The Virtues of This Boring U.S. Stock Market

So here we are, more than halfway through the year, and although there has been no dearth of daily news, it’s been remarkably static for many investments, particularly U.S. equities. Some sectors — energy and commodities above all — have been spectacularly weak as the global economy continues to adjust to massive supply and demand shifts, especially lower demand from China. A few sectors, notably technology, have done quite well, with several technology indexes up close to 10% year-to-date. But in aggregate, U.S equities have had one of their least volatile and least interesting six month periods in a very long while.

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Safe Markets???

Albuquerque Financial Expert and Founder of Portfolio Wealth Advisers Lee Munson is asked his opinions on the stock markets recent surge. Is this another 2000 or can we continue to expand our economy? None of this is as important as having a solid game plan matched with a better investment philosophy. Zachary Karabell, Envestnet head of global strategy, sees a lot of skepticism of what's behind the rally as markets continue to go up. Lee Munson, Portfolio Asset Management, weighs in.

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Bells Are Ringing! Confidence Rises as the Dow—Finally—Hits 13,000 Again

The Dow Jones industrial average briefly flirted with 13,000 today, marking the first time since May 2008 that the august index has reached that level. The number is purely symbolic, of course, but the steady rise of stocks this year (with the major indices up anywhere from 5 to 10 percent) has taken many by surprise, none more than Wall Street professionals who have assumed a Greek default and the ensuing financial catastrophe to be a near certainty. Instead of a Europe-led meltdown, we are witnessing a melt-up.

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Wall Street Markets Collapse After Jobs Report and Double-Dip Recession Fears

U.S. stocks finished with mixed gains and losses on Friday, as investors responded to progress in today's jobs report and in the eurozone's debt crisis. The Dow rose 61 points as investors learned that Italy will speed up austerity measures. Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi pledged that Italy would balance its budget by 2013, one year earlier than originally planned. 

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Stock Plunge, Day Two: How the Dow is Dealing with Japan

For the second day in the row, the US stock market plunged, and then bounced back. Hurt, yes, but shares were not beaten, even as investors had to worry about the double whammy of concerns of nuclear contamination in Japan and a housing report that showed new home construction plunged more than it had in 27 months. On Wednesday, the Dow Jones industrial average dropped nearly 300, before ending the day down 240 points. It wasn’t as big a bounce back on Tuesday, but we still didn’t end the day at the lows, which was a good sign.

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