The Dow Jones Industrial Average
Here is a quick look at how things are stacking up compared to last month.
June |
July |
|
---|---|---|
Expected Jobs Growth | 100,000 | 100,000 |
Actual Jobs Growth | 64,000 | 163,000 |
Unemployment Rate | 8.2% | 8.3% |
Source: Yahoo! Finance.
It's all aboard the party train, with every Dow component up for the day. The most are seeing gains greater than 1%.
But there a few stocks that make the Dow's celebration look like a high school party in mom's basement. MercadoLibre
LinkedIn
It isn't all fun and games on the market, though. Both Zipcar
Zipcar is a stock I'd continue to steer clear of. It's got a great story and disruptive potential, but the growth is stalling. Lower-than-expected revenue and a trimming of annual estimates isn't what you want to see out of a company that is supposed to be rewriting the book on personal transportation.
Molycorp had an equally tough time, as higher production costs ate into the bottom line. The company's costs more than doubled from the same quarter last year. Taking a step back from today's results, I see a perfect example of the market's irrationally catching up with it. This company got bid up in a big way in the beginning of 2011 as investors worried about China's chokehold on rare elements and tried to perform a little "no-brainer" market timing. But the reality turned out differently, and shares are now trading 82% off their 52-week high.
At the end of the day, though, this is all market noise. Watching the market swing up and down as you try to pick the "right" time is no way to invest. Instead, investors should buy and hold great stocks for the long run, like The Motley Fool's Top Stock for 2012. It's our chief investment officer's highest-conviction stock for the next year, and it will probably be yours, too, after you read his report by by clicking here now.