U.S. stocks are attempting to recover from their January swoon, albeit with high volatility and no shortage of down days. The correction may not be over, I’ve noticed some solid signs that indicate we might not be headed into an extended bear market. #-ad_banner-#One encouraging sign is the strong performance of consumer discretionary stocks. In contrast to consumer staples companies — the must-have-it products like food and toilet paper — consumer discretionary companies sell products and services that consumers can defer purchasing in uncertain times: cars, washing machines and amusement park tickets, to name a few. When investors fear a… Read More

U.S. stocks are attempting to recover from their January swoon, albeit with high volatility and no shortage of down days. The correction may not be over, I’ve noticed some solid signs that indicate we might not be headed into an extended bear market. #-ad_banner-#One encouraging sign is the strong performance of consumer discretionary stocks. In contrast to consumer staples companies — the must-have-it products like food and toilet paper — consumer discretionary companies sell products and services that consumers can defer purchasing in uncertain times: cars, washing machines and amusement park tickets, to name a few. When investors fear a recession, consumer staples stocks tend to outperform consumer discretionary stocks. But when the latter rally, it’s a strong sign that the consensus thinks the economy will be at least okay for the foreseeable future — and that consumers will have extra cash in their wallets. Currently, that seems to be the case — and for good reason. U.S. unemployment fell in January to 4.9%, an eight-year low. And average weekly earnings have risen 2.5% over the past 12 months. While not dramatic, it’s a notable improvement after years of stagnation. Employers across the country are reporting an increase in wage… Read More

There seem to be two kinds of investors right now: those who believe the next bear market is here and ready to destroy trillions of dollars in wealth, and those who proclaim every up day in the market is the end of the pullback.  #-ad_banner-#This is largely the fault of the financial media, with bombastic bloviators shouting over each other on television and giving the impression that action is required right now. If you don’t stay glued to the TV you might miss the start of the next bull market or get mauled by the bear! Really, nothing could be… Read More

There seem to be two kinds of investors right now: those who believe the next bear market is here and ready to destroy trillions of dollars in wealth, and those who proclaim every up day in the market is the end of the pullback.  #-ad_banner-#This is largely the fault of the financial media, with bombastic bloviators shouting over each other on television and giving the impression that action is required right now. If you don’t stay glued to the TV you might miss the start of the next bull market or get mauled by the bear! Really, nothing could be further from the truth. The argument that we are experiencing a pullback during a long-term bull market is difficult to make. I believe the bull market quietly died of old age sometime in the past year.  As we see on the chart below, stocks moved steadily higher from their bottom in March 2009 through July 2015, a six-year run. But the market has made little progress since the end of 2014. It has formed what looks to be an extended topping pattern and trended down since summer. Still, this doesn’t mean you need to panic.  According to a… Read More

Most investors know well that healthcare spending is on the rise. But it’s less well publicized that one of the fastest-growing subsets of healthcare is mental health and addiction treatment, often combined under the umbrella moniker “behavioral health.” Spending on mental health and substance abuse treatment more than doubled over the past 12 years and now represents a $250 billion market in the United States; analysts expect the sector to grow in the high-single-digit percentages for the next several years. One reason is the growing awareness and diagnosis of psychiatric illnesses, along with declining stigma associated with seeking treatment. More… Read More

Most investors know well that healthcare spending is on the rise. But it’s less well publicized that one of the fastest-growing subsets of healthcare is mental health and addiction treatment, often combined under the umbrella moniker “behavioral health.” Spending on mental health and substance abuse treatment more than doubled over the past 12 years and now represents a $250 billion market in the United States; analysts expect the sector to grow in the high-single-digit percentages for the next several years. One reason is the growing awareness and diagnosis of psychiatric illnesses, along with declining stigma associated with seeking treatment. More than 18% of American adults suffer from diagnosable mental illnesses; about 4% have been diagnosed with a serious mental illness. Depression alone is a $23 billion industry. And four of the 10 leading causes of disability in the United States are mental illnesses. #-ad_banner-#Government policy has also helped the sector grow: in 2008, the federal Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act required insurance companies to cover mental illness and addiction as medical problems. The Affordable Care Act required mental health coverage as part of the new exchange system as well. Substance abuse treatment, while a relatively small part of… Read More

David Ricardo is often thought of as the most important economist since Adam Smith. We have him to thank for ideas such as the law of comparative advantage, and he advocated for things like free trade and sound money policies. But what you may not know is that he was also one of the richest economists in history. #-ad_banner-#Ricardo made his money as a broker and financial market speculator. But he owed most of his investing success to a single bet he made in 1815. In short, the prices on bonds that lent money to the British government during wartime… Read More

David Ricardo is often thought of as the most important economist since Adam Smith. We have him to thank for ideas such as the law of comparative advantage, and he advocated for things like free trade and sound money policies. But what you may not know is that he was also one of the richest economists in history. #-ad_banner-#Ricardo made his money as a broker and financial market speculator. But he owed most of his investing success to a single bet he made in 1815. In short, the prices on bonds that lent money to the British government during wartime were extremely depressed. Ricardo scooped up the bonds and when the outcome of the war was far from certain and later became a millionaire when Wellington defeated Napoleon at Waterloo. But it’s not exactly the fortune Ricardo amassed or his economic theories that I want to bring to your attention. Rather, it’s one of the most famous sayings in all of trading history that is attributed to him: “Cut short your losses; let your profits run on.” Even though Ricardo said this back in the 1800s, it still holds true today. It may seem like an obvious piece of advice. Read More

