I’ve been fielding a lot of phone calls lately from friends and family members. And they are scared… #-ad_banner-#Some have asked whether they should sell their house now, before a recession hits. Others are wondering if they should postpone their house purchase. And, of course, they are all worried about their retirement accounts. The fear is not limited to my circle of acquaintances. A lot of folks are downright spooked. Whether it’s the trade war, the Federal Reserve’s decision to lower interest rates, President Trump’s tweets, or headlines about the dreaded yield curve, there’s a lot of tension and uncertainty… Read More

I’ve been fielding a lot of phone calls lately from friends and family members. And they are scared… #-ad_banner-#Some have asked whether they should sell their house now, before a recession hits. Others are wondering if they should postpone their house purchase. And, of course, they are all worried about their retirement accounts. The fear is not limited to my circle of acquaintances. A lot of folks are downright spooked. Whether it’s the trade war, the Federal Reserve’s decision to lower interest rates, President Trump’s tweets, or headlines about the dreaded yield curve, there’s a lot of tension and uncertainty surrounding the market and the economy. But I don’t share these feelings. I still see plenty of opportunity in the market. To be sure, I’m not saying that “this time is different” — the four most dangerous words in investing — as we are closer to the end than the beginning of the economic expansion. And the inversion of the yield curve has been one of the most historically reliable indicators of a recession. I’m just not sure we will witness the sort of recession that most people are fearing — a 2008-like financial crisis — and I believe that… Read More

Think fast: what’s the largest U.S. company? No, it’s not Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL). Despite dominating the headlines, being almost universally beloved and trading within a few points of its all-time high, Apple does not sit at atop the market-capitalization list. This honor currently belongs to Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT), a company whose imminent death because of the slowing PC market was predicted by more than one analyst more than once over the years. They were wrong. With a total market value that exceeds $1 trillion, MSFT is currently the king of the markets.  Like Apple, MSFT trades within a spitting distance… Read More

Think fast: what’s the largest U.S. company? No, it’s not Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL). Despite dominating the headlines, being almost universally beloved and trading within a few points of its all-time high, Apple does not sit at atop the market-capitalization list. This honor currently belongs to Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT), a company whose imminent death because of the slowing PC market was predicted by more than one analyst more than once over the years. They were wrong. With a total market value that exceeds $1 trillion, MSFT is currently the king of the markets.  Like Apple, MSFT trades within a spitting distance of the stock’s all-time high. Over the past five years, while shares of AAPL more than doubled in value, the value of MSFT more than tripled. Yes, the PC market has slowed, thanks to the proliferation of smartphones and other mobile devices on the consumer side and growth in the cloud on the enterprise side. And yet, Microsoft is the largest company that trades in the United States. What gives? —Recommended Link— The Incredible Dividend Map. Where Stocks Yield 67% a Year What’s the highest-yielding stock you’ve ever owned? Did it pay you 8%… 10%…… Read More

As many of you know, each month I dedicate an article to informing you about stocks that are poised to put more cash in stockholders’ pockets.  I scan the market for noteworthy special distributions on the horizon, as well as potential dividend hikes on the way over the next four to six weeks. I give special attention to outsized double-digit increases and reliable dividend-payers that have been steadily growing payouts for a decade or more.  I flag these stocks before the official announcements are made, not after, giving you a head-start. (And my High-Yield Investing readers get an even bigger… Read More

As many of you know, each month I dedicate an article to informing you about stocks that are poised to put more cash in stockholders’ pockets.  I scan the market for noteworthy special distributions on the horizon, as well as potential dividend hikes on the way over the next four to six weeks. I give special attention to outsized double-digit increases and reliable dividend-payers that have been steadily growing payouts for a decade or more.  I flag these stocks before the official announcements are made, not after, giving you a head-start. (And my High-Yield Investing readers get an even bigger lead on this information, as you hopefully understand.) If you’ve read previous articles where I’ve projected dividend raisers for the next month, then you know my track record on predicting these dividend increases is pretty good — and so are the subsequent gains posted by the stocks we’ve covered. So you’ll want to pay particular attention to this month’s candidates.  Here they are… 1. Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) – What can you say about Microsoft that hasn’t already been said? Sure, the company still rakes in more cash from its ubiquitous Windows architecture and Office products in a month than most… Read More

We are a nation of drivers. The U.S. Bureau of Transportation says that the United States is home to nearly 272.5 million cars, almost a million buses and more than 12 million trucks. As drivers and investors, our attention is turning to the future of self-driving cars and on the progress and setbacks that autonomous driving research encounters. But the drive to create a fully autonomous car — and all the investor attention that these efforts enthuse — should not detract us from the progress achieved in other areas of transportation technology. One such area concerns unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs)… Read More

