In their report via “the Harry Winston conference call”, they announced sales of $67 million during that quarter, an increase of 37% over last years 2nd quarter. Even the U.S., fighting an economic slow down recorded sales of $20 million over the comparable quarter last year which is an increase of 31%. Asian sales were $22.5 million, a 40% increase above the prior year. Consolidated sales increased over 60% resulting in a $28.9 in earnings compared to a loss from operations of $3.9 million over the comparable quarter. The Harry Winston brand increased to $66.9 from $48.8 million comparably.

What all this means is there are a lot of very happy ladies out their wearing diamonds, including men who are not shy about glitter. The Far East, Japan and China are the big recipients of these baubles due to their expanding wealth, while the U.S. and Europe struggle to keep up.

Another interesting note was the increase in specialty pieces, not to rival the Hope Diamond of course, but definitely in the million plus category. This phenomena was attributed to an increase in wealth throughout the world. Going on statistics from 2009, the net worth in the world grew by 19.6%, and the high net worth has grown by more that 17%. Another factor seems to be that diamonds as an investment, are much more attractive than your more normal forms of investment. This holds true as more significant pieces are being created for Asia and Middle East customers. They are eager to wear them out and about for their pleasure.

This is not to say that the U.S. doesn’t fall into that catagory as noted by the increase in sales, apparantly by the richest, considering the plight of the middle class in America today. So Viva, Harry Winston, the whole world is in love with your product, the diamond that is everlasting.

For more information visit  http://www.worldmarketmedia.com/779/section.aspx/2325/post/harry-winston-nysehwd-diamonds-in-asia-ruff-17

- About the Author: WorldMarketMedia.com (The Global Online Investment Community) is a high traffic stock market, news data website providing cutting edge new media products and services to publicly traded companies worldwide. Our Editor’s Desk authors insightful real-time coverage on the economy, the capital markets and their listed companies. Article Source

Based in St. George, Utah, SkyWest, Inc. (NASDAQ:SKYW) is the parent company for SkyWest Airlines. The firm was in the spotlight on Tuesday, August 31st, 2010 when they announced the stock was given an outperform rating by advisor firm AvondalePartners. According to Avondale, the aggressive tactics launched recently by SkyWest concerning the merger with WMM MicroCap company ExpressJet Holding (NYSE: XJT) and based on the use of cash liquidity to drive the company’s growth, could result in a significant increase in the company stock price.

On August 4th, 2010, SkyWest had announced the merging with ExpressJet Airlines. The aggressive move confirmed the perception of a clear intention of the company to expand a great deal in the near future. Moreover, SkyWest’s Chief Financial Officer, Brad Rich, revealed that the aim of the company was to combine the airlines within 12 months, and forecasted a bold $60 to $70 million in cost savings.

The announcement marked a remarkable day for ExpressJet, with the announcement fueling a frenzy that sent share prices up over 100% to close at $6.75. The recent facts influenced the expectations of research analysts’, as the Avondale significantly increased in SkyWest’s price target by 14.29% and slapped an outperform rating for the next 12 months (price target raised from $14 to $16 per share). Next move for SkyWest is an investment of $7 million in Vietnamese start-up Mekong Air, providing four regional jets and technical support. This editor made the contact with Mike Kropp, Chief Financial Officer for SkyWest to invite him to an interview with James Ream, Chief Executive Officer of Expressjet. Mr. Kropp has given a verbal commitment for a mid-September interview, which will be posted here on the homepage.

For more information visit  http://www.worldmarketmedia.com/779/section.aspx/2314/post/skywest-inc-nasdaq-skyw-trading-up-nearly-4-on-analyst-upgrade

- About the Author: WorldMarketMedia.com (The Global Online Investment Community) is a high traffic stock market, news data website providing cutting edge new media products and services to publicly traded companies worldwide. Our Editor’s Desk authors insightful real-time coverage on the economy, the capital markets and their listed companies. Article Source

Last week was exciting as investments rocketed higher or tank… We saw Gold and the US Dollar pop while oil and equities dropped sharply with heavy volume.

Just to recap, Wednesday the market went into free-fall mode sending traders and investors running for the door. This was obvious from looking at the large percent drop coupled with heavy selling. That day the NYSE showed panic selling with 37 shares sold for every 1 share purchased meaning pure panic. In my Wednesday night report “How to Take Advantage of Panic Selling for SP500 and Gold ” I explained how to read these extreme market conditions and what to expect the following sessions.

