mckeough

Watch Pat McKeough’s June 20 interview on the Business News Network “Market Call” program with Michael Hainsworth. Click on: http://watch.bnn.ca/market-call/june-2008/market-call-june-20-2008/#clip61441 to see the interview. Or, go to www.bnn.ca and you’ll find the link on the lower right side of the page....

Watch Pat McKeough’s June 20 interview on the Business News Network “Market Call” program with Michael Hainsworth. Click on: http://watch.bnn.ca/market-call/june-2008/market-call-june-20-2008/#clip61441 to see the interview. Or, go to www.bnn.ca and you’ll find the link on the lower right side of the page....

The market downturn that began last month looks like a correction, rather than a bear market. It’s a crucial difference. A correction may last three to six months and shave 5% to 15% off the market. A bear market can last for years, and the toll on the market can run much deeper. This downturn has already knocked 6% or so off the Dow and S&P 500. So, though it’s doubtful that prices have already hit bottom, that is a possibility. My best guess is that the correction will run through this fall’s mid-term Congressional election. The market often presents a particularly attractive buying opportunity around the time of the mid-term election, and it may do so this year....

Widely predicted financial calamities rarely do much harm to the market or economy. Even if the facts are correct, the calamity never materializes since the predictions give investors and businesses plenty of warning. The best recent example was the late-1990s Y2K scare. It predicted a rash of computer failures for the start of the year 2000, since computers couldn’t distinguish 1900 from 2000. Nothing much came of it. We could soon see a widely predicted calamity that turns out to be a blessing in disguise. I’m talking about the hoards of U.S. dollars that are building up overseas....

We created our Wall Street Stock Forecaster Hotline to keep you up-to-date on our recommendations, and tell you when they change. Now we’ve made our Hotlines available to you on the Internet, so you’ll never need to worry about missing a Hotline. As a subscriber, you can receive our Wall Street Stock Forecaster Hotline every week (44 or more times per year) by phone or email....

I still haven’t come across anything to beat FAIR ISAAC INC. $44 (New York symbol FIC; WSSF Rating: Average), our “Stock of the Year” for aggressive investors in 2005. So for now, we’ll let Fair Isaac hang on to the Stock of the Year title for 2006. Our Stocks of the Year, particularly Symantec (Nasdaq symbol SYMC) from 2000-2003 and Autodesk (Nasdaq symbol ADSK) in 2004, have produced great gains for us, averaging 61.6% in the past five years. This record may lead some readers to overindulge in our choice for 2006. Unfortunately, in the stock market, nobody gets it right every time. Our most widely followed stock of the year may turn out to be the one that disappoints....