• Why lower oil won’t help stocks

    By Lawrence Lewitinn | Talking Numbers – Wed, Sep 25, 2013 5:43 AM EDT

    What’s next for the markets given declining oil prices?

    Oil prices are down about 3% in the past month. But, what does that mean for stocks?

    Nearly one month ago, it seemed more than possible the United States would take military action against Iran’s Syrian allies. That helped drive the price of West Texas Intermediate Crude Oil contracts above $117 per barrel for the first time in over two years.

    (Read: Brent rises in heavy spread trading, eyes on Iran)

    Since then, oil prices fell as the US government found it difficult to build support for intervention. As the probability of American action decreased, it took oil prices down with it.

    Yesterday, addressing world leaders at the United Nations General Assembly, US President Barack Obama opened the door to negotiations with Iran on Tehran’s nuclear ambitions. This diplomatic overture to a major oil exporter helped bring down oil a little more. Oil ended trading in the $103 range, down 5% since the end of last week.

    (Read more: US oil

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  • Nation’s top broker: Three reasons we’re not in a housing bubble

    By Lawrence Lewitinn | Talking Numbers – Wed, Sep 25, 2013 5:41 AM EDT

    Home prices are on the rise but is there a housing bubble? Dolly Lenz says there are three reasons why there isn’t.

    Single-family home prices in the 20 large US cities are still going up, just not as fast as they were the month before. Some of that had to do with Ben Bernanke and the Fed. But one of real estate’s biggest names says there’s no reason to believe we’re in a housing bubble.

    Yesterday, the S&P/ Case Shiller 20-City Composite Home Price Index rose 0.6% in July on a seasonally-adjusted basis, compared to 0.9% in June.

    That doesn’t mean the index is at its peak, however. Set at 100 in January 2000, the index topped out at 206.52 in July 2006 – double what it was 6.5 years before. The index is currently at 162.49, up 1.8% on a non-adjusted basis from June.

    (Read more: Single family home prices rise, but at less feverish pace)

    How would homeowners have done if they were treating their residence as an investment?

    Measuring from June 2013, single-family homes in these 20 cities

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  • Citi says buy Facebook. Should you?

    By Lawrence Lewitinn | Talking Numbers – Tue, Sep 24, 2013 4:04 PM EDT

    Facebook shares have more than doubled in the past three months. Is it too late to "like" the social giant?

    On CNBC's Closing Bell's Talking, Richard Ross, Global Technical Strategist at Auerbach Grayson, looks at the charts. On the fundamentals is Steve Cortes, founder of Veracruz TJM.

    Watch the video above to hear Ross and Cortes analyze Facebook.

    More from Talking Numbers:

    Fleckenstein: Why there’s not much risk in gold

    Strategist: Here’s when to start selling your stocks

    Fleckenstein: Why the Fed is the problem

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  • Will “Satisfries” win the Burger Wars?

    By Lawrence Lewitinn | Talking Numbers – Tue, Sep 24, 2013 1:37 PM EDT

    Burger King’s new fries are supposed to make you less fat. But will its stock add more muscle to your portfolio?

    It’s the second-biggest myth in fast food, just behind unicorn burgers – the low fat French fry. And now Burger King is releasing a lower fat, lower calorie French fry to compete with the true king of burgers, McDonald’s.

    Burger King’s “Satisfries” has 40% less fat and 30% less calories than McDonald’s fries. A standard serving of “Satisfries” contains 8 grams of fat and 190 calories, about three-fourths of a Snickers candy bar.

    (Read: Burger King introducing a lower-fat french fry)

    While McDonald’s may be what Burger King is aiming for, one other target may actually be the second-highest grossing fast food chain in the United States.

    Subway’s total annual revenues of over $18 billion put it well behind McDonald’s $27.8 billion, but the sandwich restaurant has 40,319 locations compared to the Golden Arch’s 34,000. Burger King’s 12,667 restaurants generate only $1.5 billion

    Read More »

  • Fleckenstein: Why there’s not much risk in gold

    By Lawrence Lewitinn | Talking Numbers – Tue, Sep 24, 2013 5:43 AM EDT

    Gold remains in the $1,300 per troy ounce range. Is it a buying opportunity? Yes, says one contrarian fund manager.

    Two years ago, gold was above $1,900 per troy ounce. Many were predicting gold would easily break the $2,000 mark and then some. After all, the Federal Reserve Bank was buying bonds at a breakneck pace, adding dollars into the financial system.

    (Read: Gold settles lower on caution over US policy outlook)

    Fast forward 24 months later. Not only did the Fed up its bond-buying to $85 billion per month back in December, they’ve also decided not to taper it after hinting they’d do so earlier. So what does go do? It’s down $600 from its all-time highs.

    In an interview with Talking Numbers, noted contrarian Bill Fleckenstein of Fleckenstein Capital says he thinks gold is headed “higher and quite a bit higher… Gold has everything you can ask for going for it and sentiment is incredibly negative. So, I think there isn’t much risk at these prices.”

    (Read: 'Dr. Doom' Roubini makes

    Read More »

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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.