After starting the year on a high note, economic worries and uncertainty over the current earnings... Read More

After starting the year on a high note, economic worries and uncertainty over the current earnings season have caused volatility to return to the stock market. As a result, the market for initial... Read More

U.S. debt is skyrocketing with no end in sight. And while the dollar has recently functioned as a short-term safe haven, its long-term fundamentals are deteriorating. #-ad_banner-#To put it in perspective, U.S. public debt in 2000 was $3.4 trillion. That has now more than doubled to $8.6… Read More

In many respects, the auto industry remains in a funk. Industry sales remain well below previous peaks, competition has never been more fierce, and the need to spend heavily to develop future technologies like electric cars are all creating profit headwinds. In that light,… Read More

Soon after taking office, U.S. Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner made U.S. banks undergo a stress test to see how they would fare in ever more dire economic scenarios. Almost all U.S. banks passed the test with flying colors. And as investors breathed a sigh of relief, they called their brokers… Read More

There are dozens of very large ships plying the global waters that do nothing but ferry dry goods. Think of coal, grain, steel and other such bulk goods. When major nations actively trade these goods, bulk ships are in hot demand and the cost to lease them can surge. But… Read More

Whenever a company decides to leave the stock market and go private, you hear an oft-heard lament:... Read More

Whenever a company decides to leave the stock market and go private, you hear an oft-heard lament: “Wall Street just wants us to deliver the goods this quarter, and they could care less about the... Read More

In recent weeks and months, we’ve seen a range of companies report solid quarterly results, yet their shares have steadily fallen in sympathy with the broader market. More than a few company executives have grumbled on conference calls that their company’s shares don’t get… Read More

Get ready for the China collapse. Virtually every major media outlet has weighed in with dire reports that the Chinese economic miracle is about to come to an abrupt end. These Chicken Littles note that any strong asset class that looks like a bubble must come crashing down. In the… Read More

With all of the attention paid to quarterly results, investors often lose sight of the bigger picture. Suddenly, a solid growth story becomes a lagging stock. And that’s when you need to pounce. Because when the short-term noise recedes, investors will return to that stock in force. Read More

There’s an old adage in Detroit. You make money selling cars, but you also make money helping consumers finance those purchases. And there’s never been a better time to be a lender. Big firms can borrow money at super-low interest rates, but consumers still need to pay 6%, 7% or… Read More