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The coronavirus has changed the way we shop, in some cases forever. Here are three Covid retail trends with staying power.

The investment game attracts lots of smart people who believe that they should be able to think their way to investment success. This is no surprise, because smart people are always trying to solve problems with their intelligence. If the tools you have at your command really do guide how you look at problems, then smart people will want to use their brains. And smart stock investors will want to bring their intellect to bear on the problem of how to make money in stocks.

In the long-lasting wake of 2008-2007’s credit crisis, financial collapse and resulting recession, risk aversion has become practically the national sport of U.S. investors. It’s no surprise; and investors can’t be blamed for being gun-shy. At an investing conference I attended last week, one speaker actually likened investors’ lingering post-crash...

The 80–20 rule tells me that picking growth stocks is not really that complicated, although you can make it complicated if you want to.

Even though investing is not a game or sport, there are several analogies that can be applied.

Mike Cintolo of Cabot Market Letter assesses both fundamental and technical criteria; here, he looks at some leading players in social media.

The market in general and growth stocks in particular hit a pothole during the past two days. That said, while it was a disappointing end to the week, the indexes haven’t done poorly—as we write this (late morning Friday), the S&P 500 and Nasdaq are up 0.5% to 1.0% for the week.

Sellers have come out of the woodwork during the past couple of days, especially when it comes to the Nasdaq and leading growth stocks. The action isn’t overly concerning when you look at the general market, but when you look at individual stocks, the situation is a bit trickier.

This week was a constructive one, with the major indexes gaining and many leading stocks acting well. Coming after plenty of weak, sloppy action over the past month (including four down weeks in a row for the Nasdaq), it’s a positive sign.

Tomorrow’s the day that stores across Canada begin selling marijuana legally, and as I’ve said several times before, I believe the odds are that this will mark an intermediate-term top for many of the stocks in the sector.

It’s often hard for investors to rationalize, but bad economic news is sometimes “just what the doctor ordered” for the market. And that was the case last week as housing numbers again disappointed, consumer sentiment hit a record low, and perhaps for the first time in months, an inflation-related data point may have cooled off. What this means is it appears the economy is slowing down, which could allow the Federal Reserve to slow down the speed at which it raises interest rates.

There is no sugarcoating it: We are in the midst of a pretty nasty bear market, which unfortunately means we are going to be stopped out of our Cleveland-Cliffs (CLF) position today.

Several portfolio stocks recently reported earnings.

The major indexes have traded lower this week—in fact, the S&P 500 is threatening to close lower all five days this week, which would be the first time it’s done that since before the November 2016 Presidential election. Even so, the losses have been modest, in the range of 1% or a bit more.

When market volatility rises it can be tempting to sell out of stocks entirely, finding a way to hedge your portfolio may be a better choice.

Just one year-end trade could net you a quick 12.4%, beating what the S&P 500 has done all year. Here’s how it works.

Smart investors don’t rely on the news to make investing decisions, they use SNAC analysis. Here’s what that means.

July concluded with an impressive rally, led by strong earnings reactions from mega-cap technology stocks (MSFT/AMZN/AAPL) which helped propel the S&P 500 to gain 4.25% on the week, the Dow to rise 3%, and the Nasdaq to soar higher by 4.7%.

I use three different types of analysis to arrive at a long-term or intermediate-term stance on the market.