-Executive Summary-

• Higher!  The ADP Employment Report stating that 297,000 jobs were created in December brought enthusiasm to the markets, but also some skepticism.
• The Stock Market Companion re-initiated its Ford Motor Co. (Ticker: F) investment with an SMC Intra-Day ALERT and provided an SMC Intra-Day UPDATE on American International Group (AIG).  See more below.
• Flooding in Australia has closed coal mines there, resulting in a spike in coal prices.  Patriot Coal Corp. (PCX) is a beneficiary of this sudden supply / demand  imbalance.  We will see how things look tomorrow – unfortunately the stock has already almost doubled in the past 3 months.

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– Markets “At a Glance” –

(Please scroll down to the end of the report to see your favorite benchmarks – Dollar, Oil, Gold … closing prices and daily direction.)

– Market Trends –

*Summary of terms from Trader Vic II-Principles of Professional Speculation (pg. 140-141)
*_________* Represents a change in trend rating.

– Market Perspectives –

For your added perspective, we’ve included these two different views of the broader market –

1. SMC SP-500 ETF Daily Chart (Click to open helpful chart in a separate browser window).

2. SMC SP-500 Weekly Chart (Spanning back through 2007)

– Today’s Highlights –

From a broad market standpoint, today is a “follow-through” day on price above the 1,260 line on the S&P 500 on volume that is not overly enthusiastic – BUT still enough to keep things going.  Volume in certain individual stocks – like Ford Motor Co., American International Group, and Cisco Systems  were robust.

The pre-market futures were initially pointing negative following the results of overnight worldwide bourses.  HOWEVER the Automatic Data Processing (ADP) Employment Report for the US released this morning prior to the open that declared the highest ever measured jobs gains since the report was first issued in 2000. = 297,000 jobs, gave the markets reason to surge higher.

The ADP Employment Report was the Absolute Single Most Significant highlight for today AND it overshadows almost every news piece for the last few weeks, with the exception of events associated with North Korea AND Ford Motor Co.’s auto sales expectations for 2011 from yesterday which was also very significant –

Ford expects the global economy to expand 3 to 4 percent in 2011 and global sales to be in the range of 75 to 85 million – a record sales level. In 2010, global auto sales are estimated at 72 million, which was 11 percent higher than the 65 million sales recorded in 2009.

In the U.S., Ford expects the economy to expand 3 to 4 percent in 2011 and industry sales to be in the range of 12.5 to 13.5 million.

In Europe, the outlook is mixed with some markets undergoing budget cuts and restructuring of banks. Other European markets, such as the U.K., Germany and France, are growing. Overall, Ford expects industry sales in the Euro 19 markets to be in the range of 14.5 to 15.5 million, compared with 15.3 million in 2010.

“The global economy is reaching a dynamic phase,” said Ellen Hughes-Cromwick, Ford’s chief economist. “Several indicators in key markets around the world suggest the potential for industry sales to continue to grow.”

There is appropriate skepticism concerning the ADP report values.  We will get a chance to see how this data concurs with US Bureau of Labor data soon.

– Story-Stock Investing –

Let’s talk about Ireland and the Bank of Ireland stock.  Here is our thinking –

1. 43% of the Bank of Ireland’s loan book is associated with loans in the U.K.  Ford Motor Co. confirmed yesterday that the U.K. economy is growing (see above).  It’s not as if the Bank of Ireland is simply sitting on 100% failed Irish real estate.
2. Irish exports are growing.  At 161 billion Euro’s in 2010, it was the highest annual figure ever recorded.
3. As of today, it appears that the Swiss Central Bank will no longer accept bonds issued by the Bank of Ireland as collateral.  This may be a significant problem.  This is due to Moody’s 12/17 downgrade of Ireland NOT the Bank of Ireland.
4. Growth in the US and globally is going to help Ireland in 2011.  The Bank of Ireland must find a way to raise tier 1 capital by February from private sources who agree with this.  If not, the Irish government will move in to the disadvantage of the common stock shareholder.
5. We prefer to see the Bank of Ireland stock pushing above $2.70/share.  Today it languished at around $2.46/share but squeezed a bit higher into the close.
6. It’s a waiting game and we would like to see investors start taking positions that lean towards an expectation of a positive resolution to tier 1 capital raising for the bank.

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– Stock Market Companion – Current Holdings –

– Stock Market Companion – Performance –

Please click on this chart to see the Stock Market Companion 15MinuteStocks stock performance versus the SP-500.  It will open in a separate browser window.
* Gains (losses) do not include brokerage fees.   Our returns are very strong … BUT …  WE have to remind everyone just like all other financial sites in America – Past Performance is No Guarantee of Future Returns.  Unlike others however, our objective is to teach you to be able to make these types of strong returns On Your Own.

All of the investments – stocks, entries, and exits are listed on our Stock Market Companion Watchlist at the bottom of the spreadsheet, in the section labelled Former Holdings.

– Benchmarks “At a Glance” –

Data Source : Financial Visualizations Inc.

Signing-Off for Today,

Your -Stock Market Companion

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