Even though they had a good couple of years in the past, their stock revenue and value started to fall. And, that leads to the conclusion that the company is not trustworthy anymore when it comes to profit.

AMD Stock – Earnings

It’s safe to say that AMD earning for the last fourth-quarter are significantly good. Simply speaking, their share jumped by $0.01 which is quite high considering the fact that they have over a million shares. Also, the company overall revenue rose 7.4 % which is exactly $465 million. And, all that is in the last fourth-quarter.

However, that’s not the case with the first quarter of 2020. Namely, the AMD stock exchange was not that good since they expected to earn much more. AMD’s first-quarter revenue was 15.5 % lower than expected. In case you wonder how much money that is, well, it’s approximately $1.86 billion.

Now, we can see the exact number of their loss. And, it’s safe to say that it’s not looking good for the AMD company.

AMD is still profitable

Since they suffered huge loss due to their poor management, it’s certain that AMD needs to get back on the top. After all, we can all agree that this company belongs to the very top in their field.

Now, their analyst revised the whole business plan and suggested some changes. First, they increased their target price on AMD stock from $34 to $45. This move will bring them more buyers in case they start to grow, which is nearly guaranteed.

Also, it’s a good thing that this company is in safe hands since they are revised by 40 different analysts. Therefore, we can all agree that their stock revenue will rise after some time. After all, time is needed for them to get back on the horse.

For some reason, I find myself captivated as to what the most searched stocks are on Wall Street. And not only what the stocks are, but more importantly, why are they so heavily searched – what causes them to rise to the top so quickly amongst all the stocks on the NYSE and the NASDAQ.

Here are the top three stocks being searched right now according to Google Finance:

#1:  Aetna Incorporation (NYSE:AET) is currently the number one most searched stock on Wall Street.

The reason:  Aetna declared yesterday that company’s Board of Directors has agreed to increase the company’s cash dividend to shareholders and move the company to a quarterly dividend payment cycle. (source)

#2: Chart Industries, Inc. (NASDAQ:GTLS) is currently the second most searched stock on Wall Street.

The reason:  SmarTrend identified an Uptrend for Chart Industries (NASDAQ:GTLS) on September 09, 2010 at $17.00. In approximately 5 months, Chart Industries has returned 113.6% as of today’s recent price of $36.32. In the past 52 weeks, shares of Chart Industries have traded between a low of $13.85 and a high of $39.32 and are now at $36.32, which is 162% above that low price. (source)

#3: Silverleaf Resorts, Inc. (Public, NASDAQ:SVLF) comes in as the third most searched stock on Wall Street.

The reason:  The small cap stock of Silverleaf soared after the company announced that it will be acquired by SL Robert Holdings Inc., an affiliate of private equity firm Cerberus Capital Management. Under the terms of the agreement, SL Resort Holdings will acquire Silverleaffor $2.50 per share in an all cash deal. (source)

According to Google Finance, here are the top 5 stocks that were winners today, Tuesday, October 12, 2010.

1) King Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Public, NYSE:KG) – up 39.31% – King Pharmaceuticals (KG) shares are up up 39.5 percent to $14.15 on news Pfizer is taking over the company. Bloomberg had an interesting story highlighting action a couple of months ago. (source: WhatsTrading)

2)  Myriad Genetics, Inc. (Public, NASDAQ:MYGN) – up 10.28% – The increase in trading volume and price shows that investor are very optimistic regarding the stock and are expecting positive earnings in coming quarters. Intraday trading could provide healthy one day returns. (source LB News)

3)  OfficeMax Incorporated (Public, NYSE:OMX) – up 9.34% – Shares of OfficeMax (OMX) and Office Depot (ODP) are both higher this morning after JP Morgan analyst Christopher Horvers “ran the numbers” on the office supply stocks, deeming them worth much more than the stocks reflect. (source: Barrons)

4)  Green Mountain Coffee Roaster Inc. (Public, NASDAQ:GMCR) – up 7.22% – Green Mountain Coffee Roasters’ stock, which has tumbled 27% over the past two weeks following news of a Securities and Exchange Commission investigation, closed 7.2% higher Tuesday. The buying frenzy was sparked by speculation that Nestle, the world’s largest food company, was considering making a bid for the specialty coffee maker. (source:  CNNMoney)

5)  RealPage, Inc. (Public, NASDAQ:RP) – up 6.78% – no news available about RealPage, Inc.

