In this low-interest-rate environment, investors have turned to high-yielding blue chips for retirement income. This is the final part of a five-part series outlining what I believe are the top five dividend aristocrat stocks, the ones most suitable for… Read More

The first law of economics is the lone rule when it comes to commodity prices and commodity stocks. Surplus creates price drops and shortages spur price increases. For copper miners, one side of the… Read More

Late last year, I wrote about  one of the best “behind-the-scenes” stocks around — metal packaging maker  Crown Holdings Inc. (NYSE: CCK). I love companies like Crown because they “fly under the radar,” quietly going about the business of providing vital products and services to big-name firms, while avoiding the… Read More

You don’t want to be loading up on retail stocks right now. Signs are emerging that the back-to-school shopping season will be lackluster, and the mid-term outlook for the end-of-year holiday shopping season is likely to be equally sobering. The dim outlook has already been discussed by an increasing number… Read More

During the past ten years, China has been one of the single biggest drivers of global economic growth. The country has steadily grown its gross domestic product (GDP) by more than 9% a year since 2002. As a result, the country has… Read More

Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS) — Just that name conjures up fear in the mind of its competitors. One of the world’s largest investment banks, it has the respect of just about everyone in the financial business. The company’s list of former employees and directors reads like an international “who’s who” of… Read More

If you want to be successful in the stock market, then sometimes you must think like a contrarian. I’ve spent 15 years in the investment industry. In that time, I’ve seen many investors struggle… Read More

Equity markets are eking out weak gains this year, causing savvy investors to load up on dividend stocks as a way to boost returns. Also adding to the appeal of dividend stocks right now is the unusually large spread between dividend and… Read More

In downtown Manhattan, the bankers are getting bored. So far in July, there have been only three small IPOs completed, after the markets welcomed nine new issues in June, 14 in May and 22 in April. Though the spigot has slowed to a trickle, these bored bankers will soon be… Read More

It’s fun to be right, but as they say, too much of anything is still too much.  Take for instance my June 7 bullish call on water utility stocks. At the time, when… Read More