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This morning I will abdicate my post in favor of an article from The New York Times. Beware - it may make you as cynical as I am. Read it here. Aside from all that, looks like we'll have more good earnings reports and plenty of sunshine in Rochester this week. GTC (This article contains...

Last week we went home a little down at the heels, having taken a beating in the market, with the Dow down 261 points. We don't really get beat up on days like that because for most clients our job is to help them carefully select sound investments and then sit tight through the ups and downs. But i...

The sweet: one of my old favorites, The Hershey Co., reported higher earnings this morning - a sweet report for shareholders and a continuation of last quarter's gains.The sweeter (for Rochester): Xerox today also had a better-than-expected report as their acquisition this past February of ACS has h...

Last year an important milestone was reached in the history of the world's economic development: China overtook the United States as the world's largest energy consumer. Since oil was discovered in 1859 in the countryside of Pennsylvania as an abundant and convenient source of energy, the world's ec...

Yet more good news - this is the fun part - as Apple Inc reported better-than-expected earnings last night. This is a surprise? Hardly. It seems that everyone under a certain age has an iPod, and even tech slowpokes like me are using the iPhone at increasing rates. Later today we will see reports fr...

M&T, based in Buffalo, has always been more conservative than its national rivals. They went down in price during the financial crisis, but not so much as Citi or B of A, and unlike those two behemoths, M&T never reduced its cash dividend to shareholders. You'll see the stock up sharply today. Rumor...

In the 1920's the Hassenfeld brothers, Henry and Helal, started a textile remnant business in Pawtucket, Rhode Island. By 1952 they were making toys and brought out their first hit: Mr. Potato Head. Last year, Hasbro Inc produced $4 billion of toys and games (many of which have been optioned by Univ...

High yields are great - don't get me wrong - but when it comes to picking a high yielding stock, the most important thing to consider is the company's basic financial standing. When a company pays out more than it is taking in, there is obviously a problem - and the problem is usually reflected in...

Last night Alcoa topped expectations and sent the market higher to start today's trading. This earnings season, maybe more than others could have a big impact on how the market performs the second half of this year. Here is when the DOW 30 will tell us how the second quarter treated them: 3M July...

Good news today from JP Morgan, which reported a second-quarter profit of $4.8 billion. Morgan has been among the best-managed banks, keeping a cautious conservatism throughout the financial crisis. The giant bank sailed through it all a bit bruised but better positioned for having held to the kind...