NEW YORK (ETF Expert) -- The U.S. dollar has certainly lost value since the Federal Reserve began printing greenbacks to purchase U.S. bonds.
On the other hand, most of the damage occurred at the onset of the Fed's quantitative easing program(s). Since the euro came under extreme pressure during the sovereign debt crisis of 2011, and since Japan's campaign to radically devalue its currency (yen) in 2012, PowerShares DB Dollar Bullish (UUP) has been remarkably stable.
On the other hand, current market participants have sniffed out a highly probable outcome over the next six months. Specifically, the idea of the Fed slowing down its bond purchases (a.k.a. tapering) is preposterous. In my July 30 feature, Bond ETFs Could Shock Pundits in the Months Ahead, I expressed serious doubts that the Bernanke-led Fed would begin tapering in 2013. I wrote: Who genuinely believes that unemployment is falling at a rapid enough clip to warrant a change in direction? Who actually sees the Fed's inflation measure rising at a fast enough pace to justify a policy modification? Last but not least, why would Bernanke want to rock the apple cart in any shape or form prior to his January departure? Most experts believed that I was way off base. In particular, my suggestion that the 10-year yield would likely be closer to a 2% to 2.25% range than a 2.75% to 3% range by year's end seemed like a long shot. Equally controversial, I advocated that taxable account owners revisit municipal bond opportunities like iShares National Muni (MUB). Today, however, a few more folks may be coming around to my way of thinking. The number of new jobs have been steadily dropping for months. The budget debate is only getting started. If Janet Yellen replaces Bernanke, the Fed may even try to print more money to buy bonds rather than pull away from the project. The 10-year yield is declining... Courtesy of StockCharts.com ...the U.S. dollar via UUP is testing 2011 lows... Courtesy of StockCharts.com ...and the prospects for munis in the intermediate term appear to be brightening. Courtesy of StockCharts.com I am not suggesting that investors abandon the stock ship for the supposed safer shores of fixed income. In actuality, the electronic printing of dollars to buy bonds is benefiting stocks and commodities as well. In particular, the economies of China and Europe may be recovering with less overt currency devaluation or obvious rate manipulation. It follows that funds like iShares Australia (EWA) may benefit from greater internal demand on the mainland. Additionally, broader-based international assets like Vanguard All World excl U.S. (VEU) and iShares MSCI EAFE Small Cap (SCZ) may figure prominently in any year-end running of the bulls. Follow @etfexpert This article was written by an independent contributor, separate from TheStreet's regular news coverage.
Top 10 Small Cap Companies To Own In Right Now: FuelCell Energy Inc.(FCEL)
FuelCell Energy, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, engages in the development, manufacturing, and sale of high temperature fuel cells for clean electric power generation primarily in South Korea, the United States, Germany, Canada, and Japan. The company offers proprietary carbonate Direct FuelCell Power Plants that electrochemically produce electricity from hydrocarbon fuels, such as natural gas and biogas. Its fuel cells operate on a range of hydrocarbon fuels, including natural gas, renewable biogas, propane, methanol, coal gas, and coal mine methane. The company also develops carbonate fuel cells, planar solid oxide fuel cell technology, and other fuel cell technologies. It provides its products to universities; manufacturers; mission critical institutions, such as correction facilities and government installations; hotels; and natural gas letdown stations, as well as to customers who use renewable biogas for fuel, including municipal water treatment facilities, br eweries, and food processors. The company was founded in 1969 and is headquartered in Danbury, Connecticut.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Green Energy Addict]
On June 3, 2013 I gave my 5 Bullish Signs ahead of the FuelCell Energy (FCEL) Q2 2013 earnings report. I cited the large backlog as one of the reasons for my bullish views. I gave as my reasoning the following:
Top 10 Small Cap Companies To Own In Right Now: Hot Topic Inc.(HOTT)
Hot Topic, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, operates as a mall- and Web-based specialty retailer in the United States. The company operates Hot Topic and Torrid store concepts, as well as an e-space music discovery concept, ShockHound. Its Hot Topic stores sell music/pop culture-licensed merchandise, including tee shirts, hats, posters, stickers, patches, postcards, books, novelty accessories, CDs, and DVDs; and music/pop culture-influenced merchandise comprising women?s and men?s apparel and accessories, such as woven and knit tops, skirts, pants, shorts, jackets, shoes, costume jewelry, body jewelry, sunglasses, cosmetics, leather accessories, and gift items for young men and women primarily between the ages of 12 and 22. The company?s Torrid stores sells casual and dressy jeans and pants, fashion and novelty tops, sweaters, skirts, jackets, dresses, hosiery, shoes, intimate apparel, and fashion accessories for various lifestyles for plus-size females primarily betw een the ages of 15 and 29. As of July 30, 2011, it operated 636 Hot Topic stores in 50 states, Puerto Rico, and Canada; 145 Torrid stores; and Internet stores, hottopic.com and torrid.com. The company was founded in 1988 and is headquartered in City of Industry, California.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Marshall Hargrave]
In May True Religion (TRGL) announced a buyout offer from TowerBrook Capital for $826 million. Also in May, Rue21 decided to sell itself to Apax Partners for $2.2 billion. Before that, in March, Hot Topic (HOTT) announced that Sycamore Partners was buying out it out for $600 million.
