They’re calling the past 10 years of the stock market the “lost decade,” referring to the fact that the major indexes are now at the same price levels seen 10 years ago. Fair enough. Just don’t be fooled into thinking every single company out there has been spinning its wheels… Read More

The rally in gold prices over the past 10 years has been nothing less than amazing, with the precious metal running from $300 per ounce in mid-2001 to more than $1500 now. The SPDR Gold Trust (NYSE: GLD)… Read More

Contrary to what the financial media machine may imply, starting out with a sizeable brokerage account balance and constantly trading it isn’t the only way to turn a few bucks into a small fortune. Some of today’s biggest personal portfolios started out very small, yet haven’t bought or sold a… Read More

Behind every obvious economic boom there’s a less-obvious boom. The story with China is no different. It easily got back into its pre-recession growth-groove once it was clear the global recession was easing, but it couldn’t have done so without help from these two… Read More

There’s a new recession around the corner. Or, maybe there isn’t. The media is providing arguments for both possibilities, but clearly only one of those arguments can be right. For investors needing to make a decision in the meantime, though — before… Read More

Despite the market’s miserable performance during the past five weeks, corporate earnings as well as the overall economy have been improving on a quarter-to-quarter basis since mid-2009. The growth pace may be slowing now, but progress is still being eked out. Interestingly though, a few… Read More

Despite the recent bearish effort, the stock market‘s still up 6% for the year. Some sectors and groups, however, are up more than others. Such outperformance begs the question: are these leading industries already over-baked, or is… Read More

Just when it looked like the auto industry’s wounds from the recession were going to fully heal, disaster struck in Japan and cut off key auto parts supply lines for nearly every major manufacturer. It was out of the frying pan of weak… Read More

A few weeks ago I named railroad stock Union Pacific (NYSE: UNP) as the most undervalued name in the S&P 500. That stance hasn’t changed. But, being the most undervalued name in the large-cap world doesn’t mean it’s the most potent railroad… Read More

There’s a major change brewing in the maritime shipping industry right now, and it should change the way you pick stocks in this once-hot sector. The new era of shipping demand is splitting one broad transportation industry into two distinct groups, with one of them poised to be a winner… Read More