10 Best Financial Stocks To Buy Right Now

The U.S. economy as a whole may still be stumbling along, too weak to support even a modest slowdown in government bond buying. But at least one business area is booming: Ponzi schemes.

On Friday, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission announced that this week, a federal judge in Massachusetts has found that investment manager Steven Palladino, and his Massachusetts-based company Viking Financial Group,, committed securities fraud.

This was a civil action. A criminal case is said to be also ongoing.

According to the details of the SEC release, Palladino and Viking set up a business in April 2011, whereby he promised some 33 investors interest rate payments of from 7% to 15% -- a month -- on investments in Viking. Viking promised its investors that it would use their money "to make to short-term, high interest loans to those unable to obtain traditional financing," securing these loans with "first interest liens on non-primary residence properties."

In actual fact, few such loans were ever made.

10 Best Prefered Stocks To Invest In Right Now: iShares 1-3 Year Treasury Bond ETF (SHY)

iShares Lehman 1-3 Year Treasury Bond Fund (the Fund) seeks investment results that correspond generally to the price and yield performance of the short-term sector of the United States Treasury market as defined by the Lehman Brothers 1-3 Year U.S. Treasury Index (the Index). The Index includes all publicly issued United States Treasury securities that have a remaining maturity of between 1 and 3 years, are non-convertible, are denominated in United States dollars, are rated investment grade (Baa3 or better) by Moody�� Investors Service, are fixed rate, and have $250 million or more of outstanding face value. Excluded from the Index are certain special issues, such as flower bonds, targeted investor notes (TINs), and state and local government bonds (SLGs), and coupon issues that have been stripped from assets already included in the Index.

The Index is a market capitalization-weighted index. The Fund invests in a representative sample of the securities in the Index, which has a similar investment profile as the Index. The Fund�� investment advisor is Barclays Global Fund Advisor.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Donald van Deventer]

  Shorter-duration Treasury Exchange-Traded Funds: (SHY), (SHV), (IEI), (BIL), (TUZ), (FIVZ), (DTUL), (VGSH), (DTUS), (DFVS), (DFVL), (SST), (ISTB), (TBZ).

10 Best Financial Stocks To Buy Right Now: Gramercy Property Trust Inc (GPT)

Gramercy Property Trust Inc., formerly Gramercy Capital Corp., incorporated on April 1, 2004, is an integrated, self-managed real estate investment and asset management company. The Company�� principal business is to acquire and manage industrial and office properties, net leased to tenants in major markets throughout the United States. The Company owns, directly or in joint venture, a portfolio of 112 buildings totaling approximately 4.2 million square feet of office and 1.5 million square feet of industrial, net leased on a long-term basis to tenants, including Bank of America, Nestle Waters, Philips Electronics and others. In September 2013, it closed on five new acquisitions. In October 2013, it acquired an approximately 220,000 square foot food-grade cold storage and distribution facility located in Yuma, Arizona. In October 2013, the Company acquired approximately 120,350 square foot industrial facility in Austin, Texas. In November 2013, the Company announced the acquisition of six new properties.

In June 2013, the Company announced that it has closed on the acquisition of a build-to-suit of an approximately 120,0000 square foot industrial facility located in Hialeah, Gardens, Florida in the Miami Metropolitan Statistical Area. In July 2013, Gramercy Property Trust Inc closed on four acquisitions; a wholesale automotive auction facility in Dallas, Texas, an industrial cold storage facility in Southern New Jersey and two cross-dock truck terminals located in Houston, Texas and Orlando, Florida.

The Company's property management business, operating under the name Gramercy Asset Management, manages for third-parties commercial properties leased primarily to regulated financial institutions and affiliated users throughout the United States. The Company is actively acquiring industrial and office assets leased to companies in a variety of industries. The Company will primarily acquire long-term leased assets, but will acquire shorter leases with risk adjusted returns.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Chris DeMuth Jr.]

  This article is intended to update our readers on the progress on Gramercy Property Trust (GPT) through 2Q 2013. For background you may want to go back and read our previous articles. In this particular article, I will focus on 4 particular points:

• [By Jeff Reeves]

  Next Page

  Best Stocks to Buy for Around $5: Gramercy Property Trust (GPT)

  Gramercy Property Trust (GPT) is a real estate investment trust that manages mainly industrial and office properties across the U.S. As of last year, GPT controlled more than 110 buildings with about 4.2 million square feet of office space and 1.5 million square feet of industrial space.

