Just when it seemed the auto industry was beginning to rebound, Toyota Motor Corp. (NYSE: TM) has gone into reverse. Toyota — the world’s number one selling auto manufacturer — recently recalled 2.3 million cars in the United States, due to faulty floor mats which trap accelerator… Read More

A year ago, high-yield bonds were outcasts. The financial world braced for Armageddon, and investors fled riskier high-yield bonds in droves in anticipation of widespread defaults. Yield spreads — in this case, the difference between yields on high-yield bonds and yields on “AAA”-rated corporate bonds — soared to a record… Read More

One thing more than any other makes searching for value difficult these days: Loans. The best way to search for discounted companies is to set up a screen that looks at net asset value — assets minus liabilities. (To see… Read More

Next week the market will be focused on the nation’s banks, as the top U.S. financial institutions report their quarterly earnings. Their earnings parade actually started today, with a quarterly report from JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE: JPM),… Read More

The phrase “failure of imagination” has returned to the lexicon. It may turn out to be an appropriate catchphrase for the just-ended 2000s. It also applies to a few situations on Wall Street, where investors seem unable to wrap their arms around the idea that things won’t… Read More

They say that beauty is in the eye of the beholder — and I suppose that’s just as true in the financial world as anywhere else. For most, the Fed‘s unprecedented string of stimulative rate cuts couldn’t have been better timed. Read More

Admit it: You still have in the back of your desk drawer that long-forgotten key ring attached to the mini flashlight with the name of an insurance company emblazoned on it. The one you picked up at the auto show three years ago. And the flashlight still works. Read More

Game on. The market is overreacting to an announcement today from GameStop (NYSE: GME) that it had trouble competing with Wal-Mart (NYSE: WMT) for holiday shoppers. Holiday sales were flat and GameStop lowered its guidance for the year, which ends in March, to between $2.23 to $2.27… Read More

Trying to find untapped corners of the market has become increasingly challenging for exchange-traded funds (ETFs), but fund issuers have been up to the challenge. One particularly inventive offering by Van Eck fills a conspicuous gap for gold bulls — and the timing couldn’t have been better. Read More

The year 2009 ended with the S&P 500 at a crucial technical juncture. The positive trading action of the first day of 2010 did much to resolve the uncertainty. The October 2007 high water mark for the benchmark… Read More