Time really fly .... today was the last day of year 2011, it seems like just yesterday i celebrate the New Year of 2011 and its ends today already !!!
What I had been accomplish this year and what are the achievement out of my resolution list this year 2011 ? ... well...before i share it lets us have the cherish moment with this lovely creation celebration ... lets welcome Year 2012 ... Cheers reader, friends, loves one & relatives .... stay tune ...hehe
Saturday, December 31, 2011
After many ups and downs, DOW stocks end flat for 2011
"If you fell asleep January 1 and woke up today, you'd think nothing had happened," says Jack Ablin, chief investment officer of Harris Private Bank. "But it's been up and down all year. It's been crazy."
In the final tally, despite big climbs and falls, unexpected blows and surprising triumphs, all the hullabaloo proved for naught. On Friday, the Standard & Poor's 500 index closed at 1,257.60. That's exactly 0.04 point below where it started the year.
The S&P 500 is trading at 12 times its expected earnings per share for 2012 versus a more typical 15 times. In other words, they appear cheaper now. Partly based on that many strategists, stock analysts and economists expect the index to end next year at 1,400 or more, up 10 percent or so.
The Standard & Poor's 500 index rose 5.42 points, or 0.4 percent on Friday. The Dow Jones industrial average lost 69.48 points, or 0.6 percent, to 12,217.60. The Nasdaq composite index fell 8.59 points, or 0.3 percent, to 2,605.
15 The Nasdaq is down 1.8 percent for the year.
It was a year when U.S. companies were supposed to run out of ways to make big profits. But they didn't, and in fact generated more than ever. It was a year when the U.S. lost its prized triple-A credit rating, which should have spooked buyers of its bonds. Instead investors bought more of them and made Treasurys one of the best bets of 2011. It was a year when stocks caught fire, then collapsed to near bear-market lows.
Among stocks, there were some surprising winners. Scaredy-cat investors who bought the most conservative and dullest of stocks — utilities — gained 15 percent this year, the biggest price rise of the ten industry sectors in the S&P 500. Other winning groups were consumer staples, up 11 percent, and health care companies, 10 percent.
Other market curiosities:
— Bad year, great quarter. Despite disappointing returns in 2011, the last three months of the year were impressive, which could bode well for the new year. The S&P 500 rose 11 percent. The Dow Jones industrial average, comprising 30 big stocks, climbed 1,344 points, or 12 percent. That was the largest quarterly point gain in its history. The Dow closed up 5.5 percent for the year.
— Best of the bad. U.S. stocks delivered little this year, but other markets did even worse, including ones in fast-growing economies. Brazil's Bovespa index fell 18 percent in 2011. Hong Kong's Hang Seng dropped 20 percent. In Europe, many of the biggest markets ended down in 2011. Britain's FTSE 100 lost 5.6 percent, Germany's DAX 14.7 percent.
— Buy American is back. A broad index of the Treasury market gained 9.6 percent, despite the fact that the U.S. government is now slightly less likely to repay its debt, at least according to Standard & Poor's. In August, the rating agency stripped the U.S. of its triple-A rating, citing mounting U.S. debt and political squabbling over what to do about it.
For stock investors, 2011 wasn't supposed to end this way.
At the start of the year, the Great Recession was officially 1½ years behind us and the recovery was finally gaining momentum. The economy added an average of more than 200,000 jobs a month in February, March and April. And U.S. companies kept reporting big jumps in profits, defying naysayers.
The stock market roared in approval. On April 29, the S&P closed at 1,363, double its recessionary low of March 2009.
Then manufacturing slowed, companies stopped hiring and consumer confidence plummeted, taking with it those hopes of big stock gains for the year. Adding to the misery, Japan was rocked by an earthquake and tsunami. That shut down factories run by crucial parts suppliers to U.S. firms, in particular auto makers.
Gridlock in Washington didn't help. After much squabbling, politicians eventually decided to raise the cap on how much the federal government can borrow in early August. But the heated debate took its toll. The Dow Jones industrial average swung more than 400 points four days in a row — down and up and down and up.
Overhanging it all was fear that the debt crisis in Greece had spread to Italy and Spain, countries too large for other European nations to bail out.
Talk of another blockbuster year for stocks turned to dark musings about the possibility of another U.S. recession. And so stocks kept falling. On Oct. 3, stocks had dropped 19 percent from their April high. That was just one point short of an official bear market.
Since then, U.S. housing starts have increased, factories are producing more, unemployment claims fell and U.S. economic growth rose. And companies are still generating impressive profits. Those in the S&P 500 have increased profits by double-digits percentages for nine quarters in a row.
The good news pushed stocks up in the closing months of the year.
