Opinions

Economists are known to use market indicators, extensive financial forecasts, and the previous work of other economists to support their judgement of an economy's prospects. This economist will briefly assess the economy based on the popular Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) Trends website. For those not familiar, Google trends tracks the top searched items on Google, in addition to the world's interest in various topics. Arguably, the most searched items by American users on a Saturday would be a great snapshot into how people are spending their weekends. Certainly, this tool is quite limited in judging an economy. It does, however, provide valuable insight into consumer sentiment, which is a pillar of any economy. To be sure, the American economy has taken a hard hit in the past few years. In addition to the unacceptably high poverty rate, unemployment has soared, wealth has shrunken and confidence has withered. Yet, Americans march on. People strive for new jobs, investment, and opportunities for happiness every day. Which is...

On CNBC's Mad Money, Jim Cramer said during the Lightning Round that Johnson Controls (NYSE: JCI) is “all good, but I sold it for my charitable trust. It's in too many businesses that are levered to autos, so I'm going to say sell, sell, sell until $33 or $34." Cramer believes that PPL Corp (NYSE: PPL) is an “excellent buy right here. I'd buy half now and buy the other half if it comes down even more." For Bank of America (NYSE: BAC), he said, "No chance of this one going bankrupt. The banks are still a free-fire zone though, so it's not right to get back in yet." He believes that Vera Bradley (NASDAQ: VRA) "should be sold." He added, "You've had a nice run and I think it's time to move on." Cramer said that Alcatel Lucent (NYSE: ALU) “had a big run but it's still a second rate player. I don't want to be in that business." For Heckmann (NYSE: HEK), Jim...

Are the steel companies the first to see a slowdown? If so, Reliance Steel & Aluminum Company (RS) isn't seeing one. First quarter sales continued to be strong. Investors, however, have been fleeing the stock in recently weeks on worries over the economy which is why it now trades with a P/E of just 10x forward estimates. This Zacks #1 Rank (strong buy) provides metals processing services through more than 200 locations in 38 states, and several countries including Mexico, China, South Korea and Canada. Headquartered in Los Angeles, its products include galvanized, hot-rolled and cold-finished steel, stainless steel, aluminum, brass, copper, titanium and alloy steel. Solid Q1 Results On Apr 28, Reliance Steel reported its first quarter results and surprised on the Zacks Consensus by 15%. Earnings were $1.23 compared with the estimate of $1.07 per share. The company made just 60 cents in the year ago quarter. It was the third surprise in the last 4 quarters, although if you look at the...

The Japanese economy has underperformed once again as Japan's leading index fell to 96.4 in April from 100.1 in March. Most analysts were expecting the index to fall to 96.5. As a result, the Japanese yen suffered losses in the Tuesday trading. The euro rose 0.694% to ¥117.56, while the dollar added 0.249% to its value to stand around ¥80.31. The Japanese economy is struggling to shake off the effects of the earthquake and tsunami disaster that struck Fukushima. To add to investors' worries, the political situation remains unstable as the current prime minister recently announced he will leave his post early. Bad economic results and political uncertainties might continue to eat into the value of the yen. Traders who believe in this scenario will be interested in the ProShares UltraShort Yen ETF (NYSE: YCS) and the ETFS Short Japanese Yen Long US Dollar ETC ETF (SJPY). Other traders might believe the government reconstruction program in the Fukushima area will provide a boost...

On CNBC's Mad Money, Jim Cramer said during the Lightning Round that Bank of America (NYSE: BAC) is a “dead stock.” He added, “There is no catalyst ahead. It's not a good stock and I can't recommend it." For Clean Energy Fuels (NASDAQ: CLNE), he said, "A chain of natural gas stations are in our future, but it needs help from the government. Until that happens, it's a 'don't-buy' from me." Cramer likes Mercer International (NASDAQ: MERC), adding that the stock is “Very good, very steady. Someday someone is just going to go in and buy it." For Limited Brands (NYSE: LTD), Jim said, "I would take out your profits and let the rest run. I think this stock sees $50 a share." Cramer said that Duke Energy (NYSE: DUK) is a “winner.” He added, “As long as the stock yields over 4.5 percent,” he wants to own this stock. He also likes Consolidated Edison (NYSE: ED) and Dominion Resources (NYSE: D). For Southern Copper...

