The Dow over 15,000…the S&P 500 over 1,634…the Nasdaq at highs not seen since the 1990s Tech Boom… Any way you slice it, we’re in a bull market. Alas, we’ve been here before, and it didn’t end well.  So, is it time to worry? My answer is “no,” or at least “not yet.”  The conditions...Read More

If Warren Buffett, Christopher Davis, Joel Greenblatt and Seth Klarman recommend a book, it might—just might—be worth reading.   It certainly got my attention. Warren Buffett calls Howard Marks’ The Most Important Thing “that rarity, a useful book.”  And as a researcher with a library of a couple hundred books myself, I couldn’t agree more. For...Read More

Windows 8 was the revolution that wasn’t.  But don’t count Microsoft (Nasdaq:$MSFT) out just yet.  In a lot of ways, the boring, button-down software giant was just a little ahead of its time. After a storm of criticism from frustrated long-time Windows users, Microsoft announced that it would be making significant changes to its Windows...Read More

Credit card giants MasterCard (NYSE:$MA) and Visa (NYSE:$V) both crushed earnings estimates this past week, and both are sitting near new all-time highs. Not bad, considering the line of work they are in.  Given that the global economy has been tepid at best lately and that unemployment remains stubbornly high, you might not expect companies...Read More

Watch me discuss General Motors’s earnings and the outlook for the auto sector with InvestorPlace’s Jeff Reeves.   Auto sales have enjoyed a nice bounce in 2013, with sales the strongest they’ve been in six years, but is it sustainable? I argue that much of the sales surge is “catch up” buying that was postponed...Read More