This could be attributed to the news that Sprint has actually made an gain in the number of subscribers it added in the second quarter of 2010.

Sprint Nextel (NYSE:S) is current up +0.11 (2.38%) at 4.94.

What are some of the factors that may have contributed to this feat?

Let’s run through a few that I think are relevant:

1) Sprint had the first 4G network

Say what you will about Sprint, no one can take away the fact that they blazed a trail into the world of 4G data.

The Sprint 4G coverage map is ever expanding. And Sprint is aggressively pushing more metro areas to it’s list of 4G enabled locations.

However, all of this effort into expanding their 4G network might be trumped by a possible 4G satellite that places a cloud over the entire United States.

2) 4G enabled mobile phones

Along with being the first 4G data provider, Sprint can also claim to provide the first 4G enabled mobile phone.

The HTC EVO 4G was Sprint’s first 4G experience, and the device has captured everyone’s attention simply because… well… it was a first to the market.

3) Possible acquisition of T Mobile to become 3rd largest US carrier

Finally, I see Sprint as being a great candidate to acquire the struggling the T Mobile carrier.

T Mobile would be great acquisition for Sprint and would, in essence, make Sprint the third largest US mobile phone carrier behind AT&T and Verizon.

So what do you think?

Is Sprint gearing up to be a true, long term competitor in the mobile phone and carrier market, or will they simply be plowed over by those with more resources and exposure?

Looking at the chart for Apple shares this past reminds me of a roller coaster that I just rode at Hershey Park in PA. Massive ups and downs – sharp declines followed be even sharper inclines. There is no doubt that Apple shares have had a tumultuous week.

Even so, Apple shares (NASDAQ:AAPL) closed the week out down only 3.74% which is not much off the mark of the entire NASDAQ which closed down 3.11%.

Apple had a lot of criticism flying in its face this week over the iPhone 4 antenna and signal strength issues. It got so bad at one point that the Senator from New York, Chuck Schumer, chimed in with his own criticisms of how Apple and Steve Jobs were responding to the issue.

Read Chuck Schumer’s letter to Steve Jobs here.

I expect Apple shares to rebound this coming week due to a favorable press conference that Steve Jobs had today with the press. During the press conference, Mr. Jobs discussed the iPhone 4 antenna issues, admitted there were problems, and offered solutions to iPhone 4 customers. Ultimately, he let customers know that Apple is going to do everything they can to ensure that their customer base is 100% satisfied with the iPhone 4. And this message of clarity, direction, and leadership from Steve Jobs will probably allow Apple shares to shed some of the jitters it experienced this past week.

Here is what some analysts have to say right now about Apple shares:

Analysts try and prepare investors for the fallout from today’s call.

Analysts feedback via Business Insider.

So it’s all come to this – tomorrow morning it’s expected that the historic Wall Street reform bill will be voted on around 10:30am, and more than likely will pass.

Sen. Ben Nelson, a Nebraska Democrat was one of the Senators that was seemingly on the fence about which way he would vote on the legislation. But according to BIC, today he spoke out with this:

“Nebraska taxpayers have already been asked to bail out banks and now we must protect them from future abuses by Wall Street that cost thousands of Nebraskans and millions of Americans their jobs, savings and financial security,” Nelson said in a press release Tuesday announcing his support for the bill. “I will support the Wall Street reform bill to end bailouts, add common-sense consumer protections and make sure that Nebraska Main Street businesses are not adversely affected as we rein in recklessness on Wall Street.”

