Stock funds continue to bleed despite QE3

Mutual fund investors shrugged their shoulders at the Federal Reserve's latest ploy to stimulate the sluggish economy.

In the first week following the Fed's launch of a third round of quantitative easing, or QE3, investors yanked $4.8 billion from U.S. stock mutual funds, according to data from the Investment Company Institute. That was the quickest pace of outflows since early August.

The acceleration of the exodus from stock mutual funds is curious, as the Fed's MORE

Gold is not just a lunatic fringe investment

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

Gold is often derisively referred to as an investment that only kooks who are preparing for the end of the world in a bunker can love. But it might be time to stop with all the MORE

Bill Gross: 'Central banks are where bad bonds go to die'

The Bond King came out swinging against the most recent easing plans out of the Federal Reserve and European Central Banks on Twitter late Monday.

Gross: Central banks are where bad bonds go to die. Sell bad bonds, buy good ones. Investing sometimes can be very simple.— (@PIMCO) September 17, 2012

The comments from Bill Gross, founder of investing firm Pimco, come just days after the Fed unveiled its plan MORE

The market party is over

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

The Federal Reserve and European Central Bank are doing everything they can to keep the market rally going. But guess what? It's time to channel Doris Day and Judy Holliday. The party's over.

When you take a MORE

What exactly is the Fed buying?

The Federal Reserve is opening its wallet even wider with its latest round of quantitative easing. But this time around, the Fed is expanding its purchases of agency mortgage-backed securities as opposed to just buying more Treasury bonds.

So that begs the question: What the heck are agency mortgage-backed securities?

These bonds are backed by cash flows from mortgages guaranteed by the likes of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac (remember them?) as MORE

Oil and gold surge, dollar falls on Fed action

Oil and gold prices surged Thursday after the Federal Reserve announced another round of stimulus measures that many investors say could significantly weaken the U.S. dollar.

In its third round of quantitative easing, the Fed plans to buy $40 billion in mortgage-backed securities each month for an indefinite period of time. In addition, the central bank said it plans to maintain its easy monetary policies even after the economy begins to MORE

Fed acted because Congress is lame

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

In a move that will forever be known as QE3 because it's the Federal Reserve's third round of asset purchases, the central bank pledged Thursday to buy $40 billion of mortgage-backed securities a month.

Now let's be MORE

Why the founder of the world's largest hedge fund isn't worried

The possibility of a worldwide depression or a market crash doesn't keep Ray Dalio, founder of the world's largest hedge fund, up at night.

The world, especially southern Europe, may be standing on the edge of an abyss, says Bridgewater Associates' Dalio, but he has faith in the power of central bankers around the globe to essentially print money as needed.

"The world has a lot of liquidity," Dalio said Wednesday morning, MORE

Euro hits 4-month high

The euro continues to rally against the U.S. dollar, as investors welcome positive developments in Europe and anticipate more easing by the Federal Reserve.

After falling to a multi-year low of $1.20 in July, the euro rose to $1.2842 on Tuesday -- its highest level since May 11.

Europe's single currency has been supported recently by hopes for bold action by the European Central Bank, which announced last week that it would MORE

Bill Gross: Get used to stunted returns

Bond king Bill Gross says it's time for individual investors to get used to a new (and slower) dance.

In his monthly investment outlook letter, the founder of Pimco and manager of the world's largest bond fund, Pimco Total Return Fund (PTTRX), wrote that the age of credit expansion that led to double-digit portfolio returns is over, and the age of inflation has begun.

And that means investment returns from both stocks and MORE