Finance Trends Letter

It's really easy to get bogged down in the filthy muck of everyday life. Believe me , I know. Plus, the holiday season can be an especially stressful time for anyone . Sometimes we are so focused on being down and out that it takes a great deal of effort just to look up and smile. So as we get ready to celebrate the Thanksgiving holiday in America, I wanted to share some positive thoughts with you.  Thankfulness, via Open Doors . These 21 quotes on gratitude, sharing, and thankfulness are among the best I've found. They are gathered here for you. Enjoy the quotes and the lessons in their timeless wisdom. "If you are really thankful, what do you do? You share." - W. Clement Stone "I am grateful for what I am and have. My thanksgiving is perpetual. It is surprising how contented one can be with nothing definite - only a sense of existence." - Henry David Thoreau "To give thanks in solitude is enough. Thanksgiving has wings and

Google is a household name and one of the preeminent stocks in the minds of individual investors, but it isn't the biggest tech winner of this current bull market. So is the best performer America's favorite tech stock, Apple? Here's a monthly performance chart of Google ( GOOG ) vs. widely-owned Apple ( AAPL ) and the rest of the so-called "FANG" stocks: Facebook ( FB ), Amazon ( AMZN ), and Netflix ( NFLX ). C lick to enlarge the chart and compare gains. GOOG (shown in price bars) is up 320% from the March 2009 start of this bull market. Meanwhile, FB , which only IPO'd in 2012, is up 250%. AAPL (shown in light blue) is up 675%. AMZN (in green) is up 800%, while NFLX (in blue) leads the pack by a wide margin, up 1,860% since 2009 . Now that FANG stocks have replaced the .com bubble's "Four Horsemen" of tech (Microsoft, Intel, Cisco, and Dell), does that mean we just buy this new basket of tech leaders and hold on forever (or

People have been doubting Amazon (AMZN) and predicting its demise since the .com bubble.  I was reminded of this fact after sharing our recent post, " Amazon dominates as its rivals plunge ", on social media last Friday. Just the mention of Amazon and its stock price was enough to elicit the usual chorus of "Amazon is doomed, just you wait and see " remarks.    Later that weekend, I happened to stumble upon this early tirade against Amazon and its founder, Jeff Bezos (hat tip: Pessimists Archive ). When I saw this Google News entry from August 2000, I had to take a screenshot for posterity . Doubters on Amazon $AMZN go back to .com bubble. They were right in a bear market, very wrong long term. pic.twitter.com/cm8EyhwpD0 — David Shvartsman (@FinanceTrends) November 15, 2015 While some of Amazon.com's early critics were proved right about the trajectory of AMZN's stock price during the 2000 - 2002 bear market (it sank like a stone, along with nea

Amazon (AMZN) continues to shine as retail stocks plunge. Whether they are traditional mall retailers in the US or e-tailers based in China, many names in the retail industry are under selling pressure. One of the strongest US large cap stocks, AMZN pulled out of the recent market correction and shot up to new highs above $650. Here's an updated weekly chart of this dominant online retailer, which recently came full circle with the opening of its first physical book store. Meanwhile, traditional brick and mortar retailers like Macy's (M), Fossil (FOSL), and Wal-Mart (WMT) are sinking fast. Even Nordstrom (JWN), a high-end department store with a well-integrated online presence is fading fast in this market. The weakness may spread to other high end retail names like Tiffany and Co. (TIF) and Sotheby's (BID), a trend we highlighted last month in our " Retail and Leisure Stocks Slide " post.   $FOSL Sharp break lower. Down 11 months out of past 12, mos

Facebook's stock ( FB ) continues to outperform its beleaguered social media rival, Twitter ( TWTR ).  While Twitter plays mass market catch-up with hearts , Facebook is delivering for its users and giving Wall Street the growth numbers it demands. FB is up 33% year-to-date, while TWTR is down 18% YTD.  From its 2013 IPO week, TWTR has returned -33%. Over the same period, FB shares climbed more than 110%. Click the comparison chart below to enlarge. 1 year ago, we looked at Twitter's stock price performance and concluded that FB had clearly outshined TWTR . As the chart above makes clear, 2015 has been a repeat of 2014. Facebook's shares continue to climb while Twitter struggles to reclaim the $30 level.  This should come as no real surprise to those of you following Finance Trends on Twitter . I've harped on this theme of FB outperforming TWTR for over a year now. Here are a few examples (sorry in advance). Facebook went from IPO flop to strong