When it comes to global stock-market performance, strategists often speak of “decoupling,” which means the smaller but faster-growing economies in emerging markets have grown to the point that they are no longer beholden to investor sentiment about… Read More

Judging by the first few weeks of trading in 2012, investors may assume that recent dominant themes remain in force. If so, then you’d simply hold to what you’ve been holding and avoid what you’ve been avoiding. But in many respects, 2012 is likely to play out quite differently than… Read More

Investors have been asking me about this stock for weeks. And I don’t blame them… The stock is yielding more than 18% right now. This high yield comes on top of a 7-million share buyback announcement this company made just weeks… Read More

We’ve all heard of peak oil — the notion that, because there’s a finite oil supply, production will one day begin to progressively diminish until there’s no oil left. Well, a similar thing may be happening with silver, one of the world’s most desired precious metals. That’s why we at… Read More

Yields on 10-year Treasuries are now below 2%. And 30-year U.S. Treasury yields average less than 3%. But I’ve found a group of government bonds yielding upwards of 5%. Most of them carry high quality “AA” credit… Read More

I was talking with a colleague a few weeks ago and she wondered aloud whether the economic and political chaos in Italy — mainly the result of Europe’s ongoing sovereign debt crisis — was creating an opening for bargain-hunting investors. After all, we’re talking… Read More

It’s the best electrical conductor of any metal, and may soon replace the lithium-ion in batteries used in future Apple (NYSE: AAPL) iPhones and laptops. It’s highly reflective, making it a perfect choice for the increasingly popular photovoltaic solar panels. #-ad_banner-#It’s strong enough to… Read More

There are about a thousand of them listed on the U.S. exchanges. They track everything from the S&P 500… to gold… to Treasury bonds… and much more. They are basically nothing more than portfolios of stocks, bonds… Read More

Target-date funds sound like they make retirement simple. Plunk one or more into your 401(k) or IRA account, choose a retirement date and watch your portfolio grow, bringing you to the financial nirvana every retiree craves. That’s the allure of a target-date retirement fund. Read More

As of Oct. 27, gold spot prices were hovering around $1,747 per ounce. Platinum, on the other hand, was selling for about $1,636 an ounce.   This means it takes just 0.93 ounces of gold to buy an ounce of platinum. Or,… Read More