This holiday season, J.C. Penney (JCP) CEO and Chairman Myron E. Ullman III is armed with a lineup of exclusive fashion brands he helped bring to the department store chain, and he's ready to battle

A popular prescription in the personal finance domain is to increase or maximize annual contributions to 401(k)s or similar retirement plans. However, one of the best financial decisions I’ve m

This holiday season, a leaner budget might clarify which people truly make a difference in your life. The challenge will be figuring out how much to tip them.Determining what to give during the holid

Social Mood Fuels the China Bull"China, despite its 5,000-year burden of history, has emerged as a dynamo of optimism, experimentation and growth," enthuses a Time magazine piece about Chin

Editors Note: Welcome to Love It or Hate It, a regular dual-column feature that will capture the love-hate relationship America has with some of its biggest, most controversial companies. For past co

Birds are singing, the sun is shining, and life is beautiful again. On the surface, the vital signs of our economy are improving with every economic report. In some areas, like unemployment, the rate

There are two main drivers to a stock pinning at strike on Expiration Friday. One is the open interest of the given strike. The higher the open interest, the more likely the stock gets drawn to strik

Surprise! It's Christmas! (again...) Christmas always seemed to surprise me when I was first living on my own. It would be about this time of year I realized that I needed to spend a large sum of mon

Water is a key issue in many areas, but in the Southwest United Sates, it's critical. The ability to find new sources and transfer water is key. Over the past few years, a couple of high-profile tran

The recession hasn’t taken a bite out of Petsmart’s (PETM) earnings, thanks to the company’s ability to cut costs and slightly increase margins on essentially flat sales.The nation&