As If We Didn't Have Enough to Worry About

Wednesday was your typical day of swirling headlines from Europe. Their markets were around breakeven on the day and so were ours til just after 3pm ET. Then things got ugly in a hurry.

Why? Fitch Ratings released a note that US banks have potentially dangerous levels of exposure to European markets. Next thing you know the S&P dropped -1.7%.

So this was a further wake up call to US investors as to what is at stake with the European debt crisis. And on that front, the ECB was actively buying bonds in some of the more distressed countries. Even still, rates moved higher. Not good. Not good.

There is still decent odds of the European situation being contained allowing the US market to press higher in the future. Unfortunately every day that European bond rates escalate only decreases those odds. That march higher for European bond rates needs to stop soon or our markets will stampede lower.

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Best,

Steve Reitmeister
Executive VP, Zacks Investment Research

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Today's Top Stories: Thursday- November 17, 2011

ZACKS RANK BUY STOCKS

• Aggressive Growth - Kenexa Corp. (KNXA) reported third-quarter results that showed 52% increase in total revenues, to $77.2 million. Earnings per share came in at $0.17, 2 cents higher than the Zacks Consensus Estimate. Read More...
   
• Growth & Income - Genesis Energy, L.P. (GEL) earnings per unit came in at 27 cents, beating the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 23 cents. It was a whopping 125% increase over the same quarter in 2010. Read More...
   
• Momentum - Smithfield Foods, Inc. (SFD) earnings came in strong at 69 cents, 1.5% ahead of the Zacks Consensus Estimate, where the company has an average earnings surprise of 19% over the last four quarters. Read More...
   
• Value - TravelCenters of America LLC (TAC) in addition to a P/E under 8, has a price-to-book ratio of just 0.4. This is well under the 3.0 cut off I use for value stocks. TAC also has an unbelievably low price-to-sales ratio of 0.02. Read More...
   

Learn how to profit from our exclusive Zacks Rank stock-ranking system with free resources. Read More...

• Bull Of The Day: Perrigo Company
  Full Zacks research report: Read More...
  
  
• Bear Of The Day: Leggett & Platt, Inc.
  Full Zacks research report: Read More...
  
  
• Ahead of Wall Street
  Read More...
  


• Zacks Industry Outlook: MedTech Industry Stock Outlook - Nov. 2011
  We see growth potential in companies dealing with cardiovascular devices, neuro and radiation oncology products.
  Read More...
  
  
• Analyst Blog Highlights
• Manulife Expands in Asia
• Volcano Unveils ADVICE Study Result
• Penn Virginia Prices Units
• Full Analyst Blog

• Buffett's IBM Stake is Funny
• Value Stock Picks-Nov.16, 2011
• Stock Picks for Safe Money, Healthy Snacks, and Cancer Cures

PeopleAndPicks.com:

Player "inthemoneystocks" is targeting energy. "Investors are searching frantically for the next big energy area. Natural gas continues to be the obvious answer to some easy money upside. Another possible area for investment is in solar stocks." Read More...

• Big banks are dead money - The Buzz @ CNNMoney.com
• Wall Street Burned as Europe's Debt Crisis Boils Over; Dow Sheds 191 @ FOXBUSINESS.com
• Stocks to Watch Thursday: NetApp @ MarketWatch.com

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