Why Myriad Genetics Inc. Shares Jumped

Although we don't believe in timing the market or panicking over market movements, we do like to keep an eye on big changes -- just in case they're material to our investing thesis.

What: Shares of Myriad Genetics (NASDAQ: MYGN  ) , a molecular diagnostics developer, jumped as much as 11% after the company published data from its Prolaris diagnostic test in the Journal of Urology.

So what: Generally speaking, journal posts rarely raise much of a stir. However, Myriad noted that Prolaris, a 46-gene molecular diagnostic test that has been evaluated in more than 5,000 patients, accurately predicted which patients would have a "biochemical reoccurrence or metastatic disease following radical prostate surgery" based on their biopsies. In other words, this diagnostic tool is accurately predicting resectable prostate cancer patients' diagnosis, which would better allow physicians to gauge whether a wait-and-see approach is best, or if aggressive medical treatment is advised.

Now what: After last year losing some key patents on the BRCA1/BRCA2 gene analysis test known as BRACAnalysis, Myriad Genetics needed something good to happen -- and Prolaris might be it. The ability to personalize treatment for cancer patients is likely to become of the utmost importance over the next decade as physicians look for ways to get out ahead of a recurrence or diagnosis to improve patient quality of life and overall survival. Given that prostate cancer is the most common type of cancer in men (though not all prostate cancer is resectable), I'd say Myriad certainly deserves a spot on your watchlist after this data release.

Top Gold Stocks To Watch For 2015

Myriad shares are off to the races today, but they'll likely be hard-pressed to keep up with this top stock in 2014
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Top Consumer Service Stocks For 2015

$2,500 in 61 minutes!�

Is that a good hourly wage ��I haven't had a real job in years, so I'm a bit out of touch. �That's what we accomplished yesterday in our Member Chat Room as I put out a note�at 10:12 to add 50 TZA (and ultra-short ETF on the Russell Index) next weekly (Oct 4th) calls at $1, saying:

Those TZA Next WEEK�$21.50s are down to $1 with TZA at $22.25 and that's too good to pass up ��50 in the STP with a stop at .75.��

Then, just 61 minutes later, at 11:13, we took the money and ran as I said to our Members:

Wheeee on the Russell ��TZA $21.50s are already $1.50 and THAT is the way you make a very quick $2,500 and we're done in the STP as we're back at the 1,070 line that's been holding in the Futures (/TF) and we have plenty of other long-term short plays if we keep going down.�

This was our 3rd�day in a row using TZA to make quick money OFF THE SAME LINE and we exited at about the same spot ��it's just that, this being the 3rd time in a row, we were smart enough to place a big bet in our virtual portfolio (the first two times we had just tossed out the trade idea without officially including it). �This is not really that complicated folks ��we see a pattern, we wait for it to repeat and we place the most optimal bet we can on it. �

Top Consumer Service Stocks For 2015: Crocs Inc.(CROX)

Crocs, Inc. and its subsidiaries engage in the design, development, manufacture, marketing, and distribution of footwear, apparel, and accessories for men, women, and children. The company primarily offers casual and athletic shoes, and shoe charms. It also designs and sells a range of footwear and accessories that utilize its proprietary closed cell-resin, called Croslite. The company?s footwear products include boots, sandals, sneakers, mules, and flats. In addition, it provides footwear products for the hospital, restaurant, hotel, and hospitality markets, as well as general foot care and diabetic-needs markets. Further, the company offers leather and ethylene vinyl acetate based footwear, sandals, and printed apparels principally for the beach, adventure, and action sports markets; and accessories comprising snap-on charms. The company sells its products through the United States and international retailers and distributors, as well as directly to end-user consumers th rough its company-operated retail stores, outlets, kiosks, and Web stores primarily under the Crocs Work, Crocs Rx, Jibbitz, Ocean Minded, and YOU by Crocs brand names. As of December 31, 2010, it operated 164 retail kiosks located in malls and other high foot traffic areas; 138 retail stores; 76 outlet stores; and 46 Web stores. Crocs, Inc. operates in the Americas, Europe, and Asia. The company was formerly known as Western Brands, LLC and changed its name to Crocs, Inc. in January 2005. Crocs, Inc. was founded in 1999 and is headquartered in Niwot, Colorado.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Matt Brownell]

