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I’m guessing that you didn’t win the Mega Millions jackpot (But if you did…call me!)
Here are other ways for you to get the life you’ve been dreaming about over the last week!
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The Mega Millions jackpot has hit a record $640 million dollars. Here’s what to do if you win.
Fact: One of my clients hit the lottery a few years ago, so I have experience working with lottery winners.
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Looking to make a high salary?You would be smart to study STEM (Science,Technology, Engineering & Math). Here’s info on the highest earning majors and why you should pursue them, with an assist from Davita Colclough from the National Society of Black Engineers.
The Market
Well, as good as the market performed during the first round of March Money Madness, it performed almost equally as bad during the second round.
In what turned out to be the worst week of the year for two of the top benchmarks, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 1.2% and the S&P 500 fell by 0.5%.
The Nasdaq Composite Index held its ground and rose 0.4% on the week
Key Takeaways From Each Region
Technology Region
EBAY -1.59% defeats RIMM -5.01%
Last week Blackberry maker Research In Motion (RIMM), pulled off an upset by knocking off Netflix (NFLX). This week, the tables turned as it couldn’t muster enough mojo to beat eBay (EBAY). Investors seem to have reacted negatively to a report that for the first time, there were more iPhones sold in Canada (where RIMM is Headquartered) than Blackberries. RIMM apparently no longer has a home field advantage.
AAPL +1.79% defeats JDSU -2.32%
Not only did Apple (AAPL) benefit from the news that its iPhone is now beating Blackberry in Canada, there’s also evidence that Apple is invading another area that has long been a cash cow for the Blackberry: corporate users. Apple has been scoring enterprise wins recently, with even old school company Halliburton transitioning to iPhones. You know your technology is going mainstream when your grandfathers are starting to use it.
PCLN +5.85% defeats JDSU -0.54%
Online travel company Priceline.com (PCLN) may have killed off its famous pitchman in a commercial, but its growth is definitely not slowing. Priceline shares crossed the 700 barrier and during the week an analyst from Piper Jaffray released a report saying that he believes the stock may hit $1,000. Priceline continues to take market share from the other online travel sites and has the most exposure in the international markets, and international is where the growth is.
GOOG +2.81% defeats ORCL -4.00%
Even though database maker Oracle (ORCL) released its quarterly earnings report in which its third quarter net income of 62 cents per share beat analysts estimates by 8 cents, some investors began to worry that the company is starting to lose business to “cloud” based software companies like Salesforce.com. Oracle provides software that must be install on the customer’s computers. Cloud based companies deliver software via the “cloud”, meaning the applications are hosted on the web and are easier to deploy and support.
Financial Region
MS +4.10% defeats ETFC +2.08% and C +1.21 defeats WFC -1.06
Good news kept coming from financial stocks last week as Morgan Stanley (MS) announced that is was interested in purchasing Citigroup’s (C) share in the wealth management joint venture (Morgan Stanley-Smith Barney) that was hastily put together during the financial crisis. Investors cheered this news with the feeling that Morgan Stanley wouldn’t be willing to offer between $15-20 billion for the stake, if things weren’t going well for the company, and Citigroup benefits as the recipient of those funds.
GS +2.64% defeats ALL +0.52%
It looks like Goldman Sachs (GS) takes a lickin’ and keeps on tickin’! Even in the aftermath of a scathing resignation letter from one of its executives that was published in the New York Times, in which the exec alleges that other Goldman employees routinely called its clients “muppets” (because the execs could get the clients to do whatever they told them to) and continuously acted in the best interest of the firm rather than its clients….the stock still went up 2% last week. Perhaps rich people LIKE being called muppets?
Consumer Region
CROX +6.61% defeats HD +1.00%
Despite losing ground after issuing disappointing quarterly performance, guidance, and at one point dropping by 10%, shares of footwear maker Crocs (CROX) still ended the week up by more than 6%. It may have a hard time repeating this feat (no pun intended) next week as investors appear to be concerned the company may be hitting a peak after hitting a record $100 million in sales in 2011.
CMG +1.12% defeats CAG -1.44%
Apparently burritos are popular in a down economy. Mexican restaurant Chipotle Mexican Grill (CMG) continued a win streak (that started before the opening round of MMM) that has seen it’s stock price rise for an amazing 14 straight weeks. Investors are impressed with the growth that it has achieved in the Americas and are further excited about the prospects overseas as the company starts to open more stores abroad.
