Insights

Markets across the world are down today, including the US, which is down 0.67%. The main issue is the hardening of lawmaker positions on the fiscal cliff. Since the US has been the strongest and largest economy in the world lately, investors worry that if the US slows...

The "fiscal cliff" drama continues with more drama than markets would like. As a reminder, the so-called fiscal cliff is the result of last summer's largely failed debt ceiling negotiations in which a package of spending cuts and tax increases would automatically go...

I made some predictions here early last week. 1) The conflict in Israel vs. Gaza would be short-lived - A cease-fire was declared Wednesday 2) The market would be up for Thankgiving week - the S&P 500 gained 3.6%. 3) The market would be up down on the following Monday...

I will be taking Wednesday through Sunday off the Thanksgiving holiday so I will probably not post anything unless something really catches my eye. Enjoy the holidays. My advice: let the week be more about what you are thankful for than what you want to buy on this...

U.S. stocks have rallied about 3% since late Friday morning when the President and Congressional leaders made optimistic statements about fixing the so-called "Fiscal Cliff." Stocks usually do well Thanksgiving week but often drop Monday following, according to Art...

A friend of mine who lived in Israel for a long time and still conducts business there told me today that he doesn't think the current conflict will last long because Hamas has neither the resources nor manpower to fight a long war. I think Israel has already pretty...

Apple, the darling of the tech world for several years, achieved near-deity status earlier this year and like Phaeton, who could not control his father's sun-chariot across the sky and fell to his death, Apple has taken a fall in the last few weeks, coming back down...

Below is a very useful table of federal spending and revenue. For now, just look at 2012 – the bottom row. The main point is that we are borrowing 88% of the cost of running the government in 2012. The total cost of every government department, including defense is...

The WSJ reported this morning that President Obama has raised the tax increase he wants in renegotiating the "fiscal cliff." He has apparently gone from a proposed tax increase of $800 billion in last summer's negotations to a new figure of $1.6 trillion. The...

The US market is opening lower, flirting with its 200-day moving average, often the neighborhood in which a normal correction will reverse. But, stocks around the world are lower today. Asia was down as is Europe. Both regions seem to be declining over concern about...