From HuffPost Hill – It’s been a little less than two years since major Wall Street banks brought the global financial system to the brink of collapse, triggering a steep economic decline and crisis-levels of unemployment. Now, the last time they did that, they wiped themselves so clean off the map that they had little clout to battle Democrats. The SEC and Glass-Steagall were the result. This time around, Congress bailed them out so they were in good enough shape to lobby against the inevitable reform effort. Still, the bill could’ve been much worse, and began improving after Goldman Sachs got itself indicted and the debate was held out in the open on the Senate floor. And the most influential (non)senator may well have beenthe labor-backed Bill Halter, whose primary challenge prodded Blanche Lincoln to slash away at Wall Street. Her derivatives package will cost major banks billions, money that will be redirected into the real economy. Not bad for a $10 million investment.
If the GOP feels like obstructing, it can stave off a vote on final passage until Saturday, but word is they have no plan to do so. The vote should go down around 10:30 a.m.

(New York Times) –  Financial markets went into a tailspin in Europe and the
United States on Friday as investors took a second look at the plan meant to end Europe’s debt crisis.

Only five days after the European Union and the International Monetary Fund approved a $957 billion package signaling a “shock and awe” commitment to head off a spread of the crisis, new worries emerged about the effect of drastic
austerity measures for the fragile European economies, the prospect of a restructuring of Greek debt, and the future of the euro.

The Standard & Poor’s 500-stock index ended the day nearly 2 percent lower, in preliminary figures, and major indexes in Europe were down 3 percent or more. The euro, which rallied sharply earlier in the week, fell below $1.24, an 18-month low.

[source New York Times]

I wrote earlier about the how the Dow Jones Industrials were continuing to gain coming into Tuesday. The overall markets are going strong into the positive territory as well.

But there are a few stocks each day that really captures people’s attention and drives to places like Google to search and get more information about these company shares.

Below are the top 3 stocks being searched on Google right now:

NASDAQ:FOSL – Fossil, Inc. (Public, NASDAQ:FOSL)

Fossil, Inc. is a global designer, marketer and distributer company that specializes in consumer fashion accessories. Its offerings include a line of men’s and women’s fashion watches and jewelry, handbags, small leather goods, belts, sunglasses, footwear, cold weather accessories and apparel.

Fossil is currently trading up +3.50 (9.24%) at 41.39.

NASDAQ:CRUS – Cirrus Logic, Inc. (Public, NASDAQ:CRUS)

Cirrus Logic, Inc. (Cirrus Logic) develops high-precision, analog and mixed-signal integrated circuits (ICs) for a range of consumer and industrial markets. The Company delivers optimized products for consumer and commercial audio, automotive entertainment and industrial applications.

Cirrus Logic is currently trading up +1.91 (15.94%) at 13.89.

NYSE:LM – Legg Mason, Inc. (Public, NYSE:LM)

Legg Mason, Inc. (Legg Mason) is a global asset management company. Acting through its subsidiaries, the Company provides investment management and related services to institutional and individual clients, Company-sponsored mutual funds and retail separately managed account programs.

Legg Mason is currently trading up +4.29 (14.32%) at 34.29.

Those are your top 3 stocks being searched on Google.

Stay tuned to this blog as I will cover the top 3 stocks that are being searched during trading hours with the goal to give you insight into what other stocks people are searching for on a comparatively high volume basis.

So what do you think?

So what it is about any one of these 3, or all 3, or these stocks that are causing people to want to search for them in Google and get more information?

Look forward to hearing your comments…

INDEXDJX:.DJI – Dow Jones Industrials Continue Climbing

The Dow Jones Industrial Average (INDEXDJX:.DJI) continues it’s climb upward as the blue chip stocks march deeper into positive territory on Tuesday.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average Tuesday is up currently by 63 points, or 0.64% at 10,854.67. The S&P 500 was gaining +8.08 (0.70%), to 1,167.81, and the Nasdaq was up by +26.90 (1.13%), or 2,402.40.

