TheStreet Search RSS Feed: Michael Baron

Market Preview: Retrace or Retreat?

Wed, 16 May 2012 19:49:24 EDT

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Where you think the U.S. stock market ends up this year likely depends on your view of the current action.

Or more precisely, the determining factor could be viewed as which of these 'R' words you think is most accurate in describing the near-constant selloff in equities since the calendar flipped over to May: Retrace or retreat.

John Stoltzfus, Oppenheimer's new chief market strategist, is in the retrace camp. ...

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Limited Brands, Herbalife: After-Hours Headlines

Wed, 16 May 2012 18:11:23 EDT

Clarification: An earlier version inaccurately described David Einhorn's questions on Herbalife's conference call as "criticism" of the company.

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Here's a rundown of stocks making news after Wednesday's closing bell: Limited Brands

Shares of Limited Brands fell in late trades after the Columbus, Ohio-based specialty retailer, whose brands include Victoria's Secret and Bath & Body Works, forecast second-quarter earnings of 40 to 45 cents a share. ...

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Market Preview: That Sinking Feeling

Tue, 15 May 2012 20:35:04 EDT

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- It feels like the skittishness is palpable on Wall Street right now, and that's never a good thing for retail investors.

Bank of America Merrill Lynch described the mood this way before Tuesday's sour session that pushed all three major U.S. equity indices back to levels unseen since early February.

"Investor sentiment is bearish on growth and risk, assets are allocated defensively and cash levels are high," the firm said early Tuesday. "But the dominant mood is one of paralysis as investors wait for a 'bad' event to provoke the policy panic and market capitulation that contrarians want to buy." ...

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J.C. Penney, GM: After-Hours Headlines

Tue, 15 May 2012 18:33:48 EDT

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Here's a round-up of companies making news after Tuesday's closing bell. J.C. Penney

J.C. Penney reported a much wider than anticipated quarterly loss late Tuesday and said it's discontinuing its dividend. The department store retailer, which is trying to reinvent itself under the direction of CEO Ron Johnson, a former Apple executive, reported an adjusted loss of $55 million, or 25 cents a share, and said same-store sales fell 18.9% in its fiscal first quarter ended in April.

The average estimate of analysts polled by Thomson Reuters was for a loss of 11 cents a share in the quarter. ...

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Market Preview: Risk Appetite Spoiled

Mon, 14 May 2012 20:17:26 EDT

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- It's starting to look like all anyone is going to do is sell in May.

The first day of the month was a sunny rally but the weather's been ugly since then. The Dow Jones Industrial Average is down in eight of the past nine trading sessions, losing 4.4% since closing at 13,279 on May 1.

The S&P 500 finished at 1406 on May 1, and has now surrendered 4.8% since then, while the Nasdaq rallied in the first two sessions of the month, closing at 3060 on May 2 but it's subsequently pulled back the most, losing 5.1%. ...

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Groupon, Agilent: After-Hours Headlines

Mon, 14 May 2012 18:27:39 EDT

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Here's a round-up of companies making news after Monday's closing bell. Groupon

Shares of Groupon surged in late trades after the online daily deals company reported better-than-expected earnings with revenue rising nearly 90% from year-ago levels.

The stock jumped 17.6% to $13.80 on volume of nearly 3.3 million, according to Nasdaq.com, after Groupon reported non-GAAP earnings of $16.3 million, or 2 cents a share, on revenue of $559.3 million. The average estimate of analysts polled by Thomson Reuters was for a profit of a penny per share on revenue of $530.6 million in the March-ended period. ...

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Market Preview: Look Out Below!

Thu, 10 May 2012 18:47:30 EDT

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- This could get ugly. Really ugly.

JPMorgan Chase and its fortress balance sheet are recording a very real $2 billion loss because of a "flawed, complex, poorly reviewed" trade in its synthetic credit portfolio, and shares of the Dow component were being taken to the woodshed in Thursday's extended session, plunging nearly 7% at last check.

And just like that, when stocks found some footing (at least for a day), mustering a mixed finish despite a 10%-plus haircut for Cisco, the financials are suddenly a big fat question mark again. What other surprises are lurking where? Remember, the banks were finally providing some market leadership in the first quarter, one of the hallmarks of a healthy bull market. ...

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Market Preview: So Much for a Slow Tape

Wed, 09 May 2012 19:28:49 EDT

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Cross one thing off the to-do list: Greece is going to get most of its next round of bailout funding. Next up, form a government.

