Websites for Research

E-mails with a friend brought up the thought of where does one get good research for investing, so below I give you some good sites.

I admit it I am cheap. The idea of paying for research is just not in my DNA. But as someone who consumes and needs lots of information about the market if is absolutely essential that I get good information. Right up front if one depends on the mass media you will not only not get good research, but agenda driven research and opinion. The large newspapers and major television networks are lousy when it comes to information and their web sites are just as bad. Add in the web sites that are biased to one way or another towards some political angle. If someone listens or reads the agenda driven information sources your opinions and more importantly your emotions can be swayed to a point you lose a true sense of what is really happening.

Each morning I get at 6 AM and do about two hours of immediate research online to keep abreast of what is going on in the economy and markets. During my research time I am listening to CNBC and picking up points as well. On CNBC I do avoid John Harwood, who might be the worst reporter on the planet agenda wise. Through the years I have added and culled web sites as I have found them and as some web sites have lost appeal. Below are the current web sites I look at each morning for information. There are also several web sites I check weekly or monthly too. This is not an all inclusive list for me, as I know some of you are not professional investors and do not have the time for such. However the sites listed can give most investors info they need for investing.


24/7 Wall Street...an excellent web site updated regularly throughout the day with nice opinion pieces. I particularly like John Tammy and his insights on the economy and stocks. http://247wallst.com/

CNBC..good breaking news source. updates regularly. http://www.cnbc.com/

Marketwatch...another good breaking news source. Be careful with the opinion pieces here as they can be agenda driven to the left. http://www.marketwatch.com/

Seeking Alpha...if there is a better opinion and information site on the web I have not found it. updates regularly and is a place you can research just about anything. If you had no other place to do research this would be the one. http://seekingalpha.com/articles this is a direct link to the article database.

Investing Daily... this source of information updates about once daily, but the pieces are very good. this is a paid site, but there is good free research too. Roger Conrad is real good on the income side. http://www.investingdaily.com/

Morningstar..again a paid site, but good information is free and worth the daily look. http://www.morningstar.com/?topnav=home

MSN Money...frankly not as good as it used to be, but worth at least one look daily for possible new articles of interest. http://money.msn.com/investing

Yahoo. Finance...a very good source of info and quotes. Good articles each morning too. The message boards here are the best on the web in my opinion. Excellent source of info on stocks. http://finance.yahoo.com/

Money Show...an increasingly good source of info and a huge library of articles available for research. Once a day is enough. http://www.moneyshow.com/main.asp?scode=

Breakout...Yahoo...I check this daily for one reason, Jeff Macke. He is a no nonsense person who knows his stuff. http://finance.yahoo.com/blogs/breakout/

Real Clear Markets...check once in the morning for good articles. http://www.realclearmarkets.com/

Carpe Diem...written by Michigan professor Mark Perry. excellent source of upbeat economic points. once daily http://mjperry.blogspot.com/

Business NC...for local morning source of NC business news web links this is the place. http://www.businessnc.com/index.php?cid=342316&src=news&srctype=lister&category=Business&curlid=1

Triangle Business Journal...another local source of business news. again the articles here can be biased so be careful. paid site so you only get the headlines. http://www.bizjournals.com/triangle/

Wealthtrack...interviews by Consuelo Mack who is very good. has a show on PBS which you can view here too. once a week. http://wealthtrack.com/

PIMCO...once a month Bill Gross posts a column. absolutely necessary reading for any investor. http://www.pimco.com/EN/Insights/Pages/ViewpointsOverview.aspx

Mcdep...oil analysis. paid site that drops paid info for free a couple of weeks late. this guy has forgotten more about oil investing that most people know. site updates Sunday evenings http://www.mcdep.com/

Doug Kass. called the market right the last couple of turns so has cred. this is a paid site that occasionally drops free stuff, worth checking to get the free stuff. Kass is a bear. http://www.thestreet.com/author/1358076/DougKass/all.html

The Draconian...superbly written article once a week. great insight on market direction. http://thedraconian.com/

The Small Town Investor... excellent source of investing help that is written by one smart guy. Ok, just could not help myself. http://smalltowninvestor.blogspot.com/