Is good news no longer bad news for markets?

NEW YORK — For the longest time, good incoming news was viewed as bad news by Wall Street. The reason: Stock investors figured signs of a healing economy would move the Federal Reserve ever closer to dialing back its market-friendly stimulus program.

But that might be finally changing. Need proof? On Friday, the economy created a better-than-expected 203,000 jobs in November, and the unemployment rate fell to a five-year low of 7%, a threshold the Fed once said would mark the end of its bond-buying program.

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But the stock market went up — not down as it did in the spring and summer when the Fed first hinted at "tapering" its asset purchases. The S&P 500 followed with a

record closing high of 1808.37

Monday.

Some on Wall Street theorize that the jobs report, despite the impressive headline numbers, was neither too strong nor too weak. In essence, it's not a major game-changer as it relates to the timing of the Fed's move toward less-easy monetary policy.

But there was a contingent of Wall Street pros who viewed the market reaction as a sign that good economic news may now be viewed as good news for stocks.

"Good economic news is no longer necessarily bad short-term news for financial markets," says Jerry Webman, chief economist for Oppenheimer Funds. "Instead, a consensus seems to be building that a Fed taper decision will be, on balance, positive — as long as the economy is improving unambiguously."

Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) News: Waiting on the Bulls to Come Out

Chip stock Advanced Micro Devices, Inc (NYSE: AMD) took another dive after earnings, but the stock has a history of bouncing back after what the bears interpreted as a poor earnings report. I should mention that we had an open position in Advanced Micro Devices in our SmallCap Network Elite Opportunity (SCN EO) portfolio from last summer up until late January when we locked in a small loss. And while we still believe in AMD's long term potential, we have also also watched the stock do the same same thing after its latest earnings report that it had done after the previous three: Basically it tanked (or to put it nicely, presented a new buying opportunity for the bulls). With that in mind, Advanced Micro Devices has a pretty good chance of rising again if you consider some of the following news:

The AMD Mantle is Starting to Make Waves. AMD has released the latest beta driver of its Catalyst software, making its Mantle API a reality for those with supported graphics cards. Already, the reviews or news is starting to trickle in for techies from AnandTech (a very detailed article), Engadget, ExtremeTech and PCWorld - meaning investors better start paying attention.

Upcoming Presentation at the Goldman Sachs Technology & Internet Conference 2014. Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, Devinder Kumar will be presenting at the Goldman Sachs Technology & Internet Conference 2014 at 9:00 am PST on Wednesday, February 12. For investors, a real-time audio webcast of the presentation will be accessible accessed on the Investor Relations homepage at http://ir.amd.com. PR Awards. AMD has issued a press release noting that it was recognized for a total of 24 top public relations, marketing and social media awards last year - marking the company's most successful and acclaimed year for communications to date. Having a good PR team would give a publicly traded tech stock a leg up on the competition and ultimately benefit investors. More Ambulance Chasers (I Mean Lawyers) Start to Drive Up. There have been a couple of announcements in recent months from so-called shareholder rights law firms "investigating" Advanced Micro Devices on behalf of investors and themselves, but the gates have opened wider over the past week with the following announcements: Harwood Feffer LLP Announces Investigation of Advanced Micro Devices, Inc.; SHAREHOLDER ALERT: Levi & Korsinsky, LLP Announces Class Action Involving ADVANCED MICRO DEVICES, INC. and Its Board of Directors and a Deadline of March 16, 2014 to Seek a Lead Plaintiff Position – AMD; Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. Stockholders Encouraged to Contact Securities Law Firm about Investigation; and SHAREHOLDER ALERT: Brower Piven Encourages Investors Who Have Losses in Excess of $100,000 from Investment in Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. to Contact Brower Piven Before the March 17, 2014 Lead Plaintiff Deadline. However, what these lawyers hope to accomplish on behalf of current shareholders would be a mystery and the stock has also been pretty resilient for investors since the end of the financial crisis. Share Performance. Advanced Micro Devices is down around 12.4% since the start of the year due to the latest dive after earnings but its still up around 34.5% over the past year and up around 54.8% over the past five years since the end of the financial crisis.

Finally, here is a look at the latest technical chart for the stock complete with some rather flat trend lines:

Given all of the above news and the history of AMD's performance after its recent earnings reports, it may be time for the bears to start hibernating once again to allow the bulls to come out.

SmallCap Network Elite Opportunity (SCN EO) previously had an open position in AMD. To find out what other open positions SCN EO currently has, and to learn why so many traders and investors are relying on this premium subscription service, click here to find out more.