U.S. stocks surged Monday, with the Dow Jones industrial average storming to its highest level in more than 13 months as finance ministers from the Group of 20 industrialized nations pledged to continue economic stimulus measures to help the global economy.

The Dow Jones industrial average, which was well supported by strength in its all but one component, rose 203 points, or 2.0%, to a 13-month high of 10,227.  The S&P500 climbed 2.2% for its sixth straight session gain to 1093 and the tech-heavy NASDAQ gained 2.0% to close at 2154.  The market’s measure of volatility, the CBOE Vix, plunged 4.3% to 23.15.

All ten S&P500 industry groups ended in the green, led by gains in basic material shares (+3.5%) and financials (+3.5%).  Crude prices added $2.00 to close at $79.43 even as Hurricane Ida was downgraded to a tropical storm.  Gold prices went past the $1100 level, up

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For Immediate Release

Chicago, IL – November 10, 2009 – Zacks.com announces the list of stocks featured in the Analyst Blog. Every day the Zacks Equity Research analysts discuss the latest news and events impacting stocks and the financial markets. Stocks recently featured in the blog include: Freeport-McMoRan (FCX), Barrick Gold Corp. (ABX), Deutsche Telekom (DT), AT&T (T) and Verizon (VZ).

Get the most recent insight from Zacks Equity Research with the free Profit from the Pros newsletter: http://at.zacks.com/?id=5513

Here are highlights from Monday’s Analyst Blog:

No Inflation Problem

How, then, does one explain the recent move in the price of gold to over $1,100 an ounce? Historically, gold has been seen as the ultimate inflation hedge. Its rise over the past year to record nominal levels (it would have to roughly double to match its inflation-adjusted

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For Immediate Release

Chicago, IL – October 22, 2009 – Zacks.com releases the latest Zacks Industry Rank. Stocks featured in this week’s analysis include Barrick Gold (ABX), Eldorado (EGO), Goldcorp (GG), Freeport-McMoRan (FCX), Pan American Silver (PAAS), Market Vectors Gold Miners (GDX), S&P 500 SPDR (SPY) and Gold SPDR (GLD).

Zacks Industry Rank Analysis is written by Charles Rotblut, CFA, Senior Market Analyst for Zacks.com.

This week: Gold Miners’ Margin Problem

As gold sets new highs, it would only be natural to assume that profit forecasts for gold mining companies would be soaring too. Surprisingly, profit forecasts are not jumping.

Though some brokerage analysts have raised their full-year projections in recent weeks, the Zacks Consensus Estimate is not moving higher for most gold miners. Rather, it is essentially unchanged for Barrick Gold (ABX), Eldorado (EGO), Goldcorp (GG)

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A tepid report on housing starts sent stocks into a tizzy and major indexes slipped from their year highs as solid earnings reports from Apple Inc. to Caterpillar were overlooked by anxious investors.  A rebound in dollar from its 14-month lows also added to the downward pressure and hurt commodities, sending energy and material shares lower. 

Weakness in share sent Treasury prices higher, with the 10-year closing up 13/32, to 102 11/32.  The yield fell to 3.34%, from 3.39% late Monday.  On Tuesday, the 30-stock Dow Jones industrial average fell 50.71 points, or 0.50%, to 10,041.48.  The broad Standard & Poor's 500-stock index retreated 6.85 points, or 0.62%, at 1,091.06 and the tech-heavy Nasdaq composite index lost 12.85 points, or 0.59%, to 2,163.47.  Market breadth was negative.  On the New York Stock Exchange, declining shares beat those that rose in price two to one on volume of 1.24 billion

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For Immediate Release

Chicago, IL – October 21, 2009 – Zacks.com announces the list of stocks featured in the Analyst Blog. Every day the Zacks Equity Research analysts discuss the latest news and events impacting stocks and the financial markets. Stocks recently featured in the blog include: Nucor (NUE), Dow Chemical (DOW), Freeport McMoran (FCX), Mobile TeleSystems (MBT) and VimpelCom (VIP).

Get the most recent insight from Zacks Equity Research with the free Profit from the Pros newsletter: http://at.zacks.com/?id=5513

Here are highlights from Tuesday’s AnalystBlog:

Inflation? What Inflation?

On a year-over-year basis, Crude goods are down 31.5%. However, the year-over-year numbers at the Intermediate -- and especially the Crude -- levels are going to show much slower declines in the next few months.

