblr a success.
When Yahoo (YHOO) officially announced the expected $1.1 billion acquisition of Tumblr, a trendy social media site, both sides expressed genuine excitement about the deal. In addition, Yahoo promised "not to screw it up," meaning that Tumblr will continue to roll on its own but with Yahoo's financial resources and manpower available to support growth. MSN Money's Anthony Mirhaydari explains what's next for the precious metal.
In the video below, MSN Money's Anthony Mirhaydari explains why gold has fallen, what's next for the precious metal, and where to find the smart investments given gold's fading luster.
Looking for a contrarian play? Consider these names that show signs of institutional selling.
By the staff at Kapitall.com
Fund managers always buy and sell stocks. But sometime, despite many of them having the same bearish sentiment on a stock, there's no apparent reason for the sentiment. So, within the industrial category, we looked for stocks that might not merit such a lack of confidence from fund managers.
We further searched for data that suggest a more positive future, including evidence of undervaluation and positive returns on investment and assets.
Building the list
We screened industrial goods stocks for bearish sentiment from institutional investors, with significant net institutional sales over the last quarter representing at least 5% of share float (MoneyShow.com). This indicates that institutional investors such as hedge fund and mutual fund managers expect these companies to underperform.
LeapFrog is initiated with an 'overweight,' and Beazer Homes is downgraded to 'neutral.'

Information provided by Theflyonthewall.comTuesday's noteworthy upgrades include:
- American Tower (AMT) upgraded to Outperform from Neutral at Macquarie
- BlackRock (BLK) upgraded to Outperform from Neutral at Macquarie
- Cubist (CBST) upgraded to Hold from Sell at Cantor
- IntercontinentalExchange (ICE) upgraded to Outperform from Neutral at Macquarie
- T. Rowe Price (TROW) upgraded to Outperform from Market Perform at Bernstein
As the season winds down, a few companies are still left to report financial results.
By Billy Fisher, Stock Traders Daily
Even with the first quarter earnings season getting ready to wind down, there are still a host of prominent companies left to announce their quarterly results. This week, a couple of big names in the tech sector and numerous retailers will be unveiling their earnings. Here is what to watch for in the coming days.
Rally time for HP
After the market close on Wednesday, Hewlett-Packard (HPQ) will weigh in with its fiscal second quarter earnings. Analysts are calling for a 17.3% decline in earnings per share coupled with an 8.5% slide in total revenue.
The CEO's decision to take out the blogging site is about as unimaginative as it gets.
By Rocco Pendola
From the get-go, I strongly supported Marissa Mayer's tenure as Yahoo (YHOO) CEO. While I still believe in the legend of Mayer, I'm officially jumping off the bandwagon.
YHOO stock is up 70% since Mayer got the gig. If you have been long, get the hell out. Even if you miss a bit more upside, why be greedy?
It's not that I dislike Tumblr. It's a perfectly worthy fad among a whole slew of new entrants into the space, if we can call social microblogs a "space." It's just that a.) I do not see the sense in making the acquisition; b.) it makes me feel like Mayer has too few original ideas on how to rebuild Yahoo; and c.) everybody is on the bandwagon like a pack of blindfolded sheep.
| Tags: | internetTheStreetcomYHOO |
Long-term investors should focus on high-quality companies with long histories of dividend increases.
By Kelley Wright, Investment Quality Trends
For the most part, our cash needs are met by a paycheck -- until you no longer have one. At that point you will need a pool of capital and a stream of income from that capital to meet your needs. That's why we invest -- to build capital and income to meet or augment current and/or future cash needs.
Our preferred strategy is through buying shares of very high-quality companies with long histories of dividend payments and dividend increases. Why? Because dividends represent the most basic and fundamental measure of return on investment.
Besides high quality and a long history of dividend payments and dividend increases, what is ultimately of most importance is that the shares be purchased when they offer good value.
The hate for this stock is just ridiculous.