  AOL When we spoke to Crocs (CROX) CEO John McCarvel back in January, we couldn't help but notice his choice of footwear: He wasn't wearing Crocs. But we couldn't really hold it against him. McCarvel was in town to accept an innovator award from the National Retail Federation, and Crocs didn't really make anything appropriate for the occasion. You can't wear Crocs with a suit, right? Well, that's not entirely true. As it turns out, Crocs now offers a number of shoes that are a bit more on the dressy side. They've got loafers, for instance, which could work at the country club. And for the office they've got the "Tummler" shoe, which combines the molded rubber clogs with a black leather slip-on dress shoe. As the website explains, it's meant to be a "work shoe you can live with." Around the same time we came across the Crocs dress shoe, we also became aware of another product that tries to combine stay-at-home comfort with office-appropriate wear: Dress pants-style sweatpants. These have all the comfort and warmth of a pair of sweatpants, but are designed like a pair of dress slacks, complete with back pockets, belt loops and pinstripes. Together, the Crocs dress shoes and sweatpants dress pants suggest a new paradigm for office wear: Dressy enough to pass muster with your boss, but comfortable enough that you can feel like you're having a pajama day working from home. But could you really pull this off in an office environment? To find out, I got a pair of each, then put them on and headed down to the offices of StyleList, Aol's fashion experts. I modeled my office wear for a panel of three StyleList editors: Ellen Thomas, Logan Sowa and Abby Silverman. Their first reaction was telling -- two of them didn't realize that I'd actually changed into the sweatpants. That, I thought, meant that I could get away with wearing sweatpants without anyone noticing. But on closer inspection, doubts started to emerge. "I don't think I'll ever be inclined to think this is

• [By Monica Gerson]

  Crocs (NASDAQ: CROX) shares gained 9.83% to $14.64 in the pre-market after the company reported that it will receive a $200 million investment from Blackstone Group LP (NYSE: BX).

Top Consumer Service Stocks For 2015: GROUPE EUROTUNNEL SA EUR0.01(GETS.L)

Groupe Eurotunnel SA operates the Channel Tunnel infrastructure and rail freight networks in France and the United Kingdom. It operates three tunnels, which run along with the Folkestone terminal in the United Kingdom and the Coquelles terminal in France. The company provides shuttle service for the transport of trucks; and the transport of cars, motor homes, caravans, coaches, motorcycles, and trailers on its passenger shuttles. It also offers tunnel railway network for use by other passenger trains and for rail freight services. In addition, the company provides a range of integrated rail freight services, including national and international hauling; local services for secondary lines; and individual junction management, infrastructure maintenance, and wagon loading and unloading services for industry. Further, it offers access to shops, bars, restaurants, and other retail services in its terminals; travel insurance products; and professional training services for the r ail industry, as well as owns and manages plots of land near its French and British terminals. The company was incorporated in 2005 and is based in Paris, France.

Top 10 Performing Companies To Invest In 2014: AmbiCom Holdings Inc (ABHI.PK)

AmbiCom Holdings, Inc. (AmbiCom Holdings), formerly Med Control, Inc., incorporated on July 1, 2008, through its subsidiaries, is engaged in design and development of wireless products focusing on the wireless medical industry. The Company was a development-stage company organized to sell a product called Med Time, an electronic and portable device aimed to control the doses and schedules of medications taken by elderly individuals. On January 15, 2010, the Company completed the acquisition of AmbiCom Acquisition Corp. (AmbiCom). AmbiCom is a holding company whose operating company, AmbiCom, Inc., is a designer and developer of wireless products focusing on the wireless medical industry. AmbiCom purchases standard wireless products and designs and develops features and packaging to customize these products to their target original equipment manufacturer (OEM) markets. AmbiCom�� wireless device solutions and applications include infusion pumps, heart monitoring machine s, and glucose meters.

AmbiCom sells its products through multi-channel distribution and original equipment manufacturer (OEM) channels. The Company delivers its medical device modules to OEM companies, such as Cardinal Health/Carefusion, and Roche. It outsources production of its products to manufacturers in Asia. The Company derives revenue from sales of its wireless device products. These products consist of routers, compact flash adapters/modules, universal serial bus (USB) adapters/modules, mini peripheral component interconnect (PCI) modules, PCI Express mini modules and mobile wireless products. It provides optimized wireless products to the medical industry, which has concentrated on using wireless solutions as a way to reduce healthcare costs as a whole.

