Over the past three months shares of Best Buy (BBY) gained 25% while the S&P 500 Index declined by nearly 2%. The biggest part of that jump occurred on Aug. 23, the day after Best Buy announced better-than-expected quarterly earnings. And over the past three days it has tacked on… Read More

I shouldn’t have been surprised when I read the news yesterday that Toys R Us was selling FAO Schwarz. Toys R Us bought FAO in 2009 as part of a strategy to take market share during the economic downturn and to raise its profile. Founded in 1862, FAO Schwarz was… Read More

The U.S. economy added 156,000 jobs in September, another solid number.As expected, stocks fell.  That’s because investors interpret continued employment growth to mean that the Fed is more likely to raise rates in December. As we’ve discussed, what’s good for the economy can be bad for stocks if… Read More

As the Chief Investment Strategist for Personal Finance, I am often asked by our readers what stocks are the best to own when the market doesn’t know where’s going. And with the S&P 500 going almost nowhere since July, that’s a question I hear quite a bit.However, not all… Read More

Traditional retailers are in a house of pain. The Sports Authority, PacSun and Aeropostale all filed for bankruptcy this year. Retail darlings Macy’s, Target and Kohl’s all reported declining second quarter sales and lowered estimates for the current quarter.But the Conference Board reported ebullient consumer confidence numbers last week. The… Read More

I’ll give this to the Federal Reserve, it is independent. The Fed turned a deaf ear to a growing chorus of economists and Wall Street analysts saying that the economy can withstand a modest uptick in short-term interest rates, and it didn’t feel compelled to raise rates this week.  Instead… Read More

Wednesday was a good day for the markets, but a great day for a company called The Trade Desk. It was also a day that bodes well for one of my Profit Catalyst holdings.Smart investors are looking for a way to capitalize on the explosive growth in Internet advertising,… Read More

We may be living in the “Year of the Mega Deal,” but the latest announced merger may signal an era is coming to an end.Bayer’s (OTC: BAYRY) proposed takeover of Monsanto (NYSE: MON), is a transaction valued at $66 billion including debt, making it the biggest deal of the year… Read More

After stocks nosedived last Friday following hints that the Federal Reserve would raise rates, every word from Fed Governor Lael Brainard’s speech Monday were scoured, sifted and sniffed for meaning.Fortunately, sulky investors received this pacifier: Brainard said the case for a preemptive rate hike was “less compelling.” For clarity, in Fedspeak… Read More

Investors may have some big decisions to make in the next few days as the stock market reacts to an increasingly likely rate hike from the Fed, perhaps as soon as next week. So, in this column, let’s take a look at the stock market and identify the major reason why… Read More