Currently the price of gold, oil, spx are trading somewhat at the opposite extremes seen last week. Below are a few charts explaining the situations:

GLD – Gold ETF Trading Signals

This 60 minute chart shows gold getting hit hard on Wednesday morning. Investors and traders around the globe were closing out positions and moving to cash. This high volume dumping of positions pulled virtually all investments lower and was the first tip-off that the market was in panic mode.

One the dust settled and investor’s regrouped we saw money surge back into gold creating a nice pop the following day. Problem I see is that gold is now trading at a key resistance level when reviewing the daily chart. And if you take a look at the 60 minute chart below you can see the price of gold sold down in the morning on August 13th and drifted up into the close on Friday forming a bearish wedge. Also there was some very strong selling just before the market closed which is also a concern.

USO – Oil Traded Fund

Both times oil has fallen we have seen the price pierce key support levels where the bulls would have the majority of their stops placed. The intraday pierce causes the stops to be triggered washing the market of long positions while the smart money loads up accumulating everyone’s sell orders . This is something which happens with virtually every type of investment and the main reason traders get shaken out just before the market goes in their direction. Anyways, running of the stops is something I will cover in a future report.

Looking at the chart below you can see oil trading at trendline support. Each time the key support levels (blue arrows) have been pierced the market has rocketed higher. Just from looking at the chart from August 9th forward you can see that this move down is overextended and visually looks ready for a pause or bounce in the coming days.

*Trading Tidbit - When trading trendlines it is important to try and play the third test. Reason being is that the first two pullbacks create the trendline and the third test is when active traders generally jump on board causing a sizable bounce. Each test of a trendline it becomes weaker and the probability of a breakdown is more likely.*

SPY – SP500 ETF Trading Fund

The SP500 chart shows last week’s breakdown on the 5th test of the trendline. The market is oversold here and ready for a bounce which I hope we get this week. My concern is that the downward momentum is to strong and a bounce will be negated.

US Dollar Index

US dollar put in a huge bounce last week after testing is 61.8% Fib retracement level from the 2009 December low. The strong bounce has pushed the dollar up to a key resistance level which happens to be 38.2% Fib retracement level from both the December up trend and the recent sell off. I figure this will hold the dollar down for a few days easing the pressure on oil and equities.

Weekend Gold, Oil, SPX and Dollar Trading Conclusion:

In short, I feel there will be a relief bounce in oil and equities while the dollar and gold will have some profit taking and trade sideways or down at the beginning of the week. After that it looks as though stocks and oil will head lower while the dollar and gold rally.

If you would like to receive my Trading Analysis and Signals Complete with Entry, Targets and Protective Stops please visit my website at: www.TheGoldAndOilGuy.com

Chris Vermeulen

- About the Author: Chris Vermeulen is Founder of the popular trading site http://www.thegoldandoilguy.com. There he shares his highly successful, low-risk trading method. Since 2001 Chris has been a leader in teaching others to skillfully trade in gold, oil, and silver in both bull and bear markets. Subscribers to his service depend on Chris’ uniquely consistent investment opportunities that carry exceptionally low risk and high return. Reach Chris at: Chris[at]theGoildAndOilGuy[dot]com Article Source

This morning the second quarter Gross Domestic Product(GDP) results were released by the Commerce Department. The second quarter Gross Domestic Product reported was 2.4%. This is sharply lower from the revised first quarter number of 3.7%. Economists had expected the second quarter number to be 2.5%. Therefore, today’s number was not a big surprise. What does this all mean for the market?

Well, today the market is starting out under pressure with the SPDR S&P 500 ETF (NYSE:SPY) trading lower by 1.06 to $109.20. Most commodity stocks are under pressure this morning and this is a sign of deflation. Leading commodity stocks such as Cliffs Natural Resources Inc (NYSE:CLF), and Southern Copper Corp (NYSE:SCCO) are trading lower and remain under pressure. Remember when the U.S. Dollar Index is trading higher on the trading session this will often push the commodity stocks lower. Therefore, always keep a dollar chart open as most professional traders will key off this chart. Remember when the dollar is higher the stock market indexes will deflate. Should the dollar decline or sell off the market will inflate higher.

