Opinion: The only market forecast that should matter to stock investors: When does the Fed decide that higher inflation is OK?

By this time last year, every stock market forecast made for 2022 was wrong. The U.S. stock market peaked on the first trading day of 2022 and went downhill from there. This year, every forecast made ...

Opinion: The stock market is telling you loud and clear: Now is not the time to fight the Fed or stand up to the bears.

The S&P 500 Index SPX, -1.85% hit resistance this week when an oversold rally failed near the 4080 level. This continues to support the idea that the index’s rise above 4100 in early February was ...

Opinion: At last — somebody is trying to ‘save’ Social Security

Rude Europeans used to tell stories, possibly apocryphal, about American tourists who would ask for directions to a famous landmark while actually standing right in front of it. The Parisian would loo...

Opinion: Powell will have to push rates even higher for the Fed to get inflation to 2%

Inflation is proving tougher to curb than Federal Reserve Chairman Powell anticipated, and despite indicators that a recession could be coming, consumers and businesses apparently haven’t gotten the m...

Opinion: Marc Benioff’s Salesforce fairy tale is crumbling down around him

Salesforce Inc. has been a unique tech company, able to sell itself as a “family” that has higher ideals than just profit to its employees while generating near-universal praise from Wall Street as we...

Opinion: Ford’s pact with Chinese EV battery maker is a sucker punch to American taxpayers

Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin made national headlines recently when he rejected a Ford Motor F, +1.30% factory in a struggling part of the state, owning to Ford’s partnership with Contemporary Ampe...

Opinion: Where’s the bull market? Stock-market investors aren’t buying it.

Have Joe and Joanna Q. Public been buying the stock-market rally of the past five months? Not according to our data. Instead, they show that ordinary investors have been bailing out of stock funds for...

Opinion: No ‘soft landing’ is in the cards from Fed rate hikes. Look for recession and a buying opportunity once stock prices decline.

Is the bear market of 2022 over? Are we already in the early innings of the next great bull market? The S&P 500 SPX, -0.16% finished 2022 with a 19% decline (its biggest pullback since 2008). Mean...

Opinion: Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren’s bold tax hike to shore up Social Security

Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders want to shore up Social Security by raising the top rate of income tax by a third, and the top rate of capital-gains tax by more than a half. The Democratic senator...

Opinion: Zuckerberg and Intel are shipping the proceeds from their layoffs straight to Wall Street

For years, Wall Street groused about Silicon Valley’s refusal to pay dividends and buy back stock as tech companies grew into cash-generating machines. That is no longer a problem, even though those t...

Opinion: The Fed expects a ‘soft landing’ and no recession for the economy. We could get stagflation instead.

I am especially wary of economists — that includes Federal Reserve members and well as former Fed members — who are quick to see a soft landing for the U.S. economy. Soft landings are rare. Former Fed...

Opinion: Why are my investments in a rut? That’s the way Wall Street wants it.

The Wall Street establishment doesn’t want you to read this article, and I’ll tell you why. If you’re an investor and not getting all the returns you deserve, there are lots of possible reasons. Perha...

Opinion: Intel just had its worst year since the dot-com bust, and it won’t get better anytime soon

Intel Corp. ended 2022 with its worst financial results since the dot-com bust more than 20 years ago, thanks to a double whammy of a downturn in both PCs and data centers that isn’t going to turn aro...

Opinion: ‘Don’t just sit there, do something.’ The stock market is telling you to make some hard decisions with your money now.

I have always refrained from saying what legendary investor Sir John Templeton considered the four most dangerous words in investing: This time is different.” After months of talking to and reading th...

Opinion: Central banks are buying gold at the fastest rate in half a century

Here’s another reason why it may not be completely insane to add some gold bullion to your 401(k) or retirement account. Central banks are stocking up. Three economists—Serkan Arslanalp and Chima Simp...

Opinion: 6 cheap stocks that famed value-fund manager Bill Nygren says can help you beat the market

These are tricky times in the stock market, so it pays to look to the best stock-fund managers for guidance on how to behave now. Veteran value investor Bill Nygren belongs in this camp, because the O...

