Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke ignited another stock market rally and stocks ended last week near all-time highs. Traders will stay focused on Bernanke for at least the next week. All Eyes Will Stay On the Fed Last week, SPDR S&P 500 (NYSE: SPY) gained 2.75% as traders… Read More

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke ignited another stock market rally and stocks ended last week near all-time highs. Traders will stay focused on Bernanke for at least the next week. All Eyes Will Stay On the Fed Last week, SPDR S&P 500 (NYSE: SPY) gained 2.75% as traders once again cheered the Fed’s easy money policy. This week, monetary policy should remain in focus as Bernanke makes his semi-annual visit to Capitol Hill. During the past month, the chairman’s words have sparked a sell-off (in mid-June) and a recovery (last week) in stock prices. It is unlikely he will add any new information about policy in his testimony, but his words will be scrutinized. A 30-minute chart of SPY shows the impact Bernanke had on prices last week. A speech after the close on Wednesday, where… Read More

Does a rising tide lift all boats? No, but it does lift most of them.  Some stocks aren’t getting much attention in this surging bull market, and it’s often up to insiders to help these stocks get attention.  Here are three stocks with recent solid clusters of insider buying. (All data is courtesy of InsiderInsights.com.) Calamos Asset Management (Nasdaq: CLMS) I’ve come across this asset management… Read More

Does a rising tide lift all boats? No, but it does lift most of them.  Some stocks aren’t getting much attention in this surging bull market, and it’s often up to insiders to help these stocks get attention.  Here are three stocks with recent solid clusters of insider buying. (All data is courtesy of InsiderInsights.com.) Calamos Asset Management (Nasdaq: CLMS) I’ve come across this asset management firm on several occasions in recent months, as it has appeared on my screens regarding companies with share buybacks, strong free cash flow yields, solid dividend yields and a valuation near book value. Now you can add insider buying to that list. Company founder John Calamos Sr., who launched the firm in the 1970s, has been actively buying shares for two straight months. In that time, he’s picked up more than 300,000 shares at an… Read More

Does a rising tide lift all boats? No, but it does lift most of them.  Some stocks aren’t getting much attention in this surging bull market, and it’s often up to insiders to help these stocks get attention.  Here are three stocks with recent solid clusters of insider buying. (All data is courtesy of InsiderInsights.com.) Calamos Asset Management (Nasdaq: CLMS) I’ve come across this asset management… Read More

Does a rising tide lift all boats? No, but it does lift most of them.  Some stocks aren’t getting much attention in this surging bull market, and it’s often up to insiders to help these stocks get attention.  Here are three stocks with recent solid clusters of insider buying. (All data is courtesy of InsiderInsights.com.) Calamos Asset Management (Nasdaq: CLMS) I’ve come across this asset management firm on several occasions in recent months, as it has appeared on my screens regarding companies with share buybacks, strong free cash flow yields, solid dividend yields and a valuation near book value. Now you can add insider buying to that list. Company founder John Calamos Sr., who launched the firm in the 1970s, has been actively buying shares for two straight months. In that time, he’s picked up more than 300,000 shares at an… Read More

Investors spend a lifetime developing a suitable philosophy that helps shape their financial decisions. To develop their views, they seek the sage advice of successful investors. The best advice has a quality of timelessness and can be thought about in virtually any economic environment. Here are five of my favorite pieces of advice, starting with perhaps the world’s most famous investor: 1. Warren Buffett “The line separating investment and speculation, which is never bright and clear, becomes blurred still… Read More

Investors spend a lifetime developing a suitable philosophy that helps shape their financial decisions. To develop their views, they seek the sage advice of successful investors. The best advice has a quality of timelessness and can be thought about in virtually any economic environment. Here are five of my favorite pieces of advice, starting with perhaps the world’s most famous investor: 1. Warren Buffett “The line separating investment and speculation, which is never bright and clear, becomes blurred still further when most market participants have recently enjoyed triumphs. Nothing sedates rationality like large doses of effortless money.” — Warren Buffett in a letter to shareholders in March 2000 Buffett wrote that as the dot-com boom was in its final stages, and soon after this annual letter to shareholders was written, the market tumbled. Buffett’s insights apply to today’s market as well. Whenever the market goes up for an extended period (as it has for the past four years), investors develop a sense of hubris and begin… Read More

Investors spend a lifetime developing a suitable philosophy that helps shape their financial decisions. To develop their views, they seek the sage advice of successful investors. The best advice has a quality of timelessness and can be thought about in virtually any economic environment. Here are five of my favorite pieces of advice, starting with perhaps the world’s most famous investor: 1. Warren Buffett “The line separating investment and speculation, which is never bright and clear, becomes blurred still… Read More

Investors spend a lifetime developing a suitable philosophy that helps shape their financial decisions. To develop their views, they seek the sage advice of successful investors. The best advice has a quality of timelessness and can be thought about in virtually any economic environment. Here are five of my favorite pieces of advice, starting with perhaps the world’s most famous investor: 1. Warren Buffett “The line separating investment and speculation, which is never bright and clear, becomes blurred still further when most market participants have recently enjoyed triumphs. Nothing sedates rationality like large doses of effortless money.” — Warren Buffett in a letter to shareholders in March 2000 Buffett wrote that as the dot-com boom was in its final stages, and soon after this annual letter to shareholders was written, the market tumbled. Buffett’s insights apply to today’s market as well. Whenever the market goes up for an extended period (as it has for the past four years), investors develop a sense of hubris and begin… Read More

