Kris Gunnars, BSc 
A recession is a widespread decline in economic activity that lasts for at least a few months. An economic depression is a recession that is either very long, very severe, or both. Recessions are a normal part of the business cycle and occur every 5 to 10 years, while depressions … [Read more…]
Shorting, also called short selling, is a way to bet against a stock. It involves borrowing and selling shares, then buying them back later at a lower price and returning them while pocketing the difference. If the stock goes down, the trader makes a profit, but there are several major … [Read more…]
An organization called the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) is responsible for determining when recessions begin and end in the US. More specifically, a committee within the NBER called the Business Cycle Dating Committee is a group of experts who determine the starts and ends of recessions. How is … [Read more…]
Passive investing in index funds is more popular than ever. There is a good reason for this. Research shows that passively managed index funds provide higher returns than over 90% of active professional fund managers. However, there are thousands of funds and hundreds of companies making them. Not all of … [Read more…]
The US stock market is open Monday to Friday from 9:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Eastern Time. Many stocks can also be bought and sold in extended-hours trading. Pre-market trading opens at 4:00 a.m. and after-hours trading closes at 8 p.m. Stock trading hours are usually noted in Eastern Time … [Read more…]
The difference between revenue and income can be confusing, especially since the terms are often wrongly used interchangeably. For a company, revenue is the total amount of money received from customers for the sales of products and services. However, income is what remains after you subtract all costs, expenses, and … [Read more…]
The price-to-earnings (PE) ratio is the most commonly used ratio to determine if a stock is cheap or expensive relative to its earnings. It tells you how many dollars you must pay for each dollar of annual earnings. Generally speaking, a high PE ratio indicates that a stock is expensive, … [Read more…]
Facebook is completely free for users. Because of this, you may be wondering how the company makes such a large amount of money ($70 billion US dollars in 2019). To start with, it is actually a myth that Facebook sells data. Instead, Facebook (FB) makes most of its money by … [Read more…]
Stock analysts use many different words to describe their ratings. They commonly use the terms buy, sell, or hold, which are easy to understand. But other analysts use more confusing terms like strong buy, outperform, overweight, underperform, underweight, and several others. This article explains what all the different ratings mean … [Read more…]
Dividends are one of the best things about investing. You get paid regularly simply for owning stocks, which you can use to buy even more stocks so that your wealth grows over time. Some investors also like to use their dividends for passive income, especially after they retire. How often … [Read more…]