Finance News

(02-03-2012) When A Housemate Is A Dependent (And A Tax Break)
Could Liz Lemon (Tina Fey) snag a tax break for supporting her slacker boyfriend who?s moved in with her on NBC?s 30 Rock? Maybe. If your boyfriend, grandma or unemployed brother is crashing on your pull-out couch, you might be able to claim them as a dependent on your federal income tax return. Yes, it?s not just children, or even relatives, that can count as dependents, but unrelated friends whom you support and who live with you. The idea is these folks aren?t filing tax returns and taking a personal exemption for themselves. So you add them to your return as a dependent, taking a dependent exemption, and share the wealth.

(02-03-2012) NY Times Is Wrong About Maximizing College Aid Chances
Today's article on the New York Times website, "Expert Advice on the Best Ways to Secure Financial Aid,"  is a glaring example of more bad college advice. To say that parents should, "Embrace the fact that there is no 'secret,' no magic way to increase your aid chances," is misleading at best.

(02-03-2012) Daily Wrap: 2/3/2012
A big rally is underway after a surprisingly good jobs report. According to the government unemployment fell to 8.3% last month, the lowest in 3 years. That news sent the Dow to it's highest level since 2008. At around 1 this afternoon the Dow was up almost 1.2%, the Nasdaq was up 1.6% and the S&P 500 is up nearly 1.4%.

(02-03-2012) Weekly Market Wrap: 2/3/2012
This fifth trading week of 2012 comes to a close with investors sending stocks higher on strong employment data.

(02-03-2012) Qatar Buys World's Most Expensive Painting
Cezanne's The Card Players has been sold to Qatar's royal family for more than $250 million, the highest price ever paid for a work of art.

(02-03-2012) New: Taxation of Frequent Flier Miles
Citibank wants you to pay income tax on frequent flier miles. Eeek!

(02-03-2012) IRS Tackles Giants Safety Antrel Rolle--Hard
In Sunday's Super Bowl XLVI, star New York Giants defensive safety Antrel Rolle hopes to make some big plays against the New England Patriots. If he matches what the Internal Revenue Service did to him, he'll be a standout.

(02-03-2012) Raymond James CEO Reilly Justifies Billion-Dollar Deal (VIDEO)
A year ago, in a meeting at Raymond James Financial?s St. Petersburg, Fla. headquarters, Chief Executive Paul Reilly told me the firm was content to grow organically and make small acquisitions to fill out product lines or geographic gaps. In further conversations he used the term ?bite-size? to describe the kinds of deals he would consider.

(02-03-2012) My Dad's Guide to Watching the Super Bowl


(02-03-2012) Analyst Moves: RIMM, ANF
Research in Motion (RIMM) was downgraded today by Jefferies (JEF) to underperform from hold with a price target of $15 price target, ad the company may delay or abandon plans to license its OS.

Newsletters News

(09-01-2006) Mexican Land And Canadian Gold
A successful amateur investor shares his strategies for capitalizing on the commodity bull market.

(09-01-2006) Shiny Gold Alloy
Goldcorp's buyout of Glamis signals that the gold bull has room to run. Look for more consolidation.

(09-01-2006) Oil Services Slump
Lingering optimism in the face of technical weakness is a big bearish omen for oil services stocks.

(08-28-2006) End Of The Bubble Bailouts
After stocks boomed and went bust, it's real estate's turn. But is there a new mania to save consumers?

(08-23-2006) Five Funds For The Next Leg Up
Stocks rebounded nicely in mid-July. If the rally continues, you might want to jump into one of these funds.

News/Economy

(02-03-2012) January jobs report: Hiring ramps up, unemployment falls
American employers substantially stepped up their hiring in January, bringing the unemployment rate down for the fifth month in a row.

(02-03-2012) Stealth jobs boom: 6 months, 2 million jobs
Companies are saying the job market is getting better. Workers are saying it's already kicked into high gear.

(02-03-2012) Kiss QE3 hopes goodbye. And good riddance!
The strong January jobs report may finally put a nail in the QE3 coffin.

(02-03-2012) Big drop in unemployment rate for blacks
The unemployment rate for blacks fell more than 2 percentage points last month to its lowest level since March 2009.

(02-03-2012) Jobs: Obama not out of the woods yet
The January jobs report contains a slew of numbers that are likely to put a twinkle in the eye of Obama campaign staffers.

(02-03-2012) Nevada's triple economic whammy
The Great Recession has dealt Nevada a losing hand.

(02-03-2012) New York sues banks over foreclosures
The New York attorney general sued some of the nation's biggest banks on Friday, accusing them of unlawful and deceptive practices for relying on a private electronic registry that tracks mortgages.

(02-03-2012) Finally, a foreclosure settlement (Maybe)
States have until late Monday to agree to the latest draft deal aimed at relieving homeowners struggling with mortgages bigger than their home's value.

(02-03-2012) Small manufacturing firms want more from Obama
A new Obama administration push to strengthen U.S. manufacturing has the support of smaller firms, but it might not be enough to stir many into action.

(02-02-2012) U.S. charges oldest Swiss bank in tax fraud case
The Justice Department charged Switzerland's oldest bank Thursday with helping American taxpayers hide more than $1.2 billion from the Internal Revenue Service. The case marks the first time an overseas bank has been charged in the U.S. for aiding tax evasion.

Markets

(02-03-2012) Dow at 4-year high, Nasdaq hits 11-year high
U.S. stocks rallied Friday, as investors cheered a much stronger-than-expected jobs report.

(02-03-2012) Kiss QE3 hopes goodbye. And good riddance!
The strong January jobs report may finally put a nail in the QE3 coffin.

(02-03-2012) Facebook IPO shrinks private trading market
Facebook has played a big role in the private trading markets that allow eligible investors the chance to snap up shares of hot Internet companies years before they go public.

(02-03-2012) Auto stocks gain on jobs report. GM up 7%
Shares of General Motors and Ford surged on Friday following strong data on the U.S. job market.

(02-02-2012) Facebook's ripple effect: Zynga spikes 17%
Now that Facebook has finally filed for its much anticipated initial public offering, the enthusiasm for other social media investments has spread like wildfire.

(02-02-2012) The risks that killed MF Global
It's been three months since MF Global became the eighth-largest bankruptcy in U.S. history. Did anyone see this coming? Well, a few people had some idea, and a Congressional subcommittee will hear from them on Capitol Hill Thursday.

(02-02-2012) Facebook is great. But $100 billion great?
Facebook is a great company. It proved that in its IPO filing. A billion dollar annual profit and $3.9 billion in cash for something that didn't even exist 10 years ago? That's impressive.

(02-02-2012) Green Mountain Coffee shares surge
Shares of Green Mountain Coffee Roasters surged nearly 25% Thursday after a stellar earnings report. After the closing bell Wednesday, Green Mountain reported $96 million in net income for the quarter ended in December, a 264% increase over the same quarter in the previous year that crushed analyst estimates.

(02-01-2012) Facebook IPO: Morgan Stanley is big winner
If there's a crown jewel in the world of initial public offerings, it's Facebook.

(02-01-2012) Whirlpool surges 17%
Shares of Whirlpool spiked more than 17% Wednesday after the appliance maker issued a strong outlook for 2012, despite a soft fourth quarter.