The biggest winner in the Dow was McDonald's Corp, up 31 percent for the year. Bank of America Corp. was the worst performing stock, down 58 percent.
Including dividends, the S&P 500 returned 2.11 percent for 2011. That means investors lost money after inflation, which was running at 3.4 percent in the 12 months ending in November. At least they're getting more than investors in the benchmark 10-year Treasury note, which currently pays a yield of just 1.88 percent.
The outlook for stocks in the new year is either great or grim, depending on your focus.
Italy has to repay holders of $172 billion worth of it national bonds in the first three months of 2012. It will do so by selling new bonds. The question is how much interest they will demand to be paid to compensate for the risk they're taking on. If they demand too much, fear could spread that the country will default. That could sink stocks.
After Italy was forced to pay unexpectedly high rates in a bond auction earlier this month, stocks fell hard around the world.
There are also questions about whether China's economy is slowing too much and whether the U.S. politicians will agree to raise the debt ceiling again in 2012 or extend Bush-era tax cuts.
On the bright side, stocks seem to be well-priced.
The S&P 500 is trading at 12 times its expected earnings per share for 2012 versus a more typical 15 times. In other words, they appear cheaper now. Partly based on that many strategists, stock analysts and economists expect the index to end next year at 1,400 or more, up 10 percent or so.
Trading has been quiet this week with many investors away on vacation. Volume on the New York Stock Exchange has been about half of its daily average. Markets will be closed Monday in observance of New Year's Day.
By Bernard Condon, AP Business Writer | AP – 1 hour 49 minutes ago
..
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/many-ups-downs-stocks-end-222124730.html
In the final tally, despite big climbs and falls, unexpected blows and surprising triumphs, all the hullabaloo proved for naught. On Friday, the Standard & Poor's 500 index closed at 1,257.60. That's exactly 0.04 point below where it started the year.
The S&P 500 is trading at 12 times its expected earnings per share for 2012 versus a more typical 15 times. In other words, they appear cheaper now. Partly based on that many strategists, stock analysts and economists expect the index to end next year at 1,400 or more, up 10 percent or so.
The Standard & Poor's 500 index rose 5.42 points, or 0.4 percent on Friday. The Dow Jones industrial average lost 69.48 points, or 0.6 percent, to 12,217.60. The Nasdaq composite index fell 8.59 points, or 0.3 percent, to 2,605.
15 The Nasdaq is down 1.8 percent for the year.
It was a year when U.S. companies were supposed to run out of ways to make big profits. But they didn't, and in fact generated more than ever. It was a year when the U.S. lost its prized triple-A credit rating, which should have spooked buyers of its bonds. Instead investors bought more of them and made Treasurys one of the best bets of 2011. It was a year when stocks caught fire, then collapsed to near bear-market lows.
Among stocks, there were some surprising winners. Scaredy-cat investors who bought the most conservative and dullest of stocks — utilities — gained 15 percent this year, the biggest price rise of the ten industry sectors in the S&P 500. Other winning groups were consumer staples, up 11 percent, and health care companies, 10 percent.
Other market curiosities:
— Bad year, great quarter. Despite disappointing returns in 2011, the last three months of the year were impressive, which could bode well for the new year. The S&P 500 rose 11 percent. The Dow Jones industrial average, comprising 30 big stocks, climbed 1,344 points, or 12 percent. That was the largest quarterly point gain in its history. The Dow closed up 5.5 percent for the year.
— Best of the bad. U.S. stocks delivered little this year, but other markets did even worse, including ones in fast-growing economies. Brazil's Bovespa index fell 18 percent in 2011. Hong Kong's Hang Seng dropped 20 percent. In Europe, many of the biggest markets ended down in 2011. Britain's FTSE 100 lost 5.6 percent, Germany's DAX 14.7 percent.
— Buy American is back. A broad index of the Treasury market gained 9.6 percent, despite the fact that the U.S. government is now slightly less likely to repay its debt, at least according to Standard & Poor's. In August, the rating agency stripped the U.S. of its triple-A rating, citing mounting U.S. debt and political squabbling over what to do about it.
For stock investors, 2011 wasn't supposed to end this way.
At the start of the year, the Great Recession was officially 1½ years behind us and the recovery was finally gaining momentum. The economy added an average of more than 200,000 jobs a month in February, March and April. And U.S. companies kept reporting big jumps in profits, defying naysayers.
The stock market roared in approval. On April 29, the S&P closed at 1,363, double its recessionary low of March 2009.
Then manufacturing slowed, companies stopped hiring and consumer confidence plummeted, taking with it those hopes of big stock gains for the year. Adding to the misery, Japan was rocked by an earthquake and tsunami. That shut down factories run by crucial parts suppliers to U.S. firms, in particular auto makers.
