The S&P 500 Index has been up nearly 92% since March 6, 2009. This impressive run has many market participants cheering for the rally to continue indefinitely. But as exciting as it may be to reference that 92% return, it is not very important, except for investors who bought… Read More

Currency investing by the “Main Street” investor, regular Joe’s and Jane’s like you and me, has exploded in recent years, thanks to the expansion of the exchange-traded fund (ETF) universe. Once the territory of hedge-fund managers… Read More

Whenever the topic of inflation arises, the two words that most often come from investors’ mouths are “gold” and “silver.” And while it’s true that gold and silver are inflation hedges that offer large potential returns, they also tend to carry an equally large… Read More

The S&P 500 Index — the benchmark used to indicate the health of the overall market — has declined from a peak of 1,370.58 scored in late April to near the 1,320 level, a decline of about 4%. In doing so, it has breached its… Read More

Investors need to be on guard against “the sideways churn.” This happens when a market... Read More

Investors need to be on guard against “the sideways churn.” This happens when a market that had been steadily rising is now see-sawing back and forth. Such a shift is often a sign that... Read More

“You can always trust the Americans to do the right thing, but only after exhausting all other possibilities.” –Winston Churchill When it comes to our political leaders in Washington, let’s hope Churchill was right. If he’s wrong, then the U.S. Read More

You can’t blame Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke for trying. Faced with a struggling economy last summer, he devised a massive $600-billion plan to revive the economy, known as QE2 (or the second major round of quantitative easing). Investors are surely pleased,… Read More

Friday’s employment report has created an even hazier backdrop for stocks. Recent economic... Read More

Friday’s employment report has created an even hazier backdrop for stocks. Recent economic data showed an economy starting to cool, but with 244,000 jobs created in April — the best... Read More

The most active traders, which usually man Wall Street’s trading desks, can alter market... Read More

The most active traders, which usually man Wall Street’s trading desks, can alter market sentiment by either their presence or absence. As the weather warms, these traders take ever longer... Read More

As the past couple years have shown, U.S. equities are once again a prime source of attractive returns. But they’re not the only — or necessarily the best — source. Like many market watchers, I believe the highest long-term returns are to be had in developing countries… Read More