About: Irene Wilson

LOS ANGELES (MarketWatch) — Oil futures eased in electronic trade Friday, with some analysts citing profit-taking after sharp gains helped by strong U.S. economic data and news on the West’s negotiations with Iran. “We see potential for improvement in WTI crude oil’s direct fundamentals in the weeks ahead, but Thursday’s advance had more to do with...

On Thursday, gold futures came under pressure when mostly upbeat U.S. economic data, particularly on the employment front, were viewed as ramping up the possibility that the Federal Reserve would cut back on its stimulus program within the next few meetings. For now, “gold’s selloff seems to be slowing around the $1,240...

“We see further near-term pressure but only of a moderate extent on gold until equity markets pull back off record levels,” he said. Janet Yellen’s confirmation to head the Federal Reserve has likely been priced into the market in the near term and further economic news will impact the time table to begin tapering the central...

Main Street gets bullish

Stock-based mutual funds have sucked up more cash in 2013 than any year since 2004 — $76 billion, to be exact, vs. total outflows of $451 billion from 2006 to 2012.

If you want to be a fatalist, the fact that the “dumb money” is returning to the market is...