According to TheSteet.com, UBS economists Maury Harris and Drew Matus said the European Union rescue package removes a downside risk to the U.S. by stabilizing financial markets.

“Continued high levels of volatility in financial markets and tighter credit conditions throughout Europe could have reduced the willingness of firms to borrow, expand and hire, thereby short-circuiting the ongoing U.S. economic recovery,” Matus said, adding that even steep moves in the exchange rate wouldn’t have had a huge effect on U.S. growth via the trade balance.

“It is likely the main impact would have come through a reduced ‘wealth effect’ related to the equity market decline in the U.S. and the EU crisis unfolded. Providing a partial offset to this weakness would have been lower bond yields and energy prices.”

What do you think?

So what are your thoughts about the stock market today? Are we going to continue deeper into positive territory?

Or can we expect a pull back by the end of the day?

So if you had to realistically predict the future, which they attempt to do on Wall Street each and every day, then you’d need tools in place that helped you accurately predict, calculate, and gauge future decisions and actions.

Welcome the Google search engine!

Google’s search engine can be looked at as the ultimate leading indicator. People are trending in searches based on what’s happening right now, not what might happen a few months from now. So mining the search data can really give you some fascinating insights into the future.

Google Can Predict The Unemployment Rate

One very cool way that people are figuring out with Google is how to do things like predict the unemployment rate.

According to Forbes.com, two researchers think that it has another benefit: the ability to predict the future.

Based on weekly reports of web searches, Francesco D’Amuri from the University of Essex and the Bank of Italy and Juri Marcucci from the Bank of Italy argue that the rate of Google searches for the keyword ‘jobs’ serves as a better leading indicator of the U.S. unemployment rate than traditional methods. Any change in the rate of searches for jobs correlates with up and down movements in the unemployment rate, the professors found. By incorporating Google searches into forecasting models, the researchers were able to outperform predictions conducted by the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia.

How could this affect your wallet? U.S. stocks generally rise and fall on unemployment numbers, meaning that Google may offer sophisticated traders an informational advantage over the competition. For example, a person who accurately predicts that the unemployment rate is falling will be in a position to snag cyclical companies like Best Buy before other investors know that consumers may be more willing to spend money on discretionary items like TVs or iPads.

Source: Forbes.com

Wall Street – DOW Closes Down Triple Digits For The Week (INDEXDJX:.DJI)

DJIA Closes at 10,380.06, -140.26 (-1.33%) for the week

No sooner did President Barack Obama finish his speech about how he is directly responsible for the strong jobs numbers did the stock market begin it’s rebound from yesterday’s dramatic fall from grace.  Even though yesterday we saw a drop on Wall Street, so sudden and dramatic, unlike anything that has possibly been seen before in history – the stock market has actually found a way to only end down currently 166 points or less than 2% for the week.

To experience what happened yesterday in the stock market, and for the Dow Jones Industrial Averages to finish the week out less than 2% is something that I would call pretty good – and perhaps even “dodging a bullet” would be more appropriate.

Right now the DJIA (INDEXDJX:.DJI) is trading at 10,354.21 – this is sharply lower than the recent high of when the DOW hit 11,000. However, it is up from earlier today when the markets first opened. And even though there was improving US job market forecasts and payrolls expanded by 290,000 in the month of April – which is the best month since March 2006 – the market still looks like it will end up closing down for the week in triple digits.

Stock Market Today, Dow Jones Industrials Down Triple Digits Again (Video)

Major U.S. stocks indices were each trading more than 1% lower Friday as investors showed caution near the end of a particularly volatile trading week that saw global markets unsettled by Europe’s debt problems.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average was once again down by triple digits, losing 145 points, or 1.4%, to 10,376. The S&P 500 was lower by 18 points, or 1.6%, at 1111, and the Nasdaq was off by 51 points, or 2.2%, at 2268.

