Two years before dementia forced her to move into a nursing care facility, Dorothy Halstien obtained a $73,000 loan from Washington Mutual Inc. secured by her house on Whidbey Island, north of Seattle.

Edward Yardeni, chief investment strategist at Yardeni Research Inc., talks about the outlook for the global economy and copper prices.

Jim Caron, head of global interest-rate strategy at Morgan Stanley, talks about the outlook for the U.S. economy and Treasury market.

Rising profits and cash balances will push the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index to the biggest three- year advance since the 1990s, surpassing forecasts for below- average returns, strategists at Wall Street’s biggest banks say.

Our traders are beginning to load up their portfolios with their favorite long term trades for next year. Following are Tim Seymour’s top 3 for 2011.

On Wall Street investors began wondering if the action in both the stock and bond markets signaled that trouble was ahead.

If you think the bond market is going nuts now, just wait till next year.

Gold usually shines in a crisis. But thanks in large part to changing views of China, the problems swirling in Europe and Korea have barely budged gold prices.

If fortune favors the brave, is this the time to take a bet on Ireland? And if so, how can you do it?

It’s not looking good, says longtime euroskeptic Desmond Lachman.