|
Sources of information for market analysis will help you understand the overall
economic factors affecting corporate earnings and growth, which in turn move stock prices
in the long run. These include the following, which we'll detail:
 Financial news
periodicals
Statistical services
Government
publications
Company quarterly and
annual reports
Public offering
prospectuses
Brokerage
house research reports
  
The most useful daily publications include
The
Wall Street Journal
The New York
Times
CNN
fn
USA
Today
MSNBC
The most useful weekly publications are
Barron’s
National Business & Financial Weekly
Business
Week
Forbes
Fortune
Money
The most widely used services are
Moody’s
Investment Manuals; Moody’s Dividend Records
Standard
& Poor’s Corporation Records; The S & P Outlook
Value Line Investment Survey - Found in library
The major publications of the US Department of
Commerce include
Survey of Current Business
Business Conditions Digest
US Industrial Outlook
Two major publications of the Bureau of Labor
statistics are
Monthly Labor Reviews
Chartbook on Prices, Wages, and Productivity
The
Federal Reserve publications are
Economic Indicators
The Annual Report of the Council of Economic
Advisers
Company Information
The information for company analysis can be obtained from the company’s quarterly
reports, annual reports, and news releases. In addition, companies have to file quarterly
reports called 10-Q's and annual reports called 10-K's to the Securities Exchange Commission (SEC);
these are available to the general public.
Public Offering Prospectuses
Any initial public offering (IPO)
signifies a time when companies first issue stock to the public. As required by the SEC,
the company must publish a detailed prospectus that includes information about the
company, its products, its officers, its financial status, and any risk factors that may
negatively affect its business. You can write or call the brokerage firm that represents
these companies for a free copy of their prospectuses. The prospectus of an IPO offers the
most comprehensive information about a new company.
Brokerage Firms' Research Reports
Major full-service brokerage firms such as Merrill
Lynch employ stock analysts, who specialize in certain industries or
companies. They offer buy or sell recommendations for various stocks. They also publish
in-depth reports on industries or companies. You can get copies of these reports for a fee
from a brokerage firm or you can get a copy if you have an account at that brokerage firm.
Some of these reports are also available on the Internet.
You can find most of these resources in the public libraries. Ask the librarian for
help since each library has resources in different places. Some of these resources are
available on the Internet, which we will discuss later in Stocks in
Cyberspace.
Stock Learning Center | Stock
Indexes | Rate of Return
Stock Research | Glossary | Home
 
|