Markets

When you're the world's biggest soup maker, it's important to have good stock.

Campbell Soup (CPB) reported Monday that its fiscal-first quarter earnings rose 17%, beating Wall Street's view by a hearty 6 cents a share. True, revenue dipped slightly, but that was more due to difficult year-over-year comparisons and the fact that Campbell rolled out its major soup-season marketing campaign a couple of months early this year.

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Wall Street's no-longer-so-secret society: High speed trading gets scrutiny, rivals

By Matthew Scott | Nov 23rd 2009, 3:30PM EST Filed Under: Investing

An arms race has begun in the secretive world of high frequency trading, the practice of making a high number of trades netting small gains that can add up to big profits at the end of the day. Fueling the competition is the entry of more players into the field as well as technological advances that continue to enhance the speed and quality of trades. A sense of urgency comes from the fact that the industry is bracing for new regulation.

Becoming increasingly popular in the last couple of years, high frequency trading uses technology and computer algorithms to take advantage of sub-millisecond arbitrage -- or essentially the spread between the buy and the sell price of a stock or commodity that can appear in fractions of a second. But the trading technique has come...

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How psychology is driving the economic rebound

By Jonathan Berr | Nov 23rd 2009, 12:30PM EST Filed Under: People, Investing, Media

Earlier this year, Comedy Central's Stephen Colbert interviewed Jim Cramer about market psychology against a video background of puppies and kittens. Did it help the market rebound from its March lows? Who knows? But investors are sure feeling better about themselves.

The Chicago Board Options Exchange's Volatility Index (VIX), the so-called "Fear Index," has fallen this year as stock prices have rallied. It dropped recently to 22.19, down from a record high of 80.86 in November 2008, though it remains above its 20.28 average over its 19-year history, according to Bloomberg News. The Dow Jones Industrial Average has jumped 27 percent...

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Daily Blogwatch: Why I'm wrong about Ron Paul being wrong; why we rally into Christmas

By James Altucher | Nov 23rd 2009, 8:45AM EST Filed Under: Company News, Technology, Columns, Economy, Investing

The most ridiculous ETFs of all time.

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Weijei explains why James Altucher is wrong about Ron Paul being wrong. I disagree, of course, but welcome all opinions.

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Goldman thinks the market will have a very jolly Christmas. And if Goldman thinks it, it must be true.

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Stocks to join world markets rally as gold, oil rise, dollar declines

By Melly Alazraki | Nov 23rd 2009, 8:15AM EST Filed Under: Economy, Investing

U.S. stocks are set to follow world markets higher Monday as the dollar fell and commodity prices rose across the board, with gold setting yet another new high. Further, economists expect job losses to peak in the first quarter, which could keep rates low for some time. Housing data will also be in focus later this morning.

More here: Before the bell: Stock futures higher as gold sets another record, dollar slumps

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Hedge fund star John Paulson rushes into gold, but investors should be wary

By Vishesh Kumar | Nov 23rd 2009, 8:00AM EST Filed Under: Investing

The euphoria bubbling around gold may have gotten another big boost -- not that it needed one.

Hedge fund manager John Paulson is raising a new fund that will focus on gold and related items like miners and derivatives. The move by Paulson -- who made a fortune betting against real estate -- is seen as another vote of confidence for gold prices...

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Chinese consumer product stocks soar, Chinese carmakers celebrate new models

By Lauren Cooper | Nov 23rd 2009, 7:00AM EST Filed Under: Economy, Investing

In Asia, stocks climbed higher Monday. The Shanghai Composite Index rose 0.9% and in Hong Kong, the Hang Seng Index added 1.4%. Japan's Tokyo Stock Exchange was closed today for Labor Thanksgiving Day, a celebration of workers' rights.

In China, consumer product stocks rallied with VV Food & Beverage leaping to its 10% daily limit. The company produces and markets milk and soybean products, along with a range of other food items like flour and oatmeal. According to China Daily, VV Food & Beverage is a key partner of Japanese company Otsuka Pharmaceutical. Together they distribute a "neutraceutical" fruit and soy snack bar called SoyJoy which capitalizes on...

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India's Prime Minister is bullish on the greenback and the U.S. economy

By Vishesh Kumar | Nov 22nd 2009, 8:00PM EST Filed Under: Economy, People, Investing

Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh threw his support behind the U.S. dollar as the world's reserve currency and took an upbeat view of the U.S. economy in an interview on CNN's Sunday talk show GPS.

The statements come as Singh prepares for a state dinner hosted by President Obama in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday -- and in the wake of India's $6.7 billion gold purchase from the International Monetary Fund earlier in the month. The 200-metric-ton purchase made India the ninth-largest holder of gold reserves in the world and set...

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Galleon's Raj Rajaratnam gears up for a legal showdown

By Vishesh Kumar | Nov 22nd 2009, 7:30PM EST Filed Under: People, Investing

With a mountain of evidence ranging from a cooperating witness to wiretapped confessions by an accomplice all but admitting guilt, prosecutors in the Galleon Group insider trading case might think they have an airtight case. But billionaire Galleon founder Raj Rajaratnam seems to be bracing for a fight.

Last week Rajaratnam's lawyers took to the offensive and succeeded in having cooperating witness Roomy Khan's criminal background included in the hearings. Khan, a former employee of both...

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FDIC Chair Sheila Bair has it right: It's time to change bankers' incentives

By Peter Cohan | Nov 22nd 2009, 2:00PM EST Filed Under: Economy, Investing

fdic-chair-sheila-bair-has-it-right-its-time-to-change-bankers-incentives I have to hand it to Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. Chairwoman Sheila Bair: The former University of Massachusetts economics professor gets it right on key policy issues. She's right about ending the doctrine of too-big-to-fail, and now she's proposing an idea that I've been pushing with no effect for years. That is, to align the interests of the banks that bundle assets and sell them as securities -- so-called asset-backed securities -- with those of ABS investors.