If you think the “lost decade” of stock returns seen in the United States since 2000 is bad, you probably haven’t been paying attention to Japan.   Japan’s stock market officially peaked on December 29, 1989, and has yet to recover more than 20 years later. But many… Read More

In a bid to stay relevant (and stay afloat), major free news publications are starting to tighten the noose, putting their content behind a paid firewall. It worked for News Corp’s (NYSE: NWS) Wall Street Journal, because that publication can be considered as a necessary asset for the business community, and thus can easily be expensed by many readers. The rest of the pack may not be so lucky, as we’ll soon find out with The New York Times Co. (NYSE: NYT). Rumors circulate that the “Old Gray Lady” will soon announce a $20 per month… Read More

In a bid to stay relevant (and stay afloat), major free news publications are starting to tighten the noose, putting their content behind a paid firewall. It worked for News Corp’s (NYSE: NWS) Wall Street Journal, because that publication can be considered as a necessary asset for the business community, and thus can easily be expensed by many readers. The rest of the pack may not be so lucky, as we’ll soon find out with The New York Times Co. (NYSE: NYT). Rumors circulate that the “Old Gray Lady” will soon announce a $20 per month subscription plan for regular visitors to nytimes.com that also want to be able to read the paper on the Kindle and the iPad. (All signs point to a March launch). Standalone web-only access through a browser is rumored to be priced at $10. That’s $120 a year. The price may be appealing to die-hard readers like myself, but surely unappealing to many that appreciate the Times’ impressive website, but would likely balk at such a cost. This leads to my major concern about The New York Times — and its stock. Shares have rallied in recent… Read More

By most measures, the U.S. economy is in a steady recovery mode. The national unemployment rate fell to 9.4% in December and many cyclical industries, including airlines, industrial manufacturing and even automobiles are reporting improving operating trends. Home foreclosure rates continue to drop, as do credit card… Read More

Financial planners suggest a few rules when it comes to investment strategies. If you may need to cash-in your investments soon, then you should be holding liquid safe investments such as Certificates of Deposit (CDs). And if you have a long time horizon, then you should move… Read More

Investors often make one key mistake: They look to bag profits after an investment has made an impressive move. That makes sense — if the reasons to buy that stock have changed, or if the stock is now too pricey in relation to future earnings. But there are… Read More

Back in the 1980s, Peter Lynch, the famed head of Fidelity’s flagship Magellan fund, stumbled across an industry that he found to be undervalued and underfollowed by Wall Street. To paraphrase his analysis in his popular Beating the Street book, Wal-Mart (NYSE: WMT) and Philip Morris had nearly 50 analysts… Read More

In order to make money in stocks, you’ve got to invest. Not just money — you’ve got to invest time to watch and watch and watch a gathered list of stocks and be ready to pounce when opportunities present themselves. Here are three stocks that have been on my watch list and now look like promising buys. 1. Couer D’Alene Mines Corp. (NYSE: CDE) At the start of each year, investors fret that this may be the year that China finally cools. But that’s been a bad bet recently and I’m betting that this year’s China… Read More

In order to make money in stocks, you’ve got to invest. Not just money — you’ve got to invest time to watch and watch and watch a gathered list of stocks and be ready to pounce when opportunities present themselves. Here are three stocks that have been on my watch list and now look like promising buys. 1. Couer D’Alene Mines Corp. (NYSE: CDE) At the start of each year, investors fret that this may be the year that China finally cools. But that’s been a bad bet recently and I’m betting that this year’s China scare will also prove to be unwarranted, despite possible troubles in that country’s housing sector. The rest of the economy simply has too much momentum, which is why I agree with commodity bulls that China’s insatiable demand for all kinds of metals and minerals will keep this asset class on the rise in 2011. My favorite current commodities play is Couer D’Alene, an 80-year-old company that is ramping up production of gold, silver, zinc and iron ore. It’s been a “show-me” stock lately as it starts to boost output at some new mines. Read More

On Tuesday I told you about one of the easiest ways I know of to make a fortune in stocks. In short, the idea is to take a tiny chunk of your discretionary cash and “swing for the fences.” I’m talking about investing in a few small stocks with the potential to return many times your money. Just one big winner — one home run — could more than make up for losses on your other bets. Here’s what I mean… In just four days, one of the… Read More

On Tuesday I told you about one of the easiest ways I know of to make a fortune in stocks. In short, the idea is to take a tiny chunk of your discretionary cash and “swing for the fences.” I’m talking about investing in a few small stocks with the potential to return many times your money. Just one big winner — one home run — could more than make up for losses on your other bets. Here’s what I mean… In just four days, one of the stocks I featured in my article: “3 Small Stocks That Could Make Investors Rich” is down 3%. Another is down 5%. But the third, BioLase Technology (Nasdaq: BLTI), has already jumped 96%.   Let’s say you had put $1,000 into each of these stocks. With your $3,000 investment you’d be sitting on $3,880 today — an $880 profit in less than a week. And that came from getting only one out of three stock picks right. Not bad. I don’t know of any other way to… Read More

For the courageous souls willing to jump into stocks in March 2009, it’s been a bonanza: The S&P 500 has risen about 90% since then, equating to annual gains of more than 40%. But this widely-held index has been a loser if you go farther back. In the past… Read More