“U.S. stock index futures rose on Monday as upbeat economic data from China indicated a slowdown in the country may be easing, though concerns remained about the growth outlook in the United States and Europe,” Ryan Vlastelica reports for Reuters. “The S&P 500 fell 2.4 percent last week, the worst week for the index since June, closing below its 200-day moving average for the first time in five months. That level is a measure of the market’s long-term trend, and staying below it could portend further losses ahead.”
“Those losses were partly propelled by concerns over the fiscal cliff, a combination of government spending cuts and tax increases set to go into effect early next year unless Congress acts to change the law before then. Though most consider it unlikely that no deal will be reached, analysts fear going over the cliff could push the economy back into recession,” Vlastelica reports. “‘If the cliff were to occur, it would be very devastating for the economy, which is why it is hard to think that last week was much of an over reaction,’ said Oliver Purshe, president at Gary Goldberg Financial Services in Suffern, New York, adding that the odds of going over were ‘very low.'”
Vlastelica reports, “Apple Inc. rose 0.9 percent to $551.90 in premarket trading after the company announced a global patent settlement with HTC Corp, as well as a 10-year licensing agreement. The settlement ends one of the first major conflagrations of the smartphone patent wars. Apple shares have been under pressure recently, dropping into bear market territory.”
Read more in the full article here.
Greece, Spain, Portugal. Illinois and California. The fiscal train wreck known as “entitlement spending” is coming to U.S.
Stop listening to Rush Lintball. Those countries imposed austerity and that’s why they are failing, not due to entitlements. When Ronald Reagan came into office, unemployment was 7.5%. He cut taxes for the rich. Over the next 3 years, unemployment SKYROCKETED to the STILL post-WW2 high of 10.8%, and deficit and debt TRIPLED, and his approval plummeted to a low of 35%. Then he did a funny thing – he actually LISTENED TO DEMOCRATS, who said, you really need to stop these tax cuts for the rich, because they’re destroying the economy. So Reagan RAISED TAXES ON MILLIONAIRES – and guess what happened? Over the next year, unemployment started falling, finally to 7.2% at the end of his fourth year. President Obama hasn’t even raised taxes ONCE in the last 3 years – he’s CUT taxes over 18 times. In every poll, at least 70% of the American people know taxes need to be raised on millionaires. REAGAN knew taxes had to be raised on millionaires. Every SANE economist knows this. Everyone knows tax cuts for the rich are the number one contributor to the deficit, and have been for the last 10 years – and yet, Republicans in Congress refuse to do it – while complaining about the deficit – that THEIR OWN POLICIES continue to balloon. No Republican has balanced the budget in the past 30 years! The last one to balance it was dem. Pres. Clinton whose top tax rate was higher than current, and the economy did great. Trickle down economics is a lie.
“Everyone knows tax cuts for the rich are the number one contributor to the deficit…”
Sure. Everyone knows that…http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=661pi6K-8WQ
As a matter of fact, it’s #2…right behind protecting their foreign assets:
Never, NEVER speak the truth about Ronnie: today’s “fiscal conservatives” don’t like it, as it doesn’t jibe with the revisionist history they’ve molded to suit their current agenda.
Saint Reagan?
Nice empty suit buffoon that was the front man for his old crony cabinet from California that became his handlers in the White House.
Thanks to Reagan, Bush the Elder, Bush the Idiot and Clinton the DINO our country cannot produce fighter aircraft or spaceships without parts, component systems or fabrication from outside the US.
They said it wasn’t necessary to be able to make things and they were wrong. The global race to the bottom manufacturing economy is predicated upon a few things that will not hold:
1- Cheap energy
2- Cheap labor
3- No environmental costs
This is what drives them to ever cheaper countries that are willing to become polluted wastelands of sweatshop labor. It has had quite a run, but they will run out of places to exploit. That’s why the Cons are trying so hard to turn the US into a 3rd world toilet.
And when Reagan took office the top tax rate was 70%. It’s now 35%. Where are the jobs? They’re in China, India, and Mexico. The rich and the corporations don’t care about America and Americans. How much more welfare do we have to give the rich and the corporations?
Example: The company I used to work for just bought 1 million new smart electric meters from Allen-Bradley for its new system. Every one of those $100 meters was made just across the border in Mexico, where the pay is about $8 a day. Both Allen-bradley and my company have received a 50% tax cut over the last 40 years. Did it make a difference? Yes, the shareholders got more in dividends. Trickle down? Yeah, that’s what piss does.
Everyone knows that overspending is never the cause for budget deficits, it’s never taxing enough.
Does your master know you are out trolling?
Don’t you have some tea or slippers to fetch?
In addition to “entitlement spending,” the U.S. has indulged itself in a series of unfunded activities – massive tax cuts, more than doubling defense spending, entering into two protracted wars halfway around the world.
Certainly we need to address long-standing issues with Social Security, Medicare, etc. But myopically focusing on entitlement spending while ignoring the rest of the budget is ridiculous. The people have spoken in favor of a practical, well-reasoned, and balanced long term approach to the U.S. budget situation. Please don’t devolve to a pre-election partisan viewpoint.
“Entitlements” is a code word for Social Security, which has its own funding and is quite solvent. It plays no part in any deficit spending. Remove Social Security and Medicare from “entitlements” and you have nothing to argue about. It is the 50% tax cut given to the rich and the corporations, along with $1T per year in DoD spending that are breaking the budget.
+1
… and don’t forget to mention “free trade” deals that reward outsourcing while screwing small businesses and taxpayers who don’t have legions of accountants to pry open every tax loophole. No corporation, including Apple, has any national loyalty. Which is fine, if only those “job creators” didn’t pretend to be such a patriotic bunch. End corporate welfare that both corrupt political parties have been doling out to their funders for decades, before the ship sinks.
Question… Is Apple following the market…. or is the market following Apple?????
In September my Conservative Republican accountant told me (and all his clients with a lot of capital gains) to sell AAPL shares, explaining that if the Republicans won they would stop trying to destroy the economy to discredit the administration, and act on the necessity to raise taxes. Or that if the Democrats won the Republicans might force the “fiscal cliff” hoping to make the middle class America angry. In either event he explained cap gains taxes are going up. A broker also told me the same thing. So I’m guessing many investors sold AAPL to protect their gains from taxes, without considering there could be a compromise, or such gridlock tax rates would remain unchanged. By mid October it turned into panic selling, which is usually a big mistake. Personally I think the fiscal cliff could be a good thing to reset taxation and so to force compromise.
This is what happens when you take investment advice from an accountant. You sell a company that has a P/E in the single digits and 50% YoY growth…insanity!
No matter Apple’s fundamentals or outlook, it can’t prop up an entire market. When Phase III of the bear market rally gets underway in 2013, the market is going to get crushed and Apple is going to get a serious haircut.
I didn’t take his advice. I did sell a small amount of AAPL at 704.5 but not because of anybody’s advice. I take my own.
For investors, the article here presents an interesting hypothesis – Apple is like Gillette!
http://beta.fool.com/jaans/2012/11/09/understanding-apple-apple-gillette/16098/
Greed is not good. It has some benefits, but frankly it’s killing us.