The dramatic stock market sell-off of the past two weeks, capped Thursday by a 512-point, 4.3% drop in the Dow, puts us in mind of a scene in Braveheart, when William Wallace (played by Mel Gibson) exhorts his troops to stay …
Markets
Stock Market Plunge: Why Wall Street Hates the Debt Deal
Leading up to the debt ceiling deadline, everyone was talking about how the stock market would crater if Washington couldn’t reach a deal. In fact, just the opposite has happened. When it became clear last week that Washington …
Is Main Street Abandoning Wall Street?
Call it the “fool me twice” market.
Skittish 401(k) investors aren’t sure about much regarding the stock market, but they do know this: Unlike 2008, when they were caught with their portfolio pants down, that’s not going …
The Faulty Logic Behind the Market Sell-off
With the debt deal concluded, you might have expected global markets to have rallied. Instead, the Dow Jones industrial average closed down 266 points yesterday, or 2.2 percent.
The reason? There is a growing consensus among the …
Deal or No, the U.S. May Be Downgraded: Why Investors Can’t Rest Easy in the Short Term
At a reception this past weekend for former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, who is promoting his new book, On China, the onetime statesman said he had never seen Democrats and Republicans so at odds. It wasn’t hyperbole. He …
Debt Deal Winners and Losers on Wall Street
In a stagnant economy, there are no winners on Wall Street – only survivors. That goes double for Wall Street’s winners (and losers) coming out of the 11th-hour debt deal between Republicans and Democrats in Washington. While …
Did President Obama’s Remarks Move the Markets?
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 …
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 …