There is about a 30% chance the Republican Party could regain control of the House of Representatives, according to Democratic strategist Charlie Cook.

Like most prognosticators, the once Sphinx-like Greenspan’s reputation has taken a bit of a hit recently. But since he is a serious student of economic history who was a child during the Great Depression, I wanted to hear his perspective, especially because he can now tell us what he really thinks.

At a regional meeting in New York sponsored by TD Ameritrade Institutional, several experts on regulatory affairs agreed that FINRA was likely to fail in its attempt  to gain control over RIA regulation.

For years, many sophisticated financial advisors and others have taken a very dim view of insured investment products, like variable annuities. The high internal fees, combined with juicy commissions and complex withdrawal rules, have spawned a relentless series of articles in the consumer press castigating VAs as bad investments. Yet in the wake of last year’s market meltdown, clients are searching as never before for guaranteed investment products that protect principal.

While advocating that both RIAs and brokers should be held to a fiduciary standard, SEC Chairman Mary Schapiro hinted that the agency might have to allow exemptions from that standard for certain brokerage activities.

The current rally in equity prices still "has a lot of legs left," Wharton School of Finance professor Jeremy Siegel told attendees at Pershing's annual INSITE conference in Hollywood, Fla., on June 5.