It never ceases to amaze me. Each January, my staff and I breath a collective sigh of relief with the start of each new year. It’s not because we’re glad the holidays are over, but rather because it means that the exhaustive research we put into our annual Top 10 issue for my Market Advisor newsletter is finally over. You see, my staff and I put in countless hours, starting months in advance to ensure that the annual Top 10 issue has only the absolute best picks that we think will pummel the market in the coming year. Read More

It never ceases to amaze me. Each January, my staff and I breath a collective sigh of relief with the start of each new year. It’s not because we’re glad the holidays are over, but rather because it means that the exhaustive research we put into our annual Top 10 issue for my Market Advisor newsletter is finally over. You see, my staff and I put in countless hours, starting months in advance to ensure that the annual Top 10 issue has only the absolute best picks that we think will pummel the market in the coming year. After all, we’ve got a lot to live up to. StreetAuthority co-founder Paul Tracy started this tradition for Market Advisor back in December 2002. Incidentally, that inaugural list of recommendations went on to deliver an impressive return of 38.4% in the next 12 months. And every December since, my team and I have presented readers with a fresh batch of our best and brightest ideas for the year ahead.  Aside from the crash of 2008, these picks have outpaced the benchmark S&P 500 every single year — and by no small margin. Read More

Precious metals are skyrocketing. An ounce of gold, selling for less than $300 a decade ago, now changes hands at more than $1,400. Investors of all types are worried that the Federal Reserve is putting us on the road to currency devaluation and soaring… Read More

$2.8 billion. That’s the amount grossed by James Cameron’s “Avatar” since its release in late 2009. That makes “Avatar” the highest-grossing film of all time, earning nearly $1 billion more than the No. 2 film, “Titanic.” But “Avatar” isn’t alone in recent films making a big splash. In fact, three of the top six grossing films of all time have been released in the past 13 months. What’s causing these skyrocketing sales figures? Certainly inflating ticket prices have a lot to do with it, but a quick look… Read More

$2.8 billion. That’s the amount grossed by James Cameron’s “Avatar” since its release in late 2009. That makes “Avatar” the highest-grossing film of all time, earning nearly $1 billion more than the No. 2 film, “Titanic.” But “Avatar” isn’t alone in recent films making a big splash. In fact, three of the top six grossing films of all time have been released in the past 13 months. What’s causing these skyrocketing sales figures? Certainly inflating ticket prices have a lot to do with it, but a quick look into “Avatar’s” success shows an even bigger force at play… 3-D technology. Avatar made a splash by being made specifically for 3-D presentation. That led to 81% of its U.S. sales coming from the pricier tickets to 3-D viewings. Clearly, consumers are enamored with immersive 3-D visuals. In fact, 3-D movies share of domestic ticket sales climbed from 2% in 2008 to 11% in 2009. That’s a five-fold surge in one year. This year should see an even greater share go toward 3-D. This trend isn’t going away — nor is it limited to… Read More

Just a little more than a decade ago, most investors wouldn’t put a dime in this emerging country, even if they were using someone else’s money. But plenty can change in a short amount of time, and today the story is vastly different. Now… Read More

Eight times a year in Washington, D.C., a dozen men and women sit down to vote on the economic fate of the United States. They come representing regions around nation — rural and urban, rich and poor — and the power they wield is unmatched. Together, they make decisions that… Read More

It’s become a bit of a holiday tradition. Each year in October, I step back and take a long hard look at where I think the market will be heading for the next year. It’s easy to get caught up in the trivial aspects of day-to-day market… Read More

It could be just the thing to put an end to the economic malaise. If enacted, shareholders of dozens — even hundreds — of companies would have to be ready for a tidal wave of stock buybacks and dividend hikes. And the overall… Read More

I don’t want to bury the lead, so let me start with my prediction: the economy will add over 2 million jobs in the next 12 months. But before we get to that, let’s add some context. To say that the job market is weak would be like saying the Saw horror movie franchise is a little gory. In fact, I’m not sure which has seen more bloodletting. Last month, The Los Angeles Times reported that 2.3 million California workers have been axed — and that’s just in the Golden State. Read More

I don’t want to bury the lead, so let me start with my prediction: the economy will add over 2 million jobs in the next 12 months. But before we get to that, let’s add some context. To say that the job market is weak would be like saying the Saw horror movie franchise is a little gory. In fact, I’m not sure which has seen more bloodletting. Last month, The Los Angeles Times reported that 2.3 million California workers have been axed — and that’s just in the Golden State. Nationwide, the unemployment rate has remained at elevated levels above 9.5% for 15 consecutive months, the longest such drought on record. The last time we saw a “jobless recovery” of this magnitude was in the aftermath of September 11, 2001. According to Challenger, Gray & Christmas, more than 2.5 million jobs were lost in the 18 months following the terror attacks. At that point, it seemed as if the labor market would never get in gear. But by January 2004, payrolls around the country were already… Read More

Want to know how much power the Federal Reserve holds? Late Tuesday, the Fed announced it would spend $600 billion on a program of buying Treasury bonds. That’s in addition to what it will also spend by reinvesting the proceeds of other bonds it had purchased already. On Wednesday, the S&P soared nearly +2%, creating about $220 billion in market cap in a single day. I can’t say it was unexpected. You see, every year for my StreetAuthority Market Advisor readers,… Read More

Want to know how much power the Federal Reserve holds? Late Tuesday, the Fed announced it would spend $600 billion on a program of buying Treasury bonds. That’s in addition to what it will also spend by reinvesting the proceeds of other bonds it had purchased already. On Wednesday, the S&P soared nearly +2%, creating about $220 billion in market cap in a single day. I can’t say it was unexpected. You see, every year for my StreetAuthority Market Advisor readers, I put together two lists. First comes a list of my predictions for the coming year. Next is a list of my top 10 stocks for the year. About a week before the Fed’s announcement, I sent my predictions for 2011 to my subscribers. Prediction No. 9 called for this next round of quantitative easing, or as it’s more elegantly called, QE2. But that was only part of the prediction. Now that the first half came true, I also predicted exactly where I want to invest based on the news… and it’s looking good, too. Read More

It’s pretty simple really. You sell products, you bring in revenue. Subtract whatever cash was spent on those products (cost of goods sold) and you have gross profit. The larger the gross profit, the more earnings are left over once… Read More