Since the July lows the markets have surged higher climbing about 10.0 percent from that level. However, since July 16th, the major indexes have been very choppy and volatile. This type of volatile action could be expected going forward. Please remember to keep an eye on the U.S. Dollar Index as that chart will generally give traders a good indication of where the stock indexes are trading. This morning the U.S. Dollar Index is trading higher by 0.15 cents to $81.79 and the market is obviously trading lower.

- About the Author: Nicholas Santiago started trading in 1991. In 1997, he became a licensed Series 7 and 63 registered representative. He managed money for a large, affluent private client group. After applying his knowledge to his client base, he decided it was time to begin teaching those interested in learning his methods. He is an expert in Technical Analysis. He has become an accomplished technician in the studies of Elliot Wave, Gann Theory, Dow Theory and Cycle Theory. In 2007, he partnered with Gareth Soloway to form InTheMoneyStocks.Com and realize his dream of educating others about the truth of the markets. Article Source

Movado Group, Inc. is currently trading at 12.91, up 1.83 or 16.52%. This company designs, sources, markets, and distributes fine watches and jewelry. The company offers its watches under Movado, Ebel, Concord, ESQ, Coach, HUGO BOSS, Juicy Couture, Tommy Hilfiger, and Lacoste brand names. It also designs, develops, markets, and retails Movado-branded jewelry through its luxury Movado Boutiques.

Today, it has announced its First Quarter Results. Adjusted net loss in the first quarter ended April 30, 2010, was $4.8 million, or $.19 per diluted share, compared to adjusted net loss of $9.5 million or $.39 per shared in the previous year.

Financial Highlights Include:

Net sales in the first quarter of fiscal 2011 increased 16.7% to $78.9 million compared to $67.6 million in the first quarter of fiscal 2010 primarily driven by growth in both the U.S. and international wholesale categories. Excluding excess discontinued product sales of $4.3 million in the prior year quarter, net sales increased 24.6%. Gross profit was $44.2 million, or 56.0% of sales, compared to $35.7 million, or 52.8% of sales in the first quarter last year. Excluding excess discontinued product sales, adjusted gross margin in the first quarter of fiscal 2010 was 57.6% of sales.

In an effort to streamline its business, redirect investment toward higher return businesses, and improve the company’s overall profitability, it additionally announced the closing of its retail boutique division today. Movado Retail Group, Inc. will close this division effective June 30, 2010. The company will continue to sell its watch products primarily through its wholesale model, where it expects to increase its market share by further expanding relationships with existing wholesale customers and enhancing its relationships with independent retailers. The boutique closings will have no impact on the availiability of any of Movado’s watch products. In addition, MRG will continue to sell all of its watch brands directly to consumers through its 31 outlet stores and will keep the Movado Boutiques located in New York’s Rockefeller Center open as a flagship store.

Rick Cote, President and Chief Operating Officer of Movado Group, Inc., commented, “Following several years of unprofitability and a strategic review of the business, we have decided to close our retail boutique division. We believe that this action will assist Movado Group to return U.S. operations to profitability. We will continue to make strategic investments in our brands to capitalize on growth prospects, build market share and elevate our connection with consumers. We believe in the strength of the Movado brand and the rest of our portfolio of iconic brands, and we expect these actions will solidify our position as a leader in the watch industry.”

To view this article at World Market Media click on the link below: http://www.worldmarketmedia.com/779/section.aspx/1656/post/movado-group-inc-nysemov-317m-marketcap-announces-first-quarter-results-and-future-plans

- About the Author:   About World Market Media:WorldMarketMedia.com (The Global Online Investment Community) is a high traffic stock market, news data website providing cutting edge new media products and services to publicly traded companies worldwide. Our Editor’s Desk authors insightful real-time coverage on the economy, the capital markets and their listed companies.     Article Source

When you first start trading the forex market finding a broker is unlikely to be a major concern; aren’t all brokers the same anyway? Lets face it if you can find a trading strategy that you are comfortable with and become consistently profitable then that is the battle won, right? Unfortunately it isn’t that easy and the shame of it is that there are too many so-called brokers out there who want to rip you off.

Where Does This Mentality Come From?

