Archives: December 2007

Irish eyes not smiling on Irish stocks

Posted by: Aaron Pressman on December 28

Taking a gander at the list of returns for each country's major stock market index, I was drawn to the few entries in red at the bottom. Out of some...

Take a Break from Housing Worries

Posted by: Ben Steverman on December 26

The fate of the U.S. real estate market is crucial for the direction of the economy next year, and every week seems to bring some new sign of the pain...

Personal best -- and worst -- of the year

Posted by: Aaron Pressman on December 21

As the year draws to a close, it’s a time of reflection. Investors can look back to see their smart and not-so-smart moves as they look ahead to 2008. So...

Muni market shrugs off insurance problems

Posted by: Aaron Pressman on December 20

As I mentioned yesterday, the largest insurers of municipal bonds, MBIA Inc. (Symbol: MBI) and Ambac Financial Group Inc. (ABK), were hit right where it hurts by Standard & Poor's....

Municipal bonds beckon -- or not (UPDATE)

Posted by: Aaron Pressman on December 19

There's a very insider-ish story about municipal bonds running on Bloomberg today. The short version is that hedge funds and Wall Street firms have been dumping muni bonds lately, pushing...

Singapore, Russia and Malaysia look undervalued by one measure

Posted by: Aaron Pressman on December 18

You often hear a stock or an index or even a whole market castigated as "overvalued" because it appears to be trading at a high level relative to earnings. In...

Long-term Worry vs. Short-term Reality

Posted by: Ben Steverman on December 17

If you needed more evidence of the stock market's obsession with the short-term, the past week has provided it. Stocks fell last week: Investors threw a fit when the Federal...

Analysts Turn Negative

Posted by: Ben Steverman on December 17

Here's a troubling sign for U.S. stocks: Equity analysts, the people who should know these companies best, are rapidly lowering their expectations for profits this quarter. Analysts now expect fourth-quarter...

When the Founder Sticks Around

Posted by: Ben Steverman on December 10

Today (Dec. 10) Jones Soda's (JSDA) stock is up another 7.5%. The upstart soft drink maker saw its founder and CEO, Peter van Stolk, decide to step down Dec. 5....

A little more glitter for gold shoppers

Posted by: Aaron Pressman on December 07

I had a story in this week's BW magazine about investing in gold but inevitably, some good stuff got left on the cutting room floor. First, I also wanted to...

Say goodbye to mutual funds?

Posted by: Lauren Young on December 07

Are darker days ahead for the mutual fund industry? Mutual funds are expected to suffer declines in the product mix used by financial advisers by more than 10% by 2009,...

A Cautionary Tale

Posted by: Ben Steverman on December 05

In March of 2005, Wellman (WLM) might have looked like a good investment. The maker of PET resins and polyester staple fibers saw its stock price hit $15 that month,...

Tech stocks could suffer from excessive expectations in '08

Posted by: Aaron Pressman on December 05

Seems like it was only yesterday when the technology sector was beckoning as a refuge from the subprime mortgage hurricane. Well, September, anyway. How times have changed. After Cisco Systems...

A Happy New Year for U.S. Tourists?

Posted by: Ben Steverman on December 04

I think I might like to go on a vacation to Europe next summer, but, as an American, I'm scared by the weak U.S. dollar. I was last in Europe...

Nuggets from Goldman

Posted by: Ben Steverman on December 04

Judged by any measure -- especially money, power and brains -- Goldman Sachs (GS) leads Wall Street. Goldman's top analysts, including Michael Moran and Abby Joseph Cohen, have a couple...

China bull Jim Rogers follows his own advice

Posted by: Aaron Pressman on December 04

Despite the recent turmoil in Chinese equities, it's worth thinking about the bigger picture. Legendary commodities investor Jim Rogers has a new book out, A Bull in China: Investing Profitably...