Opinions

Sometimes something that is viewed as ugly by one person is absolute beauty in someone else’s eyes. This is what the phrase “beauty is in the eye of the beholder” represents. The same argument can be used in analyzing stocks. For instance, when I examine stocks, I will look at

With the S&P 500 at all-time highs, market sentiment clearly is in the bullish camp; this must mean that all of our problems are solved and the future is bright for everyone— Hold on a minute: if this were true, why would consumer confidence regarding the future decrease? The Conference

Wow, what the heck just happened at Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ/MSFT)? The company reported earnings that missed the target by a whopping $0.23 per diluted share. I should also add to that question: what explanation did CEO Steven A. Ballmer offer? Could you imagine the look on Bill Gates’ face when

There is a simple fact in the stock market: restaurant stocks can make good money. Not only are restaurant stocks a sector in which you can do well as a speculator/trader, but they’re also a sector that provides a great barometer on consumer spending. Always follow both the established names

By now, we all know Detroit, once a notorious manufacturing hub in the U.S. economy, filed for bankruptcy. The city defaulted on its municipal bonds simply because it didn’t have the money to give its creditors. The city had three main reasons for filing bankruptcy: out-of-control budget deficits, declining revenues,

I love watching Chef Gordon Ramsay blowing a gasket in one of his many cooking shows, including Master Chef and Hell’s Kitchen. While the outbreaks are often quite hilarious, the popularity of cooking shows has grown over the past years since we first saw Iron Chef come on air over

What’s old is new again, and the current cycle is very much about specific sectors that can be thought of as “old economy.” Transportation, freight, energy production, and transmission—it seems that basic infrastructure corporations are the new stock market darlings. It’s not uniform and not all old economy industries are

We all know that consumer spending is a huge portion of the U.S. economy, making up roughly three-quarters of our GDP. Because it’s such a large part of our economy, for growth levels to pick up, we need consumer spending to continue improving. One area that can become confusing is

The Chinese experiment is over—at least that’s what some in the financial media are saying. Well, guess what? It’s not over, but there will be hurdles along the road for China, as the country struggles to drive its domestic consumption and make sure the economy doesn’t tank. The reality is

I tell you, Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke is risking the future of America with his free-flowing don’t-worry-about-the-future-generations strategy of pumping money into the economy. The problem, as I have said many times previously, is that people and companies have become so accustomed to the cheap money that the tapering

A couple of weeks ago, Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke testified in front of the House Financial Services Committee and the Senate Banking Committee, adding additional information regarding the central bank’s current monetary policy stance. There are several things you should be aware of that the Fed chairman stated and

The other day I was talking with a friend of mine, let’s call him Peter, whom I haven’t chatted with in a while. I wanted to catch up and hear how things are going for him and his family. He told me that he and his family are healthy, thankfully,

“Motor City,” USA is in trouble. Detroit, straddled with close to $20.0 billion in debt, simply could not move forward and was forced to declare bankruptcy late last week—the largest bankruptcy in U.S. municipal history. The news was not unexpected, as the city had already faced a massive migration of

Over the past couple of months, the data regarding economic growth in America has been mixed, but improving. It is important to note that many of the sectors that have improved are primarily related to lower interest rates that have been engineered by the Federal Reserve. Obviously, two of the

The fall in the price of gold bullion has certainly hit investors, but there is even greater pain among junior mining stocks. Obviously, junior mining stocks depend on gold prices to generate revenues and earnings. However, unlike larger, more integrated companies, junior mining stocks might not have any cash flow,

It’s official: free-spending Prime Minister Shinzo Abe along with his Liberal Democratic Party and its alliance with the New Komeito Party will control the fate of Japan for the next few years. This will be enough power and support to push forward Abe’s massive and ambitious $1.2 trillion 10-year spending