It is common for economists to offer a forecast for the stock market yet add a caveat to the effect that "If a war shock or terrorist attack occurs, then I would have to modify my outlook." As such, it would seem logical to assume that...they must have access to a study showing that such events affect the stock market, right? The answer is no, for the same reason that they do not check relationships between interest rates, oil prices or the trade balance and the stock market. The causality just seems too sensible to doubt.

The belief that earnings drive stock prices powers the bulk of the research on Wall Street but this glaring exception to the idea of a causal relationship between corporate earnings and stock prices challenges that theory. Let me explain.

This article identifies 39 fairly valued dividend growth stocks with above-average historical earnings growth over the past 5 years and a current dividend yield of 1% or better and, as such, is oriented to those retired, or close to retirement, investors that require above-average growth and/or above-average long-term total return.

This article examines 5 fairly exciting things going on which, at the very least, could keep the U.S. economy from slumping, and enable equities to continue to climb.

Whenever oil prices make a big move in either direction, there are some fairly standard arguments made of its effect on the overall stock market but, rarely, is any actual evidence presented to substantiate these more or less intuitive arguments. Let’s take a look at the data and see what the historical relationship has actually been between oil and the stock market.

I would bet my bottom Silver Dollar that when faith in holding U.S. Federal Reserve Notes heads into the toilet, it would be much wiser to own REAL MONEY than the monopoly paper printed by the MoneyFactory.gov.

The consensus amongst analysts is that gold is grossly under-valued in view of its bullish fundamentals and now presents a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for millions of investors worldwide who wanted to own gold but were heretofore leery of its lofty price. Below are 9 fundamental factors behind these bullish opinions.

Which countries use the most energy? Why? While some of the guilty parties are obvious, others may surprise you.

The argument that the past 10 years of low interest rates has just been an anomaly which will normalize to higher levels in the next couple of years is not going to unfold. Interest rates will be perpetually low for the rest of our lives! Here's why.

This article looks at 30 Dow Jones constituents and physical gold and silver and determines the risk -return ratio of each. Send it off to your financial advisor for his edification.