In October of last year, Intermediate goods prices fell 4.2% while prices fo Crude

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A bit of selling pressure sent major averages lower at the end of an otherwise upbeat week on Wall Street as Bank of America and General Electric’s numbers disappointed investors.  The Dow Jones industrial average, after closing above the 10,000 mark for two successive sessions, finished just below that level.  Despite the drop, stocks managed to post impressive gains on the week even as investors grew jittery about credit losses in the financial sector. 

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) said it lost $2.2 billion during the quarter after it wrote down almost $10 billion in bad loans and General Electric’s (NYSE:GE) revenue numbers were below Street projections.  Higher loan losses aggravated investors’ concerns as Citigroup (NYSE:C) and JP Morgan (NYSE:JPM) had also reported higher loan losses during the quarter.  General Electric’s (NYSE:GE) results were impacted by lower earnings at its GE Capital unit.    

The 30-share Dow Jones industrial average fell

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U.S. stocks dropped moderately, reversing earlier gains in the final hour of trading as concern grew that efforts to lift the economy out of stagnation will be withdrawn prematurely.  Stocks got some boost following the central bank’s widely-expected decision to hold interest rates steady but the rally faded soon after as traders found few surprising revelations in the Fed statement.

Although the Fed, in its policy statement, contended that it would continue to employ a wide range of tools to stimulate the economy, investors saw little reason to rejoice, wondering if the stocks were too expensive at current levels.  The Fed reiterated that it will slow its purchase of mortgage-backed securities, signaling its confidence that an economic recovery is indeed underway.  However, there was no talk of exit strategy methods and timetables.  Nevertheless, the FOMC minutes, released at 2:15 ET, maintained the Fed's intentions to keep "exceptionally low levels

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One of the more interesting calls today comes from FBR Capital:br /div style="text-align: justify;"br /FBR is raising their tgt on span style="font-weight: bold;"Freeport-McMoRan Copper amp; Gold, Inc. (NYSE:FCX)/span to $87 from $69 and reiterating their Outperform rating on the stock.br /br /According to the firm the higher price target primarily reflects their view that FCX would raise its overall 2010 copper sales guidance by about 12% (or, approximately, a 45% increase in North America) after recent improvement in leading economic indicators for the developed economies, such as the U.S., Europe, and Japan. Furthermore, FBR believes the economics of increased production are also justified at current copper prices and with the strong outlook in 2010. Based on their revised commodity price deck and increased production estimates (2010 only), they also increase their 2009 and 2010 EPS/EBITDA estimates by about 24%/16% and 26.5%/12%. Firm recommends that investors take advantage of market volatilty ...

U.S. stocks closed lower Monday after a sharp decline in China’s main stock index reignited worries that the six-month old rally defies logic and is built mostly on hype.  Yesterday’s 6.7% plunge in Shanghai Composite Index on concerns over tightening credit in that country sent stocks in Asia sharply lower and led to further selling in Europe.  Treasuries rose as investors shunned equities and turned towards safer bets.  Oil prices declined below $70 per barrel for the first time in almost a week on concerns about China’s growth prospects. 

The 30-stock Dow Jones industrial average shed 47.92 points, or 0.50%, to close at 9,496.28.  The broad Standard & Poor's 500-stock index was down 8.31 points, or 0.81%, at 1,020.62.  The tech-heavy Nasdaq composite index lost 19.71 points, or 0.97%, to 2,009.06.  Nevertheless, the Dow managed to end August up 3.5% for its fifth monthly gain in six months while

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A sharp rebound in Chinese shares helped erase yesterday’s slump and sent Asian stocks sharply higher Thursday, a day after Shanghai’s big fall ignited fears of a Chinese stock collapse and triggered a selling spree around the world.  Asian markets also drew comfort from an overnight recovery on Wall Street after a surprise drop in U.S. crude stockpiles lifted hopes for an economic recovery and sent investors back on the buying table.

Shanghai's main index jumped 126 points, or 4.5%, to 2,911.58, while Japan's Nikkei 225 stock average climbed 179.41 points, or 1.8%, to 10,383.41.  Hong Kong's Hang Seng rose 374.63, or 2%, to 20,336.36.  South Korea’s Kospi advanced 2% to 1,576.39.

Stock futures pointed to a higher open on Wall Street Thursday.  Dow Jones industrial average futures rose 24, or 0.3%, to 9,300. Standard & Poor's 500 index futures edged up 3.70, or 0.4%, to 1,000.80, while Nasdaq

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