The stock market has been rising for two solid weeks. First-quarter GDP, reported Friday, far from falling into recession was reported at up 2.0 percent. Consumer spending, reported Monday, continues to rise, and the savings rate has even become marginally less negative–up to minus 0.8 percent.

As a Bear, I much enjoyed the period in the early ’80s when the two top economists on Wall Street, Henry Kaufman of Salomon and Albert Wojnilower of First Boston, were known as Dr. Doom and Dr. Death. Their writings, like those of James Grant (“Grant’s Interest Rate Letter”) more recently, are a refreshing contrast […]

The United States House of Representatives last week passed a bill repealing the estate tax, but with repeal staged over the next 10 years. The Senate appears unlikely to follow the House’s lead, preferring only to raise the threshold above which estate tax becomes payable, while leaving its rate on large estates, of over $20 […]

As the 24 United States airmen patiently await their release from Chinese custody, there is another hostage that is going to vault up the world’s priority list if U.S.-China relations continue to deteriorate: the $350 billion of foreign investment in China.

Technology stocks have had the stuffing knocked out of them, earnings warnings are appearing in sector after sector, and even the Dow is hovering close to a bear market.