Bank Stocks: Time to Buy or Run Screaming?

By Lauren LaCapra

The big banks have gotten clobbered of late, and while Wall Street is still bullish about the group's long-term prospects, few seem courageous enough to actually buy the stocks.
4 Banks Fail Bringing 2012 Total to Seven (Update 1)
 Cramer's 'Mad Money' Recap: Next Week's Game Plan (Final)
 'Mad Money Lightning Round': Autodesk Shines
 GDP Data Confirms Slow Growth: Dave's Daily
 Ron Paul: Las Vegas Here I Come!
 J.C. Penney's Silent Treatment
 10 Health Care Stocks to Watch
 Chevron, Cisco, Exxon Mobil: Dow Movers
 Regions: Financial Winner
 Third Time's The Charm for Approval of Amylin Diabetes Drug
 Wells Fargo, PNC are 'Key' Bank Stock Picks: Analyst (Update 3)
 Social Media Stocks Rally on Facebook News
 Facebook's Perfect IPO Timing
 Obama's Mortgage Fraud Unit Forms
 Amid Shale M&A Craze, Chevron Isn't Done Acquiring
 Gold Prices End Week 4% Higher (Update 1)
 Facebook IPO May Prove Goldman Conspiracies Wrong
 Cramer: Ford Needs to Rein in the Bulls
 Dion's Friday ETF Winners and Losers
 Defense Investors Shouldn't Fret Over Budget Cuts: Analysts

Today's Market

Financial: Ambac

Health: Affymetrix

Tech: Yahoo!

Small-Cap: CSK Auto

Other: Motorola


Markets

U.S. Loses Jobs, Recession Fears Gain Strength

Asia Has Mixed Session

Senate Finance Panel Defies Bush on Stimulus Plan


Tech Stocks

Google Dials Up Voice Service in Egypt

Apple TV 3 Fails to Excite Wall Street

DirecTV to Merge With Liberty Entertainment

Sprint Springs to Life Despite Wider Loss

Altera's Net Slips


Company News

Cerner Guides Under Street Estimates

Sambol to Lead BofA Mortgage Business

Alcoa Takes Stake in Rio Tinto

Beazer, Countrywide Team Up

Oil Prices Lift Chevron's Profits

Gannett's Profits Crumpled


Small Business Focus

Five Employee Motivation Myths Debunked

Five Audit Attractors to Watch Out For


INSIGHT & ADVICE
Doug Kass
Doug Kass
Kass: Tune Out Pundits,Test Your Convictions 

Of course, the truth will set you free, in life and in markets, but first it will make you miserable. 
Doug Kass
Doug Kass
Kass: Even I Can't Pass Up Cheap Cisco 

Cisco's conference call was a stinker, but the markets are restoring value. 
Doug Kass
Doug Kass
Kass: Near-Term Pros and Cons 

The negatives have a slight edge over the positives. 
James Altucher
James Altucher
Jim Cramer's Portfolios of the Week 

These are the stocks Cramer's been talking about lately. 
Featured Commentators




MORE INVESTMENT IDEAS
TSC Staff
Weekly Roundup$ 

This earnings season, fundamentals matter again, and we're glad to see it. 
David Peltier
Stocks Under $10 Weekly Summary$ 

Investors received a lot of economic data this week, and we made one trade in the model portfolio, locking in a decent gain. 
Bryan Ashenberg
Adding on Earnings$ 

This industrial name reported better-than-expected fourth-quarter results, and provided an upbeat outlook for 2012. 
Jud Pyle
Wrapping Up OptionsAlerts Positions$ 

Here is some guidance for what action to take with the remaining holdings in our former model portfolio. 
David Peltier
A Final Analysis of Dividend Stocks$ 

In the concluding issue, updates on several model portfolio positions. 
Rev Shark
Wrapping Up $ 

This final issue closes out the remaining model portfolio positions and offers some tips for long-term investing success. 
Alan Farley
Go for Intraday Plays$ 

These make more sense than swing trades while we wait for a longer-term consolidation pattern or a notable reversal. 



ANALYSIS
By Ivy Lessner 
Microsoft's Deal Needs Time to Digest 
Assimilating Yahoo! into the fold will be the toughest task.
By Marek Fuchs 
Google, Microsoft and Yahoo! Oh My! 
Here's where the media and Maven missed on the three tech giants' news trifecta.

IN FOCUS

Microsoft, Yahoo! Await Antitrust Scrutiny 
By Alexei Oreskovic 
The proposed merger could be drawn out because of its complexity.



Apple's iPod Classic Could Be Harmful to Your Headphones 
By Gary Krakow 
Users complain that software upgrade damages equipment.



Jim Cramer's Wrap-up Jim Cramer's Wrap-up
'Mad Money' Recap
Next Week's Game Plan

Jim Cramer's Wrap-up
Lightning Round
Autodesk Shines

COMMENTARY
By Brad Hall 
The Innovators: Winning the Productivity Game 
Companies need to devise an innovative strategy to bring out the best in their work force.
By Doug Kass 
Kass: Color Me More Bullish 
Even if the economic downturn is worse than feared, it will occur within an already undervalued market.

MANAGING YOUR MONEY
Gregg Greenberg
The 5 Dumbest Things on Wall Street This Week: Jan. 27 
Treehouse Leaves Doubts; RIM's Seismic Silliness; Martha vs. Macy's; McDonald's Twitter Tragedy; Volt Loses Charge. 

Gregg Greenberg
Tobacco & Pipeline Stocks with High Yields 
James Wong, portfolio manager for the Payden Value Leaders fund, names his favorite high yield stocks including Altria, Enbridge Energy and Philip Morris. 

Gregg Greenberg
The 5 Dumbest Things on Wall Street: Jan. 20 
Straight To Hellas; Here's To You Metabolix; Deen Goes For Green; Chevron Does Shakespeare; Duncan's Gambling Goof. 

Gregg Greenberg
3 Top Dividend Stocks For 2012 
Oliver Pursche, portfolio manager for the GMG Defensive Beta fund, names his favorite high dividend paying stocks including McDonald's, Intel and Abbott Labs. 

Gregg Greenberg
Corbett Likes the Midas Touch 
Michael Corbett, portfolio manager for the Perritt Micro Cap Opportunities Fund, names his favorite micro-cap stocks including Acent Capital, CyberOptics, Midas and Century Casinos. 

Gregg Greenberg
The 5 Dumbest Things on Wall Street This Week: Jan. 13 
No Pain, No Gain for Novartis; Zynga Gets Zinged; WebMD's Acute Dumbness; Blackstone's Domain Drama; Hildebrand's Swiss Miss. 

Gregg Greenberg
5 Dumbest Things on Wall Street: Jan. 6 
MSG's Cable Clash; Verizon's Foolish Fee; Groupon's Raw Deal; Sanford & Sears; Walgreen's Woes. 

Gregg Greenberg
The 10 Dumbest Things on Wall Street in 2011 
TheStreet recaps Wall Street's most inane events of the year. 

Gregg Greenberg
Why Acacia Research, HMS Holdings Top Small Cap list for 2012 
Jim Oberweis, portfolio manager for the Oberweis Emerging Growth Fund, discusses his favorite small cap growth stocks. 

More Managing Your Money