Jan. 5–Last week, I called some of the smartest stock investors I know. Surprisingly, many were still very bullish. Henry Mehlman has turned around the John Hancock Small Cap and Focused Equity Funds since taking them over during the bear […]

Observer Insurance companies and analysts are warning that there could be further cuts in bonuses and payouts on with-profits investments this year despite the stock market recovery. America’s Home Depot , the world’s largest DIY retailer, is considering a pounds […]

WEST PALM BEACH (HEDGECO.NET)- The US Stock market ended the year with an impressive gain of 25.3% surpassing expectations of the investment community. The NASDAQ market netted a spectacular gain of50% in 2003, while the S&P 500 index advanced by […]

More than half of U.S. companies are dumping retirement plan investment options — or are considering doing so — as a result of the mutual fund scandal. Nearly one-quarter of chief financial officers say they jettisoned mutual funds implicated in […]

Stocks likely headed for ‘re-bubble’ in 2004 Mortgage rates are holding just below 6 percent, rising on the extraordinary strength of the purchasing managers’ survey for December, released this morning. If the jobs data next Friday are likewise way above […]

WEST PALM BEACH (HEDGECO.NET)- Citigroup�s underwriting business rose by 25% during 2003, from $4.26 trillion in 2002, to $5.33 trillion in 2003, according to data from Thompson Financial. This isthe third year in a row that Citigroup led other underwriters […]

Defying a tradition that occurs once every four years here, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission enters this presidential election year with an ambitious and contentious agenda. Every four years, most federal agencies all but go underground when it comes […]

The U.S. mutual fund industry will mark its 80th birthday in March, but no one is much inclined to celebrate as the $7 trillion business slogs through the worst scandal in its history. Some of the biggest, oldest and proudest […]

A hedge fund manager, back from a visit to Argentina, says he witnessed a Chinese delegation seeking to buy up all of the South American country’s excess production of flour. A run on the global flour market? Well, after a […]

The board of Hollinger International repeatedly approved deals that benefited Conrad Black, its chairman, and other company executives without independent analysis, fairness opinions or extensivediscussion of the rationale for such decisions, according to a lawsuit filed by a major Hollinger […]

IT was a sign of the times that Zainal Alam Kadir changed his cat’s vet. Fed-up with the long wait to have his big affectionate Persian, Creamy, attended to, the then-business reporter had popped hishead into the examination room. The […]

So, I’ve dug out the Windowlene and an old T-shirt. It’s time to give the crystal ball its annual polish before attempting to divine next year’s financial trends in its foggy innards. Its record isno better than a random spin […]