Free Republic

The U.S. stock market is extremely overvalued by almost any measure.I know that pointing this out is raining on the bull market’s parade, with the rest of Wall Street giddy over the Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA, +0.88%climbing its latest 1,000 points in record time, and erstwhile bear Jeremy Grantham of Boston-based investment firm GMO warning of a possible “melt up” for the market.But valuations do matter, sooner or later. And it’s a key feature of investors’ psychology at bull market tops to ignore valuations. So this column is important precisely to the extent you’re likely to dismiss it. Dennis...

This Infamous Stock Market Crash Chart Just Won't Die Joshua Brown, The Reformed Broker Feb. 13, 2014, 12:27 PM     No matter how many times it’s been debunked*, the 1929 stock market overlay chart just will not die. Probably because you keep clicking on any headline with the number ’1929′ in it. Probably because of how provocative the idea is and because of the fact that we are much more likely to be made uncomfortable by fear than we are to be take pleasure in potential opportunity. The studies all confirm that the human animal is, at...

U.S. stocks fell sharply on Thursday after economic reports had more Americans than projected filing for jobless claims last week and retail sales unexpectedly falling in January. The Labor Department reported applications for unemployment benefits climbed by 8,000 to 339,000, higher than the 300,000 projected by economists. Separately, the Commerce Department reported retail sales fell 0.4 percent last month from December, versus expectations they would be flat.