Fed minutes: Janet Yellen has many friends

When Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen recently waded into murkier waters, she was backed by broad support from her colleagues.

The Fed has two objectives: to keep U.S. unemployment low and to keep prices stable.

The goal is to get unemployment below 6.5% and inflation up to 2.5%.

In March, the Fed decided to tweak those thresholds to a fuzzier "qualitative view" of the job market. Yellen has indicated the Fed will be MORE

Americans love Corona, but is it paying off for investors?

Bottoms up! Constellation is cashing in on America's love affair with Corona.

Shares of Constellation Brands (STZ) opened sharply higher Wednesday after the beer and wine company reported strong quarterly results, although the stock has now fallen back.

The buzz kill came after Constellation executives said on a conference call with analysts that the cost of expanding a brewery in Mexico would be much higher than previously expected.

The company raised its estimate MORE

Ally Financial IPO is a taxpayer win, but don't buy the stock

The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Paul R. La Monica. Other than Time Warner, the parent of CNNMoney, Abbott Laboratories and AbbVie, La Monica does not own positions in any individual stocks.

The government is about to sell a big stake in Ally Financial, the auto loan giant formerly known as GMAC, through an initial public offering. It's a victory for taxpayers who had to bail the MORE

Time for market panic? Depends who you ask...

It should be another good year for the stock market. Not spectacular, but positive.

That's the general consensus among the investment strategists CNNMoney polled in a recent survey. See the full results here.

Of course, some were more bullish than others, and one was downright bearish.

Gary Flam, a portfolio manager at Bel Air Investment Advisors, had the lowest target for the S&P 500 among the 26 investment professionals in CNNMoney's survey. He MORE

Investors aren't bringing sexy back

Boring is back.

In a choppy market, investors are shifting their strategy, eschewing the once sizzling sectors (think: tech) in favor of the more mundane variety (think: utilities).

Dividend-paying companies, long-considered a tad too defensive, are especially in vogue now.

Red hot names such as Tesla (TSLA) and Netflix (NFLX) have tumbled this month, while utility stocks, known for their healthy dividends, have jumped. The Utilities Select Sector SPDR Fund (XLU) is up over 9% this year. Its top MORE

Airbnb users share tips … and the wealth

Airbnb may soon be worth more than all but three of America's largest hotel chains.

The website that lets you rent people's homes and apartments is reportedly finalizing a deal to raise about $500 million more from private equity firm TPG Capital and other investors, bringing the company's valuation to $10 billion.

That would vault Airbnb ahead of Hyatt (H), Wyndham Worldwide (WYN) and Holiday Inn owner InterContinental (IHG).

All this from a site that's MORE

Boom times for the barbarians

The once exclusive private equity industry continues to bet that average investors will want to invest in them.

Earlier this week, Los Angeles-based Ares Management filed to raise $100 million in an initial public offering, though IPO research firm Renaissance Capital estimates that the company could wind up raising $400 million.

The Ares IPO is the latest in a boom that began in 2007 when the Blackstone Group (BX) raised a staggering $4 MORE

Bond king Bill Gross loves money...and cats

What do cats and bonds have in common?

Not much, but that doesn't stop Bill Gross from dedicating his latest monthly investment outlook to his recently deceased feline companion.

The letter is titled "Bob," in honor of the Gross family's Maine Coon "Kitty," which passed away last week.

By the way, Gross is the chief investment officer at Pimco, the world's largest bond fund, which has nearly $2 trillion in assets under management.

Granted, MORE

Why Michael Lewis is wrong

by Lee Munson

I love you, New York City, but you're killing me. There's a reason I stay in my remote third world country called New Mexico.

The media focus on Michael Lewis' new book, "Flash Boys: A Wall Street Revolt," irritates the hell out of me.

Lewis wants everyone to get worked up about high-frequency trading (dubbed HFT for short). Balderdash. This is an old subject with little relevance to individual investors.

Here's MORE

WWE: Ultimate SmackDown stock

The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Paul R. La Monica. Other than Time Warner, the parent of CNNMoney, Abbott Laboratories and AbbVie, La Monica does not own positions in any individual stocks.

Quick! What's the hottest media tech stock of the past few months? Amazon? Netflix? Google?

Nope. Try World Wrestling Entertainment.

Shares of the WWE (WWE) have surged an astonishing 220% in the past year and are up MORE