Gridlock in Washington didn't help. After much squabbling, politicians eventually decided to raise the cap on how much the federal government can borrow in early August. But the heated debate took its toll. The Dow Jones industrial average swung more than 400 points four days in a row — down and up and down and up.
Overhanging it all was fear that the debt crisis in Greece had spread to Italy and Spain, countries too large for other European nations to bail out.
Talk of another blockbuster year for stocks turned to dark musings about the possibility of another U.S. recession. And so stocks kept falling. On Oct. 3, stocks had dropped 19 percent from their April high. That was just one point short of an official bear market.
Since then, U.S. housing starts have increased, factories are producing more, unemployment claims fell and U.S. economic growth rose. And companies are still generating impressive profits. Those in the S&P 500 have increased profits by double-digits percentages for nine quarters in a row.
The good news pushed stocks up in the closing months of the year.
The biggest winner in the Dow was McDonald's Corp, up 31 percent for the year. Bank of America Corp. was the worst performing stock, down 58 percent.
Including dividends, the S&P 500 returned 2.11 percent for 2011. That means investors lost money after inflation, which was running at 3.4 percent in the 12 months ending in November. At least they're getting more than investors in the benchmark 10-year Treasury note, which currently pays a yield of just 1.88 percent.
The outlook for stocks in the new year is either great or grim, depending on your focus.
Italy has to repay holders of $172 billion worth of it national bonds in the first three months of 2012. It will do so by selling new bonds. The question is how much interest they will demand to be paid to compensate for the risk they're taking on. If they demand too much, fear could spread that the country will default. That could sink stocks.
After Italy was forced to pay unexpectedly high rates in a bond auction earlier this month, stocks fell hard around the world.
There are also questions about whether China's economy is slowing too much and whether the U.S. politicians will agree to raise the debt ceiling again in 2012 or extend Bush-era tax cuts.
On the bright side, stocks seem to be well-priced.
The S&P 500 is trading at 12 times its expected earnings per share for 2012 versus a more typical 15 times. In other words, they appear cheaper now. Partly based on that many strategists, stock analysts and economists expect the index to end next year at 1,400 or more, up 10 percent or so.
Trading has been quiet this week with many investors away on vacation. Volume on the New York Stock Exchange has been about half of its daily average. Markets will be closed Monday in observance of New Year's Day.
By Bernard Condon, AP Business Writer | AP – 1 hour 49 minutes ago
..
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/many-ups-downs-stocks-end-222124730.html
Performance on the final trading day of the year 2011
Stock markets around the world were seeing out 30 DEC 2011 fairly positively Friday ...
HSI CLOSED AT 18,434.39 +36.47 (+0.20%)
SGX CLOSED AT 2,646.35 -26.43 (-0.99%)
NIKKEI CLOSED AT 8,455.35 +56.46 (+0.67%)
FBMKLCI CLOSED AT 1,530.73 +24.04 (+1.6%)
SO ... WILL DOW CLOSED AT POSITIVE OR ... ?
LETS WAIT AND SEE ...
HSI CLOSED AT 18,434.39 +36.47 (+0.20%)
SGX CLOSED AT 2,646.35 -26.43 (-0.99%)
NIKKEI CLOSED AT 8,455.35 +56.46 (+0.67%)
FBMKLCI CLOSED AT 1,530.73 +24.04 (+1.6%)
SO ... WILL DOW CLOSED AT POSITIVE OR ... ?
LETS WAIT AND SEE ...
Monday, December 26, 2011
Oooops ..... Just Laugh !!!
A little message from the universe ... One of the best ways to release our stress, overcome feelings and just to prolong happiness is to laugh it out ! I have a lama and i know that he is very since, however, whenever we are serious or in stress and upset, he always laughs and that really changes the whole atmosphere for better ! For instance, if your soup is too hot, we can just blow on the soup and it does make cooler, similarly, when we are angry or upset mundane way to overcome is to watch funny video or laugh it out. After all, we don't have to pay anything and why not ! Now, let us just say hahahaha even hehehe are also Welcome ! With Love ...
Thursday, December 22, 2011
Tuesday, December 13, 2011
A Story Begin With A Christmas Greetings Card And Snowflake ...
