After respected banking analyst Meredith Whitney rattled the municipal bond market with her prediction of hundreds of billions of dollars in muni defaults, small investors dumped the bonds. That dire prediction may yet come true, but there are a few types of munis that still carry virtually no risk.
More than half of American workers have less than $25,000 saved for retirement, but having too little set aside is just one of many ways you can sabotage your later years. We examine some oft-made financial planning traps -- and the safe paths around them.
The European debt crisis is back: Portugal is in political turmoil, and may need a major bailout, and Spain may too. But the E.U.'s strong healthy are rebelling against propping up their weaker neighbors. The real issue, though, is that the E.U. hasn't yet addressed the fundamental flaw built into it at the euro's creation.
The technical signs suggest we're at a crucial point for stocks: Either a decisive rise or a dramatic fall is coming. And if you're the type to dismiss technical analysis as unscientific voodoo, you're missing the point: It's not about pattern matching, it's about human psychology.
U.S. bond prices fell Wednesday on violence in Libya. An auction of $35 billion in five-year notes met with little demand, while 10-year Treasury prices fell 22 cents per $100 invested. Stocks also declined as a result of the Libyan instability.
As the economic recovery takes hold and the investing landscape shifts again, it's important to adjust your investment strategy to take advantage of the new opportunities. Here are 11 areas experts think you should consider putting your money into right now.
There's a frenzy of stock buying going on now, because no one wants to be left out of the stock market recovery. But all those who are betting on short-term gains are engaged in what I call "wrong ball investing." Here's how to keep your eye on the right ball.
The climbing yield on the 10-year Treasury note -- now 3.70%, a nine-month high -- can mean bad things for economic growth and stock prices. But not yet, if market guru Jeffrey Kleintop is right. He says the 10-year Treasury needs to be higher than 5% before it hurts stocks.
Your investment adviser is an important partner in your life -- after all, who knows your intimate financial details better? It's an intensely personal, yet professional, relationship. Here's what to do when you discover that it's not an ideal marriage.
Hoping to add some safety against inflation to their portfolios, many folks have been investing in Treasury inflation-protected securities -- TIPS. So now that inflation is on the horizon, they should be sitting pretty, right? Unfortunately not. Here's why.
Standard & Poor's downgraded Ireland's debt rating by one notch on Wednesday due to concerns over possible increased capital requirements by the country's banks.
With stock markets rallying lately, cautious investors are looking to get some profits from equities while keeping conservative portfolios. Mark Caner, president of W&S Financial Group Distributors, discusses a new variable annuity product that aims to do exactly that.
For years, policymakers have reassured the public that Social Security will be solvent for decades. But outlay and income data from the Treasury reveal that Social Security is already deep in the red -- by $76 billion in 2010 alone. That's just the beginning.
The Spanish government's successful bond auction Thursday reassured investors, pushing the euro to a one-week high against the dollar. Portugal and Italy also tested the bond market this week with their own auctions. But how much appetite for bonds do investors really have?
The Federal Reserve is doling out billions to buy bonds in hopes of keeping interest rates low and stimulating the economy. However, several powerful forces are working against that low-rate strategy, ranging from investor psychology to global competition for capital.
Bill Gross, the leading proponent of the "New Normal" -- the idea that stocks will return just 3% a year for the foreseeable future -- has been wrong over and over again. So why does anyone pay attention to his predictions?
Corporate bond sales worldwide totaled $3.19 trillion this year, as companies took advantage of the lowest yields on record.
Fitch Ratings has downgraded Ireland three notches from A to BBB , citing the costs of restructuring the Irish banking system, the country's weak growth prospects, and uncertainty about its economy due to the deepening financial crisis, despite the international economic assistance it received last month.
The Federal Reserve's November decision to buy $600 billion in bonds will marginally speed up the U.S. economic recovery but will also accelerate the pace of inflation, according to the UCLA Anderson Forecast.
The S&P 500 has rebounded 20% since its July 2010 low, which comes as bad news to perma-bears like Nouriel Roubini, Gary Shilling and Bill Gross, all of whom predicted the opposite. This raises several questions about how stocks move, and why pundits say the things they do.
The dollar-stocks see-saw -- in which the two move in opposite directions -- seems to be holding up. And over the longer term, there's good reason for the dollar to stay on its recent upward trend, which would be bad news for stock prices.
As the market takes a time out for Thanksgiving, we thought it would be a good time to reflect upon some recent good fortune. From corporate earnings to weekly jobless claims, here are six things investors should be thankful for this holiday season.
While everyone hates inflation, deflation has instant emotional appeal: Who doesn't like a bargain? But deflation is a far more serious economic problem than inflation -- and, as we found, most folks don't really know why. Do you? If not, no worries: Economist Gary Shilling will explain the reasoning. [Video]
The U.S. government started the new fiscal year on the right foot, posting $140.4 billion deficit in October, the first month of the new fiscal year. That was substantially lower than the $148 billion deficit that had been forecast.
Some of the best reads for investors from around the Web, including posts evaluating how consumers spend their money, whether Google could be considered a monopoly and the debate about the Fed's policy on quantitative easing.
Ambac Financial Group, which Monday declared bankruptcy, is suing the U.S. for attempting to seize $700 million in tax refunds. The bond insurer warns that seizing the refunds could ruin its chances of reorganizing.
Goldman Sachs has been fined $650,000 by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority for failing to properly disclose to regulators that two of its executives were going to be investigated by the Securities & Exchange Commission, FINRA announced Tuesday.
A day after announcing a second round of quantitative easing, Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke responded to critics in a Washington Post op-ed that explains how the program will work and why it won't spark inflation.