• Is governmental chaos already priced in?

    If there is one piece of investment advice worth following, it's that trusting in the collective sanity of Washington's elected officials is an insane strategy.

    Once again, the world's capital markets will be pushed to the brink as lawmakers use the budget as a means to effect their political agenda. Whatever your affiliation (and on Talking Numbers, there are no Blue or Red States - we only care about one color: Green), this whole "government by crisis" approach is not conducive to a calm, slowly rising stock market. D.C. invective is sure to inject some volatility into this week's trading.

    There's also some important economic data this wek, including the jobs report which, ironically, may not get released if the shutdown occurs and continues through Friday's release date.

    D.C. dysfunction is not exactly new, and the markets have taken previous shutdowns in stride. The SP 500 rallied during both government shutdowns in late 1995.

    But this

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  • Will they or won’t they make it? That’s the question investors (and consumers) want to know as they watch the latest twist in the J.C. Penney saga.

    (Read: J.C. Penney's ongoing drama not helping vendor confidence)

    Shares of the department store hit their lowest level in 13 years after the company announced it would raise almost a billion dollars to shore up its weakening balance sheet

    The development raises not only credibility questions about management, which said it wouldn’t need to raise more equity, but also liquidity concerns for one of the nation’s biggest retailers.

    (Check out: 3 Stocks to watch)

    Curiously enough, despite the incredible sell-off, and apparent dysfunction, some of the savviest investors have taken considerable equity stakes in J.C. Penney, including George Soros’s Fund Management, Richard Perry’s Perry Capital and Kyle Bass’s Hayman Capital.

    Current Top Shareholders:

    1. Glenview Capital Management: 20.06 million shares, 9.1% ownership

    2. Soros Fund Management:

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  • While everyone's focus has been on J.C. Penney, quietly another name in the retail world has been rallying.

    The once troubled Sears Holdings is one of the best performing stocks of Q3, up more than 38% in the past three months.

    But is it too late to shop for Sears' shares?

    JC O'Hara of FBN Securities and Gina Sanchez of Chantico Global join Maria Bartiromo on Closing Bell to break it down.

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  • “Bet two for good, one for bad,” Dustin Hoffman memorably remarked in 1988’s Rain Man.

    If you’ve been a recent investor in gaming companies, you’ve bet a lot of twos. That’s because shares of the large casino stocks have done nothing but hit the jackpot of late.

    Shares of MGM, Las Vegas Sands and Wynn Resorts have logged respective year-to-date gains of 75%, 44% and 41%. That’s a hot streak no matter how you look at it.

    (Read: Caesars sweetens deal for bond, loan investors)

    And according to what one top gaming investors told Talking Numbers, the winning streak could just be getting underway.

    Jason Ader is the President, CEO and founder of Ader Investment Management, a family office that specializes in the gaming industry. He also sits on the board of directors of Las Vegas Sands and, in a previous life, was consistently among the top-ranked analysts on the Street when he worked at Bear Stearns.

    In other words, he knows Vegas better than Wayne Newton.

    But it isn’t the Strip that’s got

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  • Is it possible to have too many friends?

    Facebook investors might be wondering just that. Shares of the social giant made a new all-time high and have doubled in just the past three months. The company now sports a staggering $120 billion market cap.

    (Check out: 10 stocks big money is buying: Cramer)

    But because of that performance, or perhaps in spite of it, Wall Street has started to warm to the name.

    Canaccord Genuity just slapped a “Buy” rating on the stock with $60 price target. For those bad at math, that’s a 20% higher from here. This follows Citigroup’s Mark May who upgraded Facebook yesterday, saying the company’s growth was “sustainable.”

    But perhaps investors should ask if Wall Street’s constant chorus of newfound love for Facebook is sustainable.

    With those two upgrades, there are now 37 “buy” ratings, nine “hold” ratings and zero “sell” ratings.

    That’s right. Of the 46 firms that cover the name, not a single one of them is outright bearish. And that has some investors

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About Talking Numbers

TALKING NUMBERS is a fully integrated media experience, hosted by CNBC and Yahoo! Finance, that takes a 360° approach to trading-highlighting the best investment opportunities by analyzing stocks both a technical and a fundamental point of view. But TALKING NUMBERS will do more than just tell investors what to buy; it will show them HOW to buy. Our goal: teach viewers how to harness both technical and fundamental data points so they can become better investors.