Posted on 03/26/2026 7:22:34 AM PDT by johniegrad
I have had Marketwatch on my list of favorites as my “go to” website for financial news for quite some time. I’m becoming increasingly weary of their negative spin on virtually everything related to this administration. I understand that this bias is probably due to Marketwatch being a product of the Wall Street Journal. I’m not avoidant of negativity in reporting but sometimes the bias seems over the top. Any suggestions on where to obtain online reporting on the economy and finances that may be more objective?
The intrinsic political bias is, in fact, important. As you noted, there is clearly a herd mentality in the financial world as in most areas of life. That is important. If the political bias is there, what is it? And what direction is it going? Because that is likely where the herd tends to go.
“A good hockey player plays where the puck is. A great hockey player plays where the puck is going to be.”
back in the day, it used to be wall street journal: i read it cover-to-cover for decades and got a pretty good financial education that way ... however, like all other publications they’ve subsequently turned leftist, but i don’t know how much that’s affected their financial articles, plus they no longer offer cheap subscriptions ... of course, there’s always the library, most of whom offer online availability of beau coup publications to library account holders ...
You also might want to read Peter Lynch’s book. A proponent of value investing, Lynch wrote and co-authored a number of books and papers on investing strategies, including One Up on Wall Street, published by Simon & Schuster in 1989, which sold over one million copies.
a few words of advice:
1. never let someone else manage your investments.
2. personally, i’m a value investor, and don’t chase the latest get-quick-rich scheme like the crypto nonsense ... also i don’t believe in so-called “technical analysis”, which is a voodoo “science” that purports to predict the market future based on past performance as divined from various charts.
3. always buy ETFs instead of mutual funds, except money-market funds ... stay away from proprietary mutual funds except money-market funds, proprietary meaning funds managed by your brokerage
4. there’s plenty of investment opportunities in the USA without needing to go foreign, except for global petroleum corporations ...
4. it’s hard to do better than Schwab as a “broker”, really just a place to buy and sell and hold your securities
5. max out any opportunity you have for tax-deferred IRAs ... increase your amounts whenever you get a raise
6. one good long term investment strategy is to buy into corporations that provide the foundation for modern civilization, like petroleum producers ...
7. hoard your cash, study the market and the stocks you’re interested in, and IF/WHEN there’s a big buying opportunity when everyone else is panicking, buy your babies being thrown out with the bathwater ...
Since the 90s at least if not longer the “mainstream journalists” from liberal J schools marched through the WSJ reporting corps. Left wing fake news took over the whole paper except for the editorial pages. The editorial board is closer to NE country club liberals like the Bushes. Still stuck on the “free trade” dogma rather than “fair trade”.
A better alternative to WSJ is Investors Business Daily aka investors.com. It is better but it too is infected. IBD has a digital weekend pdf like the full daily paper back when Bill O’Neil was in charge. You can read daily news by logging in to their website for financial stories (investors.com). Frequently they have the answer to “WTF is going on with XXX stock in the last few minutes?”.
On CNBC they try somewhat by letting Joe Kernan and Rick Santelli speak. Of course Maria Bartiromo is a one person financial and MAGA news franchise.
Interactive Brokers aggregates a lot of news, imo better than Schwab and Fidelity for customers.
The good news for today’s investors is cost. You can create a diversified portfolio with annual costs less than 50bps. That alone over time will increase your value by significant amounts. Think compounding, or reverse compounding as you are decreasing other people’s profits (mutual fund companies, insurance variable accounts, advisory acct annual fees) and increasing yours.
I love the misinformation in ads. Especially the latest Fisher Investment commercials, as if they are the only fiduciaries in the world of best interest investing. And it’s like they are saving you money because they don’t charge a commission, just 100-200bps annual fees.
Fox Business Channel, especially Maria Bartiromo. And kitco.com.
Sure, but to clarify — I’d just disagree it’s actually a *political* bias as much as it an actually generic *herd* bias.
Let me preface this by saying that A)I’m not some irrationally exuberant BUY THE DIP bot, nor B)am I someone who considers the markets a substitute for the broader economy/impact on individual pocketbooks, NOR C)am I ever a doomer....
However, I’d give you 2022 as Exhibit A as evidence of the “herd” — not “political” bias, at least specific to the idea of financial reporting.
As I would think anyone invested remembers — 2022 was a bad market year and the financial reporting was recession alarm bells and a market crash. Was that political bias in financial reporting against the ‘rats and sleepy joe?
No doubt - raging inflation hurt the public.
However, from a financial markets perspective? I just wasn’t seeing problems in the 2022 10-Qs and 10-Ks. Certainly, some warning signs to pay attention to...
But, it just goes to my broader point: It wasn’t *political* bias, it was *herd* bias. The wise investor in 2022 didn’t run scared - and got rewarded in 2023 and 2024.
Like I said, I keep my politics and money in separate rooms. Always have. Hasn’t failed me yet.
