The financial markets paid little attention to remarks by President Obama on the debt ceiling debate this morning. Stocks and bonds basically treaded water even after a bombshell report from the U.S. Commerce Department that …
Markets
The Folly Of Trying To Time The Market
Recent fits and starts in the stock market prompt us to visit a topic we spent a few pages on in our book but have yet to tackle in a Mind Over Money post. Three topics, really, but we’ll tackle two of them in follow-up posts: …
Why Do Investment Results Differ Dramatically By Race?
The Pew Research Center made a big splash this week with a new report highlighting the wealth disparity between Americans – specifically between white, black, Hispanic and Asian households. (For an overview of Pew’s …
Odd Couple Debt Dance In D.C. Spooks Markets
Can two major political parties get along without driving the financial markets crazy? Apparently not, as Democrats and Republicans – the odd couple of U.S. politics – still aren’t on the same page in agreeing to a new debt …
Big Oil: Synergy is Dead
U.S. oil companies seem to be giving up on synergy, spinning off their refining businesses so that they can focus on oil production. Conoco, which I previously recommended, announced yesterday that it would split in two, thereby …
What Would a U.S. Government Default Feel Like For the Average American?
A compromise between the budget proposals being batted around by President Obama and House Speaker John Boehner will, hopefully, be reached before the federal government defaults on any debt.
But what if the August 2 deadline to …
Bernanke and the Fed: Reading Between the Lines
Today we were treated to the second installment of the Federal Reserve’s new policy of openness with Chairman Ben Bernanke’s press conference. That followed on the heels of the statement by the Fed Open Market Committee about …
Real Estate’s in the Tank? Not in the Land of IPOs
It’s been what my grandmother would call “a month of Sundays” (i.e., a long, long time) since we’ve heard of a local housing market that wasn’t in the doldrums. In fact, much of the country is now officially in the …
5 Tips to Avoid Getting Scammed
After Bernie Madoff was sentenced to 150 years in prison for scamming people out of billions while operating what has been described as the large Ponzi scheme in history, you would think people would be a bit smarter about …
The Frighteningly Fast Fall of Blackberry (And Why Even Apple Should Care)
On Thursday, the maker of the once-ubiquitous Blackberry devices, Research in Motion, reported its quarterly results. They were not pretty.
High Potential in Low-Debt Stocks
Companies free from financial problems should enjoy even greater advantages over the next five years.
Why Do We Cheer for NBA Stars But Not for Bankers?
There was something dramatic and striking about the Dallas Mavericks’ victory over the Miami Heat in the NBA Finals on Sunday. No, it wasn’t the caliber of play – which was high – nor the sight of the vaunted Miami “Dream …
