Baseball, football, politics – I understand there are some serious distractions this week.On the financial front, just this afternoon the Fed released minutes of the September Federal Open Market Committee meeting at which three members dissented from the decision not to raise rates. The minutes revealed that “several members” supported… Read More

Alcoa, the aluminum giant, kicked off the third-quarter earnings season this morning by laying an egg: revenue and earnings were lower than expected.A bellwether company for the industrial sector, Alcoa (NYSE: AA) was down about 10% in early afternoon after posting earnings of 32 cents per share, vs. analysts’ consensus… Read More

Good news for the economy today – which could be bad news for stocks.But that could be good news for investors!What do I mean? Let’s dive in.Unemployment claims fell to a surprisingly low 249,000 for the week ended Oct. 1 , below analysts’ forecast of 265,000 and the second-lowest… Read More

About a month ago, I told you that the start of NFL football season is my favorite time of the year.But if anything competes for my sport obsession affection, it’s October baseball.Starting tonight, fans of 10 teams, including my own Washington Nationals, will experience the exquisite agony that is playoff… Read More

As Investing Daily Editorial Director Robert Frick discussed with me last week, investors often do the wrong thing—not because they’re dumb or ill-informed, but because our brains aren’t wired for investing. Making money in the markets can happen in many different ways, but every path to profits has a… Read More

Lots of folks think global bankers got off easy after the financial crisis.But this week the tide started to turn.Deutsche Bank, one of the world’s most powerful financial institutions, is under all sorts of pressure, and that could have serious repercussions for Europe’s already troubled economy. The shares took a… Read More

Did you see what Elon Musk is up to now?Musk made billions as an early investor and CEO of PayPal. He parlayed that fortune into Tesla, SpaceX and SolarCity – each an ambitious attempt to revolutionize an industry (cars, space travel and energy). He’s done remarkable work in all three… Read More

  Seems like the 1970s all over again. OPEC ministers meeting in Algiers cut a deal to limit production starting in November. The last time OPEC showed this kind of discipline, Jimmy Carter was president and Donald Trump was still partying at Studio 54. Crude oil prices rallied nearly 4%… Read More

We know a lot more about investing than we did 30 years ago.   I’m not talking about supercomputers, sophisticated algorithms or breaking down “big data.” No, the calculations that we’ve learned more about happen inside each investor’s mind.   Neuroscience and psychology have taught us that human beings aren’t… Read More

Tonight’s presidential debate is expected to garner a Super Bowl-sized television audience – as it should. Our economy remains fragile, and we’re all hoping some new leadership will kick start our economy – and our investments.But sadly, tonight’s show will not only rival a major sports event in viewership, it’s… Read More