NOTE TO EDITORS: The Following Is an Investment Opinion Being Issued by Benchmark Journal.

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Is The Time Finally Right For National Health Reform?

At a time of a deepening recession and rising unemployment, the Obama administration's success or failure in reviving the ailing health-care system will impact workers and families, businesses and governments of all sizes, as well as investors.

Time to think big about small-cap companies.

Filed under: Hewlett-Packard (HPQ), Pfizer (PFE), Coca-Cola (KO), McDonald's (MCD), International Business Machines (IBM), Johnson and Johnson (JNJ), Abbott Laboratories (ABT), Baxter Intl (BAX), Chevron Corp (CVX), Colgate-Palmolive (CL), General Mills (GIS), NIKE, Inc'B' (NKE), Kraft Foods'A' (KFT), Wells Fargo (WFC), Comfort Zone Investing

Ted Allrich is the founder of The Online Investor and author of the book: Comfort Zone Investing: Build Wealth and Sleep Well at Night. In this weekly column, he'll offer advice to investors who are just getting started.

For a better investing year in 2009, think about championship basketball. Winners at every level have one thing in common: defense. It's defense that wins rings. And this year, in the stock market, defense will keep you alive. It will be the kind of year where making a little money makes you a winner. Think defensively until there are clear signs that the economy is improving.

First, keep your expectations low. No one knows when the current economic cycle will end and begin to heal. What we do know is that all indicators keep going lower: housing starts, employment, consumer spending, housing prices. While the market discounts good news well in advance (some 6 to 9 months ahead of the real numbers), there's no indication from any front that better days are ahead. We know the new administration will spend money to create jobs so more spending power will be in the economy. We know there will most likely be tax breaks for companies to encourage production and hiring. But none of that is in place. Investors have to wait and see how and if these develop and what effect they will have on the economy and on stocks. It might take all year. Or longer. If it does, the stock market won't be doing too much.

Continue reading Comfort Zone Investing: Six smart ideas for stocks in 2009

Comfort Zone Investing: Six smart ideas for stocks in 2009 originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Sat, 27 Dec 2008 10:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Elliott Gue, editor of Personal Finance, says health care companies have predictable earnings, making them ideal stocks to own now.

With another month of market turmoil coming to an end I thought I would take a few moments to give readers a look into what I've been up to in the month of November with my two portfolios. Yield, yield and more yield was one major theme for the month as stock prices came down even further than I expected them to after a horrible September and disastrous October in equity markets. What's become immediately apparent to me while watching the markets the past few months has been the glaring distance of spreads between the bid & ask prices for equities. Investors looking for immediate liquidity have been more than happy to unload their shares at very attractive valuations for the long-term investor. Opportunities have been surprisingly swift; especially in the preferred share market with valuations of highly regarded issues yielding at times well above historical spreads. While an income investor won't want to overload their portfolio with preferred shares[More...]

There were several stocks that had some major dividend increases over the past week. Other stocks like General Electric didn't deliver such exciting news but reaffirmed their current dividend rates to shareholders.

Last week the markets continued their roller coaster ride, sending most investors accounts to new five year lows. On Thursday the S&P 500 broke through its October lows and reached its lowest level since 2003, before recovering the very same day. There were still several stocks had some major dividend increases over the past week. Other stocks like General Electric (GE) didn’t deliver such exciting news but reaffirmed their current dividend rates to shareholders. Automatic Data Processing (ADP), announced that its Board has approved a 13.00% increase in its quarterly dividend from $0.29[More...]

Schaeffer's Colleen S. King takes a look at activity on the Street after the market close

Wall Street Greek with some great commentary today, enjoy Masters --

The market is stabilized, and for good reason. The significance of recent Fed action has been digested, and is now better understood, while fiscal stimulus is on the way. Today, data showed unemployment claims moderate and housing inventories on the downtrend. Oh, and also, after January's double-digit slide, valuations are in bargain territory for many coveted names.

Economic Data & Analysis

Initial weekly jobless claims came in at 301K for the week ended January 19, one thousand lower than last week's revised figure. The past two weeks' reports are really bringing into question just how bad things are in corporate America, and they don't look bad at all based on these figures alone. But, two weeks does not economic growth make. The level of ongoing claimants remains high, but insured unemployment decreased to 2.0% (seasonally adjusted) for the week ended January 12, down from 2.1% in the prior week. Michigan continues to lead all states at 5.1%, and guess what, Ford (NYSE: F) just announced plans for new layoffs today. PA finished third in insured unemployment, and New Jersey was not far behind. Newly discharged veterans rose 6.6% in the last week measured (Jan. 5), so John Edwards may have good reason in bringing the topic to the fore. Still, The Greek views Edwards as perhaps the most threatening candidate to the market.

