PowerShares QQQ ETF

The last two weeks have been eventful for financial markets (SPY).

In this series, we’ll analyze the services PMIs for major developed nations including the US, France, Germany, Spain, the Eurozone, Japan, and the UK.

The big technology companies (XLK) are expected to continue dominating the markets (SPY) (QQQ) thanks to their size, innovations, acquisitions, and investments in 2017.

Apple (AAPL) announced its fiscal 3Q17 results on August 1. Apple reported revenues of $45.4 billion in fiscal 3Q17, a rise of 7% year-over-year.

Exports from Indonesia (EIDO) in June 2017 stood at $11.6 billion, a fall of 11.8% on a year-over-year basis and 19% on a month-over-month basis.

In a statement following the conclusion of its two-day monetary policy meeting, the FOMC stated that US labor market growth was solid.

Global (ACWI) recovery in 2017 has helped labor market conditions to improve across OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) nations.

The Russian ruble (ERUS) tends to move in line with crude oil prices (USO) (UCO).

The Institute of Supply Management (or ISM) New Orders Index indicates the number of new orders from customers.

Thailand’s trade balance continues to expand due to improvement in external demand and tourism in May 2017.

Several external factors are expected to impact Indonesia’s economy in 2017. The US government’s protectionist stance is expected to influence global trade.

Currently, Biogen is conducting 13 clinical studies in early phases and expects promising results from those trials.

NVIDIA recently unveiled its unveiled its next-generation Volta GPU (graphics processing unit). In this series, we’ll look at the various growth opportunities NVIDIA is looking at to tap into GPU-accelerated computing.

SPY recorded yet another lifetime high of 2,440.04 on Friday, June 2, gaining 0.96% for the week and continuing its 1.43% gain from the previous week.

In 1Q17, IBM’s GTS (global technology services) business’s revenue accounted for ~45% of its total revenue. Its performance is crucial to IBM’s overall growth.

The US economy is dealing with rising healthcare costs. The national healthcare expenditure grew 5.8% to $3.2 trillion in 2015 or $9,990 per person.

In 1Q17, Amgen’s (AMGN) Repatha witnessed quarter-over-quarter growth in sales volume of ~14% and 28% in the US and Europe, respectively.

The board overseeing Puerto Rico (PZT) (HYMB) filed for bankruptcy protection in a much-anticipated move in 2017.

Since the previous Fed meeting in March, where the Fed announced a 0.25% rate hike, equity markets (IWV) around the globe remained dovish.

The Markit Germany manufacturing PMI stood at 58.3 in March 2017 compared to 56.8 in February.

Intel (INTC) is in the midst of a major transformation, which makes Intel the top semiconductor R&D (research and development) spender in the world.

The US GDP growth outlook is near its potential at ~3%, with increased investment in infrastructure.

Oracle was trading at a forward EV-to-EBITDA multiple of ~8.3x on December 8, 2016. This metric was lower than Microsoft’s multiple of ~10.3x.

After the announcement of the US election results, the 10-Year US Breakeven Inflation Rate showed an uptick. Goldman Sachs has advised investors to go long on the rate.

Cisco’s (CSCO) wireless business’s revenues fell 2% YoY (year-over-year) in fiscal 1Q17.

On October 25, 2016, technology heavyweight Apple (AAPL) announced its fiscal 4Q16 results. It reported revenue of $46.9 billion and quarterly net income of $9 billion, with earnings per share of $1.68.

On Friday, October 14, 2016, Morgan Stanley (MS) released a list of its favorite “secular growth” stock picks. It believes these stocks have long-term growth possibilities.

The International Monetary Fund (or IMF) warned that there are three major risks to the global financial system in its latest report on global financial stability.

The relationship between the US dollar and US stock indexes can be best said to be complex. It’s mostly a change in the greenback that impacts stocks.

In this series, we’ll compare yields across various developed markets (EFA) (VEA). We’ll also look at how a steepening yield curve affects the financial sector (XLF).

Billionaire investor George Soros, who said in April 2016 that gold was the only asset that could outperform in the current market environment, is now getting out of gold.

A week before its 2Q16 results, Mondelez (MDLZ) declared a 12% increase in its quarterly dividend. It targets a dividend payout of 30% in 2016.

Last week‘s ETF fund flows showed the beginning of a remarkable shift in investor behavior and asset allocation.

Amgen’s (AMGN) bone health drugs Prolia and Xgeva earn a combined $3 billion in revenue annually.

In fiscal 1Q16, Mondelez returned a total of $1.5 billion in capital to shareholders through dividends and share repurchases.

During the 1999–2002 dot-com bubble crisis, the US 2-Year Treasury yield fell by 74%. It made a high of 6.9% in May 2000 and a low of 1.8% in September 2002.

Let’s dig into the cause of Marvell’s accounting issues, see how one thing led to another, and look at how its new management plans to untangle the chaos.

Apple’s problems in China seem to have worsened in the last few weeks.

The Channel 5 acquisition has led to Viacom (VIAB) gaining access to nearly 100% of the United Kingdom’s television audience, particularly for the Nickelodeon brand.

In the last five years, Amazon’s revenue has risen at a compound annual growth rate of 22% thanks to its flourishing e-commerce sales.

In recent years, the performance of various mutual funds and hedge funds followed by an active fund management strategy haven’t been so impressive.

Earlier in the series, we discussed Salesforce’s (CRM) fiscal 1Q17 results and the company’s growing relationship with Amazon (AMZN).

Comcast is increasingly focusing on its Business Services segment, which has three growth engines: small business, mid-sized business, and enterprise.

Time Warner stated at a Deutsche Bank (DB) investor conference early last month that it expects the number of movie screens in China to increase by about 30% in the next two years.

Studied in conjunction, stock market and economic conditions give clear indications of the business cycle phase we are in.

Historically, crude oil prices and the S&P 500 index have influenced each other.

According to Ray Dalio, the Fed needs to study the long-term debt cycle in order to understand the huge downside risks that currently face the US economy.

Previously, Facebook (FB) accounted for less bandwidth usage than it does now. This has changed with the rising use of rich media content.

Amgen expects Kyprolis to continue capturing the global multiple myeloma (or MM) market in 2016. The drug has established itself as a backbone therapy for relapsed MM.

The unemployment rate doesn’t help us gauge the extent of labor market slack. The actual employment gap that exists also consists of a slack component.