It's against human nature to be bullish these days. You don't have to think long and hard about it: the economy is in the tank, your neighborhood real estate values are falling every week, we ALL have friends who have been out of work for a year-plus...with no new...
The stock market has been posting gains the past few days. After two very tough months to start 2009, what could go wrong? Plenty, especially if you are focused on just the Dow Jones Industrial Average.
Don’t get hung up on the Dow Jones. The Dow Jones may not be a “relevant” yardstick for you to use. After all, it’s only 30 stocks…and you might not own ANY of them.
Someone is actually holding Jim Cramer responsible for some of the advice he has given, and also for the fact that CNBC has “morphed” into an entertainment channel.
Banks (and brokerage firms) that own mortgage backed securities have been required — since November 2007 — to use mark to market accounting on these securities. Coincidentally, this was just around the time these mortgage securities started dropping precipitously in value. 2007 saw many mortgage firms get wiped out, and brokerage firms and banks holding these assets started realizing the volatility of these assets.
How can so many people be so wrong for so long? It wasn't all that long ago where we had gas lines, a prime rate that reached 20%, unemployment reaching 12%, and inflation at 13%. All we heard -- nearly 30 years ago -- the problem was "inflation." The only way to...
Take a walk with me down Memory Lane: 1973: S&P down over 17% (ouch) 1974: S&P down over 29%. (ouch again) The bottom for the S&P was reached in October 1974. And the bottom was reached -- yet again -- in December 1974. There was no advantage to jumping...
Like crossing the equator on a ship -- should buy and hold investors get some kind of recognition (or have some celebration) for crossing the line? The S&P 500 crossed 1100 in 1998 (twice), 2001 (3X!), 2002, 2004 and 2008. Look, when I drive around the same...
The Treasury announced they will begin to inject capital (money) into banks, under terms created under the bailout bill. This article will try to walk through, in English, what this all means. As part of the bailout bill (or TARP: troubled asset recovery plan), one...
That was the headline I found over at CBS Marketwatch. As usual, the news media is whipping (anyone who will read) into a frenzy about Lehman Brothers. More news may be forthcoming about Lehman -- between the time I finish writing this and the time you read this. I...
