Columns

President Barack Obama will focus not on economic growth, but more on economic fairness in his State of the Union address tonight.

Alan Brochstein looks at retailers down sharply from the highs. As I have said before, years of watching the fortunes of retailers ebb and flow have taught me that one way to succeed in picking among the stocks is not to chase winners, but rather to pick them up when they have disappointed.  In other words, when it comes to being a buyer of retailers, it can pay to buy things “on sale”.  It’s not as easy as just buying what’s down, because you don’t want to end up with a company that has lost its edge permanently.  While the Consumer stocks in general have been performing well as investors see improving consumer sentiment and stabilizing input costs and seek companies with perhaps more domestic focus, the performance within the sector has been quite diverse. 

The two big-name companies pay solid dividends and are poised to be around for a long time, making them good additions to your portfolio.

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Two-thirds of Citigroup’s (NYSE:C) $21.9 billion in total net income for the last two years came from an accounting maneuver.  

Here’s Part II of my list of quotes and bits of wisdom from some of the world’s greatest thinkers.

Emac: A Republican Congressman has taken up billionaire Warren Buffett’s offer last week to match contributions to the federal deficit with his own money.

EMac: Check out this list of hilarious quotes, and bits of wisdom, from some of the world’s greatest thinkers.

While GOP presidential contender Mitt Romney gets demonized for his work at private-equity firm Bain Capital, it is being forgotten that leading Democrats also worked at private equity firms, and there has never been a word of criticism of their involvement in creating jobs -- or job losses. 

The blue chips are doing 'just fine' despite Friday's weak performance. In fact, some companies that were beaten down on the day may now be solid buying opportunities. 

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Despite what the White House and Warren Buffett say, data from the IRS show the rich already pay more in federal taxes than the lower brackets.

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After seeing their stock prices plunge last year, Bank of America and Netflix could represent good bargains for investors who are willing to keeps tabs on the charts.

Pre-announcing the direction of the federal funds rate is an historic move for the bond markets, investors and borrowers.

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