Stocks extended their losses in the final hour of trading to close near lows Thursday, after Fitch took negative action on Greece's ratings and following several disappointing economic reports.
U.S. stock index futures were trading flat in a choppy pre-market session Thursday following a report that jobless claims were unchanged last week and amid ongoing worries over the euro zone debt crisis.
I decided to seek out some excellent growth candidates by taking a look at small-cap stocks with market capitalization below $1 billion that were members of the Russell 3000 Index. I screened out stocks with price-earnings-to-growth, or PEG, ratios that were less than 1. In other words, these stocks are selling at a discount to their earnings growth and they carry zero debt.
With just six days left before Christmas, the holiday shopping season isn’t over yet, says Thomas Filandro of Susquehanna Financial Group. “I think the opportunity exists for a big surge in business,” said Filandro. “This week, including Super Saturday, could represent just 35 percent of the business, and the week after, a total 50 percent so its not over yet.”
Europe: The patient is on the table. Martin Wolff, in an editorial in the Financial Times this morning, said that euro zone officials who insisted on treaty changes that would take two years to enact before they would act decisively were akin to doctors who were treating a critically ill patient by working out an exercise program to ensure he didn't have another heart attack. It's an apt analogy.
Stocks rallied sharply Wednesday, with the Dow posting its biggest one-day point and percentage gain this year, after global central banks announced a plan to support the global financial system and a handful of better-than-expected economic reports.
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