Top Consumer Service Stocks For 2015: Styles and Wood Group PLC (STY.L)

Styles&Wood Group PLC is an United Kingdom-based company which provides property services to banking, retail, leisure, commercial and public organizations. The Company operates in four segments: Projects, Frameworks, Design and iSite. Projects range from minor refresh to comprehensive refurbishment, shell fit out, acquisition conversion, or complex structural re configuration and renewable solutions. The Company through the frameworks delivers roll out programmes for its framework customers and has been actively providing collaborative services to many of these customers. Design provides outsourced design and development services including architectural services, space planning, retail initiative design and models and standards work. iSite provides clients with technology based property information solutions that stores, manages and communicates critical data relating to their store portfolio and associated property activity.

Top Consumer Service Stocks For 2015: Dialight Plc(DIA.L)

Dialight plc, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the manufacture and sale of signals/illumination products, electromagnetic components, and LED indication components primarily in North America, the United Kingdom, and rest of Europe. The company provides industrial solutions, including wallpacks, area lights, high and low bays, and linear fixtures; infrastructure solutions comprising street lights and roadway sign lights; hazardous location solutions; and architectural solutions, such as linear architectural fixtures, circular fixtures, lighting modules, drivers, and optics, as well as offers high and medium intensity strobes, and medium intensity beacons. It also offers transportation signals consisting of traffic and intersection products, rail signals, and vehicle signals; obstruction and visual signals; hazardous location signals; circuit board indicators, which include throughhole circuit board indicators, prism right angle SMT and surface mount products, and light pipes; and LED panel mount indicators, LED replacement bulbs, neon/incandescent indicators, and military indicators. The company was formerly known as The Roxboro Group PLC and changed its name to Dialight plc in September 2005. Dialight plc was founded in 1938 and is based in Newmarket, the United Kingdom.

Top Consumer Service Stocks For 2015: Crossland Uranium Mines Ltd(CUX.AX)

Crossland Uranium Mines Limited engages in the exploration, evaluation, and development of mineral deposits in Australia. The company primarily explores for uranium, diamonds, and base metals. It holds interests in the Chilling and Charley Creek projects located in Northern Territory; the Kalabity project located in South Australia; and the Lake Woods project located in Lake Woods. The company is based in Darwin, Australia.

Top Consumer Service Stocks For 2015: Arrowhead Research Corporation(ARWR)

Arrowhead Research Corporation, a clinical stage nanomedicine company, through its subsidiaries, develops therapeutic products at the interface of biology and nanoengineering to cure disease and improve human health. It focuses on the design and development of therapeutic agents for the treatment of cancer and obesity, as well as healing wounded or diseased tissue based on nucleic acid delivery, siRNA chemistry, and tissue targeting intellectual properties. The company?s lead products include CALAA-01, an oncology drug candidate based on the gene silencing RNA interference (RNAi) mechanism; and Adipotide, an anti-obesity peptide that targets and kills the blood vessels that feed white adipose tissue. It also plans to develop its internal preclinical and clinical pipeline, including RONDEL-enabled siRNA drug candidates, Dynamic Polyconjugate (DPC)-enabled drug candidate development, and the non-siRNA-based anti-obesity drug candidate, Adipotide. The company, formerly known as InterActive Group, Inc., was founded in 2003 and is headquartered in Pasadena, California.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Roberto Pedone]

  Another under-$10 nanotechnology player that's quickly moving within range of triggering a big breakout trade is Arrowhead Research (ARWR), which forms, acquires and operates subsidiaries commercializing innovative nanotechnologies. This stock has been on fire so far in 2013, with shares up a whopping 284%.

  If you take a look at the chart for Arrowhead Research, you'll notice that this stock has been uptrending strong for the last five months, with shares soaring higher from its low of $1.81 to its recent high of $8.88 a share. During that uptrend, shares of ARWR have been consistently making higher lows and higher highs, which is bullish technical price action. Shares of ARWR took out some near-term overhead resistance levels on Friday at $7.84 to $7.99 a share. That move is now quickly pushing shares of ARWR within range of triggering another big breakout trade.

  Market players should now look for long-biased trades in ARWR if it manages to break out above Friday's high of $8.37 a share to its 52-week high at $8.88 a share with high volume. Look for a sustained move or close above those levels with volume that hits near or above its three-month average action of 500,600 shares. If that breakout hits soon, then ARWR will set up to enter new 52-week high territory, which is bullish technical price action. Some possible upside targets off that breakout are $11 to $12 a share.

