Buying and Selling Closed-End Funds
Long term readers know I am a big fan of buying closed-end funds at discounts and selling them at parity. Closed-end funds are one of t...

Modalities of the 'Imminent' VIX Spike
These days, you can t escape the public outcry: traders want their VIX spike, and they want it now.Not too long ago, the vicissitudes...

European Parliament votes to include airlines in CO2 trading
LONDON (MarketWatch) -- The European Parliament voted Tuesday to include airlines in their emissions trading rules, starting in 2012. T...

Bond Expert: Tuesday Outlook
Prices of Treasury coupon securities have edged higher in overnight trading as credit concerns and the potential for gargantuan raising...

Investors Still Fearless, Relatively Speaking
With every new market low, investors everywhere want to know if this low equals a bottom. In the past couple of weeks the S&P 500 has g...

The Psychology of Profitability
Here are the equity curves for three traders over a 100 day period. Trader A (top chart) made money during the first half of the perio...

Why GM Should Embrace Bankruptcy
Tom Krisher has a good overview of the travails at General Motors, where the stock is trading at a 50-year low, battered by speculation...

Bear takes another victim
The North American stock market hit a couple of ugly milestones on Monday afternoon. The S[amp]amp;P 500 joined the bear market, define...

Free Money Idea
Sell the FNM July 15 straddle for $4. Yes, that's $4 for a straddle with a strike price of 15. With 2 weeks to go. That translates into...