seasonality

Commodities are on the mend. That much is confirmed by the year-to-date performance of the PowerShares DB Com Indx Trckng Fund(ETF) (NYSE: DBC) and other diversified exchange-traded products. DBC is up 15.3 percent this year. Mending Commodities Some individual commodities, namely energy and...

For the fourth year in a row, traders subscribing to the old Wall Street adage “sell in May and go away” are off to a rough start. Barring a massive Tuesday selloff, the S&P 500 is on pace to finish the month of May up about 1.4 percent. While most of the “sell in May”...

According to the latest data from TickerTags, Kate Spade & Co (NYSE: KATE)’s surprise sale last week was an aggressive play that may have paid off in a big way for the handbag retailer. TickerTags monitors social media sites to identify trends by searching for words or phrases that appear...

Two things about Friday’s trading session should come as no surprise to investors: 1. Volume is extremely light. 2. The market is up. With the Memorial Day holiday right around the corner, the “Pre-Holiday Effect” trade is once again paying off for traders. “Research shows...

U.S. retail sales posted a 1.3 percent gain in April, their largest leap in more than a year. But, do the latest retail numbers mean that fear of a U.S. recession and/or a major stock market pullback is no longer in play? “This is clear evidence that consumer spending is alive and well,...

Retailer stocks are typically hit pretty hard during the sluggish summer investing months, and the Q1 numbers out of department stores were lackluster at best. “The widespread April sales deceleration (including a beacon of consistency like COST (Costco Wholesale Corporation (NASDAQ: COST)),...

Citi expects salesforce.com, inc. (NYSE: CRM) to report "seasonally softer" first-quarter results on May 18 after the company reported "monster" results for the fourth quarter, which took some businesses from the first quarter. "Inputs suggest strong business activity for CRM in Q1, but in context...

Political pundits have another five months to argue about which of the leading presidential candidates would be best for the U.S. economy. But politics aside, Hillary Clinton may be the best choice for stock investors in the near term for one simple reason: President Barack Obama. More specifically...

Maybe it is a case of not letting exchange-traded funds such as the PowerShares S&P 500 Low Volatility Portfolio (PowerShares Exchange-Traded Fund Trust II (NYSE: SPLV)) have all the fun, but emerging markets equivalents are joining their U.S.-focused low volatility counterparts in...

Priceline Group Inc (NASDAQ: PCLN) reported another quarter of strong performance, with stable take rates and robust growths across all key channels and geographies. Jefferies’ Brian Fitzgerald reiterated a Buy rating on the company, with a price target of $1,660. Another Strong Quarter...

Following Fitbit Inc (NYSE: FIT)'s beat on 1Q earnings release, the shares are down 12 percent, driven by the 2Q EPS guidance implying more back-end loaded seasonality. Citi’s Stanley Kovler reiterated a Buy rating on the company, with a price target of $30. Kovler mentioned that the 1Q EPS...

With the Consumer Staples Select Sect. SPDR (ETF) (NYSE: XLP) up nearly 5 percent year-to-date and 6.4 percent over the past 90 days, there have been plenty of good times to be long the staples sector this year. However, with another bout of “sell in May and go away” potentially looming...

Every year when May rolls around, investors hear plenty about selling in May and going away, but what about hedging in May? After all, there are scores of inverse and leveraged exchange-traded funds risk-tolerant traders can use to capture upside, assuming markets swoon in the second half of the...

Welcome to May. The fifth month of the year historically marks the beginning of the weakest six-month period for stocks. Hence the old adage “Sell in May and go away.” In the coming days, investors are likely to hear plenty about whether or not they should sell in May. Unfortunately,...

U.S. retail March sales numbers have started to trickle out. Here’s a quick look at the March and Q1 numbers available so far. 9 Names Costco Wholesale Corporation (NASDAQ: COST) reported a 1.0 percent rise in same-store sales (SSS) (including gasoline and forex) in the United States, but a...