Back in 2003, my wife accidentally let a trivial $300 medical bill go unpaid. It wasn’t disputed, the hospital just never bothered to send her the bill. And for the next seven years, we thought nothing of it. Two months ago we bought a house, and that… Read More

Gold prices continued to hit historic highs Wednesday, approaching $1,240 an ounce after closing at a record high Tuesday. The yellow metal is hitting new peaks as investors grow worrisome over the European debt crisis and the $1 trillion rescue package meant to help Greece and other… Read More

The medical device sector is still reeling from the healthcare reform bill. Slapped with a 3% tax increase effective January 2013, many medical device manufacturers and distributors such as Medtronics (NYSE: MDT) and Stryker (NYSE: SYK) fear future sales and earnings… Read More

I’m not much of a country music fan. But I’ve always liked David Allan Coe’s rendition of You Never Even Called Me By My Name. As the lyrics tell us, the song was written by the late, great Steve Goodman, who considered it the perfect Country & Western song. Read More

The exchange-traded fund (ETF) world remains abuzz with activity on the new launch and product development fronts. Money managers like Pimco that have recently dipped their toes into the ETF waters with… Read More

Back in August 2009, Walt Disney Co. (NYSE: DIS) unveiled plans to acquire Marvel Entertainment (NYSE: MVL) in a $4 billion cash/stock transaction. The deal valued Marvel at approximately $50 per share, a +30% premium to the $38.65 it fetched before the deal was announced. Marvel shareholders… Read More

Could Thomas Hoenig have a real impact on your portfolio? You bet he could. He only has one voice — but it’s a highly influential one. In fact, the last time he had spoke in public on April 7th, the Dow backpedaled 70 points… Read More

Harvard Management Co. has 120 securities in its publicly disclosed portfolio. Its top four holdings, representing 55% of the portfolio’s $2.3 billion value, are internationally oriented exchange-traded funds (ETFs) that focus on generating income in emerging markets, China, Brazil and South Korea, respectively. Read More

With Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) going gangbusters and lifting many other tech firms with it, the S&P Global Technology Index Fund (NYSE: IXN) may be a great idea. IXN’s assets are weighted toward large-cap global tech companies. Other top holdings include Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT), IBM (NYSE: IBM)… Read More

In last month’s ETF Authority newsletter, I shared the news with readers that more than 60 new exchange-traded funds (ETFs) launched during the past three months. That means issuers are pumping out nearly one new fund every trading day. As you can see… Read More