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The S&P 500 ended the week at yet another all-time record high. Some have tried to compare the current peak to the stock market tops we've seen in 2000 and 2007. However, many -- like Reformed Broker Josh Brown -- are quick to remind everyone that the comparisons stop with nominal price. ...

TORONTO (Reuters) - Toronto Mayor Rob Ford, a target of criticism for his often unconventional conduct, on Friday denied media allegations that he had been caught on video smoking crack cocaine. "Absolutely not true," Ford told reporters gathered outside his west Toronto house, before driving off in his SUV. Reporters for the Toronto Star and Gawker Media said late on Thursday they...

WICHITA, Kansas (Reuters) - Sometime on Sunday morning, a Pennsylvania high school student will be presented with the keys to a black Honda Civic just for going to a party after the school's annual prom dance. In Roanoke, Virginia, one student will drive away next month with a new car and...

HSBC’s chief global economist has written a compelling but dark account of the challenges facing the West. Philip Aldrick considers the chilling claims. Bleak does not begin to describe the latest tome on the economic crisis by Stephen King, the HSBC chief global economist who appropriately shares a name with the...

For all the talk of how it's a waste to study American Literature or other majors with limited job prospects, even the Chairman of the Federal Reserve acknowledges a value to cultural pursuits. Ben Bernanke ended his commencement speech at Bard College at Simon's Rock with the following remark: [W]hile I have...

The Powerball jackpot has hit $600 million, passing the point where people who don't typically play the lottery decide to jump in, shell out a few dollars, and try their luck on an infinitesimally small opportunity to join the 1% One of the most interesting ways to look at this is...

Washington tax lawyer Celia Roady acknowledged that at the behest of the IRS, she asked a question at a May 10 conference that would ignite the controversy over inappropriate targeting of conservative groups. Four days before a damning Inspector General's report was due to be released, the IRS wanted to get...

Ben Bernanke has delivered the commencement speech for this year's graduates of Simon's Rock, a quirky college in Massachusetts. The whole thing is here. It might be the only commencement speech all year to contain footnotes. The speech is about economics, but rather than discuss the short- or medium-term, he talks about...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The outgoing head of the U.S. Internal Revenue Service angered Republican lawmakers on Friday by resisting their demands that he identify who at the tax-collection agency had inappropriately targeted conservative groups for extra scrutiny. But during the first hearing into a growing IRS scandal that could preoccupy Washington...

CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (Reuters) - Back on Earth, Canadian astronaut and cyberspace tweeter Chris Hadfield is getting a rough re-introduction to gravity after a five-month stint aboard the International Space Station, the former commander told reporters during a video webcast from Houston. Hadfield became a social media rock star with his...

Ben Bernanke gave a commencement speech to the graduates of Bard College at Simon's Rock. "My emphasis today will be on prospects for the long run," he said.  "In particular, I will be looking beyond the very real challenges of economic recovery that we face today--challenges that I have every confidence...

In the last three decades, the world economy has grown by a remarkably similar rate. That time period, which coincidentally spans my professional career, has seen the global economy increase by approximately 3.4pc per annum in purchasing power parity terms. For the last few years, a central thesis of mine has been...

Fat corporate profit margins have been a key driver of the surging stock market.  Indeed, this has been the foundation of recent earnings growth. But is this theme sustainable? "One of the most common bearish arguments that we hear from clients is that margins are mean-reverting," writes Dan Suzuki, equity strategist for...

On June 1, thousands of Wall Streeters will take the Charted Financial Analyst (CFA) exam and many of them are probably freaking out right about now.    Consisting of three levels, the CFA is considered to be the most difficult test on the Street with fewer than 20 percent of candidates passing all...

For the past week, there's been a big brouhaha at Bloomberg over how reporters for the business news service have been using the company’s terminals to monitor employees on Wall Street. Some reporters have apparently used that information to find leads for the articles they write. Now Bloomberg has gotten former IBM...

Everyone loves a good book on investing, economics, or a fresh take on finance. With all of the titles floating around out there, though, it can be hard to sort through the pile. "Doug Kass has a terrific reading list," says Blackstone Vice Chairman Byron Wien. Kass, the widely-followed portfolio manager who is...

The Weekly Leading Index (WLI) of the Economic Cycle Research Institute (ECRI) is at 130.2, down slightly from last week's 131.0. The WLI annualized growth indicator (WLIg) dropped to 7.0% from 7.4% last week, an upward revision from 7.3%. Last year ECRI switched focus to their version of the Big Four...

Over the past few weeks, attention in financial markets has once again turned to the prospect of the Federal Reserve tapering back its monetary stimulus, spurred on by public speeches from Fed presidents and articles from WSJ reporter Jon Hilsenrath, who is viewed as close to the central bank. As concerns...

Everyone knows the odds of winning in a casino are worse than 50% (often much worse depending on the game played). So who wouldn't rush to a casino where, instead, the odds were overwhelmingly in the gambler's favor? That's the promise of today's stock market, which has been experiencing an aberrantly...

Today, we all know Taiwan as a Pacific powerhouse that provides the world with everything from PCs to basic metals to cameras. But for decades after World War II, the country remained something of a backwater, having been founded by refugees from the Chinese Civil War who subsequently imposed de facto...