  Traders can look to buy ARWR off weakness to anticipate that breakout and simply use a stop that sits right around its 50-day moving average of $7.10 a share. One can also buy ARWR off strength once it starts to clear those breakout levels with volume and then simply use a stop that sits a comfortable percentage from your entry point.

Top Consumer Service Stocks For 2015: Gta Corpfin Capital Inc (GTA.V)

GTA Resources and Mining Inc. operates as a resource exploration company. The company primarily explores for gold. It owns Auden Property, which is located in Northern Ontario. The company was formerly known as GTA CorpFin Capital Inc. and changed its name to GTA Resources and Mining Inc. in June 2010. The company was incorporated in 2006 and is headquartered in Burlington, Canada.

Top Consumer Service Stocks For 2015: Emerald Oil & Gas NL(EMR.AX)

Emerald Oil & Gas NL engages in the exploration and development of oil and gas properties. The company holds interests in various oil and gas properties located in Colorado, Wyoming, Kentucky, and Texas in the United States, as well as in offshore Western Australia. The company is based in West Perth, Australia.

Top Consumer Service Stocks For 2015: EMCORE Corporation(EMKR)

EMCORE Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, provides compound semiconductor-based products for the broadband, fiber optics, satellite, and solar power markets. The company operates in two segments, Fiber Optics and Photovoltaics. The Fiber Optics segment offers broadband products, including cable television, fiber-to-the-premises, satellite communication, video transport, and defense and homeland security products; and digital products comprising telecom optical, enterprise, laser/photodetector component, parallel optical transceiver and cable, and fiber channel transceiver products. This segment?s products enable information that is encoded on light signals to be transmitted, routed, and received in communication systems and networks. The Photovoltaics segment provides gallium arsenide (GaAs) multi-junction solar cells, covered interconnected cells, and solar panels for satellite applications; and concentrating photovoltaic (CPV) power systems for commercial and utility scale solar applications, as well as GaAs solar cells and integrated CPV components for use in other solar power concentrator systems. The company markets its products through its direct sales force, external sales representatives and distributors, and application engineers worldwide. EMCORE Corporation was founded in 1984 and is headquartered in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By CRWE]

  EMCORE Corporation (Nasdaq:EMKR), a leading provider of compound semiconductor-based components and subsystems for the fiber optic and solar power markets, reported that it is ramping production and shipping the Opticomm-EMCORE NEXTGEN OTP-1DVI2A1SU insert cards for the Optiva platform.

Top Consumer Service Stocks For 2015: Cardinal Financial Corporation(CFNL)

Cardinal Financial Corporation operates as the holding company for Cardinal Bank that provides banking products and services to commercial and retail customers in Virginia and greater Washington, D.C. metropolitan area. It primarily engages in accepting deposits and originating loans. The company?s deposit products include commercial and retail checking accounts, money market accounts, individual retirement accounts, regular interest-bearing savings accounts, and certificates of deposits. Its lending portfolio comprises commercial and industrial loans, commercial mortgage loans, residential mortgage loans, construction loans, home equity lines of credit, and consumer loans. The company also offers courier, telephone and Internet banking, and automatic teller machine services, as well as traveler?s checks, coin counters, wire services, and safe deposit box services. In addition, Cardinal Financial Corporation, through its other subsidiaries, involves in the origination an d acquisition of residential mortgages for sale into the secondary market in the metropolitan Washington, D.C. region, as well as provides a construction-to-permanent loan program; offers retail securities brokerage and asset management services; and provides trust, estate, custody, investment management, and retirement planning services. It operates 26 banking offices. Cardinal Financial Corporation was founded in 1997 and is headquartered in McLean, Virginia.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Ben Levisohn]

  Cardinal Financial (CFNL) has gained 5.8% to $17.47 after it was upgraded to Outperform from Market Perform by Keefe Bruyette & Woods.

  Weatherford International (WFT) has dropped 6.3% to $14.75 before the open of trading after it announced the departure of its CFO in an 8-K filing. Wells Fargo and Raymond James both cut Weatherford’s shares as a result of the change.

