It’s one of the biggest rallies I’ve seen, and it’s coming from one of the most unlikely places: an income security. I first learned about master limited partnerships (MLPs) working with Carla Pasternak, the Chief Strategist for High-Yield Investing. Carla’s been… Read More

Last month, the world’s top high-tech manufacturers gathered in Las Vegas for the annual Consumer Electronics Show. They hobnobbed. They exchanged business cards. But most important, they introduced their latest innovations to the world. Remember, this is the venue where we got our first real glimpse of… Read More

Consumer spending has been improving for at least a year now, but you wouldn’t know that by looking at the stock price charts of the retailers across the United States. This disconnect is somewhat confusing given the holiday shopping season was strong, as was January when shoppers stayed busy grabbing… Read More

When a company is in deep distress, its board of directors is willing to take big chances. Acknowledging that its legacy Internet access business would soon stop throwing off gobs of cash, AOL (NYSE: AOL) handed the reins to Tim Armstrong, a thirty-something Google (Nasdaq: GOOG) veteran. He pitched a radical vision to the board: amass a broad roster of experienced journalists, develop a wide range of segment-leading websites, and watch the ad dollars roll in. That plan surely carries risk at a time when online ad rates continue to badly lag ad rates found in other… Read More

When a company is in deep distress, its board of directors is willing to take big chances. Acknowledging that its legacy Internet access business would soon stop throwing off gobs of cash, AOL (NYSE: AOL) handed the reins to Tim Armstrong, a thirty-something Google (Nasdaq: GOOG) veteran. He pitched a radical vision to the board: amass a broad roster of experienced journalists, develop a wide range of segment-leading websites, and watch the ad dollars roll in. That plan surely carries risk at a time when online ad rates continue to badly lag ad rates found in other forms of media. Indeed, the results of Armstrong’s turnaround plan have been unimpressive, but he’s sticking to his guns with a newly-announced acquisition of The Huffington Post. Armstrong is now approaching his two-year anniversary with AOL, and two years hence, the deal to acquire Huffington Post will be looked back as a make-or-break moment for the company. Let’s peer into the future to see how it will play out. No choice Doing nothing was not an option for AOL’s board. Sales had fallen 47% in the two years before Armstrong arrived, though they… Read More

If you read the headlines, Americans are still afraid to spend a dime. Today’s chart says that’s a bunch of bull. Starbucks (NASDAQ: SBUX) is one of the best gauges I’ve found for how the “man on the street” is feeling. No one needs to buy $4 coffee, but it is a nice little luxury if you can afford it. And with 11,000 stores in the United States, every American has easy access to the product. That gives the measure a nationwide scope. Not surprisingly, Starbucks’ business fell sharply during the recession. Read More

If you read the headlines, Americans are still afraid to spend a dime. Today’s chart says that’s a bunch of bull. Starbucks (NASDAQ: SBUX) is one of the best gauges I’ve found for how the “man on the street” is feeling. No one needs to buy $4 coffee, but it is a nice little luxury if you can afford it. And with 11,000 stores in the United States, every American has easy access to the product. That gives the measure a nationwide scope. Not surprisingly, Starbucks’ business fell sharply during the recession. Its share price followed suit. But what is our “Starbucks indicator” saying now? Evidently, the man on the street is feeling much better these days… Now Starbucks stores aren’t found just in the United States, but the lion’s share (75%) of sales and profit come from America. That means the move higher is based largely on its performance at home (sales hit a record-high last quarter). That’s great news for an economy built on consumer spending. Be sure to look for… Read More

Policy planners in Washington just caught a big break. They’ve been repeatedly trying to prod China to strengthen its currency — to no avail — but larger economic forces may yield the same benefit. Prices are starting to bubble up in China and, if you connect the dots, you can start to see myriad benefits for the U.S. economy and U.S. stocks. A slow build The Chinese economy has been able to grow at a rapid clip for more than a decade without any price pressures — a feat that is… Read More

Policy planners in Washington just caught a big break. They’ve been repeatedly trying to prod China to strengthen its currency — to no avail — but larger economic forces may yield the same benefit. Prices are starting to bubble up in China and, if you connect the dots, you can start to see myriad benefits for the U.S. economy and U.S. stocks. A slow build The Chinese economy has been able to grow at a rapid clip for more than a decade without any price pressures — a feat that is largely unparalleled in the modern era. Not anymore. Inflation in China started to perk up in 2010 and finished the year at a peak, with inflation now running close to 5%. (The official figure released by the Chinese government is a bit lower, while analysts at HSBC in Hong Kong think it’s a bit higher than that rate). The reasons for rising inflation are pretty straightforward and can be explained by the notion of “capacity utilization.” As is the case with any industry, prices remain stable as long as producers have excess production capacity. Read More

If you are an income investor, you may think overseas investing is best left to the pros. But you’d be wrong. A bit of research shows plenty of low-risk opportunities for U.S. investors seeking high yields in the global market. Investing globally is a good idea because it provides a chance to participate in the faster-growing economies of emerging markets like Brazil, which International Monetary Fund (IMF) forecasts will grow 4.5% this year – much faster than the U.S. growth rate of 3%. Looking abroad also provides more choices and the ability to… Read More

If you are an income investor, you may think overseas investing is best left to the pros. But you’d be wrong. A bit of research shows plenty of low-risk opportunities for U.S. investors seeking high yields in the global market. Investing globally is a good idea because it provides a chance to participate in the faster-growing economies of emerging markets like Brazil, which International Monetary Fund (IMF) forecasts will grow 4.5% this year – much faster than the U.S. growth rate of 3%. Looking abroad also provides more choices and the ability to diversify risk across multiple economies and geographies. #-ad_banner-#In addition, investing overseas often earns better returns. For example, the S&P gained 23.5% last year, but returns for emerging markets in Brazil, India and China were 80% or higher. The developed markets of Australia and Canada returned more than 30%. Foreign stocks also tend to have better yields because overseas companies typically distribute more of their cash flow back to investors. The yield on the S&P 500 currently averages less than 2%, but stocks in the developed markets of Europe and… Read More

To make money in stocks, you need to tie together various threads of information to see what it might mean for your investments. Right now, a pair of disparate data points has caught my attention: rising oil prices and a trio of unloved stocks that may really benefit from it. Read More