Author Archive: Michael Foster

If you noticed American stocks selling off last week and you’re confused as to why, it’s because of an obscure corner of financial markets that might become one of the biggest stories of 2018: the Turkish lira.

Turkey’s Money Implodes

Where a dollar would get you less than four lira at the start of the year, it now gets you more than six lira—in other words, Turkey’s currency has lost nearly half of its value in 2018 alone!

This is something some investors need to fear a lot. And today I’m going to show you how to avoid being on the losing end of this crisis (including 11 funds you need to sell or avoid now, before they get crushed).… Read more

There’s been a massive discount building in a pocket of the market where you can get big dividends that are entirely tax-free.

And I’m going to show you three “1-click” ways to tap this income investor’s wonderland today.

I know that tax-free anything these days sounds impossible, but in this case, I assure you it’s not. The key is investing in municipal bonds, which give you a passive income stream that is entirely tax exempt at the federal level. Plus it’s also exempt from state taxes in many situations, too.

That means a 4%-yielding municipal bond, or “muni,” is more like a 5.3%-yielding dividend stock for a family earning $100,000 per year—and that’s before we factor in state taxes.… Read more

What a year it’s been for oil!

Oil Takes Off

With a 43.5% climb in just a year, oil prices have blown by several technical levels to breach $70, and $80 is on the table by the end of the year.

This is the highest price since 2014, and it’s a very good sign for stocks—which is why you should consider buying 2 funds paying massive dividends and boasting top-notch energy-sector exposure.

(And if you prefer to invest in oil through individual stocks, rather than funds, check out this recent article by my colleague David Peltier.)

Before I show you my 2 energy funds, though, let’s talk a bit about what isn’t happening with oil.… Read more

If you’ve read the headlines about tech’s woeful slump in the past couple weeks, you might think stocks are out of favor.

You’d be wrong—and this chart proves it:

Forget the Headlines: Stocks Are Rolling

After February’s gut-wrenching plunge, the S&P 500 has more than recovered and is up 6.2% year to date. If this trend continues, we’re looking at a 12.4% return on the year.

But look at the orange line above—that’s the tech-benchmark Invesco QQQ Trust (QQQ), which is up 13.2% year to date, even after this latest correction in tech. That adds up to a monstrous 26.4% return for 2018 if that trend continues.… Read more

120 billion dollars.

That’s how much market cap Facebook (FB) dumped over the side in a single day when the company crushed Wall Street’s hopes with a soft second-quarter earnings report last week.

This was the biggest single-day loss in US stock-market history—and the stock has plunged more since, to a loss of over 20%.

“Facebook Fright” Spreads Like Wildfire

The panic has spread to FAANG land, with Amazon (AMZN), Apple (AAPL), Netflix (NFLX) and Alphabet (GOOG) all showing losses right after Facebook’s report, even though many of these companies have very different business models than Facebook. And the one that’s closest, Alphabet, recently reported a blowout quarter.… Read more

Remember the panic selling in February? It all seems silly now—the economy is surging, companies are beating high earnings expectations and American consumers are more confident than ever.

And the stock market is finally catching on—the S&P 500 is up a solid 5.9% in 2018, and the momentum for stocks to go higher is clearly there.

You’re Not Too Late for the Biggest Profits

The good news? You can get into this raging bull market and still see a lot of upside.

Since the market is still a sliver off its all-time high (which it hit in January, before the plunge), we are nowhere near a top—especially since earnings have soared since then.… Read more

One of the most reliable income-producing sectors has been hit hard over the past year, handing you a terrific shot at outsized dividend yields running all the way up to 10%.

In a moment, I’ll show you two funds that let you grab these huge income streams at a big discount—and one that looks like a strong buy but is way overpriced and headed for a fall. You’ll want to keep that one as far away from your portfolio as possible.

The sector all three of these picks come from is utilities—one of only two sectors of the S&P 500 that’s down over the past year (the other being consumer staples), with a 2.6% overall decline.… Read more

If you want high dividends right now (and who doesn’t?), but you don’t want to overpay, there’s one place you need to look: utilities.

There are three ways to tap into this sector, but only one hands you the most upside and fattest dividend yields from these unloved cash-spinning companies:

1. Buy utility stocks individually
2. Buy ETFs specializing in utilities
3. Buy closed-end funds (CEFs) specializing in utilities

The third option is the best one. To understand why, we need to go back a few months.

Back on March 1, I recommended Reaves Utility Income (UTG), a utility CEF that yields 6.9% (spoiler: those big yields are common with CEFs and are a big reason why these funds are an awesome bet for income investors).… Read more

I’ve been thinking a lot about recessions lately.

It’s pretty hard not to, because warnings about recessions are coming from financial pundits and big banks with increasing frequency. Most recently, an economist at Citigroup warned in a research note that a recession was likely to come in the next 18 months, because the US Treasury yield curve is flattening.

This person isn’t a lone wolf.

Many economists, including a lot of wonks at the Federal Reserve, are fiercely debating whether our flattening yield curve is a sign that a recession is around the corner. And the fear is intensifying, since the difference between the yield on the two-year and 10-year Treasuries is a meager 25 basis points, the narrowest in over a decade.… Read more

With the recent market downturn, you might be worried that stocks are headed for trouble. Don’t be.

Because there’s one really good reason to be greedy now that the market has become fearful again, and it can be summed up in two words: earnings season, which “officially” kicks off when Alcoa (AA) reports its results on July 18.

So far, 2018 has been one of the best years for company earnings in history—and that trend is set to continue.

First, let me tell you why. Then I’ll give you 3 funds you can buy today to lock in the gains that this temporarily depressed market is set to hand us.… Read more