• [By Marc Bastow]

  Bank holding company Cardinal Financial (CFNL) raised its quarterly dividend 33% to 8 cents per share, payable on Feb. 24 to shareholders of record as of Feb. 6.
  CFNL Dividend Yield: 1.88%

European stocks break six-day winning streak

LONDON (MarketWatch) -- European stock markets declined on Thursday, breaking the longest winning streak of the year, as investors digested the latest round of earnings reports. The Stoxx Europe 600 index (XX:SXXP) dropped 0.3% to 331.04, after closing higher for a sixth straight day on Wednesday. Shares of FLSmidth & Co. AS (DK:FLS) slid 6.6% after the engineering firm said it swung to a loss in the fourth quarter. BNP Paribas SA (FR:BNP) fell 3.2% after reporting a drop in fourth-quarter profit. Rio Tinto PLC (UK:RIO) (RIO) (AU:RIO) rose 1.7% after a well-received earnings report. Among country-specific indexes, the U.K.'s FTSE 100 index (UK:UKX) fell 0.3% to 6,654.89, France's CAC 40 index (FR:PX1) lost 0.2% to 4,299.04 and Germany's DAX 30 index (DX:DAX) gave up 0.2% to 9,521.00.

5 Best Tech Stocks To Own Right Now

Read the full story:
European stocks break six-day winning run; BNP slides

Navigating New Rules for Flexible Spending Accounts

I read in your column a few months ago that some people can now carry over $500 from their flexible-spending accounts after the deadline for spending the money. Do I still have to use up last year's money in my account by March 15?

SEE ALSO: 7 Smart Uses for Your Flex Account Money

That's up to your employer. The Treasury Department and IRS changed the rules last fall, and employers can now allow their employees to carry over up to $500 in their FSA from one year to the next. Under the old rules, you lost any money left in the account after the deadline on December 31 -- or March 15, for plans that offer a grace period. Employers can't offer both the $500 rollover and the March 15 grace period, so if your employer does change to the new rules, you will lose the option of carrying over your entire unused balance until March 15. But you will be able to carry over up to $500 into the next plan year without losing it if you don't spend it by December 31.

But employers aren't required to make the change, and some are waiting to switch to the new rules. That means you may still have until March 15 to use the 2013 money. In a survey of FSA administrators by FSAstore.com, an online store stocked with FSA-eligible products, 51% say that the employers they work with are leaning toward adopting the carryover option, but 64% believe most employers will wait until later in 2014 to amend their FSA plans. Ask your employer if you still have until March 15 to use FSA money this year, and find out whether the company plans to switch to the $500 carryover without the grace period for next year.

If your employer does still offer the March 15 grace period, this can be your last opportunity to take advantage of a sweet spot for FSAs. During the first two and a half months of the year, you can use any money remaining in your account from 2013 -- and you can use all of the money you signed up to contribute for 2014, too, even though you haven't made all the contributions yet. That makes it a good time to consider some big-ticket medical expenses that aren't covered by insurance, such as lasik surgery or orthodontia. It can also be a good time to visit the eye doctor, dentist, chiropractor or acupuncturist.

You also have plenty of smaller ways to clean out your 2013 balance by March 15 : You can use the money for insurance deductibles, co-payments, and medical and prescription drug expenses that aren't covered by insurance (but not for over-the-counter drugs without a prescription). You can also use the money for eyeglasses, prescription sunglasses, contact lenses and lens solution. FSAstore.com also points out some frequently overlooked expenses that qualify for FSA payouts: prenatal vitamins, breast pumps, hot and cold packs, knee and ankle braces, thermometers, blood pressure monitors, vaporizers, heating pads, pregnancy test kits, bandages, first-aid kits, and even some sunscreens. You can also get acne medicine, antacids and allergy medicine with a doctor's prescription. For more ideas, see Smart Uses for Your Flex-Account Money.

Got a question? Ask Kim at askkim@kiplinger.com.

Delamaide: Critic accuses press of failing public

The press is known as the Fourth Estate because it is supposed to help government and society function better for the good of all.

It is a historical reference going back to the three "estates" of the British Parliament — clergy, nobility and commoners. Terming the press the "Fourth Estate" is attributed to the statesman Edmund Burke, who supposedly used it in 1787 when journalists were first allowed to cover debates in the House of Commons.

Now a new book by an editor of the Columbia Journalism Review accuses the press, and specifically the business press, of failing in its duty to alert the public to the abuses in the financial markets that led to the traumatic crisis that began in 2008 and is still with us.

The book, The Watchdog That Didn't Bark: The Financial Crisis and the Disappearance of Investigative Journalism by Dean Starkman, details the consequences of a press asleep at the switch.

"What happens is the public is left in the dark about and powerless against complex problems that overtake important national institutions," Starkman writes. "In this case, the complex problem was the corruption of the U.S. financial system."

