While modern-day investing can’t be considered easy, it’s not necessarily difficult either. The secret to success is usually just avoiding the small mistakes that end up costing big bucks.  With this in mind, here are the five most common pitfalls investors should make a point of avoiding no matter how… Read More

The winners of the past six months are likely to be among the best performers in the next six months, according to research published in a number of academic studies. And relative strength (RS) can be used to find the biggest winners… Read More

Interest rates, as measured by 10-year U.S. Treasury rates and a number of other interest rates, have been declining for more than 30 years. As the chart below shows, interest rates move in trends that last for decades. Eventually, this trend will reverse as all trends do, and while it… Read More

Cash has been piling up on corporate balance sheets since before the financial crisis and S&P 500 companies now hold combined liquid assets of nearly $1 trillion. So in a sluggish economy like this… Read More

Every few months, the crisis in Europe rears its head, only to fade back into the background once again. Unfortunately, signs are emerging that Europe’s troubles are deepening anew, so investors need to tread cautiously with stocks until the market digests… Read More

CEOs aren’t known as an overly optimistic bunch. After all, it doesn’t do the leader of a company any good to set the bar incredibly high only to disappoint with mediocre results. Managing expectations isn’t just a way to beat … Read More

Although 2012 isn’t quite over yet, we’re now close enough to 2013 to start thinking about the bigger themes that are going to make for investment-worthy stocks in the coming year. Five of them are apt to become particularly strong trends. Here they are… 1. Mobile payments   The idea… Read More

There’s nothing like a visit to a foreign country to give you a sense of how well, or how poorly, that country is doing economically. Speaking with the “man on the street,” reading the local newspapers, and getting a feel for how citizens perceive their economic situation usually is much… Read More

In the buildup to Hurricane Sandy, I was wondering if there could be significant impacts on shipping. In my research, I was surprised to learn that ports in the Great Lakes can also launch ships bound for Europe. There are even a few instances where ports in the Great Lakes… Read More

I’ve been glued to the news this entire election season, but one heated exchange at the second presidential debate between President Barack Obama and Gov. Mitt Romney piqued my curiosity. Here it is from the Washington Post’s full transcript, edited to show concisely a portion of their conversation about… Read More