Five Star Stock Watch

The stock market started off the week with a bang, just not the bang investors probably would’ve preferred. The Dow Jones Industrial Average had its first back-to-back double-digit losses since June. The Russell 2000 had a bad three-day stretch, as well. However, there are always stocks...

The S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrials are again hitting new highs. Every time a new high is hit, skepticism seems to grow. The question continues to come up: “How much higher can the stock market go?” Two or three years ago, the fear of a market peak may not have been as...

A dividend is simply the cash payment per share made by a company to its shareholders. It is usually the part of profits not reinvested in the company. Dividends are taxed as income, not capital gains. The dividend yield is the current annual dividend rate, which is determined by multiplying...

Investors may only notice a big move after it has occurred. The tendency is to then try to jump on board, only to find out that they missed the boat as the stock breaks back down. Wouldn’t it be nice to recognize a big move before it's over? That’s where basic technical...

After a nice three-week rally, the stock market has stalled for about the last week. The S&P 500 has been stuck within 10 points of 2,000, a psychologically important level. Most of the biotech industry has been doing the same. The iShares NASDAQ Biotechnology Index ETF (NASDAQ: IBB) hit a...

A lot of news has been circulating in regards to stocks that could benefit from the recent Ebola virus outbreak. Although investors might want to proceed with caution when it comes to these news-driven biotech stocks, it never hurts to review the landscape for potential opportunities. Related...

Which biotech stock has been picking up the most steam as of late? First, let’s define “as of late." After all, different time horizons would result in different leaders and laggards. And traders and investors would be looking for different things. Traders might be looking...

Short interest can be a very telling component of investor and trader sentiment toward a stock. High or rising short interest typically means that investors and traders believe a stock is going to drop or continue a current decline further. However, high short interest can also be viewed as a...

Earnings season is in full effect with some of the big hitters already hitting the tape. This last week has given us results from the likes of Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT), Google (NASDAQ: GOOGL) and Apple (NASDQ: AAPL). On Wednesday morning one of biotechs big hitters, Biogen Idec (NASDAQ: BIIB...

Janet Yellen's comments to Congress Tuesday did wonders for biotech stocks, but not in a good way. “Valuation metrics in some sectors do appear substantially stretched," said Yellen, "particularly those for smaller firms in the social media and biotechnology industries,...

The Nasdaq Composite got hammered Tuesday. The Russell was also slammed pretty hard. The Russell, in particular, broke a key trendline of support, which implies more selling to come. And if you’ve been in the market this year then Tuesday's price action reminds you of March and April...

Sometimes an “up” day isn’t just any “up” day. Not only did the stock market push higher yesterday, the S&P made a very specific, positive move in the form of a break through its 3-year channel resistance. This should lead to an increase in prices for the S&P...

Tuesday saw the market drop to the tune of almost 120 Dow points and nearly 13 S&P points. But market sell-offs aren’t always a bad thing. After all, a pullback can provide a more ideal entry on a desired stock. Thanks to the market rally over the last few weeks, a lot of stocks had...

The first quarter of the year brought with it some major selling in the momentum names, specifically in biotech stocks. Since then, the overall stock market has recovered, and so have most biotech stocks with it. Unfortunately, while the market has hit new highs, most biotechs have not. Some...

It seems as if mergers and acquisitions in the healthcare sector has become commonplace, with a lot of biotech companies being main targets. Not a week goes by without multiple discussions about the battle between Valeant Pharmaceuticals (NYSE: VRX) and Allergan(NYSE: AGN). Last week brought...