In the aftermath of the crisis, the press has taken turns blaming everyone — lawmakers, regulators, governments, bankers, mortgage lenders, and the borrowers themselves — while letting itself off the hook.

Starkman draws on a study he did at CJR of nine major business news outlets to look into this failure. The years leading up to the crisis, 2004 to 2006, showed the biggest gap: "Missing are investigative stories that directly confront powerful institutions about basic business practices while those institutions were still powerful."

Top 5 Growth Companies To Own For 2015

The author does credit the business press for following the lead of active regulators in warning of the dangers of predatory lending in 2000 to 2003, but he says th! ey subsequently missed the "radicalization" of financial markets through the growth of derivatives and other changes.

Starkman attributes this in part to the financial difficulties that many media organizations were feeling as they coped with the impact of the Internet.

But he also attributes it to the growing importance of the "scoop" as stodgy print publications attempted to keep up with digital innovators like Bloomberg, saying it came at the expense of the longer, investigative pieces that enabled newspapers in the past to step back and look at the bigger picture.

Media became focused on "access journalism" rather than "accountability journalism," Starkman says, typified by the grinding coverage of the CNBC cable television network, but now part of most every news organization.

The worst part of all this, in Starkman's view, is that the lack of self-criticism in missing the biggest story on its beat in decades has prevented any reform in the media.

"Indeed, mainstream business news generally moved on from the greatest business story in several generations with, it is fair to say, stunning complacency and few backward glances to determine exactly where it fit into the system that had so recently collapsed," the author says.

One result of this persistent myopia regarding the institutions they cover is that the press has been complicit in "perpetuating the pernicious myth that borrowers — particularly minority borrowers — drove the system to crisis."

It is hard, Starkman acknowledges, for the press to engage in accountability reporting when law enforcement officials from Attorney General Eric Holder on down have failed to prosecute a single individual for the rampant fraud that led to the crisis. Only indictments, he says, can "change a narrative."

An old newspaper hand, Starkman sees the future of accountability reporting in the same "Great Story" — the long-form investigative piece — that marked its greatest successes in the past. Most of the ! substanti! ve business reporting, he says, still comes from legacy news media, despite the rise of bloggers and news aggregators on the Web.

Blogger David Dayen, however, takes Starkman to task in an American Prospect article about his book for underestimating the accomplishments and potential of digital media.

"While the Internet 'presents severe structural barriers to accountability reporting,' as Starkman writes, it also presents potential breakthroughs," Dayen says. "Instead of long-form journalism that bundles months of reporting into one shot, there's value in incremental, iterative reporting that releases each detail as it's gathered, breaks down complex material into digestible chunks and furthers the narrative for months, even years."

Dayen's view gains credence from the blistering criticism by Starkman himself for the corporatism that continues to steer traditional media away from public-service journalism.

As the remaining "estates" — legislators, regulators, and government officials — grapple with the consequences of the financial crisis through the Dodd-Frank financial reform act and other measures, it is important for the Fourth Estate, too, to come to terms with its past and future roles in keeping the public informed. Starkman's critical look provides a good starting point.

Darrell Delamaide has reported on business and economics from New York, Paris, Berlin and Washington for Dow Jones news service, Barron's, Institutional Investor and Bloomberg News service, among others. He is the author of four books, including the financial thriller Gold.

How Do You Solve a Problem Like the Taper?

In the Sound of Music, the nuns sing “How do you solve a problem like Maria?” These days, investors are asking, “how do you solve a problem like the taper?”

NBC

How else to explain the drop in the stock market today? The Dow Jones Industrial Average has dropped 0.2% to 15,861.26 thanks to big losses Verizon (VZ), which has fallen 1.4% to $47.60, Procter & Gamble (PG), which has declined 1.2% to $80.72, and McDonald’s (MCD), which is off 1.1% at $944.42. The S&P 500 has dropped 0.4% to 1,780.27.

Bespoke Investment Group how the market might react:

One thing to make note of is the market's performance in the two weeks leading up to Fed Days this year…the S&P has posted nice gains in the two weeks prior to all seven Fed Days this year, but the index has actually declined 1.27% in the two weeks leading up to tomorrow's Fed Day. If the Fed does not announce a taper tomorrow, we would expect the index to rally significantly since it has been selling off in anticipation of a potential taper so far this month. If the Fed does announce a taper, we don't expect the market to like it one bit initially, but given the fact that we've already been selling off into the event, we could see an initial wash -out and then see buyers step back in on a "sell the rumor, buy the news"-type event.