Best China Stocks For 2014: Texas Instruments Incorporated(TXN)
Texas Instruments Incorporated engages in the design and sale of semiconductors to electronics designers and manufacturers worldwide. The company?s Analog segment offers high-performance analog products comprising standard analog semiconductors, such as amplifiers, data converters, and interface semiconductors; high-volume analog and logic products; and power management semiconductors and line-powered systems. Its Embedded Processing segment includes DSPs that perform mathematical computations to process and enhance digital data; and microcontrollers, which are designed to control a set of specific tasks for electronic equipment. The company?s Wireless segment designs, manufactures, and sells application processors and connectivity products. Its Other segment offers smaller semiconductor products, which include DLP products that are primarily used in projectors to create high-definition images; and application-specific integrated circuits. This segment also provides handhe ld graphing and scientific calculators, as well as licenses technologies to other electronic companies. The company serves the communications, computing, industrial, consumer electronics, automotive, and education sectors. Texas Instruments Incorporated sells its products through a direct sales force, distributors, and third-party sales representatives. It has collaboration agreements with PLX Technology Inc.; Neonode, Inc.; and Ubiquisys Ltd. The company was founded in 1938 and is headquartered in Dallas, Texas.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Paul Ausick]
We have tracked the key short interest changes as of September 30 in the following semiconductor leaders: Intel Corp. (NASDAQ: INTC), Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (NYSE: AMD), Micron Technology Inc. (NASDAQ: MU), SanDisk Corp. (NASDAQ: SNDK), Qualcomm Inc. (NASDAQ: QCOM), ARM Holdings PLC (NASDAQ: ARMH), Broadcom Corp. (NASDAQ: BRCM), Marvell Technology Group Ltd. (NASDAQ: MRVL), Nvidia Corp. (NASDAQ: NVDA), Texas Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ: TXN) and Applied Materials Inc. (NASDAQ: AMAT). We also chose to look at how the Market Vectors Semiconductor ETF (NYSEMKT: SMH) has held up.
- [By Beth Piskora]
They are listed below:
Altera (ALTR)��ielding 1.7%
Apple (AAPL)��ielding 2.5%
Applied Materials (AMAT)��ielding 2.6%
Cisco (CSCO)��ielding 2.9%
EMC Corp. (EMC)��ielding 1.5%
International Business Machines (IBM)��ielding 2.0%
KLA-Tencor (KLAC)��ielding 3.2%
Microchip Technology (MCHP)��ielding 3.6%
Oracle (ORCL)��ielding 1.5%
Qualcomm (QCOM)��ielding 2.1%
Texas Instruments (TXN)��ielding 2.9%
Xilinx (XLNX)��ielding 2.3%
Subscribe to S&P's The Outlook here��/P>
Top 10 Small Cap Companies To Own In Right Now: InterDigital Inc.(IDCC)
Interdigital, Inc. engages in the design and development of digital wireless technology solutions. The company offers technology solutions for use in digital cellular and wireless products and networks, including 2G, 3G, 4G, and IEEE 802-related products and networks. It holds patents related to the fundamental technologies that enable wireless communications. The company licenses its patents to equipment producers that manufacture, use, and sell digital cellular and IEEE 802-related products; and licenses or sells mobile broadband modem solutions, including modem IP, know-how, and reference platforms to mobile device manufacturers, semiconductor companies, and other equipment producers that manufacture, use, and sell digital cellular products. InterDigital?s solutions are incorporated in various products comprising mobile devices, such as cellular phones, tablets, notebook computers, and wireless personal digital assistants; wireless infrastructure equipment, such as base stations; and components, dongles, and modules for wireless devices. The company was founded in 1972 and is headquartered in King of Prussia, Pennsylvania.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By CRWE]
InterDigital, Inc. (NASDAQ:IDCC) reported that certain of its subsidiaries have completed the previously announced sale of roughly 1,700 patents and patent applications to Intel Corporation for $375 million in cash.
- [By Evan Niu, CFA]
What: Shares of InterDigital (NASDAQ: IDCC ) have gotten crushed today by as much as 20% after the company lost a patent suit against several smartphone makers.