Thanks nmp for the nice creating of this nice greetings card and i hope you won mind that i share it with the universe and for my keeping in my blog ..hehe
The christmas greetings card was so lovely, you can feels the joy ... love...happiness and more, its remind me when i was a little girl before i go to primary school, i stay with my parent at far far inside the plantation ... haha..you must be wondering why ? Hmmm... my dad was a chef for the English family and my mom was the assisstant to my dad, the English boss was manage the big plantation and they have a big bangalow house with big land and planted all the coffee bean trees, lemon tree and many types of flower which have a gardener to takecare of it. The English family will organise the Christmas party everyyear at their compound and I will received many christmas present, enjoy the nice food, ice-cream and nice chocolate, the decoration of the christmas tree was lovely ...with all the little toy, lights and greetings card hanging on the christmas tree, the presents will sit beside the christmas tree....ya ..it was exactly the same which show on the Christmas greetings card !
The fist time i experience the real snow flake was my trip to Europe during Nov 2005. it was amazing that i can see and feel the real snow flake fall from the sky during end Nov as they say is still early to have snow, i still remember that time we meet with another group of family members which from East Malaysia and we pray that we can see and touch and feel the snowflake as we did not often have a chance to fly to Europe in our lifetime ...wow it was a blessing that the moment we on the way to German (we were inside the bus)...we see snowflake falling from the sky ! We are so excited and screaming ..is snow..is snow, we really can't wait to have a real touch with the snowflake ...we were stop at one of the German restaurant and they serve their famous German lambshange and their famous black forest cake (hey..with rum taste..yumyum) oh dear..i miss the place, snowflake and food there, we continue to play with the snowflake after the meal and take some nice photo there...indeed, i had a nice venture during this trip and i have a wish i want to stay at Europe for one year so that i can experience the four season of the country there ...yes ..this is one of my dream.
May i take this opportunity to wish all my reader, friend have a lovely Christmas and New Year Celebration and holiday...Cheers...^^
Thursday, December 1, 2011
Stock futures soar after central banks act globally
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stocks surged on Wednesday after major central banks agreed to make cheaper dollar loans for struggling European banks to prevent the euro-zone debt woes from turning into a full-blown credit crisis.
The Dow posted its best day since March 2009 after the Federal Reserve, the European Central Bank and other major central banks stepped in to head off escalating funding pressures that threaten the key arteries of the world's financial system.
The S&P 500 scored its best daily percentage gain since August.
The central banks' liquidity move touched off a buying frenzy in financial shares. The S&P financial sector index gained 6.6 percent, with Bank of America the most actively traded stock. The stock jumped 7.3 percent to $5.44 on more than 420 million shares traded.
The drama in Europe kept the U.S. stock market on a roller-coaster ride throughout the month. For November, the S&P ended down just 0.5 percent, but the month was marked by sharp daily swings.
"You don't have to fix everything, you have to be on a path towards fixing things," said Tobias Levkovich, chief U.S. equity strategist at Citigroup in New York.
"Markets will reward you for the efforts you are making as long as you are moving in the right direction. It's the carrot and the stick; you get rewarded when you do the right thing, and you get punished when you do the wrong thing."
The Dow Jones industrial average shot up 490.05 points, or 4.24 percent, to end at 12,045.68. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index jumped 51.77 points, or 4.33 percent, to 1,246.96. The Nasdaq Composite Index soared 104.83 points, or 4.17 percent, to close at 2,620.34.
The Dow scored its largest daily gain -- in terms of points and percentage -- since March 23, 2009.
The S&P 500 posted its best daily percentage advance since August 11.
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/stock-futures-signal-losses-focus-094410132.html
The Dow posted its best day since March 2009 after the Federal Reserve, the European Central Bank and other major central banks stepped in to head off escalating funding pressures that threaten the key arteries of the world's financial system.
The S&P 500 scored its best daily percentage gain since August.
The central banks' liquidity move touched off a buying frenzy in financial shares. The S&P financial sector index gained 6.6 percent, with Bank of America the most actively traded stock. The stock jumped 7.3 percent to $5.44 on more than 420 million shares traded.
The drama in Europe kept the U.S. stock market on a roller-coaster ride throughout the month. For November, the S&P ended down just 0.5 percent, but the month was marked by sharp daily swings.
"You don't have to fix everything, you have to be on a path towards fixing things," said Tobias Levkovich, chief U.S. equity strategist at Citigroup in New York.
"Markets will reward you for the efforts you are making as long as you are moving in the right direction. It's the carrot and the stick; you get rewarded when you do the right thing, and you get punished when you do the wrong thing."
The Dow Jones industrial average shot up 490.05 points, or 4.24 percent, to end at 12,045.68. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index jumped 51.77 points, or 4.33 percent, to 1,246.96. The Nasdaq Composite Index soared 104.83 points, or 4.17 percent, to close at 2,620.34.
The Dow scored its largest daily gain -- in terms of points and percentage -- since March 23, 2009.
The S&P 500 posted its best daily percentage advance since August 11.
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/stock-futures-signal-losses-focus-094410132.html
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)