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Of course, the question remains: What will the Fed say?

2 Stocks Rising on Unusual Volume

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 DELAFIELD, Wis. (Stockpickr) -- Professional traders running mutual funds and hedge funds don't just look at a stock's price moves; they also track big changes in volume activity. Often when above-average volume moves into an equity, it precedes a large spike in volatility.

>>4 Big Stocks on Traders' Radars

Major moves in volume can signal unusual activity, such as insider buying or selling -- or buying or selling by "superinvestors."

Unusual volume can also be a major signal that hedge funds and momentum traders are piling into a stock ahead of a catalyst. These types of traders like to get in well before a large spike, so it's always a smart move to monitor unusual volume. That said, remember to combine trend and price action with unusual volume. Put them all together to help you decipher the next big trend for any stock. >>5 Low-Priced Stocks to Trade for Gains With that in mind, let's take a look at several stocks rising on unusual volume recently.

Stock quotes in this article: ICLR, UFS, 
 

Icon

Icon (ICLR) a contract research organization, provides outsourced development services to the pharmaceutical, biotechnology and medical device industries primarily in Ireland, the U.S. and rest of Europe. This stock closed up 3.5% to $43.61 in Wednesday's trading session.

Wednesday's Volume: 562,000
Three-Month Average Volume: 372,292
Volume % Change: 80%

>>5 Ways to Invest Like a Pension Fund From a technical perspective, ICLR jumped higher here right above some near-term support at $41 with above-average. This stock has been uptrending strong for the last two months, with shares moving higher from its low of $36.42 to its intraday high of $43.70. During that uptrend, shares of ICLR have been consistently making higher lows and higher highs, which is bullish technical price action. That move has now pushed shares of ICLR within range of triggering a big breakout trade. That trade will hit if ICLR manages to take out Wednesday's high of $43.70 to its 52-week high at $44.23 with high volume. Traders should now look for long-biased trades in ICLR as long as it's trending above $41 or above its 50-day at $40 and then once it sustains a move or close above those breakout levels with volume that hits near or above 372,292 shares. If that breakout hits soon, then ICLR will set up to enter new 52-week-high territory, which is bullish technical price action. Some possible upside targets off that breakout are $50 to $55.

Stock quotes in this article: ICLR, UFS, 
 

Domtar

Domtar (UFS) designs, manufactures, markets and distributes communications papers, specialty and packaging papers, and adult incontinence products worldwide. This stock closed up 1.1% at $106 in Wednesday's trading session.

Wednesday's Volume: 1.89 million
Three-Month Average Volume: 367,447
Volume % Change: 416%

>>5 Stocks Set to Soar on Bullish Earnings From a technical perspective, UFS trended modestly higher here right above some near-term support at $100 with heavy upside volume. This move is quickly pushing shares of UFS within range of triggering a near-term breakout trade. That trade will hit if UFS manages to take out some near-term overhead resistance at $108 to its 52-week high at $110.20 with high volume. Traders should now look for long-biased trades in UFS as long as it's trending above some near-term support at $100 and then once it sustains a move or close above those breakout levels with volume that this near or above 367,447 shares. If that breakout hits soon, then UFS will set up to enter new 52-week-high territory, which is bullish technical price action. Some possible upside targets off that breakout are $120 to $130. To see more stocks rising on unusual volume, check out the Stocks Rising on Unusual Volume portfolio on Stockpickr. -- Written by Roberto Pedone in Delafield, Wis. RELATED LINKS:   >>3 Huge Stocks to Trade (or Not) >>3 Tech Stocks Under $10 to Watch >>5 Hated Earnings Stocks You Should Love Follow Stockpickr on Twitter and become a fan on Facebook.

Stock quotes in this article: ICLR, UFS, 
  At the time of publication, author had no positions in stocks mentioned. Roberto Pedone, based out of Delafield, Wis., is an independent trader who focuses on technical analysis for small- and large-cap stocks, options, futures, commodities and currencies. Roberto studied international business at the Milwaukee School of Engineering, and he spent a year overseas studying business in Lubeck, Germany. His work has appeared on financial outlets including CNBC.com and Forbes.com. You can follow Pedone on Twitter at www.twitter.com/zerosum24 or @zerosum24.