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The 300K range of weekly claims is not one that should concern economists, but does it perhaps reflect a period of lull before the storm... Retailers post their results later than the rest of the corporate world, due to the seasonal importance of December and January. Many of these firms are just coming to grips with the reality of a poor holiday shopping season, a weak January and likely ongoing weakness in '08. The market has been moving money back into retail shares, and I was probably too early to condemn that. The same driver behind retail rise is behind the financial sector move, partly, and the market is dynamic and is factoring in the likely tax rebate the government is rumored to be near consensus on.

Retail/Restaurant/Consumer Discretionary Sector Woes Ahead

So, retailers get the near-term lift. But, I believe that the group differs somewhat from the already destroyed financial sector. The retail space has more tough times ahead and more realities to face. When these companies start to report results, as dour as they will be, they will also report very conservative if not concerning forward outlooks. They will likely begin to announce layoffs, store closures and other financial restructurings. This will start a second leg lower for the retail and consumer discretionary space, in our view, despite fiscal stimulus.

Depends on the Form of Stimulus

One check for $300 should boost a quarter's worth of results; an $800 check does a heck of a lot more. The government, rather the Administration and Republican contingent wants help for corporate America too. This might lead it to concede a bit of the payback to individuals, reducing it to the $300 level. The Greek, showing again our independent unadulterated view, is presenting the thesis that both are important and that offering small pieces to each ends up ineffective. It's the poor of America who need aid most now, but keeping others from joining the poor class is just as important.

The Administration's thinking may be that they could help stave off future layoffs by offering businesses some form of aid. We need both these pills folks. I say find ways to cut costs in government spending. Give Americans their $800 check and offer American companies their aid as well. Idealism? No! Find a way.

Existing Home Sales December

This is a non-starter at this point. It's simply not a catalyst anymore, as everyone knows housing sucks and is getting worse. Most even understand that the bottom may be near, as rates drop and inventories top out. Prices still have a ways to go before stabilizing, but the drivers behind price stability are moving in the right direction; well, some of them anyway. Economic recession would clearly not help.

Existing home sales dropped 2.2% in December to an annual run rate of 4.89 million units, short of economists' consensus. We say it's not a catalyst at this point, but it perhaps served as a reminder to the market that while help is on the way, the current situation is still poor. For the year on the whole, sales fell to a level 13% below 2006, marking the steepest decline since 1982. A positive aside from the report offered the fact that unsold home inventory dropped by 7.4%. That's a step in the right direction.

Contention With Kudlow

Last night, Larry Kudlow compared business lending activity now with another troubling period. He was attempting to offer reason to disbelieve economic recession, but I have to rebut. The Greek likes Larry, and admires what he has accomplished in his life, but we also get annoyed occasionally with his always positive view of the world. We prefer realism over optimism when money matters. Still, we understand Larry's confidence in America and it is well-founded, as this country is without doubt the farthest progressed economically.

Here's why we disagree with Kudlow on this topic. Business loan growth is doing well because banks have to lend somewhere, and companies had strong balance sheets heading into this period, and thus good collateral. But, things are about to change. Private equity runs on businesses have increased leverage in the business world, and that last bastion of loan demand (business) is going to turn down expansion efforts now. The commercial real estate market is on the cusp of collapse! As consumers stop spending, the consumer discretionary sector full of retail and restaurant establishments should consolidate. Store closures, sales, abandonment should drive values and prices down, and of course demand for new business expansion comes first. Therefore, current business loan demand has no consequence on tomorrow.

Market-Moving News

• Bloomberg: Global Market Recovery
• DOL: Weekly Initial Unemployment Claims Light at 301K
• AP/Yahoo: Existing Home Prices, Sales Fall 2.2% in December
• FT: Rogue Trader Losses $7+ Bln. at Societe Generale (Paris: GLEZ4.PA)
• Bloomberg: Rescuing the Bond Insurers
• CNN Money: Stimulus May Be Near
• EIA Petroleum Status
• Platts: Oil Moves Higher
• Yahoo! Earnings Calendar
• MarketWatch: AT&T (NYSE: T) Gets Wireless Boost
• CNN Money: Ford (NYSE: F) Trims Jobs and Losses
• MarketWatch: Nokia (NYSE: NOK) Beats Forecast
• FT: Tommy Hilfiger Pulls IPO
• AP/Yahoo!: Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT) Profit Rises 10%
• AP/Yahoo!: US Airways (NYSE: LCC) Posts Loss
• CNBC: Xerox (NYSE: XRX) Profit Rises
• AP/Yahoo!: SunPower (Nasdaq: SPWR) Raises Outlook
• AP/Yahoo!: Baxter (NYSE: BAX) Profit Rises
• TheStreet: Capital One (NYSE: COF) Profit Slides
• TheStreet: Symantec (Nasdaq: SYMC) Blows Out Number
• The Greek's Week Ahead: Money Honey Does Davos
• BBC: Kosovo's Independence in Days
• Economist: The Geopolitical Week Ahead
• Iran Daily: Tales from the Dark Side

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