– Stock Market Companion – Current Holdings –

Nr.	Co.	Ticker	Action	Entry Date	Current Gain (Loss)
1	ZAGG, Inc.	ZAGG	Holding	2/28/2012	-1%
2	Eight by Eight	EGHT	“Toe-In” Holding	3/9/2012	-13%
3	EBAY	EBAY	Holding	3/14/2012	-4%
4	Ford Motor Co.	F	Holding	3/15/2012	-8%
5	Linked-In	LNKD	Holding	3/26/2012	-5%
6	Molycorp	MCP	Holding	3/29/2012	-5%
7	Alcoa	AA	Holding	4/11/2012	-1%

(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 this chart of the broader market (Successful stock investors develop and start with a minds-eye view of the broader market and keep it clear) –

SMC SP-500 ETF Daily Chart (Please click on the chart to see a bigger, easy to read chart on a separate browser tab window).

– Today’s Highlights –

Last Friday’s U.S. Non-Farm Payroll Report “Jobs Report” provided by the U.S. Bureau of Labor, combined with a resurgence in concerns about sovereign debt in Europe have impacted the markets like a wet blanket on a small fire.  Last night’s earnings report released by Alcoa however helped to reverse the negative sentiment acting on the market.  We will have to see if market participants can again warm up to the idea that the U.S. economy continues to expand modestly.

This afternoon, the U.S. Federal Reserve released its Beige Book – which is a report on economic activity across the 12 Federal Reserve districts.  The report is released 8x / year.

Here are the first paragraphs from the Summary section from the Beige Book =

Reports from the twelve Federal Reserve Districts indicated that the economy continued to expand at a modest to moderate pace from mid-February through late March. Activity in the Boston, Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas, and San Francisco Districts grew at a moderate pace, while Cleveland and St. Louis cited modest growth. New York reported that economic growth picked up somewhat. Philadelphia and Richmond cited improving business conditions. The economy in Minneapolis grew at a solid pace and Kansas City’s economy expanded at a faster pace.
Manufacturing continued to expand in most Districts, with gains noted in automotive and high-technology industries. Manufacturers in many Districts expressed optimism about near-term growth prospects, but they are somewhat concerned about rising petroleum prices. Demand for professional business services showed modest to strong growth and freight volume was mainly higher. Reports on retail spending were positive, with the unusually warm weather being credited for boosting sales in several Districts. While the near-term outlook for household spending was encouraging, contacts in several Districts expressed concerns that rising gas prices could limit discretionary spending in the months to come. New-vehicle sales were reported as strong or strengthening across much of the United States. Tourism increased in most reporting Districts. Residential real estate showed some improvement, with many contacts citing expansion in the construction of multi-family housing. Activity in nonresidential real estate increased or held steady in most Districts. Agricultural conditions were generally favorable. Mining activity expanded and oil extraction rose, while natural gas drilling slowed. Banking conditions were largely stable, with some improvement seen in loan demand. Several Districts reported increased credit quality.
Hiring was steady or showed a modest increase across many Districts. Difficulty finding qualified workers, especially for high-skilled positions, was frequently reported.

This Beige Book report continues to show a favorable picture of the broad U.S. economy.  Please click here for the complete report.

Here are the PDF presentation slides from Alcoa’s Q1 earnings question and answer session last night.  You will find here as well, favorable indications for the economy.  Please notice how the Alcoa top management uses the Purchasing Manager’s Index to measure economic conditions.  We do the same here at Stock Market Companion.

These PDF presentation slides are excellent.  For those interested in learning the details of business conditions at Alcoa, these slides are a must read.

– S.I.M.P.L.E. Stock Investing Method tm –

– (Where each investment begins with a Story and ends with Earnings) –

S.I.M.P.L.E. Stock Investing is built upon these core concepts –

S = Story (What is / are the key catalyst(s) behind the company of interest?)

I = Institutional Investor Interest (Is the stock chart showing investor interest = buying or share accumulation?)

M = Market (Is the background market favorable for investing at this time?  Don’t Fight the Market! We know the vast majority of stocks move in the direction of the overall market).

P = Person or Product (Is there a particular person or product that makes the story work for this investment?)

L = Leader (Is the company a leader in its industry group or is its product a leader in its market?)

E = Earnings (Are current quarterly earnings and annual earnings growing?)

Yesterday afternoon – after the markets closed – Alcoa (AA $9.90) reported first quarter 2012 earnings that were well above consensus estimates.  Shares of Alcoa gapped-up this morning on the news.  At Stock Market Companion, we initiated a position at $9.88, sent out an Intra-Day Alert, and a second Intra-Day Alert with these 5 short  Successful Investing videos explaining what we see happening at Alcoa in terms of our S.I.M.P.L.E. Stock Investing Method –

Video 1

Video 2

Video 3

Video 4

Video 5

– Benchmarks “At a Glance” –

–Data Source : Financial Visualizations Inc.