Business Advice

The entire financial services industry got a regulatory nastygram from the administration at 2 p.m. today when President Obama unveiled his proposal for financial regulatory reform legislation, urging Congress to pass the package by year's end.

Historically, tumultuous times offer some of the best opportunities to buy stocks, and the market's recent mess surely qualifies. There's much debate about which companies hold the best prospects, but many investors think solar cell maker Canadian Solar (Nasdaq: CSIQ) is one of them.

Market turmoil makes it easy, perhaps too easy, to justify selling a stock these days. And while making off-the-cuff decisions isn't going to help your portfolio, it's still a good idea to play devil's advocate with investments.

Every Friday, I look at seven companies that are projected to post year-over-year dips in quarterly profitability the following week. However, as we prepare to dive right into earnings season, I've found myself with a lot more than just seven major companies targeted to take steps back on the bottom line next week.

Earlier this week, I argued that the rage surrounding Goldman Sachs' (NYSE: GS) credit arrangement with CIT (NYSE: CIT) was just a bunch of needless noise.

We can intentionally crash a probe on the moon, but can we unintentionally crash the market?

Quick test: Which of the following is false?

• The average American's lifespan is nearly 80 years.
• The average large American corporation's lifespan is between 20 and 50 years, depending on the source.
• Dinosaurs still exist and can be seen roaming throughout Kansas, Nebraska, Iowa, and Rhode Island.

Since promoting Bob Rivet to the position of Chief Operations and Administrative Officer, Advanced Micro Devices (NYSE: AMD) has been running without a dedicated CFO for the last year or so. Now the permanent CFO has been named, so AMD can move on with a fully functional management team. That's great -- but I'm feeling a little queasy about the final choice.

Just when I thought it might finally turn around, things suddenly took an unexpected turn for the worse.

Just when I thought it might finally turn around, things suddenly took an unexpected turn for the worse.