Why Is The Internet Such A Pain In The Behind?

Why can't we get what we want from the internet?

Three things that are frustrating:

1. Yahoo Finance - all I wanted was an orderly listing of the Dow, S&P, NASDAQ and the NYSE Composite. I have it in my portfolio watchlist, but Yahoo Finance can't seem to understand that I want those items on the sidebar when I open the Finance home page. Instead I get "Recently Viewed," which is garbage, since I seldom look at stocks on their horrifically-slow, impossible-to-navigate website. I tried to customize my view - three &*@#$%@#) times - without success. Why did Verizon buy this price of junk? And for how much? They'll need 50 coders working full time for a year to unscramble this spaghetti code. ArgHHHH!

2. Cell plans - I broke down and went with an unlimited plan via a hotspot because I'm out in the sticks where theere is no cable. It's just over $100 a month, but, the kicker is that if I wanted to add my phone, it would have cost another $20 a month. Seriously? I hardly use my phone, so I kept my super-cheap pay-as-I-go plan, which costs me about $6 a month, since I have grown increasingly reluctant to talk to anyone unless absolutely necessary. I have a flip-phone.

3. Ebay, Amazon, and other online "marketplaces" - All I want is a place where I can list my items for sale and link back to my website, which is a price guide for what I sell. I'm not trying to circumvent paying fees; I'm just trying to get more traffic. There's no way to do it, anywhere, without paying through the nose, and even then, as in eBay's unbelievable terms of service (TOS) - which runs about 90 pages (no, really) - I might be fined, listings removed and/or banned. If the internet was built primarily to LINK information in an organized fashion, why do these enormous data=hogging public companies insist on restricting user access?

It's a mess, thanks to greedy, useless, overpaid CEOs and their mindless lackeys.

Otherwise, everything is rosy. Buy stocks.

At The Close, 5/10/17:
Dow: 20,943.11, -32.67 (-0.16%)
S&P 500: 2,399.63, +2.71 (0.11%)
NASDAQ: 6,129.14, +8.56 (0.14%)
NYSE Composite: 11,598.99, +31.47 (0.27%)

Apple Tops $800 Billion Market Cap; NASDAQ Closes At All-Time High

Stocks were basically flat on Tuesday, but the NASDAQ finished at a new record high, paced, in large part by Apple (AAPL), which topped $800 billion in market cap on the day's gains.

Apple's most recent rise is likely due to two major investors, the Swiss National Bank (SNB) and Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway, which has taken a major position in the world's richest company by market cap.

That's not surprising, given Buffett's record of success over the years, though it is hardly a genius pick. After all, if Buffet knows the Swiss National Bank is one of Apple's largest shareholders and continues to buy, why not join the party?

Buffet is well-connected and pretty bright, but owning Apple is pretty much a no-brainer in these days of central bank asset boosting.

At the Close, 5/9/17:
Dow: 20,975.78, -36.50 (-0.17%)
NASDAQ: 6,120.59, +17.93 (0.29%)
S&P 500: 2,396.92, -2.46 (-0.10%)
NYSE Composite: 11,567.52, -27.74 (-0.24%)

Stocks Gain, But Nobody Should Be Surprised Thanks To The Swiss National Bank

Today's comment is going to be very brief, because, as stocks finished ever-so-slightly in positive territory (excepting the NYSE Comp.), that should not be news since central banks continue to purchase financial assets at a record pace, the latest paper-printer being the Swiss National Bank (SNB), one of Apple's (AAPL) major shareholders.

iYodelee-hoo.

At the Close, 5/8/2017:
Dow: 21,012.28, +5.34 (0.03%)
NASDAQ: 6,102.66, +1.90 (0.03%)
S&P 500: 2,399.38, +0.09 (0.00%)
NYSE Composite: 11,595.26, -20.35 (-0.18%)

Stocks Rally Friday to End Week Positively

The reaction wasn't immediate, but Wall Street eventually responded to the April non-farm payroll result, registering solid gains into the close of trading Friday.

The BLS reported a gain of 211,000 jobs for the prior month, well above estimates which called for a figure of 180,000. Coupled with the Fed keeping interest rates on hold for the time being, stocks finished the week with solid gains, marking the third straight week that stocks finished positively.

Some skepticism remained as the March payroll numbers were downgraded further, from 98,000 to a disappointing 79,000.

Still, the solid showing on Friday put all the major indices into positive territory for the week, all closing near all-time highs.

How long the love-fest with stocks can continue is anybody's guess, but it appears nobody is giving up gains at this juncture.

At The Close, 5/5/17:
Dow: 21,006.94, +55.47 (0.26%)
NASDAQ: 6,100.76, +25.42 (0.42%)
S&P 500: 2,399.29, +9.77 (0.41%)
NYSE Composite: 11,615.61, +80.90 (0.70%)


For the Week:
Dow: +66.43 (0.32%)
NASDAQ: +53.15 (0.88%)
S&P 500: +15.09 (0.63%)
NYSE Composite: +79.51 (0.69%)

FOMC Keeps Fed Funds Rate Unchanged; Stocks Look Elsewhere

As expected the FOMC of the Federal Reserve took no action on interest rates Wednesday, concluding their two-day May meeting.

The federal funds rate remained at 0.75-1.00% for now, though analysts expect the Fed to raise rates twice more this year, most likely at the June and September or December meetings.

While the Fed wants to raise rates in order to have some ammunition to stave off any chance of a recession, the thinking is somewhat backwards. One would normally raise rates in good times, to keep the economy from overheating. Increasing the cost of borrowing in a stable environment might produce exactly what the Fed is fighting - an economic downturn.

Skepticism is high over the Federal Reserve's actual control of the economy beyond their massive "investments" and liquidity injections over the past eight years since the GFC. Now that the Fed has done its job, the ECB and Bank of Japan have picked up the slack with hefty asset purchases. How these central bankers intend to wind down their bloated balance sheets without causing severe oversupply is a question that remains unanswered, thus the nervousness within what is, after all, the second-longest bull market in history.

At the end of the day, only the Dow finished positive. The other major markets were marginally on the downside.

At the close, 5/3/17:
Dow: 20,957.90, +8.01 (0.04%)
NASDAQ: 6,072.55, -22.82 (-0.37%)
S&P 500: 2,388.13, -3.04 (-0.13%)
NYSE Composite: 11,529.66, -21.64 (-0.19%)