There are countless investing rules, mantras and cliches out there ranging from extremely useful to downright dangerous.  #-ad_banner-#One of the most widely accepted and potentially detrimental to your portfolio is, “Buy low, sell high.” When taken literally, of course, to make a profit you must sell a stock for more than you paid for it. But the essence of buy low, sell high has become one of the costliest myths on Wall Street. Investors have been trained to think that “undervalued” stocks have the most upside potential. The problem is that this approach often causes investors to overlook… Read More

There are countless investing rules, mantras and cliches out there ranging from extremely useful to downright dangerous.  #-ad_banner-#One of the most widely accepted and potentially detrimental to your portfolio is, “Buy low, sell high.” When taken literally, of course, to make a profit you must sell a stock for more than you paid for it. But the essence of buy low, sell high has become one of the costliest myths on Wall Street. Investors have been trained to think that “undervalued” stocks have the most upside potential. The problem is that this approach often causes investors to overlook the market’s best-performing stocks in favor of the ones doing the worst. Since underperforming investments usually sport lower valuations, investors tend to think these stocks are the more attractive buys. And nothing could be further from the truth. I’ll get into this in more detail in a moment, because today I want to share my three golden rules of investing.  I’ve honed  them over my two-decade-plus career in the markets. They are the foundation of investment success. They are non-negotiable. And while they may seem simple, many investors fail to abide by them, which all but guarantees failure. Golden Rule… Read More

This might be a controversial viewpoint, but I love boring investments. Of course, “boring” is a relative term. These stocks may not be on the frontline of streaming media delivery or cloning. So, from that point of view, yeah, some people might consider them boring. But I don’t find getting yields 186% higher than the 10-year U.S. Treasury or earnings that are as dependable as a Timex watch boring. To me, those qualities are dead sexy. #-ad_banner-#Thanks to the market correction, I’ve found three high quality, high yield stock bargains. All three names are considered cyclical stocks, which  typically advance… Read More

This might be a controversial viewpoint, but I love boring investments. Of course, “boring” is a relative term. These stocks may not be on the frontline of streaming media delivery or cloning. So, from that point of view, yeah, some people might consider them boring. But I don’t find getting yields 186% higher than the 10-year U.S. Treasury or earnings that are as dependable as a Timex watch boring. To me, those qualities are dead sexy. #-ad_banner-#Thanks to the market correction, I’ve found three high quality, high yield stock bargains. All three names are considered cyclical stocks, which  typically advance ahead of a rebound. That makes this a great time to pick up these shares. Pick Up These Shares Before The Rebound Thanks to fears of a weak global economy, shares of International Paper Co. (NYSE: IP), the world’s largest paper and forest products company, have tumbled nearly 40% from their 52-week high. For value shoppers, this pushes valuation metrics down and yields up with the forward P/E at a low 10.3 and a dividend yield of 5.1%. Over the last decade, the company has slowly unwound its office paper business and focused its energy on packaging. The result… Read More

If you’re a regular reader of StreetAuthority, you know I love getting — and reinvesting — dividend paychecks. Simply put, my goal is to earn a paycheck every day of the month by owning a basket of solid income securities — and then grow the size of those paychecks by harnessing the power of compounding through dividend reinvestment. So far, the results have been very rewarding. From an initial $200,000 investment, I earned a total of $19,449 in dividends last year year (or $1,620 a month) using this strategy. And that doesn’t even include a penny from the healthy capital… Read More

If you’re a regular reader of StreetAuthority, you know I love getting — and reinvesting — dividend paychecks. Simply put, my goal is to earn a paycheck every day of the month by owning a basket of solid income securities — and then grow the size of those paychecks by harnessing the power of compounding through dividend reinvestment. So far, the results have been very rewarding. From an initial $200,000 investment, I earned a total of $19,449 in dividends last year year (or $1,620 a month) using this strategy. And that doesn’t even include a penny from the healthy capital gains I’ve made from most of my holdings over the years. #-ad_banner-#But as I said, you may have already heard this before. My goal today is to show you how to get the most out of your income investments using a simple yet effective three-part strategy. I call it the “Dividend Trifecta,” and it’s the cornerstone of my Daily Paycheck Retirement Strategy. The great thing about the Dividend Trifecta is that it’s fully customizable to your own needs. You can use it to multiply your wealth over time, preserve capital — even bring in a second income to fund your… Read More

Most investors are aware that the tech-heavy Nasdaq has a tendency to lead the market both up and down, and the current sell-off is no exception. The Nasdaq Composite is off more than 15% from its late-December highs, while the broader market is down just 10%. Tech stocks often take the brunt of the selling because they tend to carry higher valuations and are thus considered more risky.  #-ad_banner-#Since there doesn’t seem to be an end yet in sight to the current market correction, shorting overvalued tech stocks is a sound strategy to profit from this downtrend. And Universal Display… Read More

Most investors are aware that the tech-heavy Nasdaq has a tendency to lead the market both up and down, and the current sell-off is no exception. The Nasdaq Composite is off more than 15% from its late-December highs, while the broader market is down just 10%. Tech stocks often take the brunt of the selling because they tend to carry higher valuations and are thus considered more risky.  #-ad_banner-#Since there doesn’t seem to be an end yet in sight to the current market correction, shorting overvalued tech stocks is a sound strategy to profit from this downtrend. And Universal Display (Nasdaq: OLED) is a perfect candidate. Started in 1994, Universal is a leader in organic light emitting diode (OLED) technology, which contains organic films that emit light when struck by electric current. Universal own nearly 3,600 patents in the OLED space and also works with major universities on research. OLED technology is used for full-color displays in products such as smartphones, tablets and TVs. It’s both lightweight and power-efficient, while also offering superior color to many competing technologies. For instance, in the television market, its picture quality has helped it seize market share from its main rival, liquid crystal display… Read More