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.

Thought about finally starting an investment account but the human interaction gets in the way?

Skip the financial advisor and get started in as little as five minutes by working with a robot.

Robo-investors are now ten years old, but their popularity exploded over the last three years. In 2015, these companies managed $47.3 billion in assets. In one year, the figure jumped to $98.5 billion. By 2022, analysts predict that algorithms will trade $460 billion in consumer assets.

What is a robo advisor, you ask? Keep reading to learn how robo advisors work and how you can use one to grow your wealth.

What Is a Robo Advisor?

A robo advisor isn’t a robot. It’s a piece of software that makes investment decisions on your behalf.

These robo advisors use a combination of artificial intelligence and your data to automatically select investments for you and make changes according to a target.

DIY investors or those without the capital to bring to a traditional firm like robo investors because they offer a fix-it-and-forget-it approach to investments. You can even set up automatic withdrawals from your bank account for as little as $5 a month.

Some Restrictions Apply

Robo advisors add ease and convenience to the process, and you might confuse it with a savings account with a little bonus.

Keep in mind that all the SEC rules apply. You’ll need to pay taxes on your investments. Withdrawals are also staggered, and your robo advisor platform will wait five days before releasing a withdrawal request.

Robo advisors may make investing simple, but you may still want an accountant to make sure you’re paying the correct returns.

How Do Robo Advisors Work?

Robo advisors take all the guesswork out of investing and instead use artificial intelligence algorithms to make informed decisions.

Each service differs in format, but most offer the same basic model. Upon setting up an account on the website, the site asks you to make several decisions like:

• Type of investment instrument
• Type of investment (stocks, bonds, combination)
• Level of aggression
• Retirement or wealth-building goals

The robo advisor then uses your profile combined with your initial and recurring investments to make decisions on your behalf.

You can check in as often as you like to monitor your progress or change your preferences. For example, Betterment allows you to choose how aggressively you’d like to invest with a sliding scale from conservative to aggressive.

The process removes human error from the process. One of the reasons you lose money as an investor is your poor behavior rather than the behavior of the market. People make emotionally-calculated decisions. The software works with more data than your mind could handle at once, particularly if you aren’t a finance whiz.

Robo Advisor Fees

Do robots take care of your finances out of the good of their mechanical hearts? No, expect to pay services fees just as you would with a living, breathing advisor.

Users like robo advisors because fees tend to be lower than finance firms.

You’ll typically start with a service fee either as a fixed cost or percentage of your account balance.

Fixed fees may range from $5 to $200 per month depending on your balance or portfolio size. The percentage ranges from .15 percent to .50 percent.

Fees are a necessary cost consideration for those who don’t intend to invest significantly. You don’t want the cost of the service to outweigh the returns on your investment.

For example, you don’t want to spend $15 on an account that only earns you $7. In these cases, you are almost better off with a traditional savings account because the pitiful interest earned adds to your balance rather than costing you cash.

Not sure what your returns will look like? Try out a service offering a free trial period to see whether you earn enough to justify the cost.

Popular Robo Advisors

You also now have 100 different robo-advisor platforms to choose from with each offering access and automation for investors of all types. The heavy hitters started as stand-alone fin-tech companies, but traditional investors got in on the action by creating robo advisor products within their investment branches.

The most prominent robo advisors currently operating include:

1. Betterment
2. Personal Capital
3. Charles Schwab Intelligent Portfolios
4. SoFi Invest Wealth
5. Wealthfront

Other groups on the horizon include:

• Ellevest
• Wealthsimple
• Vanguard
• Ameritrade

Having options means you can choose your robo advisor based on your current finances and future goals.

For example, Wealthsimple focuses on investors who want a socially responsible portfolio. Ellevest targets women specifically in an attempt to improve women’s financial resources.

You’ll also find overall investors that offer something similar to a traditional investment firm with a portfolio mix and access to financial advisors.

Things to Consider When Signing Up for a Robo Advisor?

Now that you have so many options, you can make a comparison of services to make an informed decision and maximize your benefits.

The list of factors to consider in order are:

• Portfolio type
• Commission and annual fees
• Added features
• Promotions

Choosing the right portfolio type is the first port of call. You’ll have the option of selecting between wealth accounts, money market accounts, and retirement accounts. If you’re unsure, ask your accountant or get in touch with one of the robo advisor’s financial planners.

Commission and annual fees eat into your profits, so do the math before handing over your cash.