- [By Alex Planes]
Investors love stocks that consistently beat the Street without getting ahead of their fundamentals and risking a meltdown. The best stocks offer sustainable market-beating gains, with robust and improving financial metrics that support strong price growth. Does InterDigital (NASDAQ: IDCC ) fit the bill? Let's take a look at what its recent results tell us about its potential for future gains.
Top 10 Small Cap Companies To Own In Right Now: Achillion Pharmaceuticals Inc.(ACHN)
Achillion Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a biopharmaceutical company, engages in the discovery, development, and commercialization of treatments for infectious diseases. The company focuses on the development of antivirals for the treatment of chronic hepatitis C; and the development of antibacterials for the treatment of resistant bacterial infections. Its drug candidates for the treatment of chronic HCV include ACH-1625, a protease inhibitor, which is in phase IIa clinical trial for the treatment of chronic HCV; ACH-2684, a pangenotypic protease inhibitor, which is in phase I clinical trial for the treatment of chronic HCV infection; and NS5A inhibitors for the treatment of chronic HCV infection, including ACH-2928, which is to enter a phase I clinical trial, as well as various additional NS5A inhibitors in preclinical development. Its pipeline of product candidates also includes ACH-702 and ACH-2881 for drug resistant bacterial infections; elvucitabine for HIV infection; and AC H-1095 for HCV infection. The company was founded in 1998 and is based in New Haven, Connecticut.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Lauren Pollock]
Among the companies with shares expected to actively trade in Monday’s session are Achillion Pharmaceuticals Inc.(ACHN), Active Network Inc.(ACTV) and Harvest Natural Resources Inc.(HNR)
- [By Grace L. Williams]
We took a look at Achillion Pharmaceuticals (ACHN) after two directors bought 40,000 shares for $394,800. Dennis Liotta bought 20,000 shares for $158,100 and Jason Fisherman bought 20,000 shares for $155,000. InsiderScore gave Liotta a nod, writing, ��iotta has been a smart buyer at Achillion in the past. He bought the same number of shares here, this time at a price 28% higher, which is the highest price he has paid for shares.��/p>
Top 10 Small Cap Companies To Own In Right Now: Rackspace Hosting Inc(RAX)
Rackspace Hosting, Inc. operates in the hosting and cloud computing industry. It provides information technology (IT) as a service, managing Web-based IT systems for small and medium-sized businesses, as well as large enterprises worldwide. The company?s service suite includes dedicated hosting comprising customer management portal and other management tools that manage data center, network, hardware devices, and operating system software; and cloud computing that enables customers to provide and manage a pool of computing resources, as well as delivery of computing resources to business when they need them. It offers cloud servers, cloud files, and cloud sites, as well as cloud applications, such as email, collaboration, and file back-ups; and hybrid hosting that provides a combination of dedicated hosting and cloud computing services. The company also offers customer support services. It sells its service suite through direct sales teams, third-party channel partners, an d online ordering. The company was formerly known as Rackspace.com, Inc. and changed its name to Rackspace Hosting, Inc. in June 2008. Rackspace Hosting, Inc. was founded in 1998 and is headquartered in San Antonio, Texas.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Brian Pacampara]
Based on the aggregated intelligence of 180,000-plus investors participating in Motley Fool CAPS, the Fool's free investing community, Web-hosting company Rackspace Hosting (NYSE: RAX ) has earned a respected four-star ranking.
- [By Investometrica]
Servers: Server revenue is also in a dangerous position. The graph shows how the market changed from 2008 through 2012, favoring the Iaas (infrastructure as a service) hosting business model (Amazon (AMZN) and Rackspace (RAX)), while leaving the server-side infrastructure business model in great trouble. At this point, the trend towards adoption of hosted Iaas as a replacement for traditional in-house server-side infrastructure can't possibly be reversed.
- [By WALLSTCHEATSHEET.COM]
Rackspace is probably being unfairly treated based on the company�� fundamentals, consistent revenue and earnings performance, and future potential. On the other hand, with the stock trading at 45 times earnings and 41 times future earnings, it will be difficult for Rackspace to meet expectations. This also makes the stock more susceptible to market corrections.
Top 10 Small Cap Companies To Own In Right Now: Petroquest Energy Inc(PQ)
PetroQuest Energy, Inc. operates as an independent oil and gas company. It engages in the acquisition, exploration, development, and operation of oil and gas properties in Oklahoma, Arkansas, and Texas, as well as onshore and in the shallow waters offshore the Gulf Coast Basin. As of December 31, 2009, the company had estimated proved reserves of 1,931 thousand barrels of oil and 167,361 million cubic feet equivalent of natural gas. It owned working interests in 9 net producing oil wells and 277 net producing gas wells. PetroQuest Energy was founded in 1983 and is headquartered in Lafayette, Louisiana.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Jon C. Ogg]
PetroQuest Energy Inc. (NYSE: PQ) was downgraded to Neutral from Overweight at J.P. Morgan.
