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Insiders Keep Bull Market Going
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Hulbert: Insiders have stepped up buying the last couple of weeks.
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How to Choose a Stock
Buying individual stocks can augment an already diversified investment portfolio. Here’s how to get started.
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How to Find Your Cost Basis
Brokers are now required to keep better tabs on the costs of your investments. Here’s what do for investments made before 2011.
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How to Choose a Stock Mutual Fund
When choosing a stock mutual fund, consider performance, manager track record and cost before investing.
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Some Investors Get Defensive; Companies in Certain U.S. Sectors are Benefitting from a Flight to Stability
Not everyone is charging out of the stock market. Some investors are playing defense. The Standard & Poor's 500-stock index has declined 5.5% so far this month, but that masks a rise in sectors such as telecommunications and smaller ...
WSJ.com - May 23, 2012
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Funds Add $3.9 Billion, Thanks to Bond Flows
Long-term mutual funds had estimated inflows of $3.9 billion in the latest week as investors added more money to bond and hybrid funds, while U.S. stocks continued to decline, the Investment Company Institute said.
MarketWatch - May 22, 2012
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Where the stock and bond bargains are hiding; Both the safest and the riskiest assets are overbought
If Wall Street is a struggle between fear and greed, both sides seemed plenty crowded this past week. The fearful, eyeing political turmoil and deep fiscal woes in Greece, snapped up 10-year Treasury notes with yields as low as 1.70%, near ...
WSJ.com - May 20, 2012
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Five Risky Plays That Could Make Your Day
Call it the Dirty Harry portfolio. Five big bets for the brave, and only one question. Do you feel lucky? These aren't the investments for Grandma. And they aren't wagers to take with your rent money. These are the risky bets most people are ...
MarketWatch - May 16, 2012
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J.P. Morgan may turn loss into gain; The bank has penchant for share buybacks, and shares are cheaper now
J.P. Morgan Chase, America’s biggest bank, admitted last week it lost $2 billion on a derivatives trade that its chief executive, James Dimon, called “flawed” and “poorly reviewed.” Its shares have tumbled in response.
WSJ.com - May 14, 2012
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China May Give Foreign Pension Funds New Investment Opportunities
SHANGHAI—China is considering setting up a new way for foreign pension funds to invest in its vast capital markets, according to people familiar with the matter, its latest effort to prop up the country's listless stock market.
WSJ.com - May 15, 2012
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Borrowing Against a Portfolio Leaves Little Margin for Error
Lured by ultralow interest rates and a recovering stock market, investors have rediscovered a risky investing tool: the margin loan. Margin accounts, which allow investors to borrow against the value of the securities in their brokerage ...
WSJ.com - May 4, 2012
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'Investing' in College? It Pays to Think Like an Investor
College is the best investment you can make, President Obama told students last month at the University of Colorado. As a metaphor for the benefits of education, that statement is fine. But taken as a claim about the financial returns of a ...
MarketWatch - May 1, 2012
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Why U.S. house prices won’t recover; Taking inflation into account, home prices are down to 1895 levels
When will U.S. house prices recover? Likely never. But that’s no reason not to buy. The latest S&P/Case-Shiller numbers, reported last week, show that prices in 20 major markets declined 3.5% over the year through February. They’re now ...
WSJ.com - May 1, 2012
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By Jack Hough; How to Beat Government Bonds—Using Social Security
For an investment return that tops those offered by hedge funds, insurance firms or Wall Street banks, baby boomers should look to Social Security.
WSJ.com - Apr 27, 2012
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In Emerging Markets, Going Deeper Can Boost Returns
Your emerging-markets stock fund might need more exposure to emerging markets. Many such funds have large exposure in markets that bear more economic resemblance to the U.S. than to China and India. They also tend to favor companies with ...
WSJ.com - Apr 25, 2012
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Stock Funds Shunned Despite Broad Inflows
Long-term mutual funds had estimated net inflows of $6.48 billion in the latest week as investors added money to hybrid, bond and foreign equities, while domestic equity funds saw the sharpest outflow so far this year, according to the ...
Latest Stocks News
WSJ.com - 8:45 PM ET-
Hedge-fund ads are a game-changer; Commentary: Be careful of pitches from private-equity firms
BOSTON (MarketWatch) — The one thing that might have allowed convicted felon Bernie Madoff to run his phony hedge-fund business even longer in the face of an eroding stock market is successful advertising.
WSJ.com - Apr 14, 2012
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Stock Funds for the Timid
Investors are caught between the fear of another stock market crash and the punishingly low yields on safe havens like Treasurys. "Long-short" mutual funds, which bet for and against stocks at the same time, offer ways to seek profits, ...
WSJ.com - Apr 9, 2012
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Financing Your Future; How to Create a Pension (With a Few Catches); 'Longevity insurance' is catching on with baby boomers. But even the best safety nets have some holes.
Americans with pension envy increasingly are turning to a relatively new breed of annuity, known as "longevity" insurance, to restore some financial security to what are supposed to be their golden years.
WSJ.com - Apr 8, 2012
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Big Boost to Returns
The track records of target-date mutual funds for retirement got a double boost lately. They benefited from the stock market's powerful start to 2012, with the Standard & Poor's 500-stock index rising 12% in the three months through ...
WSJ.com - Apr 6, 2012
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The Great Reversal: Playing the U.S. Manufacturing Boom
Investors who have favored emerging markets like China in recent years should pay attention to another growing manufacturing center. It boasts plenty of skilled workers; cheap and abundant energy; stable institutions; and a large middle ...
