Portfolio Nibbler Centerplate (AMEX: CVP) announced dividend and interest payments of 6.6 cents for the common stock portion and 6.4 cents for the bond portion of its hybrid income deposit security (IDS). These distributions amount to a total of 13 cents—right on course for yet another of its regular monthly dividend/interest payments. Read More

US stocks built handsomely on yesterday’s gains, spurred upward by news that Lehman Brothers (LEH) and UBS AG were able to raise additional capital through equity offerings. These twin successes boosted confidence that the two financials and their peers will be able to withstand the sector’s considerable credit losses. Read More

We’ve only just begun to live,White lace and promisesA kiss for luck and we’re on our way.And yes, we’ve just begun. You may be thinking I’m invoking one of the rituals of spring--weddings full of happy people, flowers, pasta salad and garden receptions, but I’m actually alluding to a more dour subject. Let’s take a look at a real doom-and-gloomer, the markets. Anybody think the turning point in the credit crunch and the resulting bear of bears was reached with last week’s bailout of Bear Stearns (NYSE: BSC)? Not even close. First, it wasn’t a bailout, but a buyout. I don’t know about you, but the last time I looked at JP Morgan Chase (NYSE: JPM), I thought that it was a for-profit, publicly traded company, not a branch of the Federal Reserve or the US Treasury. JP Morgan isn’t doing this because it wants to be a good citizen, any more than Citigroup (NYSE: C) was doing its bit to save the nation by picking up the pieces of another storied bond trading firm, Salomon Brothers, not that many years ago. Read More

Paced by the ever-volatile financial sector, US stocks finished in the green. But today’s gains were still not enough to overcome months of poor performance, as the indexes posted their sharpest quarterly declines since 2002. Read More

US stocks tumbled for the third consecutive day, as the specter of additional write-downs continued to haunt the financial sector and J.C. Penney (JCP) warned that its first-quarter profits would fall short of expectations. Investors viewed this latter announcement as further evidence of weakening consumer demand, spurring declines among retail stocks. Read More

US stocks valiantly fought their way into the green at several points today, but ultimately ended up mired in the red, once again paced by the ailing financial sector. Disappointing third quarter revenues at software developer Oracle (ORCL) and skyrocketing oil prices likewise did little to dispel fears that the US economy is weakening. Read More

Knowing when to sell and when to buy is even more of a challenge during bear markets. When you’re starting with the perception that conditions are more likely to worsen rather than improve, the investments we choose have to be much better than average in the markets. Read More

When it comes right down to it, a currency is much like the stock of a country. And right now, when it comes to the US, our stock isn’t finding many eager buyers. Read More

For the better part of two years, Canadian income trusts have endured a series of stress tests as tough as those faced by any sector. Read More

If you’re looking for some action beyond the grinding bear markets in the US and Europe, there are some emerging markets in Africa worth exploring. Read More