Janet Yellen as the Next Fed Chair: Today (Wednesday), U.S. President Barack Obama will nominate Federal Reserve Vice Chairwoman Janet Yellen to replace Ben Bernanke as the head of the U.S. central bank.
If she clears a Senate nomination, Yellen would be the first woman to lead the Federal Reserve and arguably the most experienced Fed chair in decades, based on her extensive tenure at the central bank.
Wall Street will love Janet Yellen even more than Helicopter Ben...
by Diane Alter
Amid closing the third quarter and kicking off the fourth, last week's best stocks to buy revolved around the government shutdown, the looming debt ceiling deadline, and the hotly anticipated Twitter IPO.
September is historically the worst month for equities, but investors were mostly unscathed. The broad-based S&P 500 Index rose 3% in September and 4.7% in Q3. The Dow added 1.5% in the third quarter and is up 15.5% for the year.
As Q4 gets under way, many investors have retreated to avoid giving up gains, pulling $1.3 billion out of equity funds last week. Bond and commodity funds were also walloped with redemptions.
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The political temper tantrum known as the government shutdown is now a week old, the rhetoric is heating up, and there's no sign that the peace pipe will be smoked anytime soon.
While the politicians at the top of this heap continue to be rewarded with their government paychecks, more than 2.1 million government workers do not. Some 800,000 Uncle Sam employees were initially furloughed (although 350,000 from the Defense Department were just called back), and another 1.3 million will most likely see their paychecks delayed.
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The North American shale oil and gas boom is fascinating Americans with its stunning potential, as it propels U.S. oil production to the highest level since May 1989.
It is also creating a formidable profit-making opportunity for those who know how to invest in this burgeoning industry.
The best opportunities now are in places where the shale energy boom is just getting started...
by David Zeiler
There's a question no one wants to ask, but it's time we do: What happens to the U.S. economy if American consumers get so financially strapped that they stop spending money? You see, it's a well-known fact that 70% of the U.S economy depends on consumer spending. If consumer spending slips, it will weaken the […]
Now imagine what that will do to the U.S. economy...
Warren Buffett used to define a "margin of safety" as a company that was trading close to – or even below – "breakup value."
Of course, that metric doesn't work as well today – especially in the parts of the tech sector that we like to focus on: You just aren't going to find many high-growth companies trading at bargain-basement levels.
But with U.S. firms sitting on a record $1.7 trillion in cash, you can find some name-brand tech firms whose cash reserves can cover a decent portion of their share price – creating a nice "margin of safety" as we move into the fall. (Good timing, considering everything that's happening – or not happening – in D.C. right now.)
I like to refer to these as "Cash is King" tech stocks.
Even Warren Buffet, who typically avoids this sector, would approve of these...
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This morning (Monday), FOX Business' "Varney & Co."hosted Money Morning Chief Investment Strategist Keith Fitz-Gerald to ask, "Will the government shutdown affect the market long-term?"
The majority of pundits believe the market will go up when the shutdown ends, as more confidence and predictability return.
However, Fitz-Gerald isn't convinced...
Stock market news today focuses on market reactions to the second week of the government shutdown, with markets down 80 points with just a couple hours of trading left in the day.
Investors are increasingly concerned that the conflict will not be resolved soon and fear the political stalemate will extend to the debt ceiling issue.
Without a debt ceiling resolution by Oct. 17, the United States would be in default, which would have a more damaging effect on the economy than this shutdown.
As a result, stocks are lower in trading today in all sectors. The S&P 500 is down about 0.4% at 1,683.00 points, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average is down 0.6% at 14,989.80 points.
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Today (Monday), Money Morning Chief Investment Strategist Keith Fitz-Gerald appeared on FOX Business' "Varney & Co." to answer the question, "Will Twitter Stock Be a Buy?"
In its Thursday initial public offering (IPO) filing, Twitter disclosed it made $47.5 million from selling off user data to companies working in analytics.
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"What's the simplest strategy to boost my returns?"
This is one of the most frequently asked questions I hear when I'm on the road. And most people expect a long, drawn-out answer.
But in reality, there's a single word – the one you're about to see – that can lead to huge performance gains…
How huge?
Try triple-digit huge – that's why I place a high priority on this technique in the Money Map Report's proprietary 50-40-10 Strategy. It's critical to the success tens of thousands of our subscribers have enjoyed over the years.
It’s incredibly simple, too...
