Before March 2000, in the bull market, whisper numbers were all the rage. In fact, these estimates became so popular for the outlandish pre-”tech bubble” gainers that Wall Street often notched real estimates lower than actual expectations just to be able to “beat the consensus.” Today, earnings whispers are still used, but not as confidently as before.

commentary on the technical analysis and why it is important

An article and commentary on the rumored Microsoft/Facebook merger talks.

Many people think that investing in mutual funds is the way to go and the best method for getting rich. I think mutual funds are horrible investments. Here are 8 reasons why you should not invest in mutual funds.

The Ten Commandments of Growth Investing based on my time in the business.

I’ve been tracking healthcare rockstar Intuitive Surgical (NYSE: ISRG) for about six months now, and have been impressed with their results… its astonishing to me that they are back to their late-October trading levels despite all of the hard work. After a terrific earnings call, including a 2008 guidance boost, shares of ISRG took a hit.

In today’s economy, investors need all the help they can get. Fortunately, there are many investment bloggers out there willing to lend a hand. Take a look at 50 of the best of these bloggers, from stocks to real estate.

“Two geeks from Miami swear under oath their stock trading robot is not illegal!” Right. I’m sure that’s exactly how things went down. Folks, the stock trading robot offered through DoublingStocks.com is the biggest scam in the industry.

Straight from the gate market participants took the opportunity to knock down stocks a level. For the bulls, this action was quite disappointing as you would have liked to see stocks build on Wednesday’s gains on stronger volume. The good news, stocks sold off on MUCH LIGHTER trade. It appears the institutional buyers are continuing to stay on the sidelines.

Assuming we’re long anything at this point, what puts would we use as a hedge, and how many do we need? First, we have to figure out how our portfolio moves in relation to the market. We know that four out of five stocks move in the same direction as the market trend, but by how much? Two numbers can give us a pretty good idea: beta and R-squared...

Stocks found new life as HOPE crept back into the market. A dangerous emotion for traders and investors a like. Hope never ends up making you money, only losing it. Stocks finished nearly flat on the day while the NASDAQ finished lower on lighter trade. NYSE volume did pick up however, it came on a flat day where stocks saw intraday reversals from their highs.

Gone are the days when novice traders were relegated to scanning newspapers to see how their favorite stocks were moving. The Internet era ushered in a more efficient way of doing business. Amateur traders need not chase down stock information anymore. All that's needed to make informed trades can be available with a few clicks of a mouse.

The typical recession advice says not to buy steel companies in a bear market. But this group of companies has been among the strongest performers year to date!

A look at the stock SUN and how you can make money off of it

SPWR closed @ 61

Every time this stock gets below 60, it gets scooped up. I love this solar stock (along with FSLR and STP) and believe it has huge potential going forward. It is too oversold for the intermediate term, like many of the solars.