Finance

Amid the emergence of new currencies, gold has long been a benchmark for international measures of value. The precious metal backed the U.S. dollar for decades, marking a peg for global currencies. But in 1971, President Richard Nixon suspended the ability for the dollar to be converted into the precious …

Strategist David Rosenberg named demographics the single most important factor for financial analysts and investors to monitor over the next decade. “If it’s all about ‘follow the money,'” wrote Gluskin Sheff’s Rosenberg, “then it is ‘follow the boomers.'” “Nothing is more important than this if you are looking at what …

Goldman Sachs warned on Monday that the stock market has an “elevated valuation on almost every metric.” A report written by a team led by chief equity strategist David Kostin stated: “The forward P/E multiple of the S&P 500 has risen by 80% since 2011 (to 18x) and now trades …

The market’s humbling of the bears has pulled many converts into the bullish crowd. Even those strategists who have correctly been positive on the market are flagging some surveys of professional investors that show optimism rising toward levels that can be a restraint on further short-term upside. Jeff deGraaf of …

Andrew Burton | Getty Images News | Getty Images A trader works on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange during the afternoon of May 7, 2014 Check out which companies are making headlines after the bell: Shares of Capital One rose more than 4 percent in extended trading. …

Morgan Stanley’s internet analyst expects Twitter shares to lose half their value due to lack of spending from advertisers. On Thursday, a team led by equity analyst Brian Nowak maintained a price target of $10 a share on the social media stock, down 50 percent from Twitter’s close at $20.12 …

Michael Nagle | Bloomberg | Getty Images A trader works as American flags are displayed on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York Check out which companies are making headlines after the bell: Shares of Kinder Morgan rose more than 4 percent in extended trading …

Fears of a death by Amazon may be overstated in shares of the few companies that can effectively resist the Jeff Bezos-led juggernaut, according to a team of Jefferies analysts. “Amazon’s planned purchase of Whole Foods further widened the valuation spread between consumer stocks the markets views as resistant to …

American Express reported earnings that beat analysts’ expectations Wednesday after the bell. Here’s how the company did compared to what Wall Street expected: EPS: $1.47 vs. $1.43, according to Thomson Reuters Revenue: $8.31 billion vs. $8.20 billion, according to Thomson Reuters In the year-ago quarter, the company reported earnings of …

Good earnings and clarity on tax reform will likely send the S&P 500 10 percent higher over the next 12 months, according to Morgan Stanley’s chief U.S. equity strategist Michael Wilson. “Tax legislation remains the most important political issue for the U.S. stock market as we get later in the …