Stocks are having a stellar October. Why the bear-market rally may have more room to run.

An earlier version of this story misstated the date of the U.S. midterm elections. They will be held Nov. 8, not Nov. 9. Despite a raft of risky events that investors must face down over the coming we...

China outnumbers the U.S. for the first time in this ranking of the world’s ‘best’ universities and U.S. economy will likely fall into recession, former Fed official says

Hi, MarketWatchers. Don’t miss these top stories. China outnumbers the U.S. for the first time in this ranking of the world’s ‘best’ universities Artificial intelligence is among the few fields that b...

Google ad sales take a hit and widely miss estimates, Alphabet stock drops 6%

Alphabet Inc. is feeling the sting of a downturn in digital-ad spending. Google’s parent company reported just 6% sales growth year-over-year Tuesday and missed widely on its advertising revenue, push...

Personal savings have plunged — how to boost your savings in case of a recession

As red flags go, this is a big one. The personal savings of Americans have plunged this year, hitting $629 billion in the second quarter of 2022, according to data from the Federal Reserve Bank of St....

Opinion: This one stock stands out when looking at key data from the FAANG+ group

This has been a difficult year for tech-oriented stocks, but smart long-term investors often look for bargains. Why not buy quality merchandise when it is on sale? The FAANG group of stocks is well-kn...

‘My girlfriend owes $200,000 in medical and credit-card debt’: She wants me to settle it — by paying a portion of the outstanding amount

Dear Quentin, My girlfriend owes over $200,000 in medical and credit-card debt, but she believes it can be settled for 5% of the total amount if someone else will pay that. She reasons that her credit...

Why investors are fleeing Chinese assets as Xi tightens grip on power

China’s top leader, Xi Jinping, secured a groundbreaking third leadership term on Sunday and introduced a new Politburo Standing Committee stacked with loyalists in a clean sweep not seen since the er...

This hedge fund manager who made winning bets in 2020, says investors should brace for a decades-long bear market

On the heels of last week’s bullish turn for stocks, the setup is looking slightly less positive for Monday. Hong Kong stocks may be affecting the mood with a giant slump after China’s leader cemented...

Nio stock dives below $10, Alibaba hits 6 1/2-year low as Xi’s power move fuels fears

The U.S.-listed shares of China-based companies were rocked Monday, as China President Xi Jinping’s moves to consolidate power fueled fears that current policies that have led to a slowing economy wil...

Residential housing demand ‘cratered’ as mortgage rates spiked, analyst says

Raymond James analyst Buck Horne lowered ratings on all of the home-builder stocks he covers, as he believes the recent “relentless” climb in mortgage rates has ensured a housing recession. “Interest ...

U.S. stock futures surge after Wall Street’s best week since June

U.S. stock futures surged out of the gate late Sunday, after Wall Street notched its best week since June. Dow Jones Industrial Average futures YM00, +0.62% jumped more than 200 points, or 0.7%, on Su...

Stock-market investors brace for busiest week of earnings season. Here’s how it stacks up so far.

So far, so good? Stocks ended the first full week of the earnings season on a strong note Friday, pushing the Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA, +2.47%, S&P 500 SPX, +2.37% and Nasdaq Composite CO...

IRS releases new federal tax brackets and standard deductions. Here’s how they affect your family’s tax bill.

America’s high inflation rate will produce a 7% increase in the size of the standard deduction when workers file their taxes on their 2023 income, according to new inflation adjustments from the Inter...

Do you have problems with the IRS — or does the IRS have a problem with you? Read this before you act.

How do you deal with a problem like the Internal Revenue Service? And how do you deal with your own tax problems as they pertain to the IRS? To be clear, I’m not talking about major problems like righ...

IRS sets new 401(k) limits — investors can save a lot more money in 2023

People can contribute up to $22,500 in 401(k) accounts and $6,500 in IRAs in 2023, the IRS said Friday. For 401(k)s, that’s an almost 10% increase from 2022’s contribution limit of $20,500. For IRAs, ...

What’s needed for stocks to rally is capitulation, but that could come from unexpected sources, strategist says

It’s the end of what felt like another very choppy week in stocks. And yet the S&P 500 SPX, +0.36% is in line to start the final session only about 1% or so below last Friday’s close. Uncertainty ...

