It’s been the worst of times for savers. For more than seven years now, short-term Treasury notes — and their close relatives, money market funds — have delivered close to zero yield. This unprecedented period has meant the most conservative investors have had little or no income from their excess cash. Is the money market drought about to end? I say, don’t hold your breath. Some observers have high hopes, based on the Federal Reserve Board’s clear intent to raise the short-term rates it controls in the near future — probably as soon as December. These rates directly impact short-term… Read More

It’s been the worst of times for savers. For more than seven years now, short-term Treasury notes — and their close relatives, money market funds — have delivered close to zero yield. This unprecedented period has meant the most conservative investors have had little or no income from their excess cash. Is the money market drought about to end? I say, don’t hold your breath. Some observers have high hopes, based on the Federal Reserve Board’s clear intent to raise the short-term rates it controls in the near future — probably as soon as December. These rates directly impact short-term bond rates and money-market funds, as well as the interest rates banks pay depositors savings and checking accounts. The good news is the Fed’s imminent rate-hike policy will boost yields for money market funds and depositors. The bad news: it won’t help much. In my view, it’s extremely unlikely that the Fed will raise short-term rates more than 75 basis points (0.75 percentage points) over the next 12 months. Long story short, the U.S. economy isn’t growing fast enough to warrant an aggressive series of rate hikes, and with China’s economic growth slowing and a presidential election coming up, the… Read More

As we roll through Thanksgiving and into the holiday season, investors can look ahead with some trepidation about turmoil in the Middle East, slowing growth in China and rising interest rates here at home. But there are plenty of reasons to be thankful, as well. For one, U.S. stocks have remained in an extended bull market for many years. The S&P 500 has a five-year annualized return of 14.2%, a tremendous run that has helped millions of Americans recover from the losses of the financial crisis. And while stocks have taken a relative breather this year, they remain in an… Read More

As we roll through Thanksgiving and into the holiday season, investors can look ahead with some trepidation about turmoil in the Middle East, slowing growth in China and rising interest rates here at home. But there are plenty of reasons to be thankful, as well. For one, U.S. stocks have remained in an extended bull market for many years. The S&P 500 has a five-year annualized return of 14.2%, a tremendous run that has helped millions of Americans recover from the losses of the financial crisis. And while stocks have taken a relative breather this year, they remain in an uptrend that could well continue given the U.S. economy’s resilience. #-ad_banner-#Earlier this week, the Commerce Department revised upward its estimate for third quarter U.S. GDP growth to a 2.1% annual pace — not gangbusters, but quite healthy given the strong dollar, which hurts U.S. exports, and the ongoing woes in the energy sector. Two more positive reports came Wednesday morning: new jobless claims fell more than expected, and durable goods orders rose more than expected. So despite the headwinds, the U.S. economy keeps chugging along. We’re enjoying a long period of moderate growth. That’s less thrilling than a short period… Read More

When Carl Icahn speaks, people listen. In March, the legendary investor disclosed that he had bought a 52% ownership stake in a small digital marketing firm called Voltari (Nasdaq: VLTC) to his legion of 250,000 Twitter followers. One month later, the stock had already surged more than 800%. Granted, that is an extreme example. But you can understand why investors were quick to bid shares of the little-known company up so quickly. Icahn is the world’s 31st richest individual, with a net worth estimated at $21 billion. That personal wealth didn’t come from oil or computers or shipping. It came… Read More

