A pivotal scene in “The Big Short” has a skeptic scoffing at a quirky money manager who wants to short the housing market. The manager, Dr. Michael Burry (played by Christian Bale), has found portfolios of mortgages rotten with toxic subprime paper.The U.S. economy is sitting on a massive housing… Read More

After trying privately to convince Yahoo’s board of directors to pursue a new strategic direction for more than a year, this week hedge fund investor Starboard Value went public with its plan to oust the entire board and replace it with one of its choosing. Read More

If you own dividend stocks or bonds, the Fed’s about-face is good news. Read More

There’s been a surge of interest in gold this year, but you’d probably come out ahead buying dividend payers. Read More

Most analysts avoid calling a top or bottom in the market, knowing the futility of such exercises. But sometimes you can sense when the worst is behind us, which I believe is now the case with energy stocks. Read More

Three trick questions with inconceivable answers. Read More

They were punished in 2015, but should post gains this year. Read More

Cryptic remarks by Fed Chair Janet Yellen this week regarding future rate hikes caused the stock market to dither, but lit a fire under the bond market. The yield on the 30-year Treasury bond dropped from more than 2.75% last Friday to less than 2.50% when Yellen admitted during congressional… Read More

One of my favorite war stories is “The Man Who Never Was,” about a British scheme to deceive the Nazis during World War II by planting misinformation about an upcoming invasion on a corpse made to appear to be a drowned naval officer, the non-existent Royal Marine Major William Martin. Read More

Several measures say much lower, but not for all stocks.  Read More