Everything is relative, especially market valuation. A utility, for instance, with its steady, slow-growth business, is never going to command the earnings multiple of a rapidly growing biotech firm or high-tech upstart. That’s why it’s best to make valuation comparisons within industries. It’s also… Read More

Junk bond funds are up more than +20% off their March lows, and many of them still sport yields in excess of 10%. Though a double-digit yield is always tempting, now may not be the time to purchase high-yield bonds. Junk or “speculative-grade”… Read More

We first covered the Market Vectors Africa (NYSE: AFK) ETF  back in our August 2008 issue of StreetAuthority Market Advisor. Africa is a mix of developing and frontier economies. On one end of the spectrum you have South Africa, which boasts of a stable… Read More

President Harry Truman once said he wanted to hire a one-armed economist. When asked why, he replied, so the economist couldn’t say “on the other hand.” For Barack Obama, finding a one-armed economist is even more pressing. Obama is faced… Read More

There’s a word you hear all the time when people talk about their favorite stocks. “Skyrocket.” Maybe you’ve used it. I know I have. It’s the ideal visual, a perfect metaphor. But on Thursday, May 14 — just a few short… Read More

It didn’t take long. We went from hearing about swine flu mentioned in passing on the evening news to President Barack Obama announcing he wanted to commit $1.5 billion toward fighting it. In fact, it took less than a week. Before… Read More

I’m not sure where the term “harder to find than a needle in a haystack” first originated, or why anyone would look there in the first place. But that’s what it must feel like for frustrated investors in search of that rare company unscathed by this vicious economic downturn. Read More

Terra Nitrogen (NYSE: TNH) produces ammonia and nitrates used in agricultural crop fertilizers. Its assets consist of a nitrogen plant in Oklahoma and storage terminals in Nebraska and Illinois. Products are sold wholesale to chemical firms, farm dealers, and national retail chains in the central and southern US. Structured as… Read More

The minutes of the Fed‘s late January Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting provide some grim reading. Fed members drastically lowered their expectations for U.S. economic growth in 2009 and 2010 and indicated a great deal of uncertainty as to the timing and… Read More