Stocks post biggest gain in 5 years; Google buys DoubleClick

Well, Google (GOOG) didn't buy Digg, but was approved to purchase DoubleClick for 3.1 Billion dollars. You may have not heard about this deal because it was announced 11 months ago. The reason it took this long is that it needed to be approved by United States regulators (which happened in December) and the European Union, which just happened today. What will DoubleClick do to help Google? According to Google Chief Executive Eric Schmidt, "combining with DoubleClick would allow Google to more quickly bring to market advances in technology and infrastructure that would dramatically improve digital media and better target advertising to users" (AP). In simpler words, it will provide better features for those who use Google Ad's to make profit. However, there is some bad news for DoubleClick employers. Reuters reported that Google will make an unspecified number of job cuts from the 1,500 current DoubleClick employers (Reuters).

So what should you do with Google now? Well, my plan for shorting Google for the rest of the week backfired. I looked like a genius after Monday, but with DoubleClick under Google's belt, Google would have skyrocketed even without the Fed's Credit plan. What I think you should do is buy Google now, or just get rid of Google. They needed something to rebound from their tumble. Google's high was 741.79 on November 6th 2007. It has been falling ever since- its low of 413.84 was yesterday (March 10th, 2008). Google reports earnings April 17th, 2008. I think Google will beat earnings, as do analysts according to Yahoo. Its hard to say what Google is going to do between now and April 17th. If you are a relatively young investor, I would buy now. If you are older, say over the age of 30, wait until the 2nd week of April to buy Google.

In another news, Stocks posted their biggest gain in 5 years. The reason is mostly due to the Feds credit plan. The Federal Reserve plans to pump $200 billion into the financial markets to help ease the strain from the credit crisis (AP). The Dow Jones industrial average went up 416.66 points at the 12,156.81 level. That's the index's biggest one-day point gain since July 24, 2002 (AP).