MARKETS / FINANCE

U.S. stocks rose on Tuesday as economic data and the renomination of Federal Reserve chief Ben Bernanke reassured investors and offset concerns about red ink in the federal budget.

U.S. President Barack Obama nominated Ben Bernanke to a second term as Federal Reserve chairman on Tuesday, aiming for continuity at a time when the U.S. economy is breaking free from a deep recession.

Momentum measures the amount that a financial instrument's price has changed over a given timeframe. Momentum is significant because it signals the strength of price trends. A healthy price trend tends to exhibit strong momentum, while weakening trends often have decreasing momentum indicating a trend reversal or correction. Momentum can also indicate short-term market extremes referred to as overbought and oversold levels. A bullish signal is generated when the Momentum rises above 0 and a bear...

The Stochastic Oscillator is plotted on a scale from 0 to 100. The upper and lower lines (marking the overbought and oversold levels) are at the 80 and 20 levels.

U.S. stocks advanced on Tuesday as economic data and the reappointment of Federal Reserve chief Ben Bernanke strengthened expectations for a recovery and offset forecasts of federal budget red ink.

Developed by J. Welles Wilder and introduced in his 1978 book, New Concepts in Technical Trading Systems, the Relative Strength Index (RSI) is an extremely useful and popular momentum oscillator. The RSI compares the magnitude of a stock's recent gains to the magnitude of its recent losses and turns that information into a number that ranges from 0 to 100. It takes a single parameter, the number of time periods to use in the calculation. In his book, Wilder recommends using 14 periods.

The U.S. national debt will nearly double over the next 10 years, government forecasts showed on Tuesday, challenging President Barack Obama's economic and healthcare overhaul agenda.

The U.S. attorney in New York on Tuesday charged a New York investor with a $74 million scheme to defraud Citigroup Inc .

U.S. regulators are set to buttress their defenses this week against a slew of sick banks still facing closure and the risks to the dwindling fund that protects depositors.

Shares of U.S. government-controlled mortgage lenders Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac soared for a second straight day on Tuesday after attracting the attention of day-traders looking to turn a quick profit with these low-priced household names.

In late August's quiet trading, four troubled financial companies have accounted for a big piece of total volume on the New York Stock Exchange, with all four rallying on little news.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission appointed on Tuesday an insider, James Kroeker, as its top accountant, where he will be responsible for thorny issues such as off-balance sheet accounting.

Stocks climbed on Tuesday, briefly hitting 2009 highs after strong housing and consumer confidence data, while Ben Bernanke's renomination as Fed chairman ended uncertainty about the central bank's leadership as the economy recovers.

Larger-than-expected improvements in U.S. housing prices and consumer confidence on Tuesday lent new weight to signs the economy is emerging from the longest and deepest recession since the 1930s.

U.S. regulators are set to buttress their defenses this week against a slew of sick banks still facing closure and the risks to the dwindling fund that protects depositors.

U.S. stocks pushed ahead on Tuesday after strong housing and consumer confidence data briefly sent indexes to 2009 highs, and investors were relieved about Ben Bernanke's renomination as Fed chairman.

Prices of U.S. single-family homes rose for the second consecutive month in June, exceeding expectations and adding to evidence that the three-year housing slump is easing, Standard & Poor's reported on Tuesday.

The Parabolic SAR, developed by Welles Wilder, is used to set trailing price stops. SAR refers to Stop-And-Reversal. It is designed to create exit points for both long and short positions in such a way that it allows for reactions or fluctuations at the beginning of the position, but accelerates upward (for long positions) or downward (for short positions) as the movement tops out. Parabolic SAR is plotted around the price chart similar to a moving average. The basics behind the formula for co...

Yahoo Inc said on Monday it has revamped its search to compete against Microsoft Corp's Bing, even as it relies on the Redmond giant to power its queries.

Stocks gained on Tuesday but were off session highs, after strong housing and consumer confidence data and Ben Bernanke's renomination as Federal Reserve chairman cheered investors.

The U.S. national debt will nearly double over the next 10 years as recession crimps government revenue while spending on retirement and medical benefits soars, official forecasts said on Tuesday.

Top office-products retailer Staples Inc on Tuesday reported a 38 percent drop in quarterly profit as labor costs increased and its customers bought fewer bigger-ticket items such as furniture.

U.S. securities regulators are examining weekly meetings at Goldman Sachs Group Inc , where research analysts offer tips to traders and then to big clients, the Wall Street Journal reported on its website.

Oil hit $75 for the first time in 10 months on Tuesday, recouping earlier losses in line with equity markets on data that showed U.S. house prices climbed and consumer confidence rose to the strongest since May.

China's IP address will be used up in two or three years as the number of internet users keeps soaring, People's Daily reported on Monday, citing a Chinese expert.

U.S. consumer confidence climbed more than expected in August on an improved outlook on the job market and the overall economy, according to a private report released on Tuesday.

Bollinger Bands are a technical trading tool created by John Bollinger in the early 1980s. They arose from the need for adaptive trading bands and the observation that volatility was dynamic, not static as was widely believed at the time. The purpose of Bollinger Bands is to provide a relative definition of high and low. By definition prices are high at the upper band and low at the lower band.

Commodity prices have continued to drop sending the South African Rand and Aussie dollar lower this morning. Risk appetite has taken a hit as increasing loan losses in the U.S and lower profits from companies in China saps demand for riskier assets. This has sent the dollar and Yen higher as the usual market mechanics continue to ring true. While the markets are largely anticipating the current bounce back in the economy companies are finding a hard time justifying this excessive optimism.