The U.S. consumer has been in a funk for several years now. European consumers feel even more pinched. Even the go-go economies of China and Brazil are seeing the signs of weakening consumer sentiment. Still, credit card giants Visa (NYSE: V) and MasterCard (NYSE:… Read More

When Patriot Coal (NYSE: PCX) announced plans to file for bankruptcy, investors should not have been surprised. After all, shares had fallen from $20 to $2 in the past year, signaling potential financial distress in the days and weeks ahead. In fact, expectations that… Read More

I live in hurricane country and have personally witnessed my share of Category 3s, as well as a handful of tropical storms. One main point safety officials stress is concerning the eye of the storm. Although it brings a relative period of calm, depending on how big the eye of… Read More

At the start of 2012, investors were assessing whether it was wiser to focus on the deep value that many stocks offered, or the incipient signs of a global economic slowdown that would cap any upside for stocks. They focused on the former in the first quarter, giving stocks a… Read More

Do quarterly results even matter? Investors had been anticipating a fairly tough set of reports prior to the most recent earnings season, but they bid up stocks throughout March anyway. When those reports rolled in across April and early May, the numbers (and… Read More

Time to party like it’s…2007? No thanks.  Just five years ago, the phrase “subprime” started to creep into the U.S. consumer lexicon. And not long after, the phrase “subprime mess” became a household name.   #-ad_banner-#In case your memory needs refreshing, the subprime… Read More

After a steady six-month surge, the stock markets are reversing course. The S&P 500 is off roughly 5% since early April, and signs are emerging that there may be plenty more downside on the way.  The problems for Greece — and Europe — keep mounting. The continent’s major economies have… Read More

Cooler heads have prevailed. A showdown between the executive branch of government and the judicial branch of government looked to usher in a new era of intra-governmental rancor that our Founding Fathers sought to avoid. But the Supreme Court’s decision to let much of the Obama Administration’s health care law… Read More

One clear theme that has been in place throughout the second quarter: The broader market should make you cautious, while individual stock bargains abound. I’ve been hammering home these seemingly contradicting themes, highlighting the need to keep seeking out entry and exit points for… Read More

If you have been following the markets for very long, then you have probably noticed all the flashy ads for foreign exchange trading, or “forex” for short. They seem to be everywhere, from the business TV channels and magazines to billboards and the… Read More