If you really think Tumblr is worth $1.1 billion, then Facebook's (FB) stock is worth much more than it is selling for. That's because the goal of Yahoo (YHOO) is to monetize Tumblr on mobile and that's just what Facebook is doing with its products.
But that doesn't matter.
There was a fabulous discussion on Street Signs last week with Jon Steinberg, president of Buzzfeed, arguably the hottest site of its kind of the Web. Steinberg pointed out that Facebook rebutted almost every objection about its service -- from no longer hot, to not monetizing mobile, to not being an important platform -- and nobody cared. In fact, people continue to misstate the case of Facebook, point-blank twisting the facts as if it doesn't even matter.
With the dollar firming but gold lower, investors await Fed chief Bernanke's comments Wednesday.
By Tim Parker
The markets ended Monday's trading session barely in the red on the back of a weak dollar and gold that started the day sharply lower but then rebounded.
On Tuesday, traders will watch for signs of follow-thru of Monday's pullback.
Here's what happened overnight:
Morning news
S&P 500 futures are down slightly to 1,661.75.
The EUR/USD was unchanged at 1.2881.
German 10-year government bond yields rose 1 basis point to 1.3%.
The Energy Department's conditional approval of liquefied natural gas exports could provide benefits for American energy, engineering and construction companies.
On Friday, the U.S. Department of Energy approved what is only the second permit to export liquefied natural gas from the United States.
The permit went to the Freeport LNG project in Texas, a joint project of Freeport LNG Investments, ZHA FLNG Purchaser, Dow Chemical subsidiary Texas LNG Holdings and Turbo LNG, a subsidiary of Japan’s Osaka Gas. The permit will allow Freeport to export up to 1.4 billion cubic feet to gas a day. Subject to environmental review and final regulatory approval, Freeport plans to begin exports in 2017.
The permit went to Freeport, but I think the immediate profits will go to Chicago Bridge and Iron, the engineering company most likely to win the bulk of work on Freeport.
Bargain hunting gives silver a boost after a nasty dive in overnight markets. But worries about rising interest rates and a possible U.S. debt downgrade gives the metal a boost.
What to make of the violent trading in silver (-SI) on Monday. Silver opened higher late Sunday in electronic trading and then collapsed, finally finding a bottom at $20.25 an ounce. Had that level held, the result would have been the lowest price since August 2010. The sell-off was so extreme that the CME Group, which operates the New York Mercantile Exchange where silver is traded, halted trading in the metal four times overnight.
But silver -- and gold (-GC) -- surged in late trading, settling at $22.58 an ounce, up 23 cents. Gold, which had fallen to as low as $1,336.30, settled at $1,384.10, up $19.40.
Both were surging in electronic trading late Monday -- a signal perhaps that the metals have bottomed after severe slumps this year.
These companies are in the sweet spot of a major economic trend.
Forget the old adage, "A penny saved is a penny earned."In this edition of Investor Beat: Yahoo spends $1.1 billion for Tumblr. Will the blogging service pay dividends for shareholders?
Even though she promised “not to screw it up,” the Tumblr acquisition has some observers wondering if Yahoo paid too much. In our lead story, Motley Fool analysts Andy Cross and Jason Moser discuss the pros and cons of the deal -- and whether it will pay off for investors.
Both the incorrigibly unhampered DJIA and broader S&P 500 have been rocketing to record highs.
There hasn't been any "May Day" calamity this month, as many skeptics had predicted. Instead, the market's barometers have been climbing to multiple new highs. So it's been a downer for the believers in the "Sell in May and Go Away" market strategy.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average has been incorrigibly unhampered, posting its 221st record closing high this year at a majestic milestone 15,354.40 on May 17. The broader S&P 500 stock index also climbed to another record, at 1,667.42, and the NASDAQ composite index soared to its highest close since October 2000 at 3,498.97.
Time to worry?
Stocks retreat this afternoon after hitting yet another life high earlier in the day.

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[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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