After an initial dip, stocks were rising yet again on Wednesday afternoon as investors took heart from a new Federal Reserve report showing forth stronger than expected industrial production data, the Associated Press reported.
In addition, news about yet another merger, with eye-care company Bausch &Lomb agreeing to be acquired by affiliates of private-equity firm Warburg Pincus for about $4.5 billion, and a strong advance for bluechip Citibank with the news that influential hedge fund manager Edward Lampert had just bought 15 million shares of that company's stock, all gave investors yet another day of reason for hope and positive thinking about the US economy.
Remarking on Lampert's exuberance over Citibank, Richard Bove, banking analyst at Punk Ziegel & Co. said, "This acquisition may raise the theoretical issue of whether Citigroup should be broken up or not to a new level."
"Sellers are coming at these levels, but they just can't push this thing down. With all this takeover and buy-out activity, all this liquidity out there, there's a lot of stock coming out of the market," says Paul Mendelsohn, chief investment strategist at Windham Financial Services.
The market actually started down on Wednesday on dismal housing market news, which was not unexpected by investors, before it took an overall upturn early in the afternoon. However, investors on Wall Street continue to focus on the good news about the market to give them reason to continue on with buying up great stocks for future growth. Yet at the same time, investors are remaining cautious about "irrational exuberance". Investors know that they want to take a balanced approach, an attitude of "romantic realism", and are analyzing every new piece of financial and economic data that is published.
"I think the market is just kind of taking a little breather from having a strong move to the upside," says Ron Kiddoo, chief investment officer at Cozad Asset Management.
In the midst of the expected news of the bursting of the housing bubble came yet another piece of good news. The Federal Reserve reported increased production from US factories, mines, and utility companies, with every indicator up for April over March, beating analysts' predictions.
"This is a clear turnaround. What is not clear, though, is whether Easter seasonals or weather effects have distorted the numbers, and whether these gains can last in the face of rapidly rising core inventory and slowing retail sales," writes Ian Shepherdson, chief U.S. economist at High Frequency Economics.
Sources:
MarketWatch
Yahoo Finance
stock promoters
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