Rubicon Technology Inc. (NASDAQ: RBCN) was downgraded to Underperform from Perform at Oppenheimer.
Top 10 Small Cap Companies To Own In Right Now: Panera Bread Company(PNRA)
Panera Bread Company, together with its subsidiaries, owns, operates, and franchises retail bakery-cafes in the United States and Canada. Its bakery-cafes offer fresh baked goods, sandwiches, soups, salads, custom roasted coffees, and other complementary products, as well as provide catering services. The company also manufactures and supplies dough and other products to company-owned and franchise-operated bakery-cafes. As of March 29, 2011, it owned and franchised 1,467 bakery-cafes under the Panera Bread, Saint Louis Bread Co., and Paradise Bakery & Cafe names. The company was founded in 1981 and is based in St. Louis, Missouri.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Steve Symington]
Even so, investors have remained frustrated by Chipotle's refusal to either open stores at a faster pace or raise prices to improve tepid same-store sales growth, which came in at just 3.8% last quarter. That's shy of competing healthy eateries, including�Panera Bread (NASDAQ: PNRA ) which recently said its same-store growth came in at an impressive 5.1% last quarter. Even still, by not immediately raising prices, Chipotle is intelligently building customer goodwill, and remains open to the possibility of raising prices as economic conditions improve.
Top 10 Small Cap Companies To Own In Right Now: ATA Inc.(ATAI)
ATA Inc., through its subsidiaries, provides computer-based testing services in the People?s Republic of China. It offers services for the creation and delivery of computer-based tests utilizing its test delivery platform, proprietary testing technologies, and testing services; and provides logistical support services relating to test administration. The company?s computer-based testing services are used for professional licensure and certification tests in various industries, including information technology (IT) services, banking, securities, teaching, and insurance. Its e-testing platform integrates various aspects of the test delivery process for computer-based tests ranging from test form compilation to test scoring, and results analysis. ATA also provides career-oriented educational services, such as single course programs, degree major course programs, and pre-occupational training programs focusing on preparing students to pass IT and other vocational certification tests; test preparation and training programs and services to test candidates preparing to take professional certification tests in securities, futures, banking, insurance and teaching industries; online test preparation and training platform for the securities and banking industries; and test preparation software for the teaching industry. In addition, the company offers HR select employee assessment solution, an online system that utilizes its proprietary software and an inventory of test titles to help employers improve the efficiency and accuracy of their employee recruitment process. As of March 31, 2010, it had contractual relationships with 1,988 ATA authorized test centers. The company serves Chinese governmental agencies, professional associations, IT vendors, and Chinese educational institutions, as well as individual test preparation services. ATA Inc. was founded in 1999 and is based in Beijing, the People?s Republic of China.
Top 10 Small Cap Companies To Own In Right Now: OmniVision Technologies Inc.(OVTI)
OmniVision Technologies, Inc. designs, develops, and markets semiconductor image-sensor devices. The company offers CameraChip image sensors, which are single-chip solutions that integrate various functions, such as image capture, image processing, color processing, signal conversion, and output of a processed image or video stream for use in various consumer and commercial mass-market applications; and CameraCube imaging devices that are image sensors with integrated wafer-level optics. It also provides companion chips used to connect its image sensors to various interfaces, including the universal serial bus and other industry standard interfaces; and companion digital signal processors that perform compression in standardized still photo and digital video formats. In addition, the company designs and develops software drivers for Linux, Mac OS, and Microsoft Windows, as well as for embedded operating systems, such as Blackberry OS, Palm OS, Symbian, Windows CE, Windows Embedded, and Windows Mobile. Its products are used in mobile phones, notebooks, Webcams, digital still and video cameras, commercial and security and surveillance, and automotive and medical applications, as well as in entertainment devices. The company sells its products directly to original equipment manufacturers and value added resellers, as well as indirectly through distributors worldwide. OmniVision Technologies, Inc. was founded in 1995 and is based in Santa Clara, California.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Brian Pacampara]
What: Shares of image sensor specialist OmniVision Technologies (NASDAQ: OVTI ) spiked 19% today after its quarterly results and outlook topped Wall Street expectations.
- [By Alex Planes]
Investors love stocks that consistently beat the Street without getting ahead of their fundamentals and risking a meltdown. The best stocks offer sustainable market-beating gains, with robust and improving financial metrics that support strong price growth. Does OmniVision Technologies (NASDAQ: OVTI ) fit the bill? Let's take a look at what its recent results tell us about its potential for future gains.
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