You’re probably hearing a lot – much of it malarky – about how to position your investment portfolio in an age of tariffs and trade wars. One piece of advice you may hear, which at least makes some sense, is that mid-capitalization stocks are less dependent on foreign suppliers and foreign markets than large companies are. I think in general that’s true, but of course what matters is a company’s specific situation. I define mid-caps as stocks with a market value between $1 billion and $10 billion. (Some people put the range at $2 billion to $10 billion.) I’ve always…

“A gold standard would restore integrity and stability to the U.S. dollar and the international monetary system—qualities that have been sorely missing for years.” — Steve Forbes, Chairman and Editor-in-Chief of Forbes Media In a year of remarkable market volatility, one asset class has quietly outperformed all others: gold. While the NASDAQ has declined 12.2% year-to-date, gold has surged an impressive 27.2%. This striking 39.4% performance gap tells a story that many economists and policymakers are reluctant to acknowledge—that in times of economic uncertainty, investors still turn to history’s most enduring store of value. As the United States engages in…

U.S. stocks stumbled into the end of the first quarter, with the S&P 500 sliding 5.1% and finishing 3.1% below its 200-day moving average. The post-election optimism that excited markets late last year has given way to unease as investors confront rising policy uncertainty and new geopolitical risks. However, despite the market turmoil in America, some regions of the world oddly benefit from the Trump administration’s change in geopolitical strategy. Europe, after years of stock market irrelevance, is finally starting to shine. European equities just delivered their strongest quarterly performance in decades, outperforming the S&P 500 by 18.4% in dollar…

The stock market selloff has laid bare a crisis of confidence on Wall Street over Washington’s policy direction, and tax-cut optimism — even the cuts themselves — may be not enough to lift investor spirits. “The pace and sequencing of policy reform appear to have structurally impaired confidence, impeding growth forecasts,” said Lisa Shalett, Chief Investment Officer at Morgan Stanley, in a note to clients. Meanwhile, the policy pivot to deregulation and tax relief Wall Street has been banking on since the election remains elusive. The problem isn’t just politics; the math simply doesn’t add up. Even under the Republican…

Semiconductor stocks are being unloaded at such a pace lately that the price of a widely-followed ETF for the group just hit a closing low not seen since September 2024. The VanEck Vectors Semiconductors exchange traded fund may be about to test the August 2024 bottom. Semiconductor stocks show price weakness The daily price chart looks like this: The larger red-circled area shows Friday’s lower-than-September 2024 low and the smaller red-circled area shows where the 50-day moving average crossed below the 200-day moving average in early March, an indication of price weakness. The ETF holds 26 stocks within the sector,…

President Trump’s latest executive order slapping a 25% tariff on imported cars and auto parts may seem like a blunt-force move to reshore manufacturing, but it may trigger ripple effects the industry isn’t ready for. Under the new policy, which takes effect April 3 for vehicles and May 3 for parts, USMCA-compliant vehicles and parts can avoid the full brunt of the tariff, at least for now. But analysts warn the rules are murky and the long-term impact hinges on how aggressively the U.S. enforces content tracking. “We expect meaningful pressure on US Autos names,” said Joseph Spak, auto analyst…

Over the last couple of years, we’ve seen a quiet trend in investing—and today we’re going to tap into it with two funds with near 10% dividends. That’s right: enough to pay you back just shy of 10% of your initial buy a year in dividends alone. What’s more, these two income plays—closed-end funds (CEFs), to be precise—have been around for nearly a century, with one dating from 1927 and the other having launched in 1929. That last date, of course, is notorious, as it heralded the start of the worst market crash in history. I bring these two CEFs…

The U.S. stock market has delivered exceptional performance over the past year. Compared to other developed nations, the U.S. economy has outpaced its peers, driven by relatively strong corporate earnings, elevated government spending, and rising productivity. However, financial markets are beginning to question whether this era of American exceptionalism is coming to an end. A troubling mix of slowing economic growth and rising consumer prices, also known as stagflation, threatens to halt the country’s long-standing market outperformance. It’s a scenario that both policymakers and investors are eager to avoid. What Is Stagflation And Why It Matters in 2025 Stagflation is…

European governments and industry leaders reacted with varying degrees of horror to President Trump’s threat to erect 25% auto tariff barriers. But it’s not just tariffs which Trump wants to reform. He seeks to overturn what he considers to be a long-term conspiracy to block overall American exports by unfair and hidden means too. One London commentator says Trump’s basic aim is to force Europeans to clear the decks for free trade. European leaders have plenty of reasons to worry about the outcome of negotiations with the U.S., but it’s not the 25% tariff, starting April 3, they should be…

The DividendRank formula at Dividend Channel ranks a coverage universe of thousands of dividend stocks, according to a proprietary formula designed to identify those stocks that combine two important characteristics — strong fundamentals and a valuation that looks inexpensive. Target presently has a stellar rank, in the top 10% of the coverage universe, which suggests it is among the top most “interesting” ideas that merit further research by investors. 10 Oversold Dividend Stocks » But making Target Corp an even more interesting and timely stock to look at, is the fact that in trading on Friday, shares of TGT entered…