Some of the features offered include:

• Access to financial advisors
• Free automatic re-balancing
• Comprehensive management
• Customizable motifs
• Pre-built portfolios
• Access to an advisor during portfolio building

Decide what features are most important to you and weigh them against the costs.

Finally, robo investors are hungry for your money and may offer sign-up bonuses with an initial investment or a commitment to direct debit. Don’t lead with an attractive bonus offer, but do let it be the icing on the cake.

Is a Robo Advisor Right for You?

What is a robo advisor? It’s a computer program that takes the pain and emotion of investing. In doing so, it also makes investing more accessible for those without significant savings or specialist finance knowledge.

Predictions suggest robo advisors will take over the finance world. Are they right for you? Share your thoughts in the comments below.

Ready for more tech news? Click here!

• The Goal of the Website is to Convert!

The website’s main goal is to convert and have people enlist the services of the firm. One of the most important aspects is having the contact information available as soon as a person visits the website. Another great tip is to make sure that you have a catchy domain name that makes it easy to find the site. Having the address, phone numbers, and emails at the top of the page eliminates the time a person has to search for this information. Those who have trouble finding this might just go down to the next firm in the search engine results. Another tip is to let the visitor know about the firm and team working at the firm. People don’t want to leave their money with those who are mediocre as great accountants can save people thousands of dollars in just one tax period. Pictures on the website will help humanize the firm and a meet the team page is integral in this process. A person could have the same alma mater as one of the accountants which immediately helps build trust in the team.

• Write Your Own Content

People constantly have questions about certain areas when it comes to accounting. The blog can be a great place to inform and build a reader relationship with the firm. When tax time comes around the reader is more likely going to go with the firm that informs them rather than a firm that keeps them in the dark. Building this type of readership can also boost customer loyalty as engaging with readers only strengthens a relationship. Firms that outsource their content creation might have trouble keeping the same voice from blog post to blog post. Brand voice is extremely important in creating trust between customers and a firm. If you are going to outsource your content production, outsource from one company or freelancer. This will help keep the brand voice consistent and readers will notice this believe it or not.

• Do Not Hire a Marketing Major Without Writing Experience

Many marketing “majors” have been more like event planners as this is a way many businesses like to market. Throwing events can be quite effective but not many people want to go to an accounting party. This person should have experience writing in the industry or at least maintaining a website and blog. Something as simple as answering questions on blog posts can be a huge deal so dedicating a single person to this job is important. Crowdsourcing this is possible but this spreads the blame if someone forgets to answer a comment or question. One ignored comment can alienate a current or potential customer very quickly.

• Don’t Box Yourself In

While those who work in accounting find the industry to be quite interesting, this is not the case with many in the general public. Marketing to the accounting sector is quite different so this will differ whether you are a B2B firm or B2C is the main form of revenue. In the B2B sector it is important to stress the knowledge that you have in industry terms as other accounting firms will understand this. In the B2C sector the firm can have a bit more fun and use language that is a bit more casual. Interactive content is a great way to appeal and visualize data for the normal person. Companies that have taken advantage of interactive content to visualize otherwise dry content have gotten quite a bit of traffic rather than simply posting some kind of case study.

The accounting world has quite a few great marketers but finding the right professional can be difficult. Accounting is different when it comes to marketing than many other industries. Most people only use an accountant once a year when filing their income tax so the return on one conversion can last for a lifetime. Targeting a certain demographic is important as well as not all people will use an accountant but rather will go with an easier route like an online tax filing service. Those who have investments in stocks or real estate are a perfect demographic as they will need to know deductions and tax law to properly deduct the correct amounts. People with experience marketing in the financial sector or even real estate sector will be a perfect fit. Ask for results they have produced before even considering these people as the correct fit for your firm. Market an accounting firm correctly and every season will be the busy season!

Target’s Massive Credit Card Breach

Target’s stocks dropped 3.2 percent today before the bell after they reported about 40 million credit and debit cards “might have” been stolen during the first three weeks of the holiday season.  This is the second largest card breach at a U.S. retailer.  It took place over a 19-day period that started before Thanksgiving.  They say they identified and resolved the issue on December 15th.

On Thursday, Target told customers in an alert on its website that the criminals had stolen customer names, payment card numbers, expiration dates and their CVV security codes.

Target said it had alerted authorities and financial institutions immediately after it was made aware of the unauthorized access and that it was “putting all appropriate resources behind these efforts.”

The first thing you would do if you went to Target around that time is to check your online statement to see if there is anything strange in there. Sometimes thieves sell the card numbers and it may take longer for something to happen, so just keep your head on a swivel.  It hasn’t been announced whether or not Target is issuing new cards, but this is usually the case when something like this happens.