Don’t fall for the ‘Santa Claus rally’

Bloomberg

Do you believe in Santa Claus?

Wall Street does — or at least is hoping that you do. Every year around this time, many analysts and brokers begin referring to a "Santa Claus rally" that will propel the market higher.

Don't fall for the sales pitch. The stock market's average performance before Christmas is no better than mediocre. It is only in the last week of December that the market has strong seasonal winds blowing in its sails.

Consider the stock market's gain from Dec. 1 through its highest close during the month. On average, the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA)   is 3.1% higher at that point than where it stood at the beginning of the month, according to a Hulbert Financial Digest study of the Dow since its creation in 1896.

If history repeats itself this December, the Dow will reach 16577, based on Friday's close of 16086.

Click to Play The elephant in the room

Investors too often fail to talk to their families about their finances, say Ken Dychtwald, CEO Age Wave, and David Tyrie, managing director at Bank of America Merrill Lynch. Advisers sometimes need to push them into these conversations.

In fact, though, a 3.1% rally is below average. It turns out that eight other months — from March to July to October — have stronger rallies than December when their performance is measured the same way. The average Dow rally in all non-December months is 3.4%. So the market's rally potential prior to Christmas is below average.

You didn't really believe in Santa Claus, did you?

Not all experts who refer to a Santa Claus rally equate it with how much the market rises through its December high, though few bother precisely defining what they do mean. But other attempted definitions don't fare much better.

One that has been used over the years by some of the advisers the Hulbert Financial Digest monitors is based on supposed market strength over the entire period between Thanksgiving and Christmas. Yet the average Dow gain over these few weeks is statistically indistinguishable from how it performs at any other time of year.

In other words, you shouldn't let the Christmas season sway you from whatever investment strategy you already were pursuing. For most investors, the best general strategy is buying and holding a broad-based index fund. Among the lowest-cost ways to invest in the U.S. stock market is the Vanguard Total Stock Market exchange-traded fund (VITSX)  , with an annual expense ratio of 0.05%, or $5 per $10,000 invested.

There is one version of the Santa Claus rally that enjoys strong historical support: the last five trading sessions of December and first two of January.

This year, for example, a trader wishing to capture this rally would buy stocks as of the close on Dec. 23 and sell them at the end of the trading session of Jan. 3. Traders have been aware of this particular version of the Santa Claus rally at least since 1972, which is when the editors of the annual Stock Trader's Almanac say they discovered it.

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Since the Dow was created in 1896, it has gained an average of 1.7% during this seven-trading session period, rising 77% of the time. That is far better than the 0.2% average gain of all other seven-trading-session periods of the calendar.

Are these heightened odds of success good enough to justify the transaction costs involved in a specific bet on strength over these seven trading sessions near the turn of the year?

The answer isn't clear — especially after you consider short-term capital-gains taxes, brokerage commissions and "bid-ask spreads," or the gap in price between the price you have to pay when buying a stock and what you get when selling it.

The stocks for which these spreads are the smallest — those with the largest market capitalization, or "large caps" — also are those most likely to be the targets of traders who, by attempting to exploit this seasonal pattern, cause it to weaken.

Norman Fosback, editor of Fosback's Fund Forecaster and former president of the Institute for Econometric Research, says that seasonal patterns in large-cap stocks have "receded in significance" in recent years.

Unfortunately, the smallest-cap stocks for which seasonal patterns remain the strongest also tend to have the highest bid-ask spreads.

These "microcap" stocks — a loosely defined category that contains issues that are even smaller than the small caps—tend to range in size between $100 million or so and $1 billion in total market value.

Fosback nevertheless favors the microcap category for the seasonal portfolio he recommends to clients, though not by buying and selling individual stocks. Instead, he prefers the iShares Micro-Cap ETF (IWC)  , with an expense ratio of 0.72%. The fund replicates the performance of the smallest 1,000 stocks in the Russell 2000 Index (RUT)  ; the average market cap of the stocks it owns is $420 million.

Even though the individual stocks the ETF owns typically trade with wide bid-ask spreads, the fund doesn't; over the last three months, for example, its average spread has been just 0.1%.

Another fund that focuses on even smaller stocks is the Wilshire Micro-Cap ETF (WMCR)  , with a 0.58% expense ratio. Though the average market cap of the stocks it currently owns, at $252 million, is smaller than that of the iShares Micro-Cap ETF (IWC)  , its average bid-asked spread tends to be larger — 0.6% over the last three months.