The stock market has not made a decisive breakout yet, but gold has. Volatility Points to a Possible Decline in Stocks SPDR S&P 500 (NYSE: SPY) closed down 1% last week. On Friday, the ETF fell 0.63%, the fourth day in a row with a move larger than 0.5% (in absolute value). On an average day, since 1928, the… Read More

The stock market has not made a decisive breakout yet, but gold has. Volatility Points to a Possible Decline in Stocks SPDR S&P 500 (NYSE: SPY) closed down 1% last week. On Friday, the ETF fell 0.63%, the fourth day in a row with a move larger than 0.5% (in absolute value). On an average day, since 1928, the S&P 500 has moved an average of 0.02%. A 0.5% move is 25 times greater than average and four in a row is an unusual pattern. In the history of the S&P 500 index back to 1928, volatile periods like this have occurred about four times a year, on average. The index has a downward bias over the next week and the next month. Over those time frames, traders would have enjoyed a small profit, on average, from a… Read More

If you’re a long-time reader of StreetAuthority, you know by now that we almost never recommend stocks with yields higher than 10%.  If the yield is higher than that, it’s usually a sign that the company’s fundamentals are sagging, investors are bracing for a dividend cut — or worse… But today, I’m going to show you how to break one of the cardinal rules of safe income… Read More

If you’re a long-time reader of StreetAuthority, you know by now that we almost never recommend stocks with yields higher than 10%.  If the yield is higher than that, it’s usually a sign that the company’s fundamentals are sagging, investors are bracing for a dividend cut — or worse… But today, I’m going to show you how to break one of the cardinal rules of safe income investing and buy a stock yielding 17% without losing a single night’s sleep. #-ad_banner-#All you have to do is think more like a trader. Now, I know that doesn’t come easy to most income investors, but it’s easier than it sounds. In fact, I’m going to show you how one simple tool allows you to know when it’s safe to buy stocks with ridiculously high yields, hold them for a period of time and collect any dividends you might receive, and then know when… Read More

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It was September 2008, and the stock market was in chaos. The Dow Jones industrial average experienced its largest point decline, plunging 777 points in just one session. The support of the 50- and 200-period moving averages were slashed like a hot knife through butter, while the Volatility Index (VIX) rocketed through technical resistance as if it wasn’t even there. The… Read More

It was September 2008, and the stock market was in chaos. The Dow Jones industrial average experienced its largest point decline, plunging 777 points in just one session. The support of the 50- and 200-period moving averages were slashed like a hot knife through butter, while the Volatility Index (VIX) rocketed through technical resistance as if it wasn’t even there. The financial media was full of pundits declaring a complete technical breakdown in the stock market.#-ad_banner-# Many were left asking what it all meant. Part of what it meant was that the once esoteric quasi-science known as technical analysis had gone mainstream. In the days before the personal computer, practitioners of technical analysis used quotes out of the newspapers or quote books to draw charts and make projections. Intraday data were very difficult to obtain outside of… Read More

It was September 2008, and the stock market was in chaos. The Dow Jones industrial average experienced its largest point decline, plunging 777 points in just one session. The support of the 50- and 200-period moving averages were slashed like a hot knife through butter, while the Volatility Index (VIX) rocketed through technical resistance as if it wasn’t even there. The… Read More

It was September 2008, and the stock market was in chaos. The Dow Jones industrial average experienced its largest point decline, plunging 777 points in just one session. The support of the 50- and 200-period moving averages were slashed like a hot knife through butter, while the Volatility Index (VIX) rocketed through technical resistance as if it wasn’t even there. The financial media was full of pundits declaring a complete technical breakdown in the stock market.#-ad_banner-# Many were left asking what it all meant. Part of what it meant was that the once esoteric quasi-science known as technical analysis had gone mainstream. In the days before the personal computer, practitioners of technical analysis used quotes out of the newspapers or quote books to draw charts and make projections. Intraday data were very difficult to obtain outside of… Read More

Everything was looking great with my new investment.  The stock had been steadily climbing higher since my purchase in early January. This company was among the original members of the S&P 500 and once ranked among… Read More

This month marks the five-year anniversary of an era many would rather forget.  The S&P 500 fell nearly 10% in June 2008, and investors began to brace for an eventual market crash later in the year. That was… Read More

I learned the hard way not to rely purely on technical analysis to make investing decisions.  In the early 1990s, I had built up a decent trading stake by riding the momentum lifting high-tech… Read More

I learned the hard way not to rely purely on technical analysis to make investing decisions.  In the early 1990s, I had built up a decent trading stake by riding the momentum lifting high-tech… Read More