Health care reform is going to be unimaginably expensive, costing roughly $1 trillion in the next decade. One of the many ways Uncle Sam plans to raise the necessary cash is with a 2.3% tax on the sale of all medical devices, starting in 2013. That’s obviously… Read More

In a recent interview with Money magazine, finance guru Roger Ibbotson stated that, as an investor, what is “most relevant to you is whether and how you’re doing something different from what everybody else is doing.” For those not familiar with Roger Ibbotson, he is worth getting… Read More

The fact that 151,000 jobs were created in October is impressive. The fact that August and September jobs numbers were upwardly revised by a collective 110,000 was even more impressive, as it underscores that things were not quite so bleak as had been feared a few months ago. Read More

$138 billion — that’s the enormous sum earned by the five largest oil companies back in 2008 when crude oil prices surged to all-time highs near $150 per barrel. Exxon Mobil (NYSE: XOM) alone earned more than $45 billion, a figure which now stands as the record for… Read More

As earnings season winds down, insider activity heats up. That’s because insiders (classified as company executives, directors and beneficial owners) get the green light to buy or sell their company’s stock on the open market once earnings… Read More

Heading into last week’s election and the Federal Reserve’s latest stimulus efforts, the stock market looked set to pause. After all, the major indices had been in rally mode since late August and bargain prices were harder to find. Yet the market rallied even further late last week, returning stocks… Read More

For those that don’t know, in addition to being the Chief Strategist behind StreetAuthority’s Stock of the Month newsletter, I’m also an avid poker player. I first picked up poker about a decade ago, well before it was all over television. But I wasn’t after the big… Read More

I don’t want to bury the lead, so let me start with my prediction: the economy will add over 2 million jobs in the next 12 months. But before we get to that, let’s add some context. To say that the job market is weak would be like saying the Saw horror movie franchise is a little gory. In fact, I’m not sure which has seen more bloodletting. Last month, The Los Angeles Times reported that 2.3 million California workers have been axed — and that’s just in the Golden State. Read More

I don’t want to bury the lead, so let me start with my prediction: the economy will add over 2 million jobs in the next 12 months. But before we get to that, let’s add some context. To say that the job market is weak would be like saying the Saw horror movie franchise is a little gory. In fact, I’m not sure which has seen more bloodletting. Last month, The Los Angeles Times reported that 2.3 million California workers have been axed — and that’s just in the Golden State. Nationwide, the unemployment rate has remained at elevated levels above 9.5% for 15 consecutive months, the longest such drought on record. The last time we saw a “jobless recovery” of this magnitude was in the aftermath of September 11, 2001. According to Challenger, Gray & Christmas, more than 2.5 million jobs were lost in the 18 months following the terror attacks. At that point, it seemed as if the labor market would never get in gear. But by January 2004, payrolls around the country were already… Read More

In the past few months, commodities prices have surged. The Reuters-Jefferies CRB Index, which tracks 19 heavily-traded commodities, posted an +8.5% gain in September and then a +4.8% increase in October. There are many drivers for this trend which are likely to continue. The falling dollar… Read More

The super-rich aren’t like you and me. They can’t invest a little here and a little there and hope to make serious returns. They have to bet big on particular investments to really get a payoff. And with such big bets to make, you can be sure they do lots… Read More