Buy BP and Exxon Stock. They Have a Surprisingly Green Future.

Just two years ago, the world’s giant oil producers seemed to be going the way of the typewriter industry. No one wanted oil—the price of a barrel fell below zero early in the pandemic. Exxon Mobil st...

These 27 stocks can give you a more diversified portfolio than the S&P 500 — and that’s a key advantage right now

You probably already know that because of market-capitalization weighting, a broad index such as the S&P 500 SPX, -0.80% can be concentrated in a handful of stocks. Index funds are popular for goo...

New IRS tax brackets and standard deduction could save families hundreds or even thousands of dollars. Now, for the bad news.

In a time of rising costs, the Internal Revenue Service just raised income-tax brackets through new inflation adjustments for next year. It might feel tough sometimes to link the IRS with the concept ...

‘Mass layoffs’ of Meta bus drivers lead to pleas for Facebook to bring workers back to the office

Protesters on Thursday urged Meta Platforms Inc. to call its Silicon Valley-based engineers and other employees back to the office, after Facebook’s parent company continued to dismiss service workers...

Workers are disengaged from their jobs — but don’t blame remote work. The real cause lies elsewhere.

Worker disengagement is increasing no matter where a person does their job, whether that’s in the office, at home, or a hybrid of both. And just because people are showing up to the job in person, it ...

Opinion: Don’t have $13 million? The lifetime estate- and gift-tax exemptions for 2023 still matter to you.

The wealthiest families in the U.S. will get a bit of inflation-adjusted relief from the IRS in 2023, with the lifetime estate-tax exemption increasing to $12.9 million for individuals, up from $12.06...

How to save a bundle on your tax return

This is Part Two of our list of suggested year-end strategies. Part 1 discusses gaming the federal standard deduction, and managing capital gains and losses. The tax environment is getting friendlier ...

Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway closes $11.6 billion purchase of Alleghany insurance group

OMAHA, Neb. — Warren Buffett’s company completed its largest acquisition in years Wednesday with its $11.6 billion purchase of the Alleghany insurance conglomerate. The purchase announced in March wil...

IBM Reports Earnings Today. What to Expect.

IBM is set to provide investors with a fresh look at the state of enterprise technology spending when it reports third-quarter financial results late Wednesday. There is growing concern that tighter c...

Apple Earnings Are Next Week. What to Watch.

When Apple reports financial results for its fiscal fourth quarter next Thursday, the most crucial question will be whether the company is seeing signs of strain from the softening consumer economy. P...

A Big Tesla Stock Sale Is Coming. We Don’t Know How Big.

It’s looking increasingly likely that Tesla investors will have to deal with their CEO Elon Musk buying social media platform Twitter In the long run, the issue for Tesla (ticker: TSLA) investors is m...

This U.S. pension plan faces a bigger crisis than the U.K.’s

Could the U.S. pensions behemoth be hit by the kind of crisis that just swept across the U. K.? Don’t bet on it, says ratings agency Fitch. This kind of turmoil is “unlikely,” it says. We can only add...

Retirement can mean a loss of identity — how to bring happiness to your next act

For many people transitioning into retirement, the famous lines from the start of “A Chorus Line” resonate: “Who am I anyway? Am I my résumé? That is a picture of a person I don’t know!” Struggling wi...

These 11 stocks can lead your portfolio’s rebound after the S&P 500 ‘earnings recession’ and a market bottom next year

This may surprise you: Wall Street analysts expect earnings for the S&P 500 to increase 8% during 2023, despite all the buzz about a possible recession as the Federal Reserve tightens monetary pol...

Alibaba and Other China Stocks Jump as President Xi Reassures on Tech

Shares in U.S.-listed Chinese companies were moving higher Monday as investors smiled on comments from a high-profile speech by President Xi Jinping that was supportive of the country’s technology sec...

McDonald’s and A.O. Smith Declare Dividend Increases

Text size Chernetskaya/Dreamstime.com McDonald’s and A.O. Smith declared dividend increases this week in an otherwise quiet stretch on that front for large U.S. companies. McDonald’s (ticker: MCD) pla...