We can gain valuable insights into currency markets by looking at who is long and short in the futures market. The smart money in these… Read More

The world was shocked when the Brazilian energy corporation Petrobras (NYSE: PBR) announced in 2007 the discovery of a massive oil deposit. Buried deep under the Atlantic Ocean, the Tupi oilfield, due east of Rio de Janeiro, was… Read More

Many top companies issue an overlooked type of payment back to their shareholders… They work like traditional dividends, but with one major difference — these “dividends” are completely tax-free. These under-the-radar “dividends” are a favorite of Warren Buffett… Read More

Many top companies issue an overlooked type of payment back to their shareholders… They work like traditional dividends, but with one major difference — these “dividends” are completely tax-free. These under-the-radar “dividends” are a favorite of Warren Buffett and many other billionaire investors.#-ad_banner-# There’s a good chance you’ve received one of these “tax-free dividends” before and didn’t even realize it. That’s because companies don’t issue these “dividends” in the normal way.  They “issue” them by buying back shares of their own… Read More

Many top companies issue an overlooked type of payment back to their shareholders… They work like traditional dividends, but with one major difference — these “dividends” are completely tax-free. These under-the-radar “dividends” are a favorite of Warren Buffett and many other billionaire investors.#-ad_banner-# There’s a good chance you’ve received one of these “tax-free dividends” before and didn’t even realize it. That’s because companies don’t issue these “dividends” in the normal way.  They “issue” them by buying back shares of their own stock. You see, when a company buys back its own stock, it’s similar to paying you a tax-free dividend. A buyback makes every share you own worth a larger piece of the company pie, but you don’t have to pay taxes on your new portion of ownership. On top of that, studies have shown that the share price usually rises afterward. A study by U.K.-based investment group Shore Capital Group found that… Read More

As the stock market surged ever higher in the 1990s, many investors were content to let mutual fund managers find the right stocks for them. After all, the nation’s leading mutual… Read More

The stock market consolidated its gains last week while waiting for news. Earnings announcements this week could push prices out of their two-week trading range. Traders… Read More

A deal on the fiscal cliff — at least the tax part — caused the “risk on” trade to go into hyper-drive on Jan. 2. The first trading session of the year saw nearly every major average, and most sectors, soar between 2% and 3% on average. This relief rally… Read More

A deal on the fiscal cliff — at least the tax part — caused the “risk on” trade to go into hyper-drive on Jan. 2. The first trading session of the year saw nearly every major average, and most sectors, soar between 2% and 3% on average. This relief rally over the certainty on tax policy wasn’t lost on the technology sector, as the Technology Select Sector SPDR (NYSE: XLK) surged 3.33% in the first session of 2013. For the technology ETF, the gains are… Read More

A deal on the fiscal cliff — at least the tax part — caused the “risk on” trade to go into hyper-drive on Jan. 2. The first trading session of the year saw nearly every major average, and most sectors, soar between 2% and 3% on average. This relief rally over the certainty on tax policy wasn’t lost on the technology sector, as the Technology Select Sector SPDR (NYSE: XLK) surged 3.33% in the first session of 2013. For the technology ETF, the gains are a welcome respite from the mostly downbeat trade that’s taken place since September. In fact, from the most recent high in September through the end of 2012, XLK was hit with a loss of nearly 9%. Thanks to an early 2012 run higher in the shares, technology seemed like it would be the place to be for most of the year. Then we started to see the sector falter. So, why was the September selling in the tech ETF so sharp? The one big answer is Apple (Nasdaq:… Read More

The CBOE Volatility Index (VIX) is a widely followed sentiment indicator. When VIX is high, it indicates that traders are worried about… Read More

Fifty years after Yugoslavian President Josip Tito founded the Non-Aligned Movement, the economies of the association’s roughly 120 nations have grown in excess of 5% per year on average, while larger developed economies in North America, Europe and Japan have slowed to a crawl. Yet, it’s easy to forget the… Read More