That's fairly standard for news from across the pond these days. So much for a slow tape as earnings season winds down. The opinion that Greece's exit from the eurozone is a foregone conclusion is now getting voiced more often and more stridently with each passing day. For example, here's how investor Dennis Gartman concluded his daily newsletter this morning:

"We fully expect to see this sooner rather than later regarding the European Monetary Union: some Friday afternoon, or some Saturday morning... sooner rather than later... Athens will announce the return of the drachma and the demise of the EUR as Greece's currency," he wrote. "Greece's banks will be closed for perhaps a week and the government will announced a swift program forcing the turning-in of EURs for drachma at a preordained conversion rate, with a date certain several months into the future when the drachma will be freely floated against the EUR. It is only a matter of time. It will be sooner than one might think." ...

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Cisco, Monster Beverage: After-Hours Headlines

Wed, 09 May 2012 18:10:57 EDT

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Here's a rundown of stocks making news after Wednesday's closing bell:

Universal Display

Shares of Universal Display dropped in late trades after the company reported a surprise loss in the first quarter. ...

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Demand Media: After-Hours Headlines

Tue, 08 May 2012 19:57:58 EDT

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Here's a rundown of stocks making news after Tuesday's closing bell.

Demand Media

Shares of Demand Media rose more than 21% to $9.65 on after-hours volume of nearly 150,000, according to Nasdaq.com. ...

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Market Preview: The Worst Is Yet to Come

Tue, 08 May 2012 18:51:24 EDT

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- How you view Tuesday's action on Wall Street likely says a lot about your philosophical stance on the stock market.

The optimistic, glass half-full interpretation, of course, is going to point to the late-day surge and embrace the opinion that a default by Greece, even the country's possible exit from the eurozone is manageable. The United States is still in good shape with gross domestic product expected to chug along in the 2%-2.5% growth range, and corporate earnings have already come through what was expected to be the weakest quarter of 2012 relatively unscathed.

The half-empty gang isn't getting swayed so easily. Even after Tuesday's bounce, the Dow Jones Industrial Average is now down five days in a row, losing 2.6%, nearly 350 points, in the process, and both S&P 500 and the Nasdaq just plumbed lows unseen in two months. Sell in May and go away is looking like pretty good advice in 2012. Just like it was the past two years. ...

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Market Preview: A Welcome Correction?

Mon, 07 May 2012 18:49:57 EDT

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Judging by where U.S. stock futures were languishing early Monday morning, this wasn't looking like a very good day to boost your year-end target for the S&P 500.

But when the dust cleared, Wall Street had answered the weekend's political fireworks in Greece and France with a yawn, and the decision by Bank of America Merrill Lynch strategist Savita Subramanian to boost the firm's expectation for the index to 1450 from 1400 didn't seem quite so ill-timed.

That's not to say Subramanian doesn't see more turbulent days ahead. ...

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Market Preview: Anybody's Guess

Thu, 03 May 2012 19:12:52 EDT

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Friday's session is all about the April jobs report.

It's really as simple as that. The current consensus is for nonfarm payrolls to have swelled by 162,000 last month, according to Briefing.com. Excluding the impact of government employment changes, nonfarm private payrolls are pegged at 167,000. The unemployment rate is seen hovering at 8.2%.

Meeting those expectations would be a step in the right direction after March's dismal 120,000 performance, but Wall Street's confidence has been shook. The Automatic Data Processing report on Wednesday was well short, and while a lot of lip service is paid to the ADP data being unreliable, traders seem loathe to ignore it this time around. After all, the solid read on weekly initial jobless claims Thursday morning was only good about three minutes of positive trading before all three major U.S. equity indices sank below the flat line. ...

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Market Preview: Choppiness Ahead

Wed, 02 May 2012 17:47:10 EDT

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- First-quarter earnings season has exceeded Wall Street's low expectations but now the economic data will need to cooperate if stocks are going to rally much further from here.

Wednesday's mixed session was the equivalent of treading water. The shortfall in the Automatic Data Processing private payrolls report was especially surprising after Tuesday's strong read on manufacturing activity from the Institute for Supply Management, and economists and traders alike were struggling to reconcile the two.

Paul Ashworth, chief U.S. economist at Capital Economics, broke down the mixed message in the data and what it may mean for Friday's government employment numbers in commentary on Wednesday. ...

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Facebook IPO Reportedly Slated for May 18

Tue, 01 May 2012 18:52:44 EDT

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- The much-anticipated initial public offering of Facebook will reportedly arrive on May 18 with the company's roadshow seen starting in less than a week.

The Wall Street Journal said late Tuesday the social networking giant plans to begin the roadshow this coming Monday, May 7, with the IPO following 11 days later, on a Friday.

Facebook is seeking to raise as much as $10 billion in the stock sale. CEO Mark Zuckerberg is expected to appear at some events during the roadshow, according to the article, which cited people familiar with the matter. ...