The retail forex industry has been brought up on the fact that FX is worth $2 Trillion in volume every single day (in reality only a fraction of this comes from private speculators, the vast majority is generated by large banks and multinational corporations). This is quite a lure especially when we are reminded at how this figure completely dwarfs the stock market, and we’ve all heard how much you can make from stocks. Now add the statistic into the mix that between 90 and 95% (probably closer to 99%) of all retail speculators lose money and you have a bevy of firms climbing all over themselves to get their hands on this cash. Forex is billed as the way to become mega rich, leave your job and live the life you’ve always wanted but if it was that easy everyone would be doing it!

How do Retail Brokers Position Themselves?

To answer this question we need to briefly explain some market dynamics. The forex market is completely decentralised. This means that, unlike centralised exchanges such as the NYSE and LSE, there is no central location where each transaction can be traced and recorded nor do currencies have specialist market makers responsible for providing quotes for the entire market. Instead, the entities that act as market makers for the currency market are the World’s largest banks. These banks carry out transactions between each other on a regular basis, hence the term ‘interbank market‘. In order for you to deal directly with these large banks you need to establish credit relationships with them which takes a vast amount of money and consequently most people cannot afford to do this. So this is where the retail brokers come in; they connect you with the large banks. Because they are representing many clients they have enough equity to establish credit relationships and deal with these banks, supposedly on your behalf.

This Position is Open to Exploitation

Retail Forex Brokers are the middleman between you and the interbank market so every time you place an order to buy EURUSD for example, your broker alters their currency holding positions with their large bank partners to reflect this. Rightly so your broker charges a fee for this service which usually comes in the form of spread (the difference between the bid and the ask). The spread they offer you is slightly larger than the spread they are offered in the interbank market so your broker can make a small profit on every trade you make. Everything sounds all well and good so far, agreed?

Now let me ask you a question: suppose you work in Las Vegas as a runner placing bets at sports books for several clients. Now you’ve been doing this for a while and you recognise that some of your clients are good at picking winners and some are good at picking losers. If you could make a little extra on top of your fee for running by doing the opposite of the clients who consistently lose bets would you do it? Now suppose that 99% of your clients lose money over a long enough period of time so all you have to do is bet against them all and you will make a fortune! Sometimes around the really big sporting events you get so busy you can’t place your clients’ bets and your bets quickly enough so you figure you’ll make sure you get in with good odds and then sort out your clients once you are done, meaning they get slightly or sometimes much worse odds than you. This mindset is greedy and unfortunate and you won’t have many friends but at least you would make a good retail forex broker!

Sorry to use a gambling analogy here (trading should never be confused with gambling) but it does explain the problem quite nicely. All you have to do to apply it to our situation is switch out a few words: Las Vegas is the interbank market, runner becomes retail broker, sports book becomes large bank, bets become client trades, running fee becomes spread, big sports events are big news items and the difference between the odds you get and the odds your client gets is the slippage you hand out.

Isn’t This Slightly Cynical?

Yes the analogy used is slightly cynical; it is not the case that every broker out there is guilty of these ‘bucket shop’ tactics (rest assured that every brokerage will deny it however) but it is far too common. Even bank traders can experience slippage at volatile times but the degree to which it occurs at the retail level is unacceptable. Furthermore you cannot use volatility as a defence when you begin to hound profitable traders with constant re-quotes, accusations of illegal scalping (no such thing even exists!) and forced account closure. And what about a brokerage going bankrupt without returning your funds? Is it any wonder that this article is questioning the honesty of some retail brokerages?

What About Regulation?

The retail market is still fairly young and therefore loosely regulated. However, there are two organisations that police the sector and they are beginning to step in and protect the consumer on a more regular basis. These organisations are the National Futures Association (NFA) and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). Of the two the CFTC is most heavily involved in the regulation of fraud, manipulation and abusive trade practices in the retail forex sector. The CFTC.gov website is an excellent source of information on customer protection and on-going legal disputes against brokers and other entities.