Industrial Region
In case you hadn’t noticed, things aren’t going so well in Europe, financially speaking. This affected ALL of the remaining stocks in the Industrial Region as NONE of them had a positive return on the week. Weak manufacturing data from Europe and China hit commodities and related firms such as Alcoa (AA) and U.S. Steel (X). In March Money Madness games where both stocks have a negative return on the week, the stock with the LEAST NEGATIVE return wins the game.
The Market
It was a great week to have the opening round of March Money Madness as the market performed very well. The S&P500 Index closed the week at 1,404, topping 1,400 for the first time since the financial crisis in 2008.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at 13,232, and is now less than 1000 points away from it’s all time closing high of 14,164 reached in 2007.
The Nasdaq Composite Index passed 3,000 for the first time since the tech bubble in 2000.
Key Takeaways From Each Region
RIMM + 5.89% defeats NFLX +.76%
It’s quite a shocker that the 16 seed, Blackberry maker Research In Motion (RIMM), knocked off Netflix (NFLX) in the first round of March Money Madness. RIMM’s stock has plummeted 75% over the past year as the popularity of its handheld devices has lost ground to the Apple iPhone. However, the stock was up almost 6% last week amid speculation that Samsung is looking to make a minority investment in the company and to develop phones based on RIM’s “BB10″ operating system.
AAPL +7.41% defeats AMZN +.4%
Apple shares rode the wave of its release of the new iPad and defeated Amazon by a wide margin. Apple shares also nudged over the 600 mark for the first time this week as the stock continues its meteoric rise.
Financial Region
In the Financial Region, it was clearly about banks versus non banks as Bank of America, JP Morgan Chase, Wells Fargo, Citigroup, Morgan Stanley & Goldman Sachs all won their match ups. Investors apparently gained more confidence in the country’s financial institutions as most of them passed the stress test from the Federal Reserve, although Citigroup shares rose despite failing the test.
ETFC +14.17% defeats BK +7.67%
ETrade was one of the non banks that was able to take out a bank this week. The company released a report highlighting that its trading activity was up 16% over the previous month. This is not surprising as investors tend to trade more when the market misdoing well.
Women have a number of unique challenges when it comes to money. Here’s how to navigate them.
Learn how Sara Blakely, the founder of shape wear company Spanx, became a Billionaire and 15 women became CEOs of Fortune 500 Companies.
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March Money Madness made it to Black Enterprise. Special thanks to Janell Hazelwood (@JPHazelwood) for covering the 2012 edition of the game. Thanks to everyone that signed up and…Good Luck!
Here’s an excerpt:
What can people learn about investing from March Money Madness?
What’s great about the competition is that you can test out your hypotheses about what makes stock prices move in the real market, and this experience can help you become a better investor.
After playing the game, players should be able to:
—Read and understand stock market information in the newspaper (USA Today, local paper, etc)
—Know where to go to find information on the market (Black Enterprise, WSJ, Barrons, Smartmoney)
—Know how to research past stock prices (Google Finance, Yahoo Finance, Morningstar)
—Understand issues that affect stock prices (revenue, earnings announcements, interest rates, unemployment reports, etc.)
—Gain a comfort level with the movement of stocks in the market (less fear of investing)
Know where to go to open an brokerage account if they want to start investing.
CLICK HERE to read more!
What stock will win the award for ‘Best Performance’ in 2011?
Did Rob have a wardrobe malfunction at the studio?
Answers to these questions and more in the Oscar edition of #MoneyMonday!
March Money Madness in the Pittsburgh Business Times!
Check out this great article from the PBT on how firms are putting March Madness to work for them. They included a lot of info on my March Money Madness Bracket Challenge…and a great picture if I do say so myself!
Sign up for the Bracket Challenge TODAY! The entry fee is only $5 and the winner will walk away with 50% of the total entry fees!
CLICK HERE to register!
From the article:
Companies are finalizing their March Madness lineups in preparation for college basketball’s NCAA Tournament tip off.
Financial adviser Rob Wilson, for example, is set to unveil an online competition, March Money Madness, on March 12.
“It works just like filling out a bracket for the NCAA tournament, only instead of using 64 college basketball teams, I use 64 stocks,” said Wilson, vice president at South Side-based Blazer Capital Management. He didn’t increase the field to 68 as the NCAA did this year because of “technology limitations.”
Participants, who register on the website, www.marchmoneymadness.net, can compete with everyone who signs…
Read more: March Madness: Firms put tournament fever to work | Pittsburgh Business Times
You’ll get a free pass on Valentine’s Day, but if you want to stay happy for the rest of the year, you’re going to have to be able to talk about money.
Here’s how to handle the three way relationship between you, your money, and your mate.