When it comes to streaming, none of the above. I liked Schwab Network better in the past, but it now fills hours with speculation and options talk, and have interviews with DEI woke losers and reps touting this or that. ALL financial news streams subtly or not-so-subtly blame or bash the POTUS, and and unfamiliar bleating faces (that you'll never see again) bitching about the President.
Truthfully, I come to FR to get financial news.
Why? Because I get a good cross section of left, right, and utterly daft forecasting. My favorites are the doomsters who push gold and calamity while accepting fiat currency as payment.
It also helps when you realize there are people peddling ignorance as wisdom, and are actually pimping their own stuff. Here’s one of my favs, pimping for NewsBusters (and…upon investigation, his own articles): https://freerepublic.com/focus/bloggers/4137820/posts?page=24#24
FR is the demolition derby of news. That’s why it’s so good.
All that said, 10-Ks, 10-Qs, 8-Ks, and other filings are a goldmine. THAT is good stuff but, sometimes, a good company and a good investment can be two different things. It also depends upon your own risk appetite. But that’s beyond this post.
The other “problem” with financial is 1) you have to know how to read them, and 2) you have to cut out the mindless chatter about firms being all woke zombies shilling for the WEF.
Debt to EBITDA is not a trade route. But if you can understand that receivables turnover is not a type of Pop Tart, you’re on your way.
Seeking Alpha. Been a paid subscriber for several years and will continue to in the future. As with all information, use it as “food for thought” and not as the gospel.
Are you a trader or investor?
If you are an investor, forget the news and stick to your plan whatever that may be. Just about any study finds that you will be unable to time the market as a whole.
If you are a trader ask someone else because I am not. I don’t have the temperament for what I consider to be mostly gambling. I consider the market manipulated by news and largely operating on the bigger fool principle as well as hoping to find the next Apple, Nividia or whatever.
You will find others in this post echo at least part of my sentiment.
Heh, yup — read the filings is always the foundation for an individual investor. Though, one always needs to be mindful that the pros are doing the same and “buy on the rumor, sell on the news”. I.e., a friend of mine got angry with about a year and half ago — he had asked what my best individual stock pick was and I had answered NVDA (which has rewarded me handsomely). Despite bonkers 10-Qs, he managed to *lose* money and got salty with me.
I’m very much in the Peter Lynch/Warren Buffett/Charlie Munger mold: Buy-and-hold guy. Ignore the churn. Buy things you know, buy things showing good revenue and EBITDA growth. Never invest a dollar you want in the next 5 years. Never buy something for 5 minutes you don’t think you’ll hold for 5 years.
You know, the standard stuff that has been true since the dawn of the free market and such.
The more things change, the more the tired, boring CW remains true.
I hate to sound like Lou Mannheim in Wall Street - but he’s always right in the end.
To a big extent, it drives me nuts: The financial industry has evolved to the point that you can now just buy simple index ETFs and only bleed off ridiculously tiny .04-.08 fund fees. My lord, used to be - you had to buy a managed/mutual fund and they’d take 1% off the top.
But - sigh. Everybody wants to gamble. Everybody wants 6-12 month returns at ridiculous levels.
In addition to being lucrative, I enjoy investing. But as I said initially: There is ABSOLUTELY nothing wrong with a strategy that just does a few broad ETFs, set it, forget it, and don’t worry. Never panic. Don’t expect to “make a killing”. Think years, not days/weeks/months. And guess what.... in a decade? You’ll be amazed.
Exactly, it’s like a modified income averaging strategy for those that do like to trade.
100%, you nailed it, a perfect comment!
I am an INVESTOR. I am NOT a TRADER!
Far, far too many people claim they want to “invest” but they function like traders.
*Some* traders do quite well. I don’t stinkeye them. I don’t hate them. They provide necessary market liquidity.
However, I am not a trader. I’m an investor.
From a financial well-being perspective? Your point is perhaps the single, most valuable distinction people should make.
Yes, Becky is a straight-shooter and Joe Kernan is also, with a conservative bent.
Advice I can agree with so we must both be something.
EBITDA - Earnings Before I Tricked The Dumb Auditors
I wanted to add one thought to your note on ETFs, in study after study mutual fund managers hardly ever beat their target market index. They seldom ever beat the market index as a whole.
There are ETFs now for just about any bet you want to make. Don’t like the S&P since it is dominated by just a few techs?, there is an ETF that does not include those techs. Like dividends, there is an ETF for that too. You can even basically make your own ETF with Schwab’s fractional share portfolios.
Only funds that have specific niche activities may be worth your investment dollars. I have one in my income portfolio that buys and sells bonds strategically and has done very well at it over the years. The guy ebbs and flows with currency rates mostly. In general, I hate bonds as a buy and hold facility because you loan money at a low rate and receive your principal back in deflated dollars. Not my idea of a good deal. Loaning money is for fractional banking systems so far as I am concerned.
See what responses these get.
Motley Fool
Value Line
Sound advice for sure.
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