Stocks are lower as the dollar rises and Wall Street digests a week of mixed economic reports

Overseas markets declined. European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet said the ECB plans to start pulling back some of its stimulus programs as the economy begins to recover.

With little U.S. economic news to help sway the market Friday, the dollar is again pressuring stocks. A strengthening dollar drives down foreign demand for commodities, which are often traded in dollars. It also can depress U.S. exports which become more expensive as the dollar rises.

That can hurt the price of energy and materials stocks that are closely tied to commodities and companies with large operations overseas.

A disappointing earnings report from computer maker Dell Inc. is also weighing on the market. Dell said after the market closed Thursday that sales of its computers to big businesses remain sluggish. Its quarterly revenue and profit missed analysts’ expectations.

As

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Stocks are lower as an unexpected drop in home construction raised concerns about the pace of the economy’s recovery

The Commerce Department said construction of homes and apartments fell 10.6 percent in October to an annual rate of 529,000, well below the pace of 600,000 that economists polled by Thomson Reuters had predicted.

Building permits, a key indication for future activity, slid 4 percent to an annual rate of 552,000, also below the rate of 580,000 that analysts had forecast.

There was little reaction to a report that found inflation at the retail level remained tame as rising unemployment, nervous consumers and tight credit keep prices stable.

The Labor Department said consumer prices rose 0.3 percent in October, slightly above the 0.2 percent economists expected. Core inflation, which excludes volatile energy and food prices, rose 0.2 percent, compared to expectations of a 0.1 percent rise.

A report released Tuesday on prices at the wholesale

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In TV commercials and across the Internet, managers of exchange-traded funds tout the tax advantages of their products. But according to a story in the latest issue of Barronrsquo;s, many investors in precious-metals ETFs have to deal with an unwelcome surprise come April 15. The issue is that gold and silver fall under the heading of ldquo;collectiblesrdquo; in the eyes of the Internal Revenue Service, making these metals similar to artworks, antiques, vintage wine and rare baseball cards. This status means that profits from gold and silver investments do not qualify for the 15 percent maximum on long-term capital gains that pertain to stock and mutual fund investments. These profits are instead taxed at a 28 percent maximum if held for more than a year, and at ordinary income rates if held for less than a year. With the rapid appreciation of gold in recent years ndash; the current price is nearly double where it ...

Stocks rise on GE upgrade despite weak employment data

U.S. stocks rose on Friday as investors took heart after the government said monthly payroll losses slowed, even as unemployment rose above 10 percent.

General Electric Co shares jumped more than 5 percent after a brokerage upgrade, and helped lead the industrial sector higher.

The market had opened lower after data showed the unemployment rate topped the psychologically key 10 percent level and reached the highest point since April 1983.

U.S. employers cut 190,000 jobs in October and unemployment hit its highest level since 1983. Despite the disturbing headline unemployment number, payroll losses continued to decline, which some investors saw as a mild positive as the hourly work week remained static.

The Dow Jones industrial average was up 17.84 points, or 0.18 percent, at 10,023.80. The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index rose 2.30 points, or 0.22 percent, at 1,068.93. The Nasdaq Composite Index increased 7.87

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Stocks are higher on positive employment data

Encouraging news on the labor market buoyed stocks in early trading Wednesday as investors waited for the Federal Reserve to weigh in on the economy.

The ADP National Employment Report said 203,000 private sector jobs were lost in October, down from the 227,000 jobs lost in September. It was the seventh straight month of declining job losses.

That stirred hopes for a better-than-expected employment report from the Labor Department on Friday — the month’s most important piece of economic data.

Later Wednesday morning, the Institute for Supply Management will give an update on activity in the service sector. Growth in the service industry would add significant jobs to the economy.

The market’s main focus though is the Federal Reserve and what it has to say about the economy when it wraps up a two-day meeting on interest rates Wednesday afternoon.

Policy makers aren’t expected to raise the Fed’s

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Stocks are lower as a weaker U.S. dollar help lift commodity prices and Johnson & Johnson’s third-quarter sales figures disappointed investors

Stocks fell on Tuesday after disappointing quarterly sales figures from economic bellwether Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ) sparked worries about consumer spending, offsetting a lift from higher commodity prices.

