The U S Census Bureau recently released disappointing statistics for the all important 2018 holiday shopping season at least according to some media outlets Retail sales unexpectedly fell 1 2 in December in sharp contrast to economists consensus expectation of a 0 2 rise Read more »

The credit card industry has come a long way over the long run and both Mastercard NYSE MA and Discover Financial Services NYSE DFS have survived to become major players in the payments space Mastercard s payment network spans the globe with billions of cards issued Read more »

The scary thing about retirement is that it comes with so many unknowns What will your medical bills look like How costly will it be to maintain your aging home And will your investments perform well enough to generate enough income for you to live on It s not surprising then Read more »

SunPower Corporation NASDAQ SPWR has yet again changed its plan to grow in the solar industry The company announced during its earnings call this week that it s looking for a partner to help grow its manufacturing operations in the U S and Asia in hopes it can achieve Read more »

The marijuana industry is blossoming before our eyes After spending many decades as a taboo and illicit substance cannabis is now perfectly legal for adult consumption in Canada as of October 17 2018 Though supply shortages and regulatory red tape have slowed weed s launch out Read more »

America s oil production continued its unrelenting ascension last month rising another 90 000 barrels per day BPD from December s level to an average of 12 million BPD according to the U S Energy Information Administration That has the U S on track to produce 12 4 million BPD Read more »

Big drug companies make big profits But which are the most profitable of all There are 21 drug stocks in the S amp P 500 index representing the biggest 160 drugmakers in the U S The three most profitable companies in this group based on profit margin are Vertex Read more »

Momentum continues to pick up for the marijuana industry But not every marijuana stock is prospering Auxly Cannabis NASDAQOTH CBWTF lost more than half its value in 2018 making it one of the 10 worst performing marijuana stocks of the year So far in 2019 the stock Read more »

No matter how you look at it Exact Sciences NASDAQ EXAS has been a big winner Shares of the company best known for its Cologuard colorectal cancer screening test have skyrocketed nearly 6 000 over the last 10 years Exact Sciences stock is up more than 40 in the first seven Read more »

These days a large number of workers are opting to do their jobs from home rather than drag themselves into an office day in day out There are several benefits to working remotely First there s the savings from not having to pay to commute not to mention the time saved by Read more »

Warren Buffett s Berkshire Hathaway NYSE BRK A NYSE BRK B just filed its 13F detailing its U S stock portfolio as of the end of 2018 showing that the conglomerate led by arguably one of the best bank investors out there 160 increased its big bet on U S banks yet Read more »

When the largest U S banks Bank of America Wells Fargo and JPMorgan Chase 160 reported fourth quarter earnings all of them had one thing in common They had smaller reserves set aside for bad loans at the end of 2018 than at the end of 2017 Having gutted Read more »

Decisions decisions Many decisions that we make such as what to have for lunch or whether to wear a blue or black suit to work don t matter all that much Other ones though such as decisions related to our retirement can have a significant impact on our future financial security Read more »

The last five years have not been kind to Plug Power NASDAQ PLUG The hydrogen fuel cell company was trading at about 10 a share in 2014 but today is trading between 1 2 per share Of course that kind of a big price drop might mean that the stock is ripe to outperform Or Read more »

The market surged on Friday, driven by renewed optimism that when the March 1 deadline comes around, the U.S. and China would have already shaken hands on a trade truce. Tariff-related rhetoric and thoughts of an economic slowdown had become a restraint, particularly amid the recent market rebound. Was it a “head Read more »