Michael Nagle/Bloomberg via Getty ImagesU.S. Treasury Secretary Jacob "Jack" Lew WASHINGTON -- U.S. Treasury Secretary Jack Lew warned Congress on Wednesday that the United States would exhaust its borrowing capacity no later than Oct. 17, at which point it would have only about $30 billion in cash on hand. The fresh estimate came in a letter to congressional leaders in which Lew urged them to move swiftly to raise the nation's $16.7 trillion debt limit. "If the government should ultimately become unable to pay all of its bills, the results could be catastrophic," Lew said. The government has been scraping up against the debt ceiling since May, but it has avoid defaulting on any of its obligations by employing emergency measures to manage its cash, such as suspending investments in pension funds for federal workers. Previously, the U.S. Treasury had said those cash management tools would be exhausted around mid-October, at which time it expected to have $50 billion in cash on hand. In his letter on Wednesday, Lew said the updated estimate reflected fresh information on quarterly tax receipts and the activities of certain large government trust funds. Lew repeated that the Obama administration wouldn't negotiate over the debt ceiling, and he warned Republicans in Congress that any plan to prioritize certain government payments over others would be "simply default by another name." "There is no way of knowing the damage any prioritization plan would have on our economy and financial markets," he said. Lew warned that a repeat of the brinkmanship over the debt limit seen in 2011, which led to a downgrade in the United States' pristine credit rating, would inflict even more harm on the economy now.
5 Best Transportation Stocks To Invest In Right Now: iShares Russell 2000 Index Fund (IWM)
iShares Russell 2000 Index Fund (the Fund) seeks investment results that correspond generally to the price and yield performance of the Russell 2000 Index (the Index). The Index measures the performances of the small capitalization sector of the United States equity market. The Index includes approximately 8% of the market capitalization of all publicly traded United States equity securities.
The Index is a subset of the Russell 3000 Index, and serves as the underlying index for the Russell 2000 Growth and Value Index series. The Index is a capitalization-weighted index of the approximately 2000 smallest companies in the Russell 3000 Index. The Fund uses a representative sampling strategy in seeking to track the Index. iShares Russell 2000 Index Fund's investment advisor is Barclays Global Fund Advisors.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Tom Aspray]
The Powershares QQQ Trust (QQQ) is clearly the leader, up over 200%, which is over 20% better than the iShares Russell 2000 (IWM), which is up 178%. The small caps have done over 40% better than the large cap Spyder Trust (SPY) but this performance does not include dividends, which would narrow the gap considerably. The SPDR Dow Jones Industrials (DIA) has continued to lag as its price is up just 120% during the bull market.
- [By Chris Ciovacco]
Investment Implications
The Fed's desire to taper their bond purchases is concerning and something that we will monitor closely. However, the known desire to taper has not yet shown up in the credit markets in the form of risk aversion as it did in 2007 and 2011 prior to sharp declines in stocks. As long as that is the case, we will continue to favor stocks (SPY) over bonds (AGG). We will also hold our positions in leading sectors such as financials (XLF), technology (QQQ), and small caps (IWM). If the messages from the markets change, we are happy to migrate toward a more conservative stance. - [By John Udovich]
Small cap custom carry and protective solutions stock Forward Industries, Inc (NASDAQ: FORD) jumped 22.51% earlier today as an apparent turnaround continues, meaning its worth taking a closer look at a stock that�� in a decidedly niche area plus look at the performance of potential investment benchmarks like the iShares Russell 2000 Index ETF (NYSEARCA: IWM), iShares Russell 2000 Growth Index ETF (NYSEARCA: IWO) and iShares Russell 2000 Value Index ETF (NYSEARCA: IWN).
Top 5 Managed Healthcare Stocks To Watch For 2014: Direxion Daily Semiconductor Bull 3X Shares (SOXL)
Direxion Daily Semiconductor Bull 3x Shares (the Fund) seeks daily investment results of 300% of the price performance of the PHLX Semiconductor Sector Index (Semiconductor Index). The Semiconductor Index measures the performance of the semiconductor subsector of the United States equity market. Component companies are engaged in the design, distribution, manufacture and sale of semiconductors. As of February 18, 2010, the Semiconductor Index included companies with capitalizations between $1.7 billion and $114 billion. The distributor of the Fund is Foreside Fund Services, LLC. Advisors' Opinion:- [By John Udovich]
There appears to be light at the end of the tunnel for mid cap fabless semiconductor stock Marvell Technology Group Ltd (NASDAQ: MRVL) despite the fact that the company has lost a patent infringement battle with Carnegie Mellon University that could cost it $1.54 billion, meaning its worth taking a closer look at the stock along with the performance of semiconductor ETF benchmarks like SPDR S&P Semiconductor ETF (NYSEARCA: XSD), iShares PHLX SOX Semiconductor Sector (NASDAQ: SOXX) and Direxion Daily Semiconductor Bull 3X Shares (NYSEARCA: SOXL).
