During my former days as a financial advisor, I’d occasionally get a call or email from someone in our “Alternative Investments” department trying to drum up business. Invariably, they wanted me to deposit my clients’ assets into a specialized hedge fund utilizing one esoteric strategy or another. Quite… Read More

It’s no secret. Markets have been tanking. Investors are fearful that the debt crisis in Europe will derail the recovery. As many analysts predict slower economic growth or a “new normal” in the years ahead, high dividend stocks could replace growth… Read More

Technically, there is a strong possibility we are entering a “Stage III” topping process that would precede a bear market. Given this outlook, I am looking to profit by searching for technically weak stocks and… Read More

We’re just over a quarter of the way into 2010, and already 60 new exchange-traded funds (ETFs) have hit the marketplace. That’s about half the number that launched in all of 2009. Don’t expect this wave to die down anytime soon. There are… Read More

If you go back and trace the ups and down of the Israeli stock market, you’ll find almost no correlation with the broader conflicts taking place in the region. Shares on the Tel Aviv stock exchange slump when Hamas or Hezbollah pounds the war… Read More

Take a look at my forecast chart for United States Oil Fund (NYSE: USO), an exchange-traded fund (ETF) whose units’ net asset value tracks the performance of the spot price of West… Read More

During the past year, exchange-traded fund (ETF) investors have welcomed a plethora of new funds to the marketplace. These new funds cover everything from municipal bonds to emerging market financials. But one of the most intriguing of this latest batch is a fund that… Read More

Earlier this month, gold prices hit an all-time high, as the yellow metal fetched more than $1,240 an ounce. Yet gold bugs still think the price can hit even higher highs, back to the nearly $2,000 per ounce figure hit in the 1980s, on an inflation-adjusted basis. That could spell… Read More

The Dow Jones Industrial Average has notched another loss this morning, a triple-digit decline as I write this, with some wondering if the blue-chip index can remain above the 10,000 mark. All sectors are in the red. What… Read More

Yes, I know the global market looks weak… Yes, I know the Euro could collapse… Yes, I know that the employment picture for the United States looks bleak for months to come. And, yes, I know that most investors are looking for opportunities to sell. Which is precisely another reason… Read More