Cramer Ain't That Bad a Stock Picker, Actually

(NEWSER) - Markets were up today on a successful sale of 30-year Treasury notes and other indicators of economic recovery, the Wall Street Journal reports. Bank of America saw a 9% upswing after its CEO testified on Capitol Hill. The Dow gained 31.90 to 8,770.92. The S&P rose 5.74 to 944.89. And the Nasdaq tacked on 9.29 to finish at 1,862.37. More»

Stewart's attack on Cramer aside, stocks can give good returns

(NEWSER) - Hammering Jim Cramer on TV the other night, Jon Stewart bemoaned the fate of his 75-year-old mother: “She bought into the idea that long-term investing is the way to go. And guess what?” Cramer replied, “It didn’t work.” And for many Americans, that was the takeaway: The stock market is for chumps. But let’s not allow rage to blind us from rationally assessing the market, writes Tom Petruno in the Los Angeles Times. More»

Stock traders prove more reckless, ruthless in simulations, tests

(NEWSER) - Don’t call rogue traders like Kweku Adoboli a psycho—because that may not be fair to psychos. A new study from the University of St. Gallen in Switzerland pitted a group of stockbrokers against a group of actual psychopaths in various computer simulations and intelligence tests, and found that the money men were significantly more reckless, competitive, and manipulative. More»

Investors starting to panic that nobody has answers

(NEWSER) - What's behind the market meltdown? Some on-the-fly observations:

• Ezra Klein, Washington Post : The market is "diving because of forces Washington can’t control, and in many cases, doesn’t understand very well. How many members of Congress do you think could give a coherent account of what has happened to oil or steel prices over the last three years? Or what’s happening in the Eurozone? Or to the yuan?" Nobody knows where the recovery will come from, and the markets are reflecting that panic.

Forecast fastest expansion in years on consumer spending

(NEWSER) - Economists are growing more optimistic about this year’s climate, predicting it will expand at its fastest pace since 2003, the Wall Street Journal reports. The paper polled 51 economists. Among the highlights:

• Economists see only a 12% risk of returning to recession, compared to 22% in September.
• In the 4th quarter of 2011, economists expect GDP to be 3.5% higher than a year before—beating last month’s prediction of a 3.3% increase.