Stock prices in New York skyrocketed this week and U.S. stock indexes are now about 20% higher than when the market hit bottom on March 9. Unprecedented measures to expand credit are one cause of this powerful recovery. The Fed is buying long-term Treasury bonds, increasing purchases of asset-backed securities and other credit instruments, and taking other actions. Investors were also happy to hear the U.S. government’s plan to buy as much as $1 trillion of toxic assets.

There are three key aspects of this plan: (1) the participation of private-sector investors with the backing of Fed loans will provide more funds to buy these assets; (2) the government (using the FDIC and bailout fund under the Economic Stabilization Act) will cover losses; and (3) prices will be determined by auctions. Since the government has limited the downside risk, many private-sector investors are likely to purchase toxic assets.

This massive program to …

By Jennifer Yousfi Managing Editor Just days after a key U.S. stocks index posted its worst month since the Great Depression, three global investment banks are predicting the biggest second-half rally in more than 25 years. Market strategists at Deutsche Bank AG (DB), Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. (LEH) and UBS AG (UBS) are predicting that the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index will soar 25% to 29% in the last six months of the year - making for the biggest rebound in that closely watched index of U.S. stocks since 1982, when Ronald Reagan was in the White House. Deutsche Bank Chief Strategist Binky Chada is the most bullish of the lot, betting the S&P 500 will rocket 29% in the year’s second half, to close at 1,650 before January. Lehman Chief Global Strategist Ian Scott is calling for ...

Ctrip.com (CTRP) is an interesting thesis right here - one could make an arguement that as China slows so will travel, but it is all relative ("slowing" in China is a very different proposition than the US - i.e. GDP dropping from 12% growth to 6% growth would seem like a recession for them, while in the US we would dream for 6% growth). That said a major risk would be the post Olympics removal of energy subsidies which would put a serious crimp in the growth story there. We shall see how it plays out. All I know is for nearly 5 years, when I buy Ctrip.com on dips I am always rewarded over time - even though it is ALWAYS expensive on a P/E basis. Much like the DryShips purchase I don't expect any huge rebound anytime soon, and thus I am (as always) ...

I really like Chinese gaming company Perfect World (PWRD) from a fundamental perspective; after selling off from its guidance after a very good earnings report [May 19: Perfect World - Good Earnings, Light Guidance - Buying the Dip] the stock spent a few days in purgatory before making a nice rebound. However, at this point technically we have some technical resistance ahead, both the 50 and 200 day moving averages lie ahead; the 50 day in the $26s and the 200 day around $27. Honestly this is as perfect of a setup as you could ask for from a technical perspective. Sell now right below resistance areas, and rebuy either (a) on a move over $27 or (b) on a pullback. So I'm executing the first part of that strategy (sell) here around $26.20... then for the second part (buy back), if the stock ...

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