Making millions and retiring in your 30s is every investor’s dream. But for legendary commodities trader Jim Rogers, it was just the beginning of a career on Wall Street that has spanned six decades and produced a net worth in the hundreds of millions.#-ad_banner-# Rogers’ amazing success was built on his uncanny ability to spot long-term trends well before the masses, earning him a reputation as a contrarian. But now, after “retiring” at 37, scoring huge… Read More

Making millions and retiring in your 30s is every investor’s dream. But for legendary commodities trader Jim Rogers, it was just the beginning of a career on Wall Street that has spanned six decades and produced a net worth in the hundreds of millions.#-ad_banner-# Rogers’ amazing success was built on his uncanny ability to spot long-term trends well before the masses, earning him a reputation as a contrarian. But now, after “retiring” at 37, scoring huge gains in commodities in the early 2000s and correctly predicting the financial and housing crisis, Jim Rogers has his sights set squarely on what he calls one of the greatest opportunities he has ever seen, and now he’s sharing his stock market investing advice, with you! Jim Rogers’ Biography Rogers showed a penchant for business at an early age. His career as an entrepreneur began at age 5 with selling peanuts and picking up empty bottles left behind at baseball games in Alabama. After graduating from Yale University in 1964 with a bachelor’s degree… Read More

Making millions and retiring in your 30s is every investor’s dream. But for legendary commodities trader Jim Rogers, it was just the beginning of a career on Wall Street that has spanned six decades and produced a net worth in the hundreds of millions.#-ad_banner-# Rogers’ amazing success was built on his uncanny ability to spot long-term trends well before the masses, earning him a reputation as a contrarian. But now, after “retiring” at 37, scoring… Read More

Making millions and retiring in your 30s is every investor’s dream. But for legendary commodities trader Jim Rogers, it was just the beginning of a career on Wall Street that has spanned six decades and produced a net worth in the hundreds of millions.#-ad_banner-# Rogers’ amazing success was built on his uncanny ability to spot long-term trends well before the masses, earning him a reputation as a contrarian. But now, after “retiring” at 37, scoring huge gains in commodities in the early 2000s and correctly predicting the financial and housing crisis, Jim Rogers has his sights set squarely on what he calls one of the greatest opportunities he has ever seen. Jim Rogers’ Biography Rogers showed a penchant for business at an early age. His career as an entrepreneur began at age 5 with selling peanuts and picking up empty bottles left behind at baseball games in Alabama. After graduating from Yale University in 1964 with a bachelor’s degree in history, Rogers headed to Wall Street and worked… Read More

As earnings season gets underway, investors have been delivered a huge jolt in one of their favorite stocks. It shouldn’t be a huge surprise, considering this stock was one of the most expensive stocks in the S&P 500. But it’s a wake-up call for any other pricey stocks. If you own one of them, be sure you are not getting in front of a train wreck. The stock in question: Intuitive Surgical (Nasdaq:… Read More

As earnings season gets underway, investors have been delivered a huge jolt in one of their favorite stocks. It shouldn’t be a huge surprise, considering this stock was one of the most expensive stocks in the S&P 500. But it’s a wake-up call for any other pricey stocks. If you own one of them, be sure you are not getting in front of a train wreck. The stock in question: Intuitive Surgical (Nasdaq: ISRG), which traded at around $580 in February. Thanks to a stunning one-day plunge, shares are suddenly flirting with the $400 mark. Tepid quarterly sales get the blame, though the size of this stock’s drop is surely due to the stock’s valuation. Back in February, when this stock was making fresh highs, it was valued at more than 30 times projected 2013 profits. Considering that profits were on course to grow around 15% (from 2013 to 2014), that was an unconscionably high… Read More

Traders seemed to like the prospects of low unemployment last week even though that could lead to the end of easy money from the Fed, a prospect that caused a sell-off just weeks ago. Last week’s price gains could be reversed soon as additional economic data and company earnings are released. Stocks Change Their Mind and… Read More

Traders seemed to like the prospects of low unemployment last week even though that could lead to the end of easy money from the Fed, a prospect that caused a sell-off just weeks ago. Last week’s price gains could be reversed soon as additional economic data and company earnings are released. Stocks Change Their Mind and Gain on News Showing Fed May Taper Soon On Friday, the employment report provided good news about the state of the economy and stocks rallied. SPDR S&P 500 (NYSE: SPY) gained 1.08% for the day and 1.62% in a three-and-a-half day, holiday-shortened trading week.#-ad_banner-# Unemployment was unchanged at 7.6%, but the details in the jobs report showed some strength in the economy. The economy added 195,000 jobs in June, and estimates for gains in both May and April were… Read More

Do you follow the 80/20 rule? During the past century this simple ratio has developed into one of the most useful concepts and tools of modern-day routine. In a moment, I’ll show you how you can use a version of the 80/20 rule to help take your portfolio to a whole other level. First, some background …#-ad_banner-# The 80/20 rule assumes that most of the results in any situation — sales, finance and even personal relationships — are determined by a… Read More

Do you follow the 80/20 rule? During the past century this simple ratio has developed into one of the most useful concepts and tools of modern-day routine. In a moment, I’ll show you how you can use a version of the 80/20 rule to help take your portfolio to a whole other level. First, some background …#-ad_banner-# The 80/20 rule assumes that most of the results in any situation — sales, finance and even personal relationships — are determined by a small number of events. The notion of the “vital few” has its origins in 1906 in Italy, where economist Vilfredo Pareto observed that 80% of the wealth was controlled by 20% of the population. Pareto reportedly developed the principle after observing similar scenarios in everyday life, including the fact that 80% of the peas in his garden came from only 20% of the pea pods. Then came Joseph Juran, a quality… Read More