Market breadth indicators are based on the number of stocks going up or down and the Advance-Decline (A-D) Line is the simplest way to measure breadth. Every day, the number of stocks that closed higher (advancing… Read More

If something looks too good to be true, then it probably is. Nowhere is this more true than in the stock market.  The late years of the 1990s were a great example of this. Internet stocks with little to no earnings were burning up the charts, pumping out huge gains and leading many investors to believe that an early retirement was close at hand.#-ad_banner-# The housing boom of the early to mid-2000’s also showcased… Read More

If something looks too good to be true, then it probably is. Nowhere is this more true than in the stock market.  The late years of the 1990s were a great example of this. Internet stocks with little to no earnings were burning up the charts, pumping out huge gains and leading many investors to believe that an early retirement was close at hand.#-ad_banner-# The housing boom of the early to mid-2000’s also showcased this dynamic. Everyone and their grandmother became an expert at speculating in real estate. The narrative on the Street was that “housing prices never go down.” We all know exactly how both of those stories ended. Investors jumping on the bandwagon looking for quick and easy gains turned out to incur huge losses. But now, a few years down the road, there is another kind of investment that is gaining critical mass. With yields on… Read More

Let me share with you three disparate items from my news clip file that, taken together, point to game-changing opportunities for one of our top commodity plays… Item #1: Smog is alive and well. Even after years of progress, air quality in Los… Read More

If you look out into the middle of the decade, then you can make the case for increasingly robust economic growth that could fuel heady top- and bottom-line gains in a number of sectors. But we’re not there yet.#-ad_banner-# Recent economic signs point to an eventual economic brightening, though there… Read More

Retirees are being confronted with a huge dilemma. In the past, investors on the verge of retirement could simply shift into fixed-income assets and still generate plenty of income to support a comfortable lifestyle.#-ad_banner-# Take the 10-Year… Read More

I am a huge proponent of discovering macroeconomic trends and drilling down to find actionable investment ideas.  After identifying a trend, my next step is to look for confirmation with the big-money players. Are hedge funds and other institutional… Read More

Each week, one of our investing experts answers a reader’s question in the Q&A column from our sister site, InvestingAnswers.com. It’s all part of our mission to help consumers build and protect their wealth through education. If you’d like us to answer one of your… Read More

If you look out into the middle of the decade, then you can make the case for increasingly robust economic growth that could fuel heady top- and bottom-line gains in a number of sectors. But we’re not there yet.#-ad_banner-# Recent economic signs point to an eventual economic brightening, though there are enough boulders in the U.S. economy‘s path that could derail an economic expansion. So perhaps it’s wiser to focus on companies that are poised for solid growth in 2013. Out of all the of the companies in the S&P 500, 91 (or 18%)… Read More

If you look out into the middle of the decade, then you can make the case for increasingly robust economic growth that could fuel heady top- and bottom-line gains in a number of sectors. But we’re not there yet.#-ad_banner-# Recent economic signs point to an eventual economic brightening, though there are enough boulders in the U.S. economy‘s path that could derail an economic expansion. So perhaps it’s wiser to focus on companies that are poised for solid growth in 2013. Out of all the of the companies in the S&P 500, 91 (or 18%) are expected to boost sales by at least 10% this year. And of those firms, 72 are expected to boost per-share profits by at least 15% in the coming year.  A cluster of them reside in sectors that have already received a great deal of investor attention recently, so they can’t be seen as solid values in the context of projected 2013 results any more. Housing stocks, for example, fit into this category. Instead, value investors may prefer to focus on stocks that have solid growth prospects, but sport forward price-to-earnings (… Read More

Retirees are being confronted with a huge dilemma. In the past, investors on the verge of retirement could simply shift into fixed-income assets and still generate plenty of income to support a comfortable lifestyle.#-ad_banner-# Take the 10-Year Treasury note for example, considered the safest asset in the world for being backed by the full credit of the U.S. government. Just 12 years ago, the yield on these… Read More

Retirees are being confronted with a huge dilemma. In the past, investors on the verge of retirement could simply shift into fixed-income assets and still generate plenty of income to support a comfortable lifestyle.#-ad_banner-# Take the 10-Year Treasury note for example, considered the safest asset in the world for being backed by the full credit of the U.S. government. Just 12 years ago, the yield on these bonds was about 6.7%. That meant an investor with $1 million in retirement savings could generate close to $70,000 of annual income from investing in the U.S. government bonds. And that’s not even factoring in capital gains as yields continued to fall and push bond prices higher. It was a powerful combination that set the foundation for many comfortable retirements. But fast forward to 2013 and things could not be more different. Now, high-risk fixed-income assets such as the… Read More