Risk Rewarded Blog

Now let's turn to a more interesting subject -- tech product development.Fitness wearables maker Fitbit (FIT) filed for a $100 million initial public offering last week on the NYSE, bagging a cute ticker for a company that's poised to undercut Apple (AAPL). To cut to the quick: While Apple will try to dominate the market for high-end...

Everyone of a certain age remembers AOL (AOL) for the ubiquitous CDs the company sent out to encourage people to go online in the 1990s. And most of the news stories on Tuesday focused on the company's content, like Huffington Post or the fact that it's still selling dial-up internet access to more than 2 million people for 20 bucks a month. But...

About two months ago, when crude oil prices were crashing, the airwaves were filled with trend-followers’ predictions that the price was headed for $20 a barrel. As soon as that became the prevalent opinion, Mr. Market figured it would be a good time to teach complacent short-sellers a lesson, and prices began a meaningful rally.Now you might be surprised...

By now you may know my feeling about Fed officials’ comments. They are all coordinated by the central bank to make sure that both sides of the debate are represented. The only person who will truly make the final decision is the chair, Janet Yellen. All the rest of the chatter is noise.Thus it is not terribly surprising two regional Fed Presidents...

The weirdest thing going on in the world of finance right now, bar none, is the negative bond yields in the leading European countries.Government bonds are supposed to be a loan from the private sector to the public sector that provides the lender with a steady, safe interest payment. That’s the way it has been since the dawn of time, or at least...

Stocks rebounded without much conviction last Friday in response to the April jobs report, which came in largely as expected: Payrolls expanded by 223,000 and the unemployment rate fell to 5.4%, the lowest level since early 2008. Job gains were concentrated in white-collar and health care occupations, construction saw modest gains, and manufacturing...

One of our big investment themes this year is the rise of extreme automation -- from transportation to communication, finance and more. Many new developments will make life easier and safer, yet it's fair to worry about whether automatons, or robots if you prefer, will snatch away your job.It's no joke. Ed Yardeni of Yardeni Research believes that part...

One of Wall Street's best known adages is the old "sell in May and go away" seasonal trick. The idea is that the six months starting in May -- including the normally listless summer months -- are among stocks' poorest performers of the year.It helps that it kind of rhymes. Just try to say, "Sell in April and … um …" You see, nothing rhymes with...