Opinion: Elon Musk shows in ‘funding secured’ trial that he does not live in the real world

San Francisco has been home in recent days to an upside-down world of contrasts where one of the world’s richest men, Elon Musk, enters a federal courtroom with four security staff in tow to portray h...

Opinion: Microsoft gave Wall Street hope, but then the cloud forecast turned dark

Microsoft Corp. sparked a relief rally for the cloud Tuesday, then rained on that parade after less than two hours of joy. Microsoft MSFT reported slightly disappointing holiday-quarter results, but t...

Opinion: ‘The Fed-fueled fantasy bubble has popped.’ Stock investors are detached from reality — but they’re about to get a big dose.

After the U.S. stock market made all-time highs last year, I spoke with Jeffrey Bierman, a professional stock-trader with more than three decades of experience. Bierman also lectures on TheoTrade.com ...

Opinion: Opinion: The debt ceiling is a farce, not a crisis

AUSTIN, Texas (Project Syndicate)—In his bid to become speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, Kevin McCarthy apparently agreed to a demand, voiced by Republican Congressman Ralph Norman of Sout...

Opinion: The days of IRS forgiveness for RMD mistakes may soon be over

Katie St. Ores has a 100% track record of getting her tax clients out of paying the steep penalty for missing a required minimum distribution from their retirement funds. That amounts to only two hous...

Opinion: Why a prominent Tesla investor wants Elon Musk to put him on the board

Ross Gerber is well-known in certain circles as a longtime Tesla Inc. investor, thanks to being a bullish voice on Twitter about the electric-vehicle company. As Tesla TSLA, +5.93% stock has plummeted...

Opinion: Roth IRA conversions: Take advantage of this limited-time offer to save on taxes

No one likes taxes, but everyone loves a sale. So the idea of a major blowout on Roth conversions in 2023 — a limited time offer, no less — might make it enticing to pay taxes now to avoid them in the...

Opinion: Three value-stock investors favor these six picks for a rocky 2023

Analysts expect value stocks to maintain outperformance over growth stocks as interest rates rise and the economy falters. To find some of the best value names to consider, I recently checked in with ...

Opinion: Here are the chip companies that should benefit the most from the government’s massive incentives

The pandemic created enormous challenges for semiconductor companies. Unprecedented demand drove up prices and backlogs for chips and equipment as supply chains faltered. At the same time, concerns gr...

Opinion: It’s time to buy I-bonds again. Here are 3 ways to maximize your $10,000 inflation-fighting investment.

The once-obscure Treasury investment soared in popularity last year because of its enticing inflation-adjusted rate, which peaked at 9.62%. That leapfrogged bank deposit accounts and completely trounc...

Opinion: Crypto insurance is nearly nonexistent, so you’ll have to rely on common sense

If only your bitcoin could catch on fire — literally — then it might have a chance of being covered by insurance. For property, fire is a straightforward hazard. But it’s probably the one big thing th...

Opinion: Opinion: Trump’s low tax payments are what happens with a too-complex tax code

People tend to have one of two reactions to the revelation that former President Donald Trump paid little to no taxes in recent years: He’s either an amoral tax cheat or he’s smart. To me, it reveals ...

Opinion: 11 predictions for money, technology, stocks and crypto for 2023

Here are some 2023 predictions for financial markets, the economy and stocks. I’ve spent the last year and a half being cautious in the wake of the Bubble-Blowing Bull Market that finally ended early ...

Opinion: The stock market is range-bound over the short term. Don’t expect that to last long.

The U.S. stock market, as measured by the S&P 500 Index SPX, +1.75%, has struggled this week overall, during what is typically a seasonally bullish period. That is what Yale Hirsch termed “the San...

Opinion: Hardship withdrawals from a 401(k) will get easier soon, but not quite yet

If you’re getting crushed by inflation and you have any money sitting in your 401(k), you may be wondering how you can get at it. In that kind of situation, something called a “hardship withdrawal” so...

Opinion: Opinion: FTX was a warning. We must plug the other holes in the Swiss cheese.

FTX’s unraveling should not have come as any great surprise. When an unregulated market like crypto is opened to financial novices, mistakes are bound to be made and fraudsters are sure to take advant...