The trading days immediately following the Christmas holiday usually bring with them the so-called Santa Claus rally. Well, this year, some guy named “Cliff” sent the corpulent gift giver back to the North Pole without his rally cap.   As it has been for so many weeks now, the unresolved fiscal cliff situation took […]

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"I wanted an electric train for Christmas but I got the saxophone instead."    –Clarence Clemons    The fantastic sax player and long-time member of Bruce Springsteen’s E Street Band is, sadly, no longer with us, but his music will live on for decades to come. In this Christmas-related quote, "the Big Man" as Bruce

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By Jim Woods   This week, my friend, colleague and frequent Eagle Daily Investor contributor weighs in on, of all things, a French movie star’s high-profile, anti-tax protest. I suspect that if taxes become this onerous here at home, we are liable to see this type of action by U.S. citizens in the future.  

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With the U.S. government’s fiscal cliff still grabbing headlines and causing uncertainty that hurts domestic stocks, it may be time to shift our gaze to foreign markets. Asia is a region of the world that is showing stronger growth generally than anywhere else; it also can grow without much drag from the fiscal cliff in

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The year is nearly in the books, and now is the time when all of the professional pundits, amateur speculators, and major brokerage houses give out their forecasts for the year ahead.   According to a recent Barron’s cover story, "Outlook 2013," there is a bullish consensus among the financial elite that the equity market

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  It was yet another week of wrangling by politicians over a resolution to the fiscal cliff, and the way it looks now, there won’t be Christmas cheer for the markets on this issue.   The back and forth this week over a cliff deal kept markets on edge, with gains midweek on optimism that […]

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 "What is common to many is least taken care of, for all men have greater regard for what is their own than what they possess in common with others."   –Aristotle   The greatest of all philosophers knew the folly of what in economics is known as the tragedy of the commons. You see, when

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Bank stocks have risen during the past year and they still may have further gains ahead. But a major factor impeding continued growth is the uncertainty of the still-unresolved fiscal cliff. Once that uncertainty is resolved, though, look for U.S. banks to rise strongly. With this potential bullishness on banks in mind, now would be

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  As it has for so many weeks now, negotiations about the fiscal cliff continue to dominate the trading landscape. Will there be a deal, or will there be no deal? At this point, the equity markets are betting that a deal will get done. I take that view because during the past week we’ve

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  This week’s market action was dominated by two entities—the Federal Reserve and the fiscal cliff.   Stocks started out the week with some buying in front of the Fed’s decision on interest rates, and more importantly, what their decision would be regarding the extension of their current bond buying plan. Once the market received […]

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