When Carl Icahn speaks, people listen. In March, the legendary investor disclosed that he had bought a 52% ownership stake in a small digital marketing firm called Voltari (Nasdaq: VLTC) to his legion of 250,000 Twitter followers. One month later, the stock had already surged more than 800%. Granted, that is an extreme example. But you can understand why investors were quick to bid shares of the little-known company up so quickly. Icahn is the world’s 31st richest individual, with a net worth estimated at $21 billion. That personal wealth didn’t come from oil or computers or shipping. It came from activist investing. #-ad_banner-#The guy just made $2 billion on Netflix (Nasdaq: NFLX) alone, with the video streaming company’s shares soaring 12-fold during his ownership tenure. Icahn’s moves have greatly enriched his investors as well. With annualized returns of 17.4% since 2000, his fund has racked up a cumulative gain of 1,339% — crushing the Dow Jones Industrial Average, the S&P 500, the Nasdaq Composite, and even the legendary Warren Buffett. You can invest alongside Icahn through Icahn Enterprises (NYSE: IEP) a holding company with ownership stakes in a diverse array of industries, including automotive, energy, metals and gaming. The… Read More

It’s almost time to close the books on 2015, and I have no doubt many investors are frustrated. The market has suffered sickening bouts of volatility with very little to show for it — the S&P 500 is up just 1.5% year to date. Of course, there are stocks that have bucked the trend, and today I want to show you how a little-known indicator pegged two of 2015’s best-performing stocks. It’s called the Alpha Score, and it combines two of the most powerful drivers of big uptrends. One is technical in nature, and numerous studies have proven… Read More

It’s almost time to close the books on 2015, and I have no doubt many investors are frustrated. The market has suffered sickening bouts of volatility with very little to show for it — the S&P 500 is up just 1.5% year to date. Of course, there are stocks that have bucked the trend, and today I want to show you how a little-known indicator pegged two of 2015’s best-performing stocks. It’s called the Alpha Score, and it combines two of the most powerful drivers of big uptrends. One is technical in nature, and numerous studies have proven stocks with this critical component tend to outperform. The second factor is a fundamental metric that investing greats such as Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger swear by.  Part of the beauty of the Alpha Score is that it takes the emotion out of investing, issuing clear buy and sell signals. And it is not only great at finding little-known companies set to soar, but also at timing entry points in well-known names that are about to make a big run. #-ad_banner-# To see what I mean, let’s take a look at two of our biggest winners this year. Each delivered… Read More

The biggest problem with investing in stocks is not knowing when to buy… it’s knowing when to sell. Or, to put it a better way, it’s knowing how to sell.   You see, anyone can tell that today’s market is overpriced. The average S&P 500 stock is trading at a price-to-earnings ratio of 22. Historically, they average 15 times their earnings. Meaning, on the most basic level, the average U.S. stock is overvalued by as much as 47%. You have tech stocks like Alphabet (Nasdaq: GOOG), formerly Google, and Amazon (Nasdaq: AMZN) trading at even higher valuations. Even boring old… Read More

The biggest problem with investing in stocks is not knowing when to buy… it’s knowing when to sell. Or, to put it a better way, it’s knowing how to sell.   You see, anyone can tell that today’s market is overpriced. The average S&P 500 stock is trading at a price-to-earnings ratio of 22. Historically, they average 15 times their earnings. Meaning, on the most basic level, the average U.S. stock is overvalued by as much as 47%. You have tech stocks like Alphabet (Nasdaq: GOOG), formerly Google, and Amazon (Nasdaq: AMZN) trading at even higher valuations. Even boring old Dow Jones Industrial Average blue chips like General Electric (NYSE: GE) and Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ) are objectively overpriced. But does that mean you should sell all of your stock positions?  It would be nice if investing was that simple. But it’s not. Stocks can — and often do — remain overvalued for extended periods of time. In fact, they could still go up significantly from here. But more importantly, even if you would sell your stocks, then what? If you trade into bonds, you face huge interest rate risk. More than half of the economists on the news… Read More

If you want to start an argument, find adherents of technical analysis and adherents of fundamental analysis and ask them which investing approach is better. The technical analysts will tell you a close read of a company’s financial statements won’t help you know whether a stock represents a timely investment. The fundamental analysts will counter that looking at charts only tells you where a stock has been, not where it is going. With all due respect, they are both wrong. The real secret to successful investing is the marriage of both approaches. In fact, I’ve singled out a… Read More