The Nasdaq gave up its initial gains at the open.

The Dow Jones industrial average was down 53.66 points, or 0.54 percent, at 9,832.14. The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index was down 7.19 points, or 0.67 percent, at 1,069.00. The Nasdaq Composite Index was down 5.16 points, or 0.24 percent, at 2,133.98.

Yesterday’s Top Performing Small Cap Stock:

GWS Technologies, Inc, (OTC BB: GWSC) was a SmallCapVoice.com top performer yesterday closing up over 8% on trading volume of 19,747 shares.

GWS stands for GreenWindSolar. GWSC is a renewable energy technology company developing and marketing solar and wind-powered renewable energy products and solutions. Our

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Adobe Systems (ADBE) yesterday announced the termination of the legal waiting period mandatory under the amended Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act of 1976. The expiry of the waiting period was announced by the FTC in one of its customary listings of approved deals.   The approval is with respect to Adobe’s proposed acquisition of Omniture Inc. (OMTR) announced on Sept 15. On Sept 24, Adobe formally offered to buy Omniture through its wholly owned subsidiary, Snowbird Acquisition Corp. for $1.8 billion in cash.   Adobe’s financial advisor is Goldman Sachs Group (GS) while Omniture’s is Morgan Stanley (MS).   The grant of regulatory approval means that the two companies may now go ahead with the procedures necessary to close the deal. Omniture shareholders have until Oct 22 to approve the takeover, unless Adobe decides to extend the period.   Post acquisition, Omniture will operate as ...

A surprising decline in home sales and another sharp drop in oil prices are driving investors to sell stocks.

At midday, the Dow Jones industrials fell 46.02, or 0.5 percent, to 9,702.53. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index fell 9.32, or 0.9 percent, to 1,051.55, and the Nasdaq composite index fell 25.19, or 1.2 percent, to 2,106.23.

Today’s midday market mover is Vivakor, Inc. (OTC BB: VIVK):

Shares of VIVK are under heavy accumulation today as more than 85,000 shares have traded at midday as compared to its 10-day average of only 5,500 shares.

Vivakor an up and coming biomedical/biotechnology company with trans-disciplinary research that develops and acquires products in the fields of molecular medicine, electro-optics, biological handling and natural and formulary compounds, that extend or improve life.

The R&D Core at Vivakor (the idea hub) innovates, develops and validates biomedical devices and biotechnologies. Commercialization of Vivakor technologies is accomplished through partnerships with

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The Harry Dent exchange-traded fund from AdvisorShares is overpriced and doesn’t fit into the way most investors use ETFs, Heather. It’s also one of the more interesting ETFs to come along in a while.

We’ve covered the debut of the Dent Tactical ETF (NYSEArca: DENT) closely on IndexUniverse.com. We wrote about the launch here, and ran an in-depth interview with Harry Dent, one of the fund’s portfolio managers, here.

The idea is simple: Two well-known market forecasters, Harry Dent Jr. and Rodney Johnson, will actively manage a portfolio by “identifying, through proprietary economic and demographic analysis, the overall trend of the U.S. and global economies and how consumer spending patterns may change based on this analysis.”

That sounds like a fairly normal active strategy. What makes DENT interesting is that the two managers will implement their strategy using ETFs. DENT, in other words, is an ETF-of-ETFs.

That’s interesting because it solves one

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American International Group Inc. (AIG) has reached an agreement to sell a part of its investment advisory and asset management business to Bridge Partners, L.P. for about $500 million. Bridge Partners, LP is owned by Hong Kong-based private-equity firm Pacific Century Group. The $500 million purchase price includes a cash payment of about $300 million at closing, plus future payments consisting of a performance note and a continuing share of carried interest. The units being sold operate in 32 countries and manage about $88.7 billion of investment of institutional and retail clients. However, AIG will retain its in-house investment operation that manages approximately $480 billion of assets. Win J. Neuger will carry on as Chief Executive Officer of the new business. The existing management team will also remain in place. AIG’s financial advisor was UBS Investment Bank of UBS AG (UBS) while for Pacific ...