Pros Say: Buck Up — And Buy Upgraded Stocks!

An in-depth analysis of America's auto makers revealed startling details dating back at least five years, according to Disclosure Insight's John Gavin. He says General Motors suffered from persistent problems with internal controls; Ford did too, but has resolved most of them.

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Pros Say: Buck Up — And Buy Upgraded Stocks!

The U.S. Congress convened Tuesday to deal with what many are calling the worst global economic crisis since the 1930s. Meanwhile, pending home sales slid to a 7-year low; and even Manhattan apartment prices — once considered economically sacrosanct — fell nearly 4 percent. Yet CNBC heard from optimistic experts who say stocks are the smart investment now, thanks to great Obama expectations and moves already made by the Federal Reserve and the Treasury.

Market Forecast: Sunny, With Rising Stock Prices

Rob Morgan of Clermont Wealth Strategies said he has raised his rating on stocks to market weight from underweight. Stocks are cheap and there is a lot of money on the sidelines; the ingredients are in place for a lot of good things to happen. JPMorgan Private Wealth Management's Anthony Chan said anticipation of a massive stimulus package and the effects of prior Fed actions are adding even more optimism.

Aaaaand We're Off: Fed Buying Begins

Kevin Ferry of Cronus Futures Management said market strategists will be focusing on two things for the near term: money supply, and what the Fed is buying. It's a big job, and the Fed has said it wants to be out of the market by June. The market is functioning again — he prefers the word "functioning" to "working" — and talk of credit being broken has finally quieted down.

GM: Gi-normous Mess?

An in-depth analysis of America's auto makers revealed startling details dating back at least five years, according to Disclosure Insight's John Gavin. He says General Motors suffered from persistent problems with internal controls; Ford did too, but has resolved most of them. GM CEO Rick Wagoner is too tied to the history of the company to be "sufficiently dispassionate" to change the company's business model.

Contrarian's Qualms: More Questions Than Answers

There's not a lot of substance behind the current optimism, according to First Principles Capital Management's Doug Dachille. The full effects of a new administration and the government's big moves a few months ago remain to be seen. And he says the foreign investors we're hoping will buy U.S. debt may instead focus resources to stimulate their own economies.

Not Out of the Woods — But Oil & Dollar Have Promise

Jason Roney of Sharmac Capital said he expects a "pretty solid test of last year's low" after an initial period of optimism as the year progresses. The presumption right now is that the worse the data gets, the better the Obama administration's stimulus package will be.
Rising oil prices point to an improving global economy, and the dollar's decline will be muted

as Europe rushes to catch up with U.S. rate-cutting.

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