WSJ.com - Mar 31, 2012
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It's Time to Dial Back on Risk
Bulls say the capital markets are in a "risk rally," while cynics call it a "dash for trash." Whatever the label, assets that investors were too fearful to touch last year have lately been the market's top ...
WSJ.com - Mar 28, 2012
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By Jack Hough; Will a Dividend-Tax Hike Spoil the Party?
Apple's dividend announcement this past week is good news for income investors, but bad news might be lurking around the corner. Unless Congress takes action, the top tax rate for the highest earners on most dividends, currently 15%, is ...
WSJ.com - Mar 21, 2012
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Fund Inflows Continue For 10th Week in Row
Long-term mutual funds had estimated net inflows of $7.76 billion in the latest week as bond and hybrid funds continued to receive a boost, according to the Investment Company Institute.
MarketWatch - Mar 21, 2012
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Identical ETFs are not created equal; Commentary: What’s under the hood can impact returns
NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- Financials and industrials are the two sectors that have done the best since last Oct. 3, when the stock market shook off its lethargy and began climbing.
WSJ.com - Mar 18, 2012
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Maybe You Shouldn't Invest Now
With the Dow Jones Industrial Average climbing to multi-year highs, investors might be tempted to join the rally. But John P. Hussman, who heads Hussman Funds, thinks the present ranks among what he calls "A Who's Who of Awful ...
WSJ.com - Mar 18, 2012
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How Much Risk Can You Manage?
In my last column, I outlined a new approach to managing investment risk that I summed up this way: Never gamble unless you can afford to lose.
WSJ.com - Mar 18, 2012
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Emerging Markets ... It's a Jungle Out There
Emerging markets have started the year with a bang. From São Paulo to Singapore, stock and bond markets are booming and investors are jumping on board.
Latest Stocks News
MarketWatch - Apr 22, 2012-
How to Play a Slowing China
It has been a tough few weeks for China investors. After looking like the nation's slumping stock market had turned a corner, a wave of bad news sent it tumbling again.
WSJ.com - Mar 16, 2012
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The Coming Utility Surge
Investors who are worried that stocks have risen too far, too fast, should give utilities another look. Shares of electricity and gas companies typically offer generous dividend yields—dividend payments as a percentage of stock price—and ...
MarketWatch - Mar 18, 2012
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Mutual funds say ‘bye’ to bad three-year records; Commentary: Meltdown wiped from returns, but not memory
BOSTON (MarketWatch) — Mutual funds mark anniversaries to forget the past, not to celebrate it. With the three-year anniversary of the U.S. stock market’s bottom during the 2008-09 financial crisis passing last week, fund firms have a lot to ...
WSJ.com - Mar 10, 2012
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How to Tell if a Growth Stock Can Keep on Growing
Intuitive Surgical, a maker of medical robots, is expected to increase its earnings by 33% this year. That is tantalizing growth at a time when the broad Standard & Poor's 500-stock index is projected to see a 9% gain in operating ...
WSJ.com - Mar 10, 2012
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Rough Sledding: Clinging to Stocks
The stock market was a happy place five years ago and heavenly in the 1990s. But after the financial crises of the past few years, investors could be forgiven for thinking that the market resembles the Iditarod sled-dog race in Alaska—a ...
WSJ.com - Mar 4, 2012
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More Money, More Risk in Prepaid-Tuition Plans
Spooked by the stock market, more parents saving for college are putting their faith in something that could prove to be equally tenuous: the ability of state governments to manage money.
WSJ.com - Mar 4, 2012
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A Three-Year Bull Market: Feeling Better Yet?
On March 9, 2009, the stock market hit its postcrash bottom. Today, after a three-year rally that's seen the Dow Jones Industrial Average rise 98%, from 6547 points to 12978, investors are trying to understand how to explain the good ...
WSJ.com - Mar 3, 2012
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Investors' Sell Signal: Surging U.S. Stocks
The stock market is surging, but many individual investors aren't getting swept up in the excitement. The Dow Jones Industrial Average has climbed 6.2% this year, and closed above 13000 on Tuesday for the first time since May 2008. Dow ...
WSJ.com - Mar 2, 2012
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Where to Find the Bargains
Stocks and higher-yielding "junk" bonds have surged so much in recent months that bargains are getting difficult to find. At the same time, safer investments such as Treasury bonds and high-grade corporate issues have meager ...
WSJ.com - Feb 29, 2012
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Investors Gird for Higher Dividend Taxes
Financial advisers and their clients are starting to plan for, if not yet act on, a possible jump in taxes on dividends. Dividend-producing stocks have had a special attraction among investors in recent years, in part because of the ...
WSJ.com - Feb 28, 2012
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Parents Fear the Math Doesn't Add Up for Prepaid College Plans
Spooked by the stock market, more parents saving for their kids' colleges are putting their faith in something that could prove to be equally tenuous: the ability of state governments to manage money.
WSJ.com - Feb 26, 2012
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Gone in 22 Seconds
If Mary Schapiro, chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission, wants to regulate the stock market, she's going to have to think faster.
Latest Stocks News
WSJ.com - Mar 16, 2012-
Apple at $500: Is It Time to Double Down—or Walk Away?
With Apple shares having recently topped $500, how soon might they hit $1,000? That is an impatient thought for an investor, perhaps. But Apple shareholders have gotten used to fast gratification: The share price has doubled five times in ...
Latest Stocks News
WSJ.com - Feb 25, 2012
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