What happens on the football pitch is the single most important factor to the success of Manchester United (MANU). The club's sizeable commercial, broadcasting and match day revenues would not be possible if the club were not so successful on the field. The club must continue its incredible record if it is to retain its wealth and marketing power. All eyes will be on the incoming manager, David Moyes. Can he continue where Ferguson left off? What kind of financial clout will he have in the transfer market? How will the team transition to new leadership and, ultimately, how may this affect Manchester United's stock price?

The Negatives

Sir Alex Ferguson has announced his retirement, as has the club's chief executive, David Gill. Moreover, veteran player Paul Scholes is hanging up his boots, though his experience will be retained in the form of a coaching role. The future of the

On the face of it, everything seems fine with Facebook (FB). The company just announced a 38% revenue increase for the 1st quarter of 2013, with mobile advertising accounting for 30% of advertising revenue. It's user base, standing at over 1.11 billion, is unrivalled and it has launched new projects, Facebook Home and Facebook Messenger. However, there is certainly enough reason for investors to be wary.

In defending Facebook as a strong stock commentators have pointed to the social network's 1.1 billion users as proof. However, what these commentators are failing to grasp is that Facebook may have a huge user base, but users are just not using the site as much as they once did. Most will still use the site, just not as much as before, though they are still counted as full fledged users.

The Competition

Facebook is now being overlooked by increasing numbers of users in

The "lost decade" continues to see much market volatility, leading economists to predict that the price of gold will remain high into 2013 and beyond, and possibly rise further.

"The Lost Decade"

The Eurozone, whose economy contracted 0.1% in 2012´s third quarter, continues to show little sign of recovery, with France now looking like it could be dragged toward the PIIGS´ mire too and Spain grappling with the possibility of Catalonian independence while also trying to kickstart their economy. What´s more Europe´s leaders failed to reach agreement yet again on how to assist Greece once more. In the United Kingdom, if the Euroskeptic Tories get their way, David Cameron may push Britain to "second-class membership" status of the EU before long, further weakening the bloc, amid difficult negotiations on the upcoming EU budget. Ben Bernanke and the Fed are content to print more money until the US economy shows signs

I have been following stock performance and news stories on the four companies assessed in this article for considerable time. Based on recent stock performance, outlook and announcements by these companies I feel that they are worth considering long while Research in Motion's (RIMM) immediate future doesn't project confidence as the company stutters on in response to stifling competition and dire market performance. Krispy Kreme (KKD) has been particularly impressive as it really does look like the company might now be leaving behind its boom-and-bust cycle days. Recent sales figures and growth plans for Krispy Kreme in its UK market in addition to hearing what the company's chief executive had to say in an interview linked below regarding the company's future have been especially noteworthy.

Krispy Kreme Doughnuts

Krispy Kreme closed Friday up 1.61% on 8.21 per share. Share price on January 3 2012 was $6.52,

The "Sage of Omaha" is one of the richest men in the world but behind Warren Buffett's investments lies a fundamental, relatively straight-forward set of principles.

Buffett buys in companies where he sees long-term success. As the man himself stated, "I look for businesses in which I think I can predict what they're going to look like in 10 to 15 years' time." This approach is at the heart of every investment decision made by Buffett.

In an interview with Investor's Chronicle, according to Mary Buffett, Warren's ex-daughter-in-law, this long-term approach is based on three points:

1) The product or service offered by the company must stay constant for the next 10 to 15 years. This way he can predict with more reliability how the company may perform. Take Buffett's recent investment in Tesco (TSCDY.PK) to add to his investment in the supermarket

St. Patrick's Day, celebrated on the 17th of March, is nearly upon us. It is a mere 4 days away. While this festive celebration is mainly associated with drinking, street parades and generally paying homage to Ireland in some way, it is also notable for something else. Not such a well known fact about St. Patrick's Day and one that could make you money is that immediately preceding St. Patrick's Day until one trading day after, stock markets tend to consistently rise. This peculiar occurrence is attributed to a rise in mood levels as people await the celebratory day which encourages investment.

This first came to my attention in an article published in the paper edition of Investor's Chronicle. I have further researched this phenomenon, whose argument that St. Patrick's Day has a general upward effect on market stock prices has been further attested to

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke offered grim hope for QE3 to occur this year with what was previously thought to be almost a guarantee by some analysts. This news is largely seen to be the reason why silver and gold stocks took a hammering on Wednesday, February 29.

Gold and Silver Stock Fall

Precious metal stocks fell across the board. iShares Silver Trust (SLV) closed down 6.36% at 33.55 whereas SPDR Gold Trust (GLD) saw 5.31% wiped off its stock value, closing at 164.29. Silver miners didn´t do as badly as some ETFs. Paan American (PAAS) recorded a loss of 4.3% meanwhile the largest silver miner in the world, Silver Wheaton (SLW) was down 3.8%. Like silver miners, gold mining companies saw similar losses, while similarly again, not seeing as heavy losses as the industry ETFs. Barrick (ABX) was down 3.50%.

Why gold and silver prices will still rise

Despite the announcement of severe cuts by the new People's Party government in Spain, led by Mariano Rajoy, Spain's debt levels are set to rise significantly this year.