Lets Talk About the Positives

It’s not all bad out there; certain firms do offer very attractive and honest services. Let us summarise some of the attributes you should consider looking for in a broker:

1. NFA and CFTC registered

2. No dealing desk, ECN style brokers

3. Variable spreads that reflect the volatility at interbank level

4. Firms that charge commission rather than a flat spread (the thinking here is the more you trade the more they make so it is in their interest to see you make profitable trades and continue to trade happily with them — less likely to be on the other side of your trades)

5. Friendly and efficient customer service

6. The offer to insure your capital in a secure bond (will protect client funds in the event of a broker’s bankruptcy)

7. Limit entries (your broker allows you to enter the market with a specified ‘chase factor’ of a few pips. If your order is not filled within the acceptable ‘chase factor’ your order is either partially filled or not filled at all — prevents ridiculous slippage at times of high volatility)

8. A good reputation within the industry (check independent sites for user reviews)

9. No BS marketing that focuses on the multi millions you will make within months of opening your account (these firms prey on inexperienced traders and gamblers who have no chance of being profitable)

10. Realistic and modest margin/ leverage (firms that offer leverage over 100:1 are encouraging you to trade big and lose you account to them quickly – you may wish to look out for a broker who offers you a choice of margin requirements)

Of course not all of these attributes can be classed as ‘golden rules’. If something is perceived as attractive then it is open to exploitation. For example, ECN brokers are becoming very popular and this has lead to several firms advertising an ECN service when they don’t really have the technology to provide one.

Do Your Due Diligence

I know it can seem tedious but researching your chosen broker is definitely time well spent. At the very least you should spend time browsing a broker’s website. You may like to make a list of things you like the sound of and things you don’t (remember, if something sounds too good to be true then it probably is). Contact their customer support and put these issues to their representatives and see if you are offered a satisfactory response (also a great test of their customer service dept. and general professionalism). I would also seriously suggest checking the CFTC website and browsing forums, discussion boards, blogs and user review websites for any information. My last suggestion here is that you share your good and bad experiences within trading communities. Although you will probably never hear about it your efforts will save your fellow trader his/ her time, money and probably a few grey hairs.

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Traders start each day in anticipation of making quality trades. It’s up to the market to provide the opportunities for a trader to participate; and it doesn’t always reciprocate with quality opportunities for a trader to pick out high probability trades.

Trending markets, or markets that are moving in one distinct direction are what every trader likes to see on his or her chart. These markets provide ample opportunity for a trader to showcase his skills and enter high probability trades with potential for profit. Depending upon which article or book you read, markets trend between 30% and 40% of the time. These are times when the trader is most active participating in the market move.

There are other times, however, that the market does not trend. During these periods the market is usually moving sideways in serpentine patterns that invite the trader to try his or her luck. It is seldom a great idea, especially for the novice trader, to initiate trades in consolidating markets. They can be treacherous and very difficult to trade. Consolidating markets, to use a fishing metaphor, is like sitting in a boat when the fish aren’t biting. It can be frustrating to watch the bars roll across those screen without any clear opportunity to trade.

I am a scalper, and I nearly always trade with the trend. In fact, I trade with the trend more than 90% of the time. Less than 10% of my trades are counter trend trades. The only counter trend trades I generally take our tick fades generated by the NYSE tick indicator. Most of the great traders that I have had the privilege of trading with are trend traders, too.

Why?

That’s an extremely easy question to answer. It’s a lot easier to go with the flow than go against the flow. Ask any salmon how fun it must be to swim against the current for several weeks at a time. Its tough work and they get beat up terribly. Counter trend trading is arguably similar to swimming against the current. The majority of the time, the trend may retrace for a few bars and then resume in the direction of the trend. It’s a great way to lose money and destroy your confidence. Of course, it’s easily avoided. Don’t trade against the trend; don’t try to swim against the current.

You might be interested to know that markets that are trending downwards move three times quicker than markets trending to the upside. Markets in an upward trend usually do so in a gradual manner as opposed to the more violent and erratic downward movement typified by downtrends. There are a variety of theories why this phenomenon occurs, and I think the most credible theory states that people tend to sell out of fear and are more pragmatic as they accumulate shares. The logical ramification of these phenomena is that more patience is needed when trading in an upward trend, and downward trend trades need a quick and concise buy/sell decisions.

The point of this article is a simple one, and that is the most profitable times to trade are in trending markets. Non-trending markets are difficult to trade and treacherous; they are best avoided, especially by novice traders.

- About the Author: I am a long time retail and institutional trader who now only trades part time, usually in the morning. I enjoy writing informational articles about my style of trading so others may benefit. Would it be convenient to receive valuable trading tips every night in your email? You can sign up for our free video series by Clicking here These videos contain advanced trading strategies and will enhance your trading knowledge immeasurably. Best of all, they are free! So get your free videos and start trading like the pros. Article Source