– Stock Market Companion – Current Holdings –

Nr.	Co.	Ticker	Action	Entry Date	Current Gain (Loss)
1	ZAGG, Inc.	ZAGG	Holding	2/28/2012	+2%
2	Eight by Eight	EGHT	“Toe-In” Holding	3/9/2012	-14%
3	EBAY	EBAY	Holding	3/14/2012	-3%
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	-2%
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 –

Picture three  groups – with these headlines –

1. Asia – represented primarily by China.   China announced its Gross Domestic Product number  for the year completed at +8.1% growth vs. +8.4%.  Asian markets were NOT disappointed in this number and moved HIGHER (except in India).
2. Europe – represented primarily by rim European nations that belong to the European Monetary Union and who are heavily indebted.  Currently the focus is on Spain.  It turns out that reports are circling that Spanish banks accessed EUR 228 billion in March from the European Central Bank, as opposed to EUR152 billion in February.  This is a real surge in borrowing and the markets are concerned that this is indicating that all may not be well (which we know is accurate = all is NOT well there).  Yields on Spanish 10 year bonds surged above 6%.  Remember, yields move HIGHER when bond prices move LOWER.  Bond prices move LOWER when there is decreased demand (or increased selling).  In contrast, U.S. 10 year bond yields are sitting at approx. 2%.This situation in Europe had European financial stocks on the ropes today with the entire sector under pressure.  European equities markets headed LOWER.
3. United States – Alcoa kicked-off earnings this week with very good results.  This morning J.P. Morgan Chase and Wells Fargo both reported very good earnings.  J.P. Morgan Chase reported nonperforming assets of $11.7 billion, compared to $15 billion one year ago.  The shares of both J.P. Morgan Chase and Wells Fargo headed DOWN in-step with their European counterparts, despite the good earnings.  The shares of both companies have advanced very strongly since November, so a pull-back is NO SURPRISE.We have been reporting a steady DOWNTREND in the weekly jobless claims numbers reported on Thursdays by the U.S. government, but this week the number of jobless claims pushed back HIGHER.  The downtrend is still in place, but a few weeks of numbers like this week (+380,000) will put the downtrend in question. Wells Fargo declared in its earnings conference call that housing is IMPROVING – but emphasized that improvements vary significantly by region.

Overall the U.S. markets followed Europe’s unrest and settled strongly lower for the day.  The late day sag in the markets demonstrated a lack of real interest in the markets ahead of the weekend.

– 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?)

Last night –  after the markets closed – the company Coinstar (CSTR $65.78) reported excellent earnings.  Coinstar is the owner / operator of the Redbox movie rental kiosks that you see in many places across the USA.

Until this year, the shares have been very turbulent at Coinstar – gapping-up from $30 to $60 and then down to $39 and so on …  The movements have been unpredictable, and so we have stayed clear at Stock Market Companion.

Things may be changing now for Coinstar so we share a closer look with these two Successful Investing videos –

Video 1

Video 2

– Benchmarks “At a Glance” –

–Data Source : Financial Visualizations Inc.