In comparison with Italy's 120% debt to GDP percentage, Spain's stands at 66%. However, according to a European Commission forecast, this is set to rise to 78% in 2013, pushing Spain closer to the dangerous 100% mark. Spain's lower debt level in comparison with many European country levels (Greece's debt is 160% of GDP) has set it apart from Greece, Ireland and Portugal. As the rate has been at a manageable level, Spain has not needed a bailout. That is, up to what could be the near future.

Why Spain Will Struggle

Spain's economy has returned to contraction. The International Monetary Fund predicts a 1.7% contraction this year. This is happening while Spain is

With a deal finally having been agreed on between Eurozone finance ministers and Greece, the Southern European country is safe from default for now, but is it just a stay of execution? Much of the bailout will simply go straight back to creditors without giving the Greeks a real chance to stimulate the economy.

Greece will receive €130 billion, which will avert the chance of a default next month. What´s more, fears of contagion to other countries, particularly the rest of the PIIGS, will abate. Some sense of fear should be lifted from stock markets.

Many analysts have said that no matter what happens with regard to this new bailout package, Greece is doomed anyway. It would seem that even the so-called Troika (IMF, EU and the European Central Bank) do not really know what they are doing. While negotiating with Greece, a highly confidential Troika report regarding the

So far this year gold´s price has climbed over 10%. And given market circumstances (the sheer number of recession-ravaged countries, continued crisis for the euro and industrialization from China in particular), it is set to rise further in 2012. This article scrutinizes the recent performance and future predictions for the largest cap gold company in the industry, Barrick Gold Corporation (ABX).

Barrick Gold Corporation Common in 2012

Since the start of February, Barrick's share price has fallen from $49.26 to $47.03 at the time of writing, though this figure is still higher than end of December 2011 figures, when Barrick's stock price closed the year at $45.25. The world´s biggest gold company announced that it would be issuing a quarterly dividend of US15 cents, payable on March 15.

Barrick just announced its Q4 financial results with net earnings growing 15%. The company is tipped by many analysts for further

After the world thought agreement had been reached on a new bailout following the successful Greek parliament's backing of the tough new austerity package, Greece and the rest of the EU are once again far from agreement.

Will Greece really default? Looking at how talks have progressed back and forth between Greece and the EU´s leading members, now it would not be such a surprise. The clock is ticking towards March 20th, the deadline for Greece's debt repayments. As European countries are preparing themselves for a potential Greek default and by extension, Greece´s departure from the euro, what ramifications could be felt by global stock markets?

Potential Consequences of a Greek default

We would likely see a surge in precious metal stocks as nervous investors would likely want to place their money in tangible asset investment. Gold stocks such as Barrick Gold (ABX), AngloGold Ashanti (AU) and Yamana Gold (AUY)

Silver has long been overlooked by many investors. However, though 2011 was a volatile year, more investors are now paying attention to silver, given that it has grown in value by 150% over the last three years, outperforming even gold. Added to this statistic the fact that demand for silver is set to increase, its price is predicted by many analysts to continue rising at a significant rate throughout the rest of 2012.

Why silver prices will rise in 2012

The precious metal surged 8% in January. The Global X Silver Miners ETF (SIL) is up around 19% in 2012. Commodity Online has reported that demand for silver will exceed supply levels this year. They go on to speculate that silver could reach record levels in 2012. Similarly to gold, silver´s price is predicted to rise due to some of the same factors, namely low U.S. interest rates until

Countless analysts have predicted an impending decline of China's incredible economic growth over the last 20 years. And still the "world's factory" continues to grow its economy (10% average a year for the last 20 years). However there are now more analysts than ever treading much more carefully around the Red Dragon, as more potential signs of an economic downturn are apparent. These potential warning signs are of course merely speculative, and, as China has done so time and again, who is to say that the country will not just keep on growing?

Is skyscraper building going to be China's undoing?

China is home to 53% of the world's skyscrapers that are currently under construction. One survey claimed that China will see the equivalent of one new high-rise completed every five days during the next three years and within five years the country will have a total

Gold prices have been rising steeply since 2007, a climb that shows no sign of abating according to market analysts.

Why will gold prices continue to rise?

Firstly, gold has always been an inflation hedge in uncertain economic times. It is no coincidence that prices have risen so steeply since around the beginning of the global economic crisis, compounded by the 2011 European debt crisis. As long as the U.S. dollar is weak, investors are more likely to invest in tangible assets such as gold or silver. In addition, the political unrest in North Africa and now, Middle Eastern countries such as Saudi Arabia has had an upward effect on the price of gold.

Investors inevitably look for a secure investment amid such uncertainty and thus turn to gold. The steep climb of its stock prices' rises in recent years has undoubtedly been aided significantly by market reaction to the

History has much to teach us and if we are to avoid economic crises we should study more of it. At least, that is, according to the Spanish economist Gabriel Tortella. Though rather than look to the past, the Spanish government seems to prefer to just do what everyone else is doing and cut spending without focusing on other areas where improvement could be made. As one of Europe´s largest economies, Spain´s handling of their economic woes is being watched very closely not only in Europe but abroad too, especially in the United States.

Spain´s main problems do not lie with their national debt, at 66% of their GDP, which is not so high in comparison with that of other countries, such as Italy, whose national debt stands at 120% of GDP.

Of course, Spain is still in the grip of La Crisis, their main problems being huge