10 Best Financial Stocks To Buy Right Now: United States Brent Oil Fund LP (BNO)

United States Brent Oil Fund, LP (USBO) is a commodity pool. USBO is focused on issuing units that may be purchased and sold on the NYSE Arca, Inc. The investment objective of USBO is for the daily changes in percentage terms of its units��per unit net asset value (NAV) to reflect the daily changes in percentage terms of the spot price of Brent crude oil, as measured by the daily changes in the price of the futures contract for Brent crude oil traded on the ICE Futures Exchange (the ICE Futures).

The investment portfolio of USBO will consist primarily of investments in futures contracts for crude oil, heating oil, gasoline, natural gas and other petroleum-based fuels that are traded on the ICE Futures, New York Mercantile Exchange (the NYMEX) or other United States and foreign exchanges (collectively, Futures Contracts). USBO may also take positions in other crude oil-related investments, such as cash-settled options on Futures Contracts, forward contracts for oil, cleared swap contracts and non-exchange traded (over-the-counter) transactions that are based on the price of crude oil, other petroleum-based fuels, Futures Contracts and indices based on the foregoing (collectively, Other Crude Oil-Related Investments).

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Aaron Levitt]

  As we said before, the Iranian deal doesn�� actually add any new supplies back into marketplace for quite some time. With oil demand starting to move ahead as the global economy is beginning to return to normalcy, Brent prices should grind their way upwards. That makes the United States Brent Oil (BNO) a prime play.

10 Best Financial Stocks To Buy Right Now: Vanguard Dividend Appreciation ETF (VIG)

Vanguard Dividend Appreciation ETF (the Fund) is an open-end investment company, or mutual fund. It seeks to track the performance of an index that measures the investment return of common stocks of companies that have a record of increasing dividends over time. Vanguard Dividend Appreciation ETF is an exchange-traded share class of Vanguard Dividend Appreciation Index Fund (the Fund), which employs a passive management or indexing investment approach designed to track the performance of the Dividend Achievers Select Index (the Index).

The Index is a subset of the Broad Dividend Achievers Index and is administered for Vanguard by Mergent, Inc. The Fund attempts to replicate the Index by investing all, or substantially all, of its assets in the stocks that make up the Index, holding each stock in approximately the same proportion as its weighting in the Index.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Brian Pacampara]

  Based on the aggregated intelligence of 180,000-plus investors participating in Motley Fool CAPS, the Fool's free investing community, the Vanguard Dividend Appreciation ETF (NYSE: VIG) has earned a respected four-star ranking.

• [By Jon C. Ogg]

  5. Dividends, stock buy-backs, capex, and M&A all increase at a double-digit rate – This is led by a lot of cash flow, underleveraged balance sheets, and possible great places to use cash. The argument for higher cap-ex is as follows: “Pent-up demand and aging of plant, equipment and technology argue for increases in those key areas.”

  ETF Recommendation: Vanguard Dividend Appreciation ETF (NYSEArca: VIG) for dividend growers, and PowerShares Buyback Achievers (NYSEArca: PKW) for buyback stocks. Hint: the buyback ETF rose by 45.5% in 2013 after dividend adjustments versus 28.8% for the dividend growth ETF.

  6. The U.S. dollar appreciates as U.S. energy and manufacturing trends continue to improve.

• [By Chuck Saletta]

  By increasing the money you're investing now, you can improve your nest egg when the trust funds do empty, better protecting your lifestyle from those pending benefit cuts. Here are four investments to consider as you sock away extra money to make up for Social Security's shortfall:

