Bill Gross compares investors to falcons

Leave it to Bill Gross to use the falcon and the falconer from William Butler Yeats' "The Second Coming" to describe investors and central bankers.

In his latest monthly investment outlook, Pimco's founder and chief investment officer used the first three lines of the 1919 poem to introduce how his firm's investment process works.

"Yeats describes a falcon, which in this metaphorical context should be assumed to be the investors, 'turning and turning in MORE

Is Pimco's Bill Gross a jerk?

Is the bond king a dictator?

Bill Gross, co-founder of Pimco and manager of the world's biggest bond fund (PTTRX) became the subject of a scathing article on the front page of the Wall Street Journal Tuesday.

The 69-year-old billionaire investor is known for being praised by the media as one of the most influential players on Wall Street, with investors around the world listening for his views on financial markets and the economy. MORE

Stocks? Traders watch U.S.-Canada hockey showdown

Stocks may be back near all-time highs, but traders were barely paying attention to the market Friday afternoon.

They took a break and turned their attention to T.J. Oshie and the rest of the U.S. men's Olympic hockey team, as they faced off against Canada in the semi-finals. Though the game resulted in a 1-0 victory for the Canadians, Americans were hopeful that Team U.S.A. would defeat its biggest rival.

The teams MORE

The 2013 Nasdaq is nothing like 2000

The Nasdaq has climbed more than 30% this year, topping 4,000 for the first time since the tech bubble era. But this time around, the index and its rally look and feel a whole lot different.

It's been a banner year for stocks. The Dow and S&P 500 have been in record territory since March, while the Nasdaq has been trading at its highest levels since 2000.

Though MORE

Warren Buffett is Heisenberg?

Billionaire investor Warren Buffett took his love of "Breaking Bad" to another level Sunday night during the season finale of the award-winning series.

The Oracle of Omaha tweeted a picture of himself as Heisenberg, the alter ego of former chemistry teacher Walter White turned crystal meth kingpin, along with the message "Not even the Oracle knows what will happen tonight. #waltsuccessor."

The tweet came two minutes into the final episode and was MORE

Teens ditch Abercrombie & Fitch, stock tanks 18%

Abercrombie & Fitch may try to attract "cool, good-looking" customers and employees, but the retailer's financial performance is just ugly.  So much for summer girls, and anyone else for that matter, liking Abercrombie.

Teens, particularly girls, are ditching Abercrombie as well its sister brand Hollister. Same store sales, a key measure for retailers, tumbled 10% during the second quarter, leading to worse-than-expected earnings and revenue for the retailer. Shares of Abercrombie MORE

Apple tops $500. Thanks, Carl Icahn!

Cue the Apple "iCahn" jokes. Apple's stock topped the $500 mark Wednesday for the first time since January. Shares moved higher for a second day on the news that activist investor Carl Icahn has taken a "large" position in the company.

Shares crossed the psychologically important level and climbed as high as $504.25 in afternoon trading, before settling just below the mark at $498.50.

Still, the recent gains have boosted Apple's value by MORE

Facebook rallies 30%, logs best day ever

Facebook shares rallied an impressive 30% Thursday, allowing the stock to book its best one-day gain ever. And while shares remain about 10% below the May 2012 IPO price of $38, analysts are predicting that Facebook is finally on its way to reaching, and even crossing, that threshold.

"Facebook delivered its strongest quarter yet as a public company -- results that we think could be thesis-changing for many," said Doug Anmuth, a MORE

Caterpillar's disappointing earnings good for Jim Chanos

It's looking like a good day for at least one famous short seller.

Just a week after hedge fund investor Jim Chanos announced he was betting against Caterpillar, the industrial equipment maker reported disappointing earnings and cut its outlook for the year.

The bad news sent shares of Caterpillar (CAT) nearly 3% lower Wednesday. The stock trimmed some of the losses as they day went on, but remained down 1.7% in the MORE

Cybersecurity stocks heat up on Cisco-Sourcefire deal

While the broader market was largely quiet Tuesday, one sector was on fire: cybersecurity.

Shares of Sourcefire (FIRE) jumped nearly 28% after networking giant Cisco (CSCO) said it agreed to buy cybersecurity firm for $2.7 billion.

The deal, which was priced at a 29% premium over Sourcefire's closing price Monday, will help Cisco bolster its network security services.

"Today's sophisticated threats are able to circumvent traditional, disparate security products," said Christopher Young, senior MORE