Market Update – by Trista Yang Cao:
- Last week, the main indexes booked a fourth straight weekly gain with the majority of gains coming over the Thursday and Friday trading sessions. However, there has been a modest pullback on Monday and Tuesday this week.
- Energy stocks continue to fall while technology stocks keep rising to reach new heights on Friday last week.
- This Wednesday, the Federal Reserve’s Open Market Committee announced that the interest rate would still be left unchanged. However, the Fed was open to raising rates at the next meeting in December.
Stock Pitch – Estée Lauder (EL)- by Hunter Rendleman:
- OIG decided to buy EL because of seasonal trends. Since we are close to the Christmas season, consumer demand for personal products, like ones created by Estée Lauder, should increase.
- The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. manufactures, markets, and sells skin care, makeup, fragrance, and hair care products worldwide. Famous brands under Estée Lauder include: Aramis, Clinique, Origins, MAC, Bobbi Brown, La Mer, Aveda etc.
- The risks OIG considered when buying it include its foreign market performance and whether its high price would affect consumer demand.
Adirondack Cup Competition Introduction – by Rachael Abraham
- The Adirondack Cup is an annually held investment competition among college students that is funded by Adirondack Funds.
- In Mid October, each team submitted a portfolio, which used a hypothetical $1milion to invest in five small cap stocks among five different sectors. The competition ends in April and the result will be based on the earnings of each team’s portfolio.
- This year, led by Rachael, the team with six members met twice a week in order to build up a good portfolio. The research is mostly based on news and data in Yahoo! Finance.