the motley fool

Samsung's Creepy Phone Tech Should Worry Apple Shareholders

Samsung is already the world's top seller of smartphones, and now it hopes to pad its lead. The tech giant will introduce the Samsung Galaxy S4 Thursday, and among the cool -- but creepy -- features we expect to see is a screen control system that works by tracking the motion of your eyes.

5 Surprising Stocks Hitting New Lows

The Dow Jones Industrial Average hit a new all-time high last week, but not every stock went along for the ride. In fact, a whopping 221 stocks hit fresh 52-week lows on the NYSE and Nasdaq exchanges. Let's go over some of the surprising names on the list of underachievers.

SEC Charges Illinois With Fraud -- and Settles Immediately

On Monday, the Securities and Exchange Commission published a notice that simultaneously charged the state of Illinois with committing securities fraud and also settled the charges, without requiring Illinois to either "admit or deny" the agency's findings.

5 Things to Watch on Wall Street This Week

From Costco checking in with its latest financials to a highly anticipated video game that could breathe life into the moribund gaming industry, there will be plenty of news breaking in the coming days. Here are some of the items that will shape the week ahead on Wall Street.

5 Companies Slashing Their Dividends

Investors love earning dividends, and over the past year, thousands of companies have rewarded shareholders with boosted payouts. But lately, some companies have been cutting back on or eliminating dividends altogether. Here's a look at five that made this unpopular move, and why.

5 Best and Worst Moves in Business This Week

From a new Taco Bell menu item sure to soar, to a short-sighted activist taking aim at the Dell deal, here's a rundown of this week's best and worst moves in the business world.

Child Actress Turned Investor Whomps Market: Should You Follow Her Lead?

Rachel Fox played Kayla Scavo, Felicity Huffman's scary stepdaughter, on "Desperate Housewives." Now, at the ripe old age of 16, she's a day-trading stock whiz with her own investing blog, "Fox on Stocks," and results that crush the S&P 500. Is it just dumb luck, or does this teen know something that you don't?

Could Slowing Health Care Costs Save Medicare?

The rise in health care costs has significantly outpaced both inflation and economic growth for decades, leading to increasingly dire projections about Medicare's long-term solvency in recent years. Yet some promising trends suggest the government program may get a new lease on life.

Warren Buffett's 5 Favorite Stocks

Everyone wants to know what Warren Buffett is buying, but what about what he already owns? We take a look at Berkshire's portfolio of stocks to find out which stocks he's sunk the most money into -- and which he's likely to hold onto in the near future.

5 Extreme Ways People Paid Off Their Credit Card Debts

We all know the usual ways people try to save or generate more money to pay off their debts -- but some people go to extremes to escape those IOUs. We asked credit counselors across the country to share some of the more dramatic approaches their clients have used to get out of debt.

Why Smart Investors Should Support Immigration Reform

For the first time in a generation, there seems to be political will on both sides of the aisle to pass new immigration legislation. It's an issue generally framed as a political or cultural one, but it has profound consequences for investors, businesses and the whole U.S. economy.

Should We Get Rid of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac?

What if Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the government-owned housing agencies that backstop so many of the nation's mortgages, ceased to exist? A new report from an influential bipartisan think tank says that's what should happen.

Free Tax Help: 4 Ways to Get It

You have to do your tax return, but with the tax laws as complicated as they are, that job's tougher than ever. If you need help but don't want to pay through the nose, here are some resources that can get you tax filing assistance for free.

Music Sales Are Growing Again as Streaming Trumps Piracy

Here's news the music industry should be singing about: Global recorded music revenue rose an estimated 0.3 percent last year to $16.5 billion. That tiny uptick may not seem like much, the last time music industry revenue rose at all, it was 1999.

5 Foreign Stocks You Can Snap Up at Bargain-Basement Prices

when a country's stock market gets crushed due to wider economic concerns, some promising often stocks get unfairly punished. Here are five foreign companies whose shares are trading now at attractive prices, along with explanations for why they're such bargains.

The Impending Economic Cliff Almost Nobody's Talking About

The Washington Post's Michelle Singletary calls it the "caregiver cliff." It's what will happen to the U.S. economy as a result of millions of caregivers "taking time off from work, and thus risking their jobs, or tapping into their limited resources to provide care."

Dow 14,000 Is Back ... But Does That Really Mean Anything?

On Wednesday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at 14,075, its highest close in the past five years, and within 90 points of its all-time high: 14,164, reached on Oct. 9, 2007. But what does that really mean for you, or the economy as a whole?

Post-Financial Crisis, the SEC Is More Toothless Than Ever

Whether you have millions of dollars invested in stocks, or a few thousand bucks in mutual funds, it's vitally important to you that the SEC -- Wall Street's top cop -- is doing its duty, and enforcing the law. But a new report casts doubt on whether our financial cop is really on the beat.