Adding to the sense of uncertainty on Friday, a bomb scare shut down Times Square in the afternoon but the suspicious package turned out to be a lunchbox filled with water bottles, according to CNBC.

“Markets have had a tremendous run-up since 2009, so some correction was expected. But corrections usually take place over weeks or months — not 30 minutes! That’s very frightening for investors. People don’t like to see so much volatility,” said Andrew Neale, partner and head of wealth management at Fogel Neale Partners. “I think there’s a high probability that that we could go a little lower and that volatility will continue until we find a level that people are comfortable with.”

Friday’s session has been particularly rocky with the Dow dropping more than 200 points before trading briefly in positive territory.

“The market is ignoring the cyclical power of the recovery,” said Federated Chief Equity Market Strategist Phil Orlando, adding that the fundamentals of Friday morning’s April jobs report were “off-the-charts phenomenal” but that markets were having a hard time getting past Europe.

“The fear is that since the (European Central Bank) has done nothing, the sovereign debt crisis in Greece will metastasize and jump the pond. There’s a lot of concern about Europe going into the weekend with all these meetings coming up,” Orlando said. “Anything can happen in the next couple of days, so no one wants to be long going into the weekend.”

Dow Jones Industrial Average, Stock Market Plunges Today

The Dow Jones Industrial Average (INDEXDJX:.DJI) took a serious hit today plunging 1000 points before bouncing back. I just wrote about how Apple stock plunged today right along with the rest of the NASDAQ.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) plunged more than 9%, and the S&P 500 Index (SPX) and the Nasdaq Composite (COMP) both were down more than 6% in intraday trading, according to SchaeffersResearch.com.

What’s more, the SPX even briefly dropped below its 200-day moving average, a long-term trendline that was widely considered a bull/bear market demarcation back in March 2009. Some post-plunge speculation indicates that a bad “tick” for Procter & Gamble Co. (PG), which placed the stock’s session low near $39.37 per share, may have sparked the worst of the day’s selling pressure. At last check, the DJIA was off 2.97% at 10,545, the SPX was down 2.94% at 1,130.82, and the COMP had lost 2.86% to trade at 2,334.91.

According to the NYTimes.com,The market decline on Thursday turned into a freefall, with major indexes tumbling as much as 8 percent in afternoon trading. The euro declined more than 2 percent. In afternoon trading, the Dow Jones industrial average was down 8.8 percent, or 996 points, at one point. The Standard & Poor’s 500-stock index was down 90 points or 7.73 percent, and the Nasdaq was down 175 points, or 7.2 percent.

NASDAQ:AAPL – Apple Stock Prices Plunge With NASDAQ

The overall markets today have taken a beating and have plunged nearly 5% throughout the trading day. The NASDAQ is currently down 4.54% at 2,293.26, the DOW is down -4.15% at 10,416.71.

So right along with the NASDAQ plunging, Apple shares (NASDAQ:AAPL) are taking their share of the beating as well despite strong iPad sales on both the WiFi version and the new iPad 3G.

Apple shares are currently down almost 5% as well (-4.55%) trading at $243.74 which is a 12 point decrease for the day.

Jim Cramer says “buy, buy, buy!”

The illustrious stock commentator Jim Cramer of Madd Money believes that Apple is a “Buy, Buy, Buy!”

I’ve asked the question before, do you think that Apple shares are heading to $400?

In my opinion, I think that $400 within the next 12 months is easily achievable for Apple. After all, we just had the launch of the iPad WiFi and the iPad 3G here in the United States. But on May 10th (Monday) the iPad will launch to the rest of the world.

Also we have potential upcoming announcements of the new iPhone 4G, and more than likely announcements of the iPhone being sold on other carriers such as Verizon.

And don’t forget about iAd – Apple’s mobile advertising platform.  It is believed by some analysts that iAd revenue could potentially reach an annual run-rate of $800 million in revenue by the end of fiscal 2010.