Much of nuclear medicine depends on a steady supply of an isotope called molybdenum-99—“Mo-99” for short. A byproduct of nuclear fission, Mo-99 is used to produce another radioactive substance, technetium-99m, which is employed in more than 16 million nuclear imaging procedures every year in the US alone. These include everything from sentinel node biopsies in cancer surgery to bone scans and cardiac stress tests. Unfortunately, the supply of Mo-99 and other radioisotopes has been unreliable at best. All of the Mo-99 used in the US is imported, with the main source being the National Research Universal Reactor at AECL, Ltd., located in Chalk River, Ontario. A shutdown for repairs in May 2009 contributed to a global radioisotopes shortage; while the reactor has been back in operation since August 2010, it is scheduled for closure in 2015. The shortage is already having a negative effect on research programs. For example, as reported in the Hamilton (Ontario) Spectator last year, it is damaging neutron...

CNBC Options Action's Dan Nathan talked on the show about a bearish options strategy in Research In Motion Limited (USA) (NASDAQ: RIMM). He thinks that it could drop below $40, because it has lost the war with competition. Specifically, Dan Nathan wants to buy the July 35 put for $0.20, and the July 45 put for $1.70. He also wants to sell two July 40 puts for a total of $1.20. This trade would cost him $0.70, and if RIMM trades at $45 or higher at the expiration, Dan Nathan would lose the $0.70 premium. If the stock trades between $40 and $45, he can make up to $4.30. If RIMM trades between $35 and $40 at the July expiration, the pay off would start to trail off, but he wouldn't lose money unless RIMM drops below $35.

Legg Mason Chairman and CFO Bill Miller spoke with FOX Business Network's (FBN) Liz Claman about being the second largest shareholder of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) and the bidding war between NASDAQ and Deutsche Boerse to gain control of the NYSE. Miller said “if it had to happen right now, clearly the NASDAQ deal” would be better for shareholders. He went on to praise Berkshire Hathaway CEO Warren Buffett for the way he handled the David Sokol insider trading scandal saying “Warren has built up enough credibility over the past 50 years that something like this is certainly getting some difficult publicity but I don't think it alters anybody's sense of his reputation his ability his ethics.” Excerpts can be found below, courtesy of Fox Business Network. On the bidding war between NASDAQ and Deutsche Boerse for the New York Stock Exchange: “We have said publicly we thought the board should at least meet with NASDAQ to talk about this....

Asian stocks fell today as oil expanded its gains, which increased worries about the effect of the rising energy prices on the global recovery. The Japanese car producing companies saw a decline in their shares today after City Group lowered their rating today. The MSCI Asia Pacific was almost unchanged today at 136.63 at 13:55 in Tokyo. The yen started rising again against the dollar, which brought more losses to the Japanese companies. Nikkei 225 Nikkei 225 fell today by 0.50% or 48.38 points closing at 9719.70. From 225 shares, 90 advanced, 119 declined and 16 unchanged. Sectors leading the decline were the industrials that lost 16.73 points and consumer goods that lost 15.19 points. Lagging shares today were TDK Corp which fell by 3.06% closing at 4600 yen, second was Honda Motor Co Ltd which fell by 2.22% closing at 2903 yen. And Kyocera Corp which fell by 1.40% closing at 8460 yen. Among the shares that Secom co Ltd topped the list by...

From Bloomberg, a shocking comparison of the advantage the US corporate tax code affords online retailers and multinationals (emphasis added): Anyone who wants a Nintendo Wii console or the latest John Grisham novel can pick it up at the nearest Target (TGT) store or log on to Amazon.com (AMZN) and have it delivered. The similarities between the two retailers aren’t as apparent when it comes to taxes. Amazon’s effective rate—the total it pays in federal, state, local, and international income taxes after deductions, along with its sales and property levies—has been more than 10 percentage points lower than Target’s for the past four years. Target’s effective tax rate in 2010 was 35.1 percent, compared with Amazon’s 23.5 percent. Amazon in 2010 owed $352 million in income taxes worldwide on income of $1.5 billion, according to its SEC filings, while Target owed $1.58 billion on income of $4.5 billion. Amazon, the world’s largest online retailer, has successfully resisted efforts from politicians to make...