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.

It’s 9:12pm on Monday 10.4.2010 and here are the top 5 stocks that people are searching for on Google. These stocks have the highest current search volume on Google based on velocity.

Sara Lee Corp. (Public, NYSE:SLE) – Sara Lee (SLE) shares are up $1.08 to $14.51 and implied volatility is higher following reports over the weekend that the company has rejected a takeover offer from KKR. Options volume is 29X the recent average daily and being led by buyers of Nov 15 calls. 5,575 traded (66 percent Ask). Meanwhile, implied volatility is up 24 percent to 31.5, compared to a 52-week high and low of 43.5 and 20.5 (source: WhatsTrading.com)

Coca-Cola Enterprises Inc. (Public, NYSE:CCE) – Coca-Cola Company (KO: 58.88 -0.24 -0.41%) closed the acquisition of the North American operations of Coca-Cola Enterprises Inc. (CCE: 22.01 -9.79 -30.79%) for a total consideration of $12.3 billion. (source: DailyMarkets.com)

The Mosaic Company (Public, NYSE:MOS) – The Mosaic Company has just reported strong earnings growth and frankly it helps to highlight just why BHP Billiton plc (NYSE: BHP) is willing to pay so much to acquire Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan  (NYSE: POT).  Unfortunately, the earnings cycle here is not enough to insure that a merger will occur nor is there any assurance that Potash will even get a higher price that is being sought. (source: 247WallSt.com)

American Express Company (Public, NYSE:AXP) – The Justice Department on Monday sued a trio of card payment-processing giants, alleging the way they deal with merchants violates antitrust laws.Visa Inc. and MasterCard Inc. settled the suits and agreed to change rules to let merchants offer discounts based on whether customers use cash or different cards. But American Express quickly vowed to challenge the federal suit.Amex shares slumped more than 6%, while Visa rose and MasterCard slipped less than 1%. (source: TopStockPicks.com)

Actel Corporation (Public, NASDAQ:ACTL) – Shares of Actel Coporation (ACTL) surged 32% Monday on news that chip maker Microsemi Corp. (MSCC) agreed to buy the power management components developer for about $430 million, or $20.88 a share-net to each holder in cash. (source: WallStreetPit.com)

via Google Finance

Apple’s free iPhone 4 Bumper Case program is scheduled to come to an end on September 30th. The free Bumper Case program was a result of the iPhone 4 antenna issue – otherwise known as the grip of death. This is where they iPhone 4 would lose antenna signal strength based on the way you held the device.

So in response to the grip of death issue, and as a result of heavy PR pressure, Apple decided to give away free Bumper Cases for through the Apple Retail Store to any iPhone 4 owner who wanted one.

Ironically, Apple says that the actual number of people that have come forward requesting a free Bumper Case has been minimal, at best.

Apple set aside $175 million to cover the cost of the free iPhone 4 Bumper Cases, but they don’t expect to utilize the full allocated amount.

So in turn, what might end up happening in Apple’s stock price will rise due to the amount of money left to put back into the company.

Interesting how things work out…

via AppleInsider

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.

Since Thursday of last week (July 1st, 2010), BP’s stock price is up nearly 30% on the NYSE. What are some of the factors that have driven up BP’s stock price over the past 5 trading days? It’s hard to tell exactly, but here are some thoughts on why BP’s stock price is up nearly 30% since last Thursday:

• BP CEO Tony Hayward seeks new capital investment in BP
• Oil spill seal cap is expected to be in place ahead of schedule
• Relief oil wells are going as planned

So with the outlook being as favorable as it can for BP, apparently share holders are somewhat encouraged and thus driving up the prices on BP stocks.

Unclaimed Money / Unclaimed Funds – Free Unclaimed Money Search from the Government‎, the biggest news is the estimated total amount of unclaimed money owed to the public is over $300billion. $300billion ready to give to its owner.

What is Unclaimed Money ? According to the unclaimed money page

Unclaimed funds are items such as money, stocks, or jewelry that are being held by state or federal agencies until the owners claim them.

For unclaimed property in US, Missouri state is the Largest Lost & Found and more than $30 million in Unclaimed Property and reduced the wait time for a return by 15 days. Springfield resident receives $300000 in unclaimed property, New York has $9.9 billion in unclaimed fund accounts. If you have unclaimed money, now its the rite time to find yours and claim.

Find your unclaimed money NOW!

