What the experts say

Housing’s new leaders

The housing boom never came knocking in some cities, said Deborah Orr in Forbes.com. But now places such as El Paso, Texas; Little Rock, Ark.; Pittsburgh; and Syracuse, N.Y., rank among the strongest housing markets in the nation. “With so many markets in sunnier places crashing and burning, being dull has its advantages.” Because these cities never got swept up in the bubble, they’ve managed to escape the subsequent bust, says Mark Zandi, chief economist for Moody’s Economy.com, which compiles national rankings. That’s not to say that these cities will see double-digit gains anytime soon. “The strongest metro areas will be flat at best—but that’s better than the 15 percent drop Moody’s expects on average in the U.S.”

Timing is everything

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Academics who study the stock market warn that market timers are doomed to fail, said John Waggoner in USA Today. Rather than employ a buy-and-hold strategy, timers try to study market trends, economic indicators, or even astrology in order to pinpoint when to get in and out of the market. Most forecasters charge “hefty fees” for access to their wisdom. But some market timers do pile up “ fairly impressive records” over limited stretches of time. Not surprisingly, they attract a following. “When you’re right, people want to read you,” says Steven Hochberg, chief market analyst for the Elliott Wave Financial Forecast, a newsletter whose portfolio is up 19 percent this year. “Your biggest danger with a timer: You’ll get a set of bad calls that leave you selling low and buying high.” In fact, the worst time to attempt market timing is when the market’s near a historic high or low, as it is now.

Cards get stingy

Your investments aren’t the only thing losing value, said Jane J. Kim in The Wall Street Journal. In an effort to cut costs, credit card issuers are rewriting the rules of their reward cards. Among other things, they’re capping rewards, raising fees, bumping up the points needed to redeem freebies, and shortening expiration dates. “Even AmEx’s super-exclusive Centurion card isn’t immune.” It recently replaced a two-nights-for-one deal at the Mandarin Oriental with a $200 voucher. To be fair, some companies have recently rolled out generous cash-back programs. “Last month, for example, Charles Schwab Corp. and Fidelity Investments launched new cards that pay out a 2 percent cash rebate on all purchases, with no spending limits or annual fees.” Still, think twice about hoarding certain bank rewards right now. “Cash them in regularly and don’t save for big-ticket items,” says Curtis Arnold of CardRatings.com. You don’t know if that reward system—or bank—is going to stick around.