Shares of payroll and payment processors have sold off considerably, but macroeconomic headwinds aren’t enough to sink the industry’s leaders. Here are three value plays that could pay off over the long haul. Read More

The global economy’s performance is a Chinese affair this year and will remain so for the foreseeable future. Buying the right stocks early is the key to long-term profits. Read More

A single sentence in President Obama’s proposed fiscal year 2010 budget could have significant short-term implications for domestic oil and gas production and may hold the key to understanding the new administration’s long-term energy goals. Read More

Italy-based Eni’s (NYSE: E) dividend yield of 8.5 percent is paid twice annually, with the next slated for May 21 for shareholders of record May 15. Last year’s earnings covered the current dividend rate by a nearly 2-to-1 margin. Shares trade for just 7.5 times consensus earnings estimates for 2009, 50 percent of sales and 1.33 times book value, the lowest valuations in years. Read More

As a chorus of the nation’s financial institutions have made abundantly clear, the fairness of fair-value accounting, which allowed banks to record gains on securities at the height of the boom, has become entirely unfair now that these illiquid assets are subject to massive writedowns. Read More

Taxpayers will eventually rebel against the idea that their money is being spent without getting anything in return. For now, fixing the problems seems to be the sole responsibility of the average taxpayer, while financiers and politicians are bickering about bonuses from money that belongs to neither of the two factions. Playwright Eugene Ionesco would be proud. Read More

Despite those heavy losses in the major benchmarks, the Fund Portfolio was down just 3 percent for the quarter. And the Portfolio has actually generated a gain of 1.2 percent since inception, against a 10.5 percent loss for the S&P 500. Read More

First quarter 2009 has hardly marked the return of the bull. But there’s one strong positive in the stock performance numbers: Quality seems to count again. The Income Portfolio’s overall loss for the quarter was 2.5 percent. Read More

Never is investing discipline more important than when it comes time to make sell decisions. Read More

The three major US stock indexes finished with mixed results after a late selloff in financial shares eroded earlier gains. Investors were unnerved not only by Morgan Stanley’s (NYSE: MS) disappointing earnings report but also the uncertainties stemming regulators’ stress tests. Read More