Daily Posts Archive

Perhaps most difficult for the average investor this year is that even the sectors and stocks considered to be safe have been decimated. When steady stocks such as Wal-Mart (down 30% year-to-date), ConocoPhillips (down 22% year-to-date) and Alcoa (down 40% year-to-date) are getting destroyed, it can be alarming. Can an investor who wants to own Nordstrom stock protect himself from the downside? Yes—by buying puts.

This is a favorite strategy of many top hedge funds, and even a strategy Warren Buffett is known to use. For example, Buffett is almost always short puts on the overall market because he’s willing to collect an insurance premium that the market will not fall dramatically.

On November 11, Chinese consumers spent an astounding $14.3 billion on Singles Day, a number that dwarfs the Black Friday to Cyber Monday shopping binge in the U.S. The founders of the Day thought that the date 11/11 looked like trees with no branches and Singles Day began as an ironic way for unmarried and unattached people to give themselves a present (because there was nobody else to give them one).

Is the Santa Claus Rally real? It’s a decent question this time of year, especially this year.

How do you find growth companies that pay dividends? Using the Cabot resources, there are two excellent ways. One is to refer to Cabot Dividend Investor, which recommends three specific classes of stocks for its readers: High Yield, Dividend Growth and Safe Income.