So I think that Jim Cramer is looking at it this way – the stock is down along with the rest of the market. And with the share prices dropping below $250, Apple is a certain buy for long term investors.

What do you think?

Do you see Apple as a buy at the current price of below $250?

Do you think Apple will climb to as high as $400 within the next 12 months?

NASDAQ:AAPL – As The Market Goes, So Goes Apple Shares

Some people might argue with me that Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) stock prices are immune to fluctuations on the overall market (NASDAQ). This argument stems from the  fact that Apple stock prices have recently hit all time highs, and also that Apple (Steve Jobs) has promised more amazing product releases – even beyond the iPad.

However, today will prove this assumption – that Apple stock prices are exempt from market fluctuations – false.

All of the major indexes are down currently – here’s where they’re at:

Notice the bottom line is Apple (AAPL) – also down 3%.

So as you can see, and for those of you who believe that Apple stock prices are immune to the market, your theory just doesn’t hold.

Upcoming Apple News

Some of the more prominent events coming up for Apple are:

1. WWDC2010 (Apple’s developers conference) on June 7th
2. Rumors that iPhone 4G will be announced at WWDC
3. Also rumors that Apple will expand iPhone to other mobile phone carriers like Verizon.

Although the iPhone and mobile phone carrier expansion rumors are just that – rumors, it does seem logical especially since Steve Jobs has been quotes as saying that Apple has some amazing product launches coming in the near future – beyond just the iPad.

So what do you think?

Do you think that Apple stock prices are immune from overall market fluctuations?

NASDAQ:GOOG – Google Stock Gets Upgraded

Although yesterday seemed like nothing good was happening with Goldman Sachs, we can’t say that all was bad… Golman Sachs kept Google (NASDAQ:GOOG) on it’s buy list.

The outlook on the economy is starting to appear a bit more favored, and this will inevitably bring in more businesses who are willing to spend more money with online advertising, and more specifically with Google Adwords pay per click marketing platform.

Google’s stock price has had a difficult time since Thursday when CEO Eric Schmidt issued their 1st quarter revenue numbers. Although the number exceeded analyst expectations, it wasn’t good enough to prevent a sell off of the Google shares.

Goldman believes that Google’s 1st quarter “results showed the strength and pro-cyclicality of its franchise as US revenue accelerated to up 22% yoy from up 11%yoy in 4Q, driving total revenue up 22% year over year from up 16% year over year.”

Goldman increased the price target on Google by $10 to $680. That’s a 23.6% gain over Friday’s closing price.

Canaccord Adams maintained its Buy rating on Google and set a $700 price target due to increased strength in the advertising market.

Citi reaffirmed its Buy rating but has a target price of just $640 on Google’s shares. “Q1 results beat consensus estimates, but came in shy (again) of high-end expectations. Overall results were generally in-line with our estimates. We believe GOOG shares have material valuation support here.”

The global stock markets took a nose dive on Friday after U.S. regulators (the SEC) charged Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (Public, NYSE:GS) with fraud related to subprime mortgages.

The Goldman Sachs news hit Wall Street at around 10:34 this morning. And no sooner did the shocking news hit the street, did the investors start ejecting from the Goldman Sachs portfolio of stocks.

The news, and sudden sell off, was abrupt and dramatic for Goldman Sachs, but it didn’t stop there. In fact, we can’t even truly say that it stopped just with the United States stock market because every stock market exchange in the world was rocked by the Goldman Sachs news.

Goldman Sachs stock price

Below is an image of how the markets responded to the Goldman Sachs fraud news, and also how Goldman Sachs themselves reacted as well.

NASDAQ:GOOG – Google Stock News

Executive at Google China leaves for Baidu

Today,  a Google (NASDAQ:GOOG) executive in China has left the company to take a position at the “China domestic” rival search engine Baidu Inc. (Public,NASDAQ:BIDU), according to the Financial Times website on Friday.

