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We are enjoying a nice breather today with the stock market snapping a 5-day losing streak, up over 150 points as I write this. Apparently the solons of the Street have changed their previous view that it's the end of the world. Fears of deflation were banished this morning by reports of rising indu...

A brief footnote to my post late yesterday: Yesterday General Motors was set to file documents with the Securities and Exchange Commission in order to sell shares to the public in a widely-expected initial public offering (IPO). During a late-morning conference call with investors CEO Ed Whitacre...

Just over a year ago, in the thick of the financial crisis, General Motors collapsed. Decades of indifferent design and too-rich labor contracts had taken their toll on the once-great company, and GM was ushered into bankruptcy by the White House. A year later there is a newer, sleeker GM. Gone a...

Earnings season is wrapping up for the second quarter of 2010. There have been many bright spots, most recently Macy's, Nestle, and Disney. The market has rewarded those companies that have done well and expressed cautiously optimistic views on the future. However, a survey of the headlines would le...

Economic news of late has been fixated on the state of our recovery. Is unemployment growing? Are companies hiring? How about the housing market - better or worse? And as usual the signs are mixed, as they have been for the 30 years I've been following economic indicators. Yesterday Fed Chairman...

The recent story of the resignation of Hewlett Packard CEO Mark Hurd has plenty to attract the media: big money, a blond actress, allegations of sexual harassment, and admissions of a lapse of ethics. The short version is that Hurd often dined in the company of Jodie Fisher, an HP marketing consulta...

BY "Then" I don't mean the distant past, I mean this past April. The US stock market had been rising for a year (with the occasional hiccup) and investors had begun to heal some of the psychological scars inflicted by the financial crisis and global recession. Economic signs had begun to point to re...

I am not referring today to good earnings for Sherwin-Williams, though they were good. Nor about Masco, maker of Behr paints (among other fine products), though their results improved as well. Keep in mind that seeing improvement at companies who make home-building and home-improvement products is a...

Fast food juggernaut McDonald's announced a 12% increase in profits for the second quarter of 2010, earning $1.23 billion, or $1.13 a share. McDonald's has proven to be an excellent performer through the economic downturn as consumers are making the switch from $30.00 entrees to the MCD dollar menu...

A good way to "hedge your bets" in a struggling market is to use a Dollar Cost Averaging program. There is no way of knowing when the market is going to go up or down, but by establishing a systematic investment strategy you can take some of the guesswork out of investing. This means that instead of...