  The S&P Depository Receipts (NYSEMKT: SPY  ) is one ETF that tracks the S&P 500, providing a low-cost way to get stock market return potential to help build your nest egg. For the potential of providing portfolio ballast, the iShares Barclay's US Treasury Bond (NYSEMKT: GOVT  ) ETF owns U.S. Treasury bonds. With interest rates so low, the returns from the bonds in that ETF are not likely to be stellar, but they at least do carry a government-backed guarantee of repayment. If you're worried about inflation ravaging your purchasing power over time, the iShares Barclay's TIPS Bond (NYSEMKT: TIP  ) ETF offers a way to buy government bonds that will increase along with inflation. But while those bonds may be able to keep up with the official inflation rate, they won't help much if your costs, like many people's, increase faster than inflation as you age. For the potential of an income stream that may grow faster than inflation but carries more risk of potential default or reduction, Vanguard's Dividend Appreciation ETF (NYSEMKT: VIG  ) may fit the bill. It's a low-cost way to invest in companies with solid track records of increasing their dividends. Still, there's a trade-off in that unlike Treasury bonds, there are no guarantees that dividends will get paid.

  No matter how you invest, the reality is that even lousy investing beats not investing at all. It certainly beats waking up sometime in the next two decades to find that your Social Security check has been slashed by a fourth and not having any alternative source of cash.

• [By Eric Parnell]

  After taking these risks into consideration, maintaining an allocation to stocks remains worthwhile in such an environment. Given the volatility that often accompanies the turbulent May to October period, it may offer some particularly good trading opportunities as either broader markets or specific securities experience steep corrections followed by swift rallies. But risks must be monitored closely and holdings should be viewed with a potentially shorter time horizon depending on how events unfold in the coming months. Emphasizing stocks that exhibit quality, low volatility, value and current income that are also not technically overbought provides an additional way to control risk in the current environment. This includes allocations such as the Vanguard Dividend Appreciation ETF (VIG) and high quality individual names such as Exxon Mobil (XOM), International Business Machines (IBM), McDonald's (MCD), General Electric (GE) and Oracle (ORCL). It should be noted that IBM, General Electric and Oracle were all positions that were scooped up following recent sharp pullbacks.

10 Best Financial Stocks To Buy Right Now: Manulife Financial Corp (MFC)

Manulife Financial Corporation (MFC) is a Canada-based financial services group with principal operations in Asia, Canada and the United States. The Company�� segments are Asia, Canadian and U.S. Divisions and the Corporate and Other segment. The Company�� international network agents and distribution partners offers financial protection and wealth management products and services to clients. It also provides asset management services to institutional customers. In January 2013, the Company acquired Benesure Canada Inc. In August 2013, John Hancock, the United States division of the Company, announced that it has acquired Landmark Square in Long Beach, California. In December 2013, MFC announced its subsidiary, Manulife (International) Limited, had completed the transaction to sell its life insurance business in Taiwan to CTBC Life Insurance Co., Ltd. Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Eric Lam]

  Air Canada, the nation�� largest airline, surged 7.2 percent after reducing costs. Manulife Financial Corp. (MFC), Canada�� largest insurer, increased 2.6 percent for a fourth day of gains. Trilogy Energy Corp. plunged 9.8 percent after reporting a loss as sales declined. Detour Gold Corp. plunged 18 percent after saying it will not meet its 2013 production targets. Centerra Gold Inc. and HudBay Minerals Inc. sank at least 3.7 percent as gold dropped to a three-week low in New York.

10 Best Financial Stocks To Buy Right Now: Metlife Inc (MET)

MetLife, Inc. (MetLife), incorporated on August 10, 1999, is a provider of insurance, annuities and employee benefit programs, serving 90 million customers in over 50 countries. Through its subsidiaries and affiliates, MetLife operates in the United States, Japan, Latin America, Asia Pacific, Europe and the Middle East. It is organized into six segments: Insurance Products, Retirement Products, Corporate Benefit Funding and Auto & Home (collectively, U.S. Business), and Japan and Other International Regions (collectively, International). In addition, the Company reports certain of its results of operations in Corporate & Other, which includes MetLife Bank, National Association (MetLife Bank) and other business activities. U.S. Business provides insurance and financial services products, including life, dental, disability, auto and homeowner insurance, guaranteed interest and stable value products, and annuities through independent retail distribution channels, as well as at the workplace. Outside the U.S., it operates in Japan and over 50 countries within Latin America, Asia Pacific, Europe and the Middle East. MetLife is the life insurer in Mexico and also holds positions in Japan, Poland, Chile and Korea. This business provides life insurