SKARBECK: Stocks climb as markets look past looming issues
Considering the issues to be faced in just the next few months—a heated election and the fiscal cliff—how in the world can stocks be going up?
Investing Column
Articles
KIM: Disrespecting bull market can be costly to investors
What a difference a year makes. Last October, we wrote of the U.S. stock market’s dismal third-quarter performance.
SKARBECK: Debt, deficit need work even if crisis is averted
Just what is this so-called “fiscal cliff” that is regularly injected into discussions as the political season heats up?
KIM: Don’t let ‘urgent’ tasks trump what’s truly important
Deep down, we know we need to make important life decisions, like updating investment portfolios, creating estate plans, or crafting a college savings strategy. All of these are hard work, take time and are nobody’s idea of fun.
ALTOM: What employees need to know in today’s office
I’m willing to irritate my colleagues in human resources and bet that they aren’t asking all the questions they should ask of candidates.
SKARBECK: Use facts, not feelings to choose investments
Our “big-picture” views can be shaped and influenced by experiences, reading, television and other external media. We can even be persuaded by the opinions of others.
KIM: Investors can find treasure in ‘discarded’ businesses
Our experience has been that corporate restructuring often creates market inefficiencies, allowing us to buy at a significant discount.
SKARBECK: Are equities really dead? Depends on whom you ask
References to the infamous 1979 Business Week article “The Death of Equities” have resurfaced in the media.
KIM: Why the Libor lie matters to the man on the street
Libor, the London interbank offered rate, certainly sounds like an obscure, technical bit of financial jargon. However, Libor directly affects the pricing of more than $800 trillion in securities and loans.
SKARBECK: High-quality stocks perform as well as alternative options
Most hedge funds have failed to outperform index funds since the credit crisis.
KIM: Is high-frequency trading ‘Knightmare’ on Wall Street?
Much like the fictional Skynet in the “Terminator” movies, firms engaging in “high-frequency trading” have unleashed a torrent of unbridled technological firepower that seems to have overwhelmed its human makers’ ability to control.
SKARBECK: Does focus on stock prices hurt companies in long run?
A new book, “The Shareholder Value Myth,” by Cornell law professor Lynn Stout, is ruffling feathers in the field of corporate governance.
SKARBECK: Summertime is right time to seek investing wisdom
The term “dog days” also has found a spot in investors’ lexicon, sometimes describing lackluster stock market behavior during the summer.
KIM: Have we seen second quarter of 2012 before?
The U.S. equity market tested the confidence and resolve of investors in the second quarter of 2012.
SKARBECK: Leadership, not regulation key to changing behavior
In the midst of hard-core lobbying by the banking industry designed to soften the drive for more stringent financial regulation, some key institutions haven’t exactly covered themselves in glory lately.
KIM: Compounding, Rule of 72 work for you if you let them
Saving/investing more and earlier is a simplistic strategy, but it requires discipline, patience and hard work.
SKARBECK: Exchange-traded funds grow as alternative investments
At the end of 2011, over 1,300 exchange-traded funds held $1.1 trillion in assets, including 22 with more than $10 billion in assets and 157 over $1 billion.
KIM: When planning finances, balance wants and needs
I think our educational system needs to do a much better job of equipping students to make wise financial decisions.
KIM: European debt crisis is deja vu all over again
The European debt crisis has reignited and quickly heated to a full boil. Stock markets across the globe have been slammed.
SKARBECK: Facebook flop casts doubt on remarkable valuations
After a year of escalating hype, Facebook’s May 18 initial public offering failed to come anywhere near Wall Street’s glorified expectations.