Baidu said Wang Jing had joined the search engine as a vice president in charge of engineering, however, Google is claiming that Wang quit his position as engineering director earlier this month.

It is the first known move by a senior Google employee to Baidu since the U.S.-based company’s March 23 decision to shift Chinese search functions to its Hong Kong Web site, where it isn’t required to self-censor results. Baidu is the No. 1 search provider in China.

Google stock price has been getting hammered since yesterday when Google announced their quarterly earnings. Despite coming in ahead of analyst estimates, Google stock (NASDAQ:GOOG) is down nearly 8% right now in after hours trading.

NYSE:DB – Deutsche Bank Stocks Slump After Sachs, SEC

April 16 (Bloomberg) — Deutsche Bank AG fell the most since July, leading European financial stocks lower, after Goldman Sachs Group Inc. was sued by U.S. regulators for fraud tied to packaging and selling collateralized debt obligations.

Deutsche Bank (NYSE:DB) declined 4.39 euros, or 7.3% in Frankfurt trading, hile Switzerland’s UBS AG declined 2.8 percent and BNP Paribas SA of France retreated 3.8 percent. The 52-member Bloomberg Europe Banks and Financial Services Index fell 2.6 percent, the biggest drop in two months.

All of these declines within the financial sector are being directly impacted by the SEC suing Goldman Sachs for fraud.

At around 10:30 this morning, news hit Wall Street that Goldman Sachs was being sued by the SEC for fraud.

This news sent the market into a dramatic decline as investor’s confidence immediately tanked.

NASDAQ:PFWD – Phase Forward Stock Price +3.72 (28.44%)

Phase Forward Inc. (NASDAQ:PFWD) shares have rocketed ahead over 28% in Friday morning’s session on the NASDAQ.

The surge in Phase Forward stock price can be attributed to the new that the company is about to be acquired by enterprise software developer Oracle Corp (NASDAQ:ORCL).

From DailyMarkets.com:

PFWD shares, which closed Thursday’s regular trading at $13.08, touched a pre-market high of $16.90 on Friday. Upon opening for regular trade, the stock jumped to $16.86, the highest the stock has reached in the year-to-date period, and is retaining the same levels. Stock volume has increased to 23.35 million, compared to the three-month average volume of 666 thousand.

Read more at DailyMarkets.com

One of the advantages that Facebook has in being a privately held company is that they have the luxury of dictating employees from selling off shares of stock. And that’s exactly what Facebook did today.

Facebook has banned employees from selling stock on the secondary market outside specific trading windows opened by the company, in a move that comes as demand for shares of the private company continues to surge.

According to the Financial Times website, the new policy at Facebook is aimed at preventing legal messes that might ensue if a private deal went awry, according to a person close to the matter.

“Facebook has implemented an insider trading policy to better comply with insider trading laws and to protect the interests of the company and its employees and shareholders,” a Facebook representative said.

Looking at the graph below, it is clear that Apple is beating out Google in the stock market by a fairly wide margin.

So far year to date, Apple’s stock is up 10%, while Google’s is down 10%.

Apple Stock Chart / Google Stock Chart (via Google Finance)

The major event coming up for Apple is the release of the iPad, which some believe to be the main factor as to why Apple’s stock is trading at a a 52 week high.

But what about Google being down 10%?  Most people would attribute that to the economy since 99% of Google’s revenue comes from advertisers via the Google Adwords platform.  When revenue drops, one of the first areas that businesses will pull back on is the advertising budget.

Here’s the chart from Business Insider comparing Apple and Google stock:

What do you think?

Do you agree that the upward pressure on Apple’s stock is due to the upcoming iPad release?

Some people are also speculating that a new version of the iPhone is coming this summer, and that is contributing to Apple’s increasing stock price.

And what about Google?

Do you think their stock price is being affected by the economy, and the fact that businesses don’t have the budget to advertise?

Bakers Footwear Group Inc. (NASDAQ: BKRS) up over 71% on 2.3% comps in 4th quarter.

