Comcast Tests Important Support --

Comcast (CMCSA) has tested the important support level near 30.50 for the last two weeks.  

Though its numbers aren’t particularly pretty from a pure analysis perspective (see below).... from https://marketsmith.investors.com

... we do seem to have caught the chart attempting to create a base here.

Taking the long position in small size here near 31.17 to 30.65 would be a very conservative entry with a tight stop near 30.  

The Comcast chart is likely to attempt a bounce into 34 and then retest the 32 area if it is going to continue higher into its target areas near 35.7 and 36.95.

The stock of AT&T just dropped to a 52-week low -- but may be hitting significant support levels as well.

As advocates of relative strength, we target strong-performing areas of the market when selecting long positions. The trend is your friend as they say, and it is much more forgiving to buy a stock or fund in an uptrend than one heading south. For that reason, stocks hitting 52-week lows typically would not be on our radar. That is, unless they are hitting levels of potential major significance. That may be the case presently with the stock of AT&T (T).

Yesterday (July 18), T dropped to a 52-week low for the first time since the selloff of August 2015, closing at 35.99. While that is not welcomed news for AT&T investors, the move has brought the stock to a confluence of potentially meaningful support levels, including:

The broken post-2007 Down trendline ~36

The post-2009 Up trendline~35.50

38.2% Fibonacci Retracement of 2009-2016 Rally ~35.40

61.8% Fibonacci Retracement of 2015-2016 Rally ~36.00

1000-Day (~200-Week) Simple Moving Average ~36.30

So, will this 35.50-36 level hold in AT&T? There is no guarantee. Momentum can be a powerful force and as long as the stock is making lower highs and lower lows, the benefit of the doubt is to the downside. That is why we prefer a relative strength approach that has us buying uptrends.

In the case of T, it could reasonably be argued that the stock is, in fact, in a longer-term uptrend, still posting higher lows since the 2008 bottom. That perhaps makes it a bit easier to stick one’s neck out and buy into the present weakness. Regardless of the longer-term trend, the plethora of meaningful potential support levels clustered around the 36 area on the chart should at least dial up a short-term bounce in the stock of AT&T.

Follow along the progress of this potential trade in AT&T at our new “all-access” site, The Lyons Share. Thanks for reading!

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Charter's wireless pact with Comcast and Verizon's desire for next-generation fiber architecture would complicate a deal.

By Chris Nolter

Shares of Charter Communications Inc. (CHTR) had a muted response a report that Verizon Communications Inc. (VZ) recently offered between $350 and $400 a share for the former.

Cable operator Charter traded down about 0.6% to $343.40, while Verizon dropped 0.5% to $46.39.

Verizon has had difficulty growing its wireless business as T-Mobile USA Inc. (TMUS) and others have ratcheted up competition. Meanwhile, the convergence of video, broadband and ever-faster wireless networks has companies looking beyond their legacy businesses. Rival AT&T Inc. (T), for instance, purchased DirecTV and is buying Time Warner Inc. (TWX).

While Verizon could see the appeal of Charter's deals with content providers and its fiber network, a merger of the two would be problematic for reasons besides agreeing on a price.

For starters, Charter and Comcast Communications Inc. (CMCSA) announced a pact in May that could get in the way.

Comcast and Charter announced that they will jointly seek out opportunities to expand their wireless operations and businesses. One catch is that neither can buy or sell to a wireless carrier without the other's permission for a year. Craig Moffett of MoffettNathanson LLC described the provision as a "no adultery clause."

Comcast just launched its Xfinity Mobile service in May, reselling Verizon's service. The cable company is not likely to approve of a combination of its two wireless partners as it rolls out the new service.

As Verizon designs its 5G wireless broadband networks, CEO Lowell McAdam has acknowledged the need to increase the telecom's fiber footprint to carry the growing traffic and connect to more wireless sites and devices.

Charter would add new fiber to Verizon's network.