We are a nation of drivers. The U.S. Bureau of Transportation says that the United States is home to nearly 272.5 million cars, almost a million buses and more than 12 million trucks. As drivers and investors, our attention is turning to the future of self-driving cars and on the progress and setbacks that autonomous driving research encounters. But the drive to create a fully autonomous car — and all the investor attention that these efforts enthuse — should not detract us from the progress achieved in other areas of transportation technology. One such area concerns unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) — also known as drones. While drones as a group are not autonomous in the full sense of the word, these helicopters or planes have no human pilots and are controlled by onboard computers or by a pilot on the ground via remote control. —Recommended Link— Secret “Paycheck Program” Just Discovered… It’s delivering up to 30 checks each year… Checks for $29,799… $62,046… and even up to $225,326 are being raked in using this program. If you’re looking for reliable cash, you need to act right now. This is instantly valuable, so don’t miss out. … Read More

An old trader once told me, “Trading is the hardest easy money you’ll ever make.”  In theory, trading is easy enough — all you have to do is buy low and sell high, right? After all, there are thousands of books claiming to have all the information we’ll ever need. In practice, however, trading is among the most difficult activities in the financial world. Despite the availability of a wealth of information, few do it well. In fact, all that accessible information actually makes it harder to trade successfully.  —Recommended Link— This “Good as Gold” Income Solution Could Pay You… Read More

An old trader once told me, “Trading is the hardest easy money you’ll ever make.”  In theory, trading is easy enough — all you have to do is buy low and sell high, right? After all, there are thousands of books claiming to have all the information we’ll ever need. In practice, however, trading is among the most difficult activities in the financial world. Despite the availability of a wealth of information, few do it well. In fact, all that accessible information actually makes it harder to trade successfully.  —Recommended Link— This “Good as Gold” Income Solution Could Pay You up to $3,379 per month FOR LIFE! Whether you’re hoping to build a bigger nest egg, travel more often, or just make the most out of your golden years, our advanced “Daily Paycheck” strategy is the most reliable way to DOUBLE your investment income. Click here to get started. Think about that for a moment.  If you could really win in the markets by simply buying stocks with low price-to-earnings (P/E) ratios, then we would all be successful. As an old trader also once told me, “To know what everyone knows is to know nothing.” If everyone has the… Read More

You’ve probably seen it. And not just on financial sites either, but front page headlines on major media outlets like Yahoo.com, Fox News, and CNN. I’m talking about the inverted yield curve. Specifically, the fact that yields on the 10-Year Treasury (1.62%) slipped below those on the 2-Year note (1.63%). That’s not the natural order of things. Anyone who has ever bought a bank certificate of deposit (CD) knows that longer-term maturities are supposed to pay more than shorter ones. #-ad_banner-#The same is normally true in the bond world. Since the 1980s, the 10-Year Treasury has typically yielded about 100… Read More

You’ve probably seen it. And not just on financial sites either, but front page headlines on major media outlets like Yahoo.com, Fox News, and CNN. I’m talking about the inverted yield curve. Specifically, the fact that yields on the 10-Year Treasury (1.62%) slipped below those on the 2-Year note (1.63%). That’s not the natural order of things. Anyone who has ever bought a bank certificate of deposit (CD) knows that longer-term maturities are supposed to pay more than shorter ones. #-ad_banner-#The same is normally true in the bond world. Since the 1980s, the 10-Year Treasury has typically yielded about 100 to 200 basis points more than the 2-Year. That higher rate compensates investors for tying up their principal over a longer period as well as for the impact of inflation. But the upward sloping yield curve has flattened out recently, flirting with inversion. And on August 14, it finally happened. There have been other yield curve inversions in recent months involving 3-Year and 5-Year Treasuries. But the 2-10 curve is the most closely watched because of its uncanny predictive abilities. The last time this flip-flop happened was in December 2005, about two years before the Great Recession hit. We’ve seen… Read More

If you follow financial markets, you almost certainly heard the news that the yield curve inverted. That news sparked a steep selloff in the stock market.  The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 800 points. That was the fourth largest one-day decline in history.  Now, let’s look at the news rationally.  —Recommended Link— This Wyoming rancher can put $565 in your pocket each week From my ranch, I send out an email every Friday to 1,065 regular men and women… and before the day is out, they pocket $565 in cash. The following Friday, they do… Read More

If you follow financial markets, you almost certainly heard the news that the yield curve inverted. That news sparked a steep selloff in the stock market.  The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 800 points. That was the fourth largest one-day decline in history.  Now, let’s look at the news rationally.  —Recommended Link— This Wyoming rancher can put $565 in your pocket each week From my ranch, I send out an email every Friday to 1,065 regular men and women… and before the day is out, they pocket $565 in cash. The following Friday, they do it again… and collect another $565. Of course, that’s just an average, but over time it works out to exactly $565.25. We’ve done it 219 times so far. ​​Join us for the next one here. In percentage terms, that 800-point decline was the 342nd biggest one-day drop. With the index above 25,000, the Dow fell 3.05% on Wednesday. That’s still bad, but it’s not as bad as it sounds when we hear it’s the fourth worst one-day loss in history.  The yield curve inversion also isn’t as bad it sounds.  The yield curve is a graph… Read More