Approaching Neutral
The major stock market indexes tacked on more losses last week, even though markets were only open for three-and-a-half days and trading was relatively light. The Nasdaq closed the week 4.3% lower, the Dow was down 4.4%, and the S&P 500 lost But...
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Investing in a business development company is a high-risk, high-reward proposition for income investors. But there are ways to mitigate the risks.
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Ready For Whatever Comes Next
The stock market is trying to pull itself together as October ends. Following Friday’s massive selloff, bargain hunters attempted to take control Monday, but selling pressures overwhelmed the rally and all three major indexes closed lower once again. Yesterday’s had...
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A Change in Leadership
Despite occasional hiccups, the stock market’s main trend is up. However, the advance has changed character a bit. We’re seeing investors rotate out of the growth stocks that had, until recently, led the market higher, and into more undervalued or names...
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Any income investor should know how to reinvest dividends. Whether you should depends on what you're looking for as an income investor.
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At New All-Time Highs
The market is strong: the S&P 500 and Nasdaq are at all-time highs, and most stocks and sectors are participating.
The strength of the market made the selection of this month’s new addition challenging. The strong stocks on my watchlist have higher...
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Earnings Season Begins
Earnings season has begun. As usual, that means we’ll see larger-than-usual moves in stocks, many of which will turn out to be short term. Don’t overreact, stick to your plan, and be patient—do this and you’ll be fine.
Big picture, the stock is...
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Proceed With Caution
The stock market stumbled this week, and investors have turned more conservative, creating a number of ripples in the market. We’ve been discussing the divergences between growth stocks, conservative stocks and various sectors here for some time, and last week earnings were...
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Surprise!
The stock market had quieted down in recent weeks; the major indexes were establishing fairly tight ranges, a constructive sign. However, yesterday’s massive selloff in Italian bonds—triggered by political turmoil—caused a lot of unexpected moves, including big pullbacks in most stocks. It also treasury...
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As the Fed has increased interest rates, share prices on high-yield utility stocks have tumbled. And the higher the yield, the worse the performance.
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Market Down, Rates Up
After turning lower at the end of last week, the broad market sold off sharply yesterday. The selloff followed Caterpillar’s (CAT) earnings call, during which management lowered their guidance for the rest of 2018. Combined with some other factors, the triggered...
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A Garden-Variety Correction ... Probably
After developing some cracks earlier this month, the broad market rolled over last week; the major indexes all closed the week down over 5%. The S&P 500 closed just a few points above its February low, while the Dow a..
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The stock markets have been volatile this week. The CBOE volatility index is up 18%, with downward pressure on the S&P 500 and the Dow. The 10-year treasury yield increase to 2.7% has many institutional investors showing interest in the bond market, which have...
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With no steady paycheck, investing after retirement can be daunting. Here are a couple key strategies to make your money last.
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Writing covered call options is a great way to boost your yield on stocks you already own, and involves a lot less risk than most investors think.
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A retirement savings calculator isn't an exact projection, but it can be a good starting point when planning for retirement.
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Treasury bonds are yielding more than they have in years. But if you're an income investor, dividend stocks are still the better bet.
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Janet Yellen and the Fed eat up a lot of financial headlines these days. But what investors should really be paying attention to is much simpler.
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With share prices at all-time highs and the rate hike propping up Treasuries, high yield dividend stocks have become increasingly rare in today's market.
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When stock markets closed on November 21, you may not have felt the ground quake, but the news was fairly earth-shaking. That’s the day the S&P 500, the Dow, the Nasdaq and the Russell 2000 all closed at all-time record highs. It’s also first...
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