General Dynamics

For the first time since 2009, Social Security recipients will get a COLA increase in their checks in 2012. But that 3.6% bump probably isn't going to cover the real rise in your expenses. So where should you invest to find that extra income?

Everybody knows how to make money in a bull market, and it isn't hard to see ways to profit from a bear market, but what do you do when the market isn't moving at all? Here are some strategies for making money in the doldrums.

With corporate earnings season in full swing -- watch for McDonalds, along with Catepillar, Amazon and other -- and with the Fed meeting on interest rates, the GDP estimate and housing numbers coming out -- the week ahead is expected to be quite busy.

The smartest money on Wall Street may be at the top hedge funds, whose investment managers are paid billions a year to beat the market. Those gurus only take big money clients, but you can follow their lead: DailyFinance has the 10 best stock picks of the 10 highest-paid hedge fund managers.

U.S. corporate dividends are showing a big turnaround just one year after recording their worst quarter in history. S&P reports that 399 companies added $6.4 billion to dividends in the first quarter. By contrast, 367 companies cut dividends by a record $43.8 billion a year ago.

Defense contractor Lockheed Martin posted higher fourth-quarter earnings that exceeded expectations, boosted by sales of its fighter jets and satellite systems. The earnings per share results, however, were boosted by a share buyback.

When JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon and Bank of American (BAC) head Brian Moynihan flew today via corporate aircraft to Washington, D.C., to testify before a Congressional panel investigating the financial crisis, their mode of transport raised some eyebrows. But the furor over corporate jets, which are often the most efficient way to transport executives, distracts from the larger issues.

For most of the Bush era, defense stocks seemed pretty close to a sure thing. Those days are over and are not coming back any time soon, according to one defense analyst. The Obama administration is paring back spending on complicated weapons systems such as the Lockheed Martin Co. (LMT) F-22 and...

Capital One (COF) today joined the growing list of major corporations drastically cutting their dividends. In fact, since the start of 2009, $40.8 billion less in dividend income will flow to investors thanks to dividend cuts by 41 corporations so far. Dividend cuts in the first quarter of 2009...

As if beating expectations by posting a 5.1 percent growth in same-store sales wasn't enough, Wal-Mart (WMT) also announced yesterday that it's increasing its annual dividend by 15 percent, to $1.09 a share. That helped boost the world's largest retailer's shares, which rose 2.6 percent on a day...