Last week marked the one-year anniversary of the market’s March 9 bottom. Since then, the S&P 500 has risen from 676.53 in the darkest days of the financial crises to a close of 1159.46 on Tuesday. That’s a whopping +71% gain in just over a year. Now… Read More

This week Wall Street has had a lot of its usual fare to digest: Retail sales, housing starts, petroleum inventories, mortgage applications, some minor earnings reports. Those data points… Read More

Investors with a pulse have no doubt heard about Brazil’s potential by now. After all, given the multi-year run-up in Brazil’s main exchange, the Bovespa, and the announcement that the 2016 Olympic Games will be held in Rio de Janiero, it’s a little hard to ignore. But make no mistake… Read More

Here’s a brief three-part history and economics primer, followed by some advice on how to make money from it. The Past Nearly a half-century ago, on Dec. 14, 1960, the United Nations passed Resolution 1514, a declaration on the granting… Read More

Many traders have asked me the same question during my 40 years of trading. What is the key to being successful? Over the years, I have seen a lot of changes in the market, but one strategy has stood the test of time: seeking out attractively valued… Read More

Investors tend to avoid companies that generate too much revenue from one key customer or project. If that project ends, sales could easily plunge. That fear is the key reason behind a sharp sell-off in shares of Dyncorp (NYSE: DCP), a key government… Read More

The main character in Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.’s 1965 book, God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater, is an eccentric philanthropist. He thinks it’s unfair that babies don’t all start with an equal playing field. “I think it’s a heartless government that will let one baby be born owning a… Read More

The short seller is the one trader most investors love to hate. Often misunderstood and maligned, the short seller bets prices will fall rather than rise. This doesn’t earn the short seller much popularity with most investors (who usually buy a stock hoping it will rise), but it can be… Read More

The weak economy has brought a silver lining: companies that were inefficiently operating were forced to take a hard look at their operations and address any shortcomings. And Christopher & Banks (NYSE: CBK) sure had many problems to tackle. The women’s clothing retailer… Read More

Say you and I are friends. And let’s further assume you’re fabulously wealthy. You’ve come to me for advice. What would I tell you to do with your money? I’d tell you to do three things. The first:… Read More