The first time in the last 18 months, the DOW is over 11,000. AS earning reports are about to begin, it seems to be that investors are confident that the most earning will be better than estimated.
Merger and acquisitions are on the rise. We wrote about it on 3/10/2010. (see blog). So far none of my recommendations haThe DOW is trading at over 11,000.
s not be taken over, although some of them are in play. (please read blog).
Companies in the news.
‘HBAN’ Huntington Bancshares Inc sets a new 52-week high at $6.60
‘XRX’ XEROX CORP sets a new 52-week high at $10.56
‘LSCC’ Lattice Semiconductor Corp sets a new 52-week high at $425.
‘GE’ General Electric Co sets a new 52-week high at $18.95
‘ MGM‘ MGM Mirage sets a new 52-week high at $15.50
‘MSFT’ Microsoft Ushers in the Next Generation of the Social Phone With KIN, a New Windows Phone
Microsoft, Sharp, Verizon Wireless and Vodafone unveil KIN, a new Windows Phone designed for broadcasting and sharing everyday moments. 04/12 10:05 AM

Intel, AMD seen posting gains on rising PC, server demand
Semiconductor behemoths to kick off technology earnings season
Intel Corp. (INTC:$22.45,00$0.14,000.63%) and Advanced Micro Devices (AMD:$9.35,00$-0.07,00-0.74%) will kick off earnings season for the high-tech industry next week, with analysts expecting both chip behemoths to post sales gains on strengthening demand for personal computers and servers.
But analysts also will likely watch for signs of excessive supply as concerns linger about the state of the economy, despite the view that corporate technology demand is on the rise.
Other points of interest.
‘MSFT’ is trading at $30.25 a share.
‘BRCD’ is trading at $6.35 a share.
‘C’ is trading at $4.55 a share.
‘CWTR’ is trading at $7.70.

NEWS ABOUT OUR STOCKS BUY LIST.
Wet Seal Inc. (WTSLA:$5.03,) , the Foothill Ranch, Calif., retailer, reported that for March, comparable-store sales rose 6.3% as total sales rose 9.3% to $56 million. A survey of analysts by Thomson Reuters was estimating same-store sales up 5.4
‘MSFT’ COVERAGE INITIATED: Microsoft (MSFT) initiated by Soleil. Initial rating Buy. 04/08 04:29 AM
‘SKS’ Saks March Same-Store Sales Up 12.7% - Shares Up 1.5% 04/08 05:39 AM
‘JASO’ China In-Focus: JA Solar Ups Q1 Shipment Guidance 04/08 03:44 AM
‘SOLF’ Trading at $8.57 a share.

EARNING SEASON
During the month of April, most of the S&P companies will report their first quarter earning.
In general estimated are very positive and anticipations are that most of the companies will do very well.
The sectors that will do the best according to my opinion are the Financial and the Technology.
The ’ETF’ for the financial are ’XLF’ and ’UYG’ and for the Technology is the ’XLK’.( we wrote about them 2/25,2010)
Some companies I recommend to buy before earning release are;
Bank of America ’BAC’, Huntington Bank ’HBAN, Fifth Third Bancorp ’FITB’, Zion Bancorp ’ZION’.
Microsoft ’MSFT’, E-Trade ’ETFC’, Intel Corp ’INTC’ Advanced Micro ’AMD’
Please check the BLOG for recommendations that were made in the last month. LET ME RMINED TO ALL OF YOU THAT investor must always take profit when they are made.
‘XLF’ Jan 1 2010 was at $14.41, today is at $16.41. UP 13%.
‘XLK’ Jan 1 2010 was at $22.91, today is at $23.35.
‘UYG’ Jan 1 2010 was at $5.65, today is at $7.21. UP 27%.

STOCK IN THE NEWS
‘WTSLA’ was recommended by me on 3/26/2010, (see blog) . Today COVERAGE REITERATED: Wet Seal (WTSLA) reiterated by Credit Suisse. Reiterated rating Outperform. 04/06 05:06 AM
‘MPEL’ I recommended to buy MPEL at $4.64 a share on 4/1/2010. Today the stock was trading at over $5.50 a share, over 20% gained in a week. Time to sell !
‘BRCD’ is trading around $6.10 a share, on 2/23, (see blob 2010) when I recommended to buy it. is it a time to sell in order to take profit or to hold for a take over ? Or just trade it over and over again.

UNEMPLOYMENT RATE REMAINS AT 9.7%.
Helped by the Federal Government hiring for the Census, the US economy got its best jobs report in three years as employers added 162,000 jobs in March. Big chunk of the jobs increase were 48,000 positions for the Census Bureau.
Also there were revisions to the last two months reports. (I told you so, see blog March 4, 2010).
MSFT on March 2, 2010 I recommended to buy MSFT at around $28.50, On March 25, the stock could be sold at over $30.50 a share. On last Thursday MSFT was trading just over $28.50, an opportunity to buy it again. The point is that a trader can do very well in this market conditions.
On 4/1/2010 I recommended ‘MPEL’, today UPGRADE: Melco Crown Entertainment (MPEL) upgraded by JP Morgan from Neutral to Overweight. 04/05 02:25 AM.
The US bonds keep losing ground. The 10 years bonds fell to a yearly low of 97.00 with a yield of 4%. A $1,000 bond has a value of $970.