The Fed is maintaining the status quo on interest rates, is not terribly worried about inflation and is still planning to end its massive buying program of mortgage securities at the end of March. All of this comes from a Fed statement following the Tuesday meeting of its policy committee. The news on interest rates sent the stock …
The stock market is rising, though on very light volume. The economy is growing, though most observers are uncomfortable that fiscal stimulus accounts for some —or much—of the gusto. Then there are complex issues aplenty to flummox forecasters, such as the hope that the U.S. export growth can make this recovery sustainable, tempered …
Last March we all thought the world economy—not to mention our cherished lifestyle —was headed for the trash basket. The stock market had plunged, retirement plans were ruined, and few people cared that equities looked dirt cheap. But here we are one year later and the stock market is up 68%, rampant fear has morphed into uneasy …
I was taken aback this morning when I read in the New York Times that there is a new federal program that will look to put many thousands of mortgages-gone-bad back to the banks through a short-sale process. It’s not actually new, the Treasury assures me, but rather was put forward as part of the Home Affordable Modification Program …
The Wall Street Journal ran a big story on Wednesday about how homeowners are missing out on big savings because people can’t qualify for mortgage refinancings. This sounds like a tragic twist in what has been a humdinger of a bear housing market. But the more you understand mortgages, the more this bad news looks to be a blessing in …
There’s good news out this morning: Retail sales in January rose a healthy 0.5%, which is a nose ahead of the consensus expectation (collected by Dow Jones) for a 0.3% rise. There was also a slight upward adjustment in December’s number, where the decline was shaved from -0.3% to a more neutral -0.1%. These numbers may not be the stuff …
More jobs numbers came out today and while mildly upbeat they were far from bullish, particularly since the Labor Department’s explanation of the 43,000 drop in weekly initial claims had more to do with a diminishing backlog of filers than with any real pep in the economy. Economist David Rosenberg at Gluskin Sheff has an interesting …
With the latest market declines reminding us anew of the inherent risks of stocks, it’s a good time to re-examine how the stock market creates wealth. There are all sorts of wrinkles but it all really comes down to two big things: Stocks either rise in price (capital appreciation) or companies pay out a portion of profits (dividends). …
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 268 points on Thursday as investors took full stock of the troubled world. The weaker members of the European Union are in financial crisis and talk of defaults fills the air. The fiscal problems and the stock market’s weakness don’t surprise me, but I must admit that this is coming earlier than …
As we look back on the 2009 stock market we’ll likely long for more inflection points–those moments when the dark clouds let a ray of sunshine peek through and stocks take off. Some investors capitalized on this turn more than others. To see who played the back-from-the-brink rally best, take a look at the table below provided by Zacks …
If you’re worried that the federal stimulus to the economy is not reaching people fast enough, take heart from the latest announcements by Toyota. Now that the automaker has found a fix for its sticky accelerator-pedal problem, it’s going to quickly start sending mini repair kits to its dealers around the world. The estimated time for …
America’s economy galloped ahead in the final quarter of 2009, expanding at a better-than-expected 5.7% rate, according to the first estimate from the Commerce Department. (I hasten to add that it was not a surprise to CC founding contributor Justin Fox who’s been alerting readers to the strong likelihood of an eye-popping 4th quarter …
