In mutual fund investing there are no immutable laws to guide us, as we have in physics. But then again, it’s not professional wrestling either. Some of what follows distills the collective experience of mutual fund investing; some of it has empirical evidence pointing its...

Weekly Market Summary U.S. stocks awoke from their mid-Summer slumber this week. The Dow Jones industrial average hit multiple record highs this week and the S&P 500 hit another new all-time close, too. Meanwhile, tech stocks posted a strong week, too, as the Nasdaq Composite...

This week the second-quarter earnings season kicked off for the stocks in the SSR tracking portfolio. This marks the period when companies report their earnings for operations that fell primarily within the second calendar quarter of the year, although not all companies are reporting...

Last month, U.S. index provider MSCI Inc. announced it would add domestic Chinese equities to its global emerging markets benchmark index. By some estimate, MSCI’s decision to add the “A” shares to its Emerging Markets Index could move as much as $400 billion of...

Many employees think of their 401(k) plan allocations in isolation. But if you are married and your spouse works, you are both likely contributing to employee-sponsored plans. And if that is indeed the case, your allocation approaches should be “married” as well. After...

Weekly Market Summary The U.S. stock market was relatively flat over this holiday-shortened week as gains in financials and a slight rebound in tech stocks were offset by losses in energy stocks as the price of oil continued to decline. Bank stocks have been on the rise over the...

The decision to name a trustee is a complex process that includes weighing and balancing the various factors according to personal preferences and circumstances. A trustee is a person or institution named in a trust agreement to carry out the objectives and follow the terms of...

Momentum investors seek rapidly growing companies with prices to match. Their hope is that continued growth will attract additional investors who will continue to drive up the stock price. That investment philosophy, centered on earnings growth, underlies the approach used by...

Weekly Market Summary A strong week by health-care stocks boosted the major U.S. indexes even as energy continued its downward slide. Shares of pharmaceutical companies and biotechnology firms posted gains this week, following some encouraging data on drug development. Health-care...

This week S&P Dow Jones Indices (S&P DJI) reported preliminary data indicating that S&P 500 stock buybacks (shares repurchases) fell 17.5% in the first quarter of 2017 to $133.1 billion from $161.4 billion in the first quarter of 2016. For the 12-month period ending...