EPS of $0.73, versus $0.07 reported for the same period a year ago. Revenue for the quarter was $57.6 million, compared to $55.5 million in Q408. Comps up 2.3%.

Bakers Footwear Group, Inc. is a national, mall-based, specialty retailer of distinctive footwear and accessories for young women. The Company’s merchandise includes private label and national brand dress, casual and sport shoes, boots, sandals and accessories. The Company currently operates 239 stores nationwide. Bakers’ stores focus on women between the ages of 16 and 35. Wild Pair stores offer fashion-forward footwear to both women and men between the ages of 17 and 29.

Best Buy Stock Outperforms – Consumer Electronics is Thriving – Up 37% in fourth quarter of 2009.

Perhaps it’s because of the drop in prices for flat screen, high definition televisions; or maybe even it’s because of the insatiable thirst for cell phones; but one thing is for certain – Best Buy’s business outlook is looking better than it has in a very long time.

Best Buy (NYSE:BBY) beat Wall Street’s forecast for profit and sales in its holiday quarter and forecast stronger-than-expected earnings in the current year, sending shares up 7.7 percent.

One of Best Buy’s stiffest competitors, Circuit City, had filed bankruptcy last year and closed all of it’s retail locations.  This move made it the first year where Best Buy did not have Circuit City competing for its holiday traffic and sales.

This sale will ultimately cut the founders voting power in the Google from 50% to 48%.  Is this decision telling us something about the long term outlook for Google?  Or are the founders ready to cash in and relinquish some voting power, in exchange for lots of cash?  [source: MarketWatch.com]

And over time, this data can show trends as to how the nation as a whole (the United States for example) is feeling emotionally.

That’s exactly what Facebook data scientist with what they call The United States Gross National Happiness Index.   This is a project started by data scientists at Facebook to measure the overall mood of people from the United States on Facebook, based on the sentiment expressed in status updates.

Facebook’s blog posting indicates “the result was an index that measures how happy people on Facebook are from day-to-day by looking at the number of positive and negative words they’re using when updating their status. When people in their status updates use more positive words—or fewer negative words—then that day as a whole is counted as happier than usual.”

You can view the entire graph here.  The graph clearly shows you things like what days people were the happiest (Christmas, New Years, Thanksgiving) and also some of the saddest days (June 25, 2009 which is the day Michael Jackson died, and January 22, 2008 which was the day the Asian Stock Market crashed and also the day Heath Ledgers died).

One trend that I noticed almost immediately is that the graph has a consistent slope of up and down, looking a lot like a heart beat monitor that shows a very consistent heart beat.  From the graph I saw that the ups and downs seemed to be consistent over time.

And what this “up and down” slope represents, ironically, is the days of the week.   Here’s a picture of what I mean:

This is funny and ironic more than anything.  But it totally makes since how in the United States, Monday’s are the lowest days from a happiness stand point, and Saturday’s are the happiest days.

People hate having to go to work on Mondays, and love it when they have the a day off to do whatever they want, which obviously peaks on Saturday.

So this graph, and study, from Facebook is really cool and definitely worth checking out.

No one can deny the volatility in the stock market.

And after some modest gains in the market over the past month of so, today the dow plunged and hit bottom at -203 points.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 203 points, or 2.1 percent — it’s worst decline since July 2, which was before the summer rally began. The S&P 500 fell 2.6 percent and the Nasdaq dropped 3.1 percent.

And what’s the likely culprit for this loss in the stock market today?  I can sum it all up in one word:  JOBS

The market could obviously care less that housing and construction has posted somewhat encouraging gains.  And also the market could care less that pending home sales jumped 6.4 percent in August, the seventh straight month of gains.

None of that matters when compared to the all mighty job market in the US.

September jobs report is due out tomorrow before the bell, so I’m going to make it a point to post an update right here on the market’s reaction to these jobless claims and jobs numbers.