However, McAdam has said that Verizon is building a next-generation fiber network to support services including 5G wireless networks, the Internet of things, business and home broadband. The carrier is increasing the network capacity from 144 strands in a typical deployment that supports its FiOS service to 1,700 strands of fiber per cable.

To boost its network, Verizon said in April that it will spend at least $1.05 billion to purchase 12.4 million miles of optical fiber cables per year from Corning Inc. (GLW) from 2018 to 2020.

Given its network requirements, McAdam told CNBC in April that potential targets do not have the fiber "architectural fit" that Verizon needs.  "From a fiber perspective nobody. Whether you're a fiber company or you're a cable company, you don't have the architecture that we're talking about today," he said.

Of course, McAdam could be trying to lower price expectations by talking down cable's fiber architecture.

Recall that in January 2015, McAdam scoffed at reports that Verizon was in talks to buy AOL. In May of that year, Verizon agreed to buy AOL for $4.4 billion.

Given McAdam's wiliness in talks with the press, he could be playing a longer strategic game.

Meet the new, business-friendly FCC

Remember net neutrality?

Back in 2014, you couldn’t miss it, nor the videos that people created to explain it. Like the one I made.

Net neutrality is the principle that internet service providers (ISPs) like Comcast (CMCSA) and AT&T (T) should not be able to charge more to pass along some kinds of data than others. It’s an issue now that these companies own more than the “pipes”—they also own the companies that send video through them. For example, Comcast owns NBC, and AT&T owns DirecTV. Should Comcast be allowed to charge Netflix (NFLX) more because it’s a rival?

2014 was the year of net-neutrality debate. The whole country was up in arms. Every consumer-advocacy group took to the streets. In the end, net neutrality was preserved; the internet continued as it always has.

But now there’s a new FCC chairman, handpicked by Donald Trump: former Verizon (VZ) lawyer Ajit Vai. He wasted no time—without any announcement or discussion—in tearing down the FCC’s consumer-protection laws. He took about a dozen actions, including these:

“Net neutrality’s days are numbered,” he announced. He’ll face a battle to dismantle it completely, but that’s his goal.

He has defunded nine smaller ISPs that participate in the Lifeline program, created by Republican presidents Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush to bring service to lower-income Americans.

He has killed the FCC’s effort to eliminate the cable-box rental industry, which costs you more than $230 a year, per box. The previous FCC felt that its circuitry could easily be built into our TVs or gadgets like the Roku or Apple (AAPL) TV.

He has halted the FCC’s efforts to end price-gouging monopolies on phone calls from jails and prisons, which cost as much as $17 per 15-minute call before the regulator acted to rein in prices.

Pai’s goal, like Trump’s, is to eliminate as many regulations as possible—regulations that cost money to large corporations like Verizon (2015 profits: $42 billion), AT&T ($13 billion), and Comcast ($3.5 billion).

Alas, the loser in these transactions is you, the consumer. Once net neutrality is dead, you’ll pay more for Netflix and other services that aren’t owned by the ISPs.

Of course, not everyone will be unhappy with the new, anti-consumer FCC spirit. Shareholders will love it.

Disclosure: Verizon has made an offer to buy Yahoo Finance’s parent company, Yahoo.

JANUARY 22, 2017

In 1789 George Washington was elected the first U.S. president. The United States' capital was New York City. He had to settle for the first presidential residence at 1 Cherry Street, since the Trump Tower up the road had not been built yet.

Those were the days when if you needed directions, you could reach in your pocket and instead of an iPhone, you could pull out your compass. Instead of an app you'd be using a map.

George Washington like Donald Trump was a part of his family's real estate business. It was The Ohio Company... 

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I have been a fan of cord cutting for a while. My wife and I have cut the cord and currently subscribed to Netflix, Amazon Video, and Spotify to name a few.

Comcast (CMCSA) was way to expensive and quite frankly all we ever watched was ESPN anyways. We never really have time to sit around and watch cable and there is no episode on TV that I NEED to watch live that can’t wait for the next day,…