Investing News

(Click here to subscribe to the Delivering Alpha newsletter.) Inflation, a hawkish Fed, fears of a recession have all made 2022 a tough environment for investing.  A traditional portfolio of stocks and bonds is deeply in the red, leaving investors to seek diversity elsewhere.  Ares Management, however, has been a beneficiary of the current environment. With hundreds

Amortization vs. Depreciation: An Overview The cost of business assets can be expensed each year over the life of the asset. The expense amounts are then used as a tax deduction, reducing the tax liability of the business. Amortization and depreciation are the two main methods of calculating the value of these assets. There’s a third, less commonly

Wholesale inflation fell slightly last month as gas prices tumbled. The Labor Department reported its Producer Price Index (PPI) declined 0.1% in August from the month before, matching economists’ estimates. The annual increase was 8.7%, below forecasts and down from July’s gain of 9.8%. Excluding costs for food, energy, and trade services, prices rose 0.2% for the month

Financial Analyst vs. Research Analyst: An Overview Financial analysts examine, collect, and interpret financial information to help companies make business decisions. Financial analysis is an umbrella term that covers several functions that financial analysts might perform.   Some financial analysts analyze financial market trends to help with an investment decision while others examine financial statements of

Cathie Wood, chief executive officer and chief investment officer, Ark Invest, gestures as she speaks during the Bitcoin 2022 Conference at Miami Beach Convention Center on April 7, 2022 in Miami, Florida. Marco Bello | Getty Images Cathie Wood, Wall Street’s most vocal proponent of deflation, is getting a few high-profile supporters even as price

Keep An Eye On These Coins The crypto market has shown tentative signs of breaking out of the bearish slump that has persisted for months. Several assets are showing improvements in price, not the least of which is Ethereum (ETH), which has dominated the news cycle in recent weeks. This week, other cryptocurrencies deserve some

The Rise and Fall of Fitbit’s Stock Price Fitbit Inc. (FIT), a pioneering developer of wearable fitness-tracking devices, saw its share price jump nearly 50% on the day of its celebrated listing in June 2015. The share price nearly doubled from there in the following weeks, reaching $51.90 in early August. That marked the peak

The dearth of dealmaking at major banks is leading to layoffs, with Goldman Sachs planning to cut hundreds of jobs this month. JPMorgan has told analysts that deal fees for the nation’s largest bank will shrink by 50% in the third quarter from a year ago, according to president and COO Daniel Pinto, speaking at a conference. He said

Gross Margin vs. Contribution Margin: An Overview Gross margin measures the amount of revenue that remains after subtracting costs directly associated with production. Contribution margin is a measure of the profitability of various individual products based on the variable costs associated with those goods. Key Takeaways Gross margin is the amount of profit left after

Even if you aren’t an active trader, there’s a good chance you have some exposure to the stock market. In fact, almost everyone does. It may be through mutual funds or your IRA. But what if you want to turn that passive trading into an active strategy? If you want to be an active trader

The delta of an option tells you the relationship between the underlying security’s price and the option’s price itself.” The delta represents the amount the price of the derivative will change when there is a change in the underlying price. For example, suppose you buy a call option with a delta of positive 0.5. The

Student loans now impact every demographic, and that’s bad news for people struggling to save for retirement. Even though interest rates are lower, overall student debt has soared during the pandemic, regardless of a borrower’s age or occupation. Some 44 million Americans now owe an estimated $1.75 trillion in student debt. The spiraling amounts of

Modern divorces bring with them interesting (and potentially painful) problems to resolve—like who gets to decide the fate of any frozen embryos or who gets custody of shared pets. It also involves traditional issues, such as child custody and visitation rights.  Deciding how to share or divvy up rights to living and potential living beings

Update: Shareholders voted to accept the deal later on September 13, 2022. Twitter shares stayed fairly flat throughout the day. Shareholders of Twitter Inc. (TWTR) are poised to vote in favor of accepting the $44 billion bid by Elon Musk to acquire the social media company. Complicating the matter, Musk has tried to rescind his

For a third week, the top nationwide rates for certificates of deposit (CD) have remained flat. With the next Fed rate announcement just over a week away, every CD term started out this week with the same top rate as last Monday. On July 27, the Federal Reserve hiked the federal funds rate for the

Financial behemoths Charles Schwab, Citadel Securities, and Fidelity Digital Assets have collaborated on launching a bitcoin and cryptocurrency exchange. According to a press release, the trio has merged to form a cryptocurrency exchange named EDX Markets (EDXM). Key Takeaways Fidelity, Charles Schwab, Citadel, and Fidelity have teamed up to launch the first-of-its-kind cryptocurrency exchange.  The

While crypto assets like Ethereum (ETH) have been receiving most of the attention due to the upcoming upgrade called ‘The Merge‘, the Bitcoin network itself has been getting some headlines. First, the top cryptocurrency showed signs of a breakout and then dropped to $20,000 on September 13, indicating a volatile week. Second, despite huge losses

The Labor Department’s latest update on the Consumer Price Index (CPI) on Tuesday showed consumer inflation rose in August, as prices for most goods continued to climb. Headline inflation rose 0.1% in August, following an unchanged reading in July as costs for food, shelter, and medical expenses rose, while energy costs declined. Prices were up

Your effective tax rate can be calculated using Microsoft Excel through a few standard functions and an accurate breakdown of your income by tax bracket. Most of the legwork actually involves looking up the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) tax brackets and segregating your taxable income into the correct cells. IRS Tax Brackets Every year, the

The National Federation of Independent Businesses (NFIB) Small Business Optimism Index for August came in at a reading of 91.8, slightly beating expectations of 90. However, the index remains near a decade low as small businesses try to navigate historic inflation, labor shortages, and supply chain disruptions. August is the eighth straight month the index was below the 48-year