(Lee Siler) - Despite a rise in home prices, stocks sold off yesterday on disappointing consumer confidence news. The S&P Case/Shiller 20-city index showed that home prices rose by 1.2% in July from June. Prices are still down from a year ago to the tune of 13.3%, but it certainly appears the market is starting to stabilize. The concern is when the first time home buyer tax credit incentive expires, demand will wane and so will prices. There is talk that the government may extend the program until sometime next year, but nothing has been set just yet.

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(Lee Siler) - Stocks are looking to trade higher after a week that saw the major averages lose about 2.5%. Housing and manufacturing data pushed stocks lower last week even though we did see some decent jobs numbers.

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(Lee Siler) - Stocks have been struggling all week and barring a great day for the averages, we will be closing down on the week. What's more, the commerce department released the durable goods figures, which were less than economists had expected. Durable goods orders dropped 2.4% in August after increasing a revised 4.8% in July. Wall Street was expecting a gain of 0.5%. Stock futures were pointing to a slightly higher opening, until these numbers were released and are now looking to trade much lower.

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(Marcel Dupre) - There are many opportunities that this financial crisis has opened for us. Here are a few things you can do or we can do for you at this time:

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(Marcel Dupre) - There are lots of concerns about safety of assets these days. With this in mind, I thought it fitting to provide a few helpful hints.

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(Marcel Dupre) - If you are trying to take advantage of the down markets and you want to put away some money for your future, check out the Roth accounts. A Roth account can come in different forms as a Roth IRA, a Roth 401(k), and a Roth 403(b). Using a Roth is a no-brainer if you think tax rates will be higher in the future and your income will be the same or more later because in general, if you wait until retirement to take money out of a Roth, you won’t owe any taxes on your withdrawals.

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(Marcel Dupre) - You will soon be bombarded with the name “Roth” in the media because of some changes coming next year. Beginning in 2010, two important changes are scheduled to take effect for converting to a Roth.

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(Lee Siler) - Today the Fed starts their two-day meeting. The speculation is that the Fed will likely leave the Fed Funds Rate near 0% for a while longer. Obviously, inflation will be watched and combated when it starts to rear its ugly head.

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(Mark Rogers) - Retirees over the age of 70 ½ have, prior to 2009, been required to withdraw a small percentage of their retirement accounts (401k, IRA's, etc.). This is the government's way of gaining tax revenues on money that had been growing for years tax deferred. The person taking the distribution was required to pay income tax, at their current tax rate, on any money withdrawn.

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(Lee Siler) - Stocks rallied big yesterday, as Wall Street is still buzzing about Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke's comments. The Fed chief announced that this recession is "likely" over. Recent economic data has suggested that the economy is stabilizing, but the question is how much growth we can expect in the short-term? The good news is at least the economy should not contract any further.

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