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

NYSE:WMT – Wal Mart, The Only Dow (DJIA) Stock  That Is Down

The Dow Jones Industrial Average (INDEXDJX:.DJI) is currently soaring over at it climbs past 414 points coming into the 11:30 mark on Monday morning (see image below):

29 out of 30 Down stocks in the positive

With 29 out of the 30 Dow Jones Industrial Average stocks currently trading in the positive, that leaves only 1 stock out the 30 that is in the negative.

And on a day like today, when you are the only 1 DJIA stock that is trading down, unfortunately you get noticed and called out.

NYSE:WMT – Wal Mart Stock, Only Negative Dow Component

Sorry Wal Mart (NYSE:WMT), but when all of the other 29 Dow components are trading in the positive, and you are the only one trading in the negative, then it’s a lot like being the slowest guy on world’s fastest team – you’re going to get singled out.

However, despite Wal Mart stock trading down -0.02 (-0.04%) at 52.37, it is just barely down in the negative. And Wal Mart shares (Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.) are trading an usually high volume as we close out the morning trading session, according to Traders Huddle:

Unusual high volume detected on shares of Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (NYSE:WMT), early in the trading session. Wal-Mart is currently trading lower by 0.76%, so definitely the sellers in control, as the stock’s volume is on pace to break its average.

So with high volume, and only .04% points away from being positive, perhaps we’ll see Wal Mart come through for it’s buddies on the DOW and find a way to get into positive territory.

INDEXDJX:.DJI – Dow Jones Industrials Up 400 points & Climbing

On the heals of a nearly $1 trillion dollar bailout package to help stabilize Europe, the Dow Jones Industrial Averages have soared in early Monday morning trading, and the momentum doesn’t appear to be slowing anytime soon.

** UPDATE ** At 11:21am EST on Monday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average is now up 405 points.

Written at 11:15am EST >> With the Dow Jones Industrial Average (INDEXDJX:.DJI) up 392.84 points or 3.78% at 10,773.27, the DJIA is on track for the largest single day gain of 2010.

The Standard & Poor’s 500-share index inched back above the key 1150 level, rising 3.8% to 1153. The Nasdaq Composite gained 4%.

All but one of the Dow’s 30 components gained. General Electric climbed 6.9% to lead the measure. Boeing rose 5.9% after Goldman Sachs upgraded the stock to conviction buy from neutral, writing that Boeing “spans nearly every positive global theme that is driving outperformance in stocks today.”

Cisco Systems rose 6.3% and Caterpillar gained 6.1%.

Only Wal-Mart Stores slipped into the red, edging down 0.5%.

Within the S&P 500, the industrials and financials sectors led the gains, as investors returned to the riskier areas of the market.

The U.S. market’s climb followed strong gains in the Asian and European markets after the European Union agreed to a EUR750 billion ($954.83 billion) bailout, including EUR440 billion of loans from euro-zone governments, EUR60 billion from a European Union emergency fund and EUR250 billion from the International Monetary Fund.

[Source: MarketWatch.com]

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 Top Movers: MSON, AKRX, NTRI, OSTK, VVUS

Even though the NASDAQ closed down today, and most of the NASDAQ stocks down with it, there were some NASDAQ shares that saw huge increases today.

Let’s see if you owned any of these NASDAQ winners:

MSON – MISONIX, Inc. up over 30%

MSON (Misonix, Inc.) closed up today over 30%,+0.70 (30.57%)

NASDAQ Closing Bell – AAPL, GOOG Shares Down

The NASDAQ led the tech stocks down today as Apple and Google both closed in the negative.

Apple closed down -7.67 (-2.88%) to close at 258.68.

Google closed down -24.23 (-4.57%) to close at 506.37.

Google definitely took the bigger hit in percentage points by closing near 5%.

However, it was the NASDAQ, and the overall market itself, that led the stocks into negative territory with the NASDAQ closing down -2.98% at 2,424.25.

Here’s how the NASDAQ looked at the close:

NASDAQ:DRAD – Digirad Corporation Stock News Update

Shares DRAD (Diggirad Corporation) are currently up nearly 30% on news that broke Monday about marketing approval from the FDA for their new nuclear medicine camera called Ergo.

Digirad Corp. (NASDAQ:DRAD ), a provider of cardiovascular imaging services and solid-state nuclear medicine imaging products to physician offices, hospitals and other medical services, announced that it has received clearance from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to begin marketing its general imaging nuclear medicine camera, Ergo.

Ergo, approved under 510(k) process, has a large field-of-view of 12.25 inch by 15.5 inch. Digirad plans to ship its first production systems beginning in June of this year to a number of leading medical centers in the U.S. and abroad.