If you want to start an argument, find adherents of technical analysis and adherents of fundamental analysis and ask them which investing approach is better. The technical analysts will tell you a close read of a company’s financial statements won’t help you know whether a stock represents a timely investment. The fundamental analysts will counter that looking at charts only tells you where a stock has been, not where it is going. With all due respect, they are both wrong. The real secret to successful investing is the marriage of both approaches. In fact, I’ve singled out a pair of factors — one from each camp — that can be used in tandem to deliver robust gains. It’s an approach that has led me to bag triple-digit gains, often in a matter of months, from stocks across all industries. #-ad_banner-# I want to walk you through this two-pronged approach so you can profit from my strategy in your daily trading activities. It’s All Relative  The term relative strength is simple and transparent. It’s a measure of how a stock or sector is trading relative to the broader market. When the market is flat or rising, any… Read More

All major U.S. indices closed significantly higher last week. With one exception, the market has advanced every week since October.  The good news is that the rally was led by the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100, which gained 4.1%. The bad news is that the small-cap Russell 2000 once again… Read More

It’s an idea the richest and most powerful people in the world almost never say out loud. But takeover king Wilbur Ross knows it. So does Herb Allen, the most exclusive banker in the world. And you can bet your boots that billionaire Warren Buffett knows what I’m about to tell you. In fact, he’s often said these are the types of deals he wants to pursue… Here’s Wall Street’s dirty little secret: The best investments in the world — those with the biggest returns and some of the highest yields — are not listed on any stock… Read More

It’s an idea the richest and most powerful people in the world almost never say out loud. But takeover king Wilbur Ross knows it. So does Herb Allen, the most exclusive banker in the world. And you can bet your boots that billionaire Warren Buffett knows what I’m about to tell you. In fact, he’s often said these are the types of deals he wants to pursue… Here’s Wall Street’s dirty little secret: The best investments in the world — those with the biggest returns and some of the highest yields — are not listed on any stock market. #-ad_banner-#They’re privately held… According to a study by professors at Duke and Ohio State covering a period from 1984 through 2010, private market investors earned 18% more than the S&P 500. It’s proof that when it comes to investing, the rich really are different — they invest in better companies. But exactly how do they do this? Well, rather than buying shares on the stock exchange, savvy big hitters write a very large check to a very special kind of firm. To be eligible to invest like this, federal law stipulates that an investor needs to have at least… Read More

On December 20, 1922, a surveyor — J.G. Tierney — made his way along the Colorado River by barge. Tierney, who worked for the U.S. government, was surveying a remote spot in the Mojave Desert called Boulder Canyon. Boulder Canyon sits in the middle of some of the most unforgiving land in America. During the summer, temperatures frequently top out near 120 degrees. Fewer than five inches of rain fall each year. Rattlesnakes and scorpions hide under rocks. And the sharp cliffs are near-impossible to scale. And yet, this canyon in the heart of the desert holds one of the… Read More

On December 20, 1922, a surveyor — J.G. Tierney — made his way along the Colorado River by barge. Tierney, who worked for the U.S. government, was surveying a remote spot in the Mojave Desert called Boulder Canyon. Boulder Canyon sits in the middle of some of the most unforgiving land in America. During the summer, temperatures frequently top out near 120 degrees. Fewer than five inches of rain fall each year. Rattlesnakes and scorpions hide under rocks. And the sharp cliffs are near-impossible to scale. And yet, this canyon in the heart of the desert holds one of the greatest investments in U.S. history… one that has generated billions of dollars in wealth and is practically guaranteed to keep doing so for decades. But it wasn’t without its costs. In total, 112 men — beginning with J.G. Tierney, who on that December day drowned after falling off the barge that carried him and his equipment — died to create this investment. I’m talking about the Hoover Dam. Before I get too far… no, I am not recommending that you invest in the Hoover Dam. Even if you wanted to, it’s fully owned by the U.S. government. There’s not a… Read More