- [By John Udovich]
On Thursday after the market closed, mid cap fabless semiconductor stock Marvell Technology Group Ltd (NASDAQ: MRVL) reported earnings and was slipping in after hours trading, meaning its worth taking a closer look at those earnings along with the performance of potential semiconductor benchmarks like the SPDR S&P Semiconductor ETF (NYSEARCA: XSD), iShares PHLX SOX Semiconductor Sector (NASDAQ: SOXX) and Direxion Daily Semiconductor Bull 3X Shares (NYSEARCA: SOXL). In case you aren�� familiar with the term fabless semiconductor, it�� a�business�model that involves the�outsourcing the manufacturing of silicon wafers.�Most semiconductor companies are actually fabless because of the high cost of building�a facility and manufacturing fab. Therefore, fabless semiconductor companies can�concentrate on the design and marketing of chips while outsourcing the actual production to larger foundry companies.
Top 5 Managed Healthcare Stocks To Watch For 2014: Sandridge Energy Inc.(SD)
SandRidge Energy, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, operates as an independent natural gas and oil company in the United States. The company engages in the exploration, development, and production of oil and gas properties. Its Exploration and Production segment explores for, develops, and produces natural gas and oil reserves with focus on the Mid-Continent and Permian Basin. This segment also operates leasehold positions in the West Texas Overthrust (WTO), Gulf Coast, and Gulf of Mexico. The company?s Drilling and Oil Field Services segment is involved in the contract drilling of oil and natural gas wells primarily in the west Texas region. This segment also offers oil field services, including providing pulling units, trucking, rental tools, location, and road construction and roustabout services. Its Midstream Gas Services segment engages in purchasing, gathering, treating, and selling natural gas in west Texas. As of December 31, 2011, its estimated proved reserv es were 470.6 million barrels of oil equivalent, of which approximately 52% were oil. The company also had interests in 5,043 gross producing wells, as well as in approximately 2,695,000 gross acres under lease. In addition, it had 21 rigs drilling in the Mid-Continent and 15 rigs drilling in the Permian Basin. SandRidge Energy, Inc. is headquartered in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Eric Volkman]
SandRidge Energy (NYSE: SD ) hasn't wasted much time finding a new executive to head its finance team. Less than a week after advancing CFO James Bennett to the CEO chair, the company has named his replacement. The new CFO is to be Eddie LeBlanc, who will take up his position on July 8.
- [By Rick Munarriz]
SandRidge Energy (NYSE: SD ) was also fueled by better-than-forecast results on the bottom line. The oil and gas explorer broke even on an adjusted basis. Sure, SandRidge had been profitable in each of the six previous quarters, but analysts were bracing for a loss of $0.06 a share this time around.
- [By Matt DiLallo]
So, what's the downside here?
The company's growth has come at a great cost, with too much of it funded by debt. If there's one recurring theme among smaller oil and gas companies it's that too much debt has been compounded by too much natural gas production. That's one reason why the stock of SandRidge Energy (NYSE: SD ) has been crushed over the past few years. That company is in the midst of its own turnaround and has been following the same playbook on liquids growth as Chesapeake Energy. However, that's not easy to do while also trying to get out from under the weight of debt. - [By Arjun Sreekumar]
In fact, Lawler's $22 million package is even more than the $20.8 million�SandRidge's (NYSE: SD ) CEO Tom Ward ��who has come under heavy fire for his alleged failings in leading the company he founded ��took home last year. Despite SandRidge's lackluster earnings growth and dismal stock performance, Ward got a total compensation of $25.2 million in 2011, which placed him among the highest-paid energy CEOs that year.�
Top 5 Managed Healthcare Stocks To Watch For 2014: Capitol Federal Financial(CFFN)
Capitol Federal Financial, Inc. is the bank holding company for Capitol Federal Savings Bank through which it provides commercial banking products and services. The company offers deposit products, such as checking accounts, savings accounts, money market accounts, certificates of deposit, and retirement accounts. Its lending products include consumer loans comprising home equity loans and lines of credit, home improvement loans, auto loans, and loans secured by savings deposits; loans secured by first mortgages on non-owner-occupied one- to four-family residences; multi-family and commercial real estate loans; construction loans secured by residential or commercial properties; and real estate loans secured by multi-family dwellings. The company also provides telephone and Internet banking services. It serves the metropolitan areas of Topeka, Wichita, Lawrence, Manhattan, Emporia and Salina, and Kansas, as well as a portion of the metropolitan area of greater Kansas City t hrough a network of 35 traditional and 10 in-store banking offices. The company was founded in 1893 and is headquartered in Topeka, Kansas.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Rich Duprey]
Financial services company�Capitol Federal Financial� (NASDAQ: CFFN ) announced yesterday its third-quarter dividend of $0.075 per share, the same rate it's paid since 2011.
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