According to the company, Ergo makes it possible to “image without boundaries” for a diverse range of procedures to be performed in the nuclear department and other research areas.

The company is scheduled to release its first-quarter financial results on April 29. For 2010, the company has set a target of achieving positive earnings and generating positive cash flow in excess of $2 million. In 2009, the company earned $0.6 million or $0.03 per share on revenue of $69.6 million.

DRAD has been climbing to the top of many “top picks of the day” charts through stock tracking websites.

DRAD (Digirad Corp) is currently trading at $2.63, +0.57 (27.67%).

NYSE:GS – Goldman Sachs Ratings Unaffected By SEC Fraud Suit

The Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services, on April 19th (1 week ago today), stated that they have not changed their view regarding the credit worthiness of Goldman Sachs & Co. (NYSE:GS).  The news that the SEC has filed a law suit against Goldman Sachs claiming fraud has, at least up to this point, not affected their (Goldman’s) credit ratings.

The SEC has filed a civil complaint against Goldman Sachs alleging that in structuring and marketing a synthetic ABS CDO in 2007, Goldman Sachs failed to disclose the role that a hedge fund played in the portfolio selection process and nature of the hedge fund’s investment position with respect tot he CDO.

The Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services did, however, issue a stern warning to Goldman Sachs and investors that the fraud complaint and other recent criticisms of Goldman’s business practices could raise issues that ultimately could damage Goldman Sach’s reputation with investors, clients, creditors, and counter-parties involved with Goldman’s businesses.

As you can see in the chart below, the negative impact from the SEC fraud case filing had an immediate impact not only on Goldman Sach’s stock price, but also on the entire market as a whole.

The day that the SEC issued the news about the law suit against Goldman Sachs, the entire stock market took an immediate dive south – across all stocks and sectors.

Goldman Sachs stock price is down 11.58% over the past month(see stock graph):

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.

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.

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.

Red Hat Inc Stock Trade Alert

Even though the volume of put contracts on Red Hat were unusual today, with 16,697 puts contracts versus the ten day average volume of 1,357, the positive future outlook of open source technology cannot be disputed.

Red Hat Inc. provides open source software solutions to the enterprise, including its core enterprise operating system platform, Red Hat Enterprise Linux, its enterprise middleware platform, JBoss Enterprise Middleware, its virtualization solutions and other Red Hat enterprise technologies.

Read more about Red Hat stock at Google Finance

Searching for “investment help”

If there’s one indicator that can help you determine where things are moving in the future, then search is it.

In my opinion, search is one of the best leading indicators of “things to come”.  And when it comes to the economy, search can tell us a lot about where the health of the economy is moving.

Let’s look at the search phrase “investment help” as one of these examples.

The phrase has been picked up a lot of volume in the past three months, coming off a lull since April of 2009.

Here’s the chart for “investment help”

As you can see, the search volume since July 2009 has increased dramatically in Google.

Some things this chart tells us:

1. People are seeing the economy as turning around
2. The financial markets are becoming more stable
3. Investment in capital markets is about to increase
4. Stocks are at a huge discount
5. There is more spendable income in families
6. The job market is improving
7. Businesses are willing to invest more capital

Yeah, that sounds like a lot of assumptions based on one chart!

But again, I see search a leading indicator because it represents people’s sentiment about how things are “feeling” right now.  And based on the “now” aspect, people are starting to research “investment help” for near future decisions.

The integration of social networks throughout the web is unprecedented.  Everything on the Internet is turning to a social platform where communities come together.

And now NASDAQ, the world’s largest exchange company, has launched its own social networking site called NASDAQ Community, and it’s obviously aimed at people in the financial sector.

Check out the new NASDAQ Community

From the new NASDAQ Community page

We’re proud to launch the NASDAQ Community, with expert market commentary, analysis from some of the brightest minds in investing and social tools to help you interact with content through ratings, discussions, and personalization.

The executive vice president of NASDAQ, John Jacobs said:

“NASDAQ Community promotes market transparency and investor education through active engagement among people with shared interests – With rich content and powerful tools, NASDAQ Community empowers investors — from sophisticated to novice — and enables them to interact in a variety of ways and become better investors. NASDAQ OMX is pleased to bring more innovation and greater transparency to the markets.”

Features of the NASDAQ Community

• Create a profile and add friends
• Rate stocks and connect with other members to
• view their stock picks and interests
• gain investment insights  from industry experts
• Find the latest news and community events
• Follow favorite authors
• ask other Community members questions about financial needs

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.