After an extended period in the wilderness courtesy of one of the most severe economic downturns in decades, retail stocks are slowly making a comeback. Just a couple of years ago, consumers shunned clothing and many other goods for more basic necessities. Consumers traded down where they could and even… Read More

Voters across the political spectrum can agree on at least one thing: the long-term health of the U.S. economy absolutely depends on jobs being created by the private sector. So Friday’s report that 64,000 private sector jobs were created is a hopeful sign, though… Read More

If you are a close watcher of retail stocks, you have every right to throw up your hands in... Read More

If you are a close watcher of retail stocks, you have every right to throw up your hands in exasperation. With all of the distress taking place among consumers, who would have guessed that the... Read More

Brazil is emerging as one of the great stories of the 21st century. Sound economic policies and abundant natural resources have led to sustained economic growth. And investors are racing to get in to this Samba party — the iShares Brazil (NYSE: EWZ) exchange-traded… Read More

While companies like Hewlett-Packard (NYSE: HPQ), Intel (Nasdaq: INTC) and IBM (NYSE: IBM) have revved up their acquisitions latesly, Oracle (Nasdaq: ORCL) has been quiet. But this won’t last for long. The company has integrated its $7.5 billion deal for Sun Microsystems and also snagged the former CEO of HP,… Read More

Here’s the thing about sin: though ugly, it tends to roll on in any economy. This fact is a... Read More

Here’s the thing about sin: though ugly, it tends to roll on in any economy. This fact is a huge benefit to companies that deal in vice. When searching for investments in a slow-growth or... Read More

Of the 2,000 stocks that comprise the Russell 2000 Index, 10 of them rose by at least +50% in September. And half of those are the beneficiary of very generous buyout offers (while a sixth name rebuffed an… Read More

Although the energy sector has underperformed in the wake of the Gulf oil spill disaster, it will... Read More

Although the energy sector has underperformed in the wake of the Gulf oil spill disaster, it will likely be a plentiful source of profitable stocks as the economic recovery grinds ahead. While... Read More

There’s an old Wall Street adage: “Buy what you know.” It’s not bad advice, as it points investors toward stocks they can reasonably assess. For the year so far, though, sticking with what you know would have kept most investors clear of the market’s best performing industry, as none of… Read More

After a sharp plunge in 2009, many companies are reporting vastly improved results this year. But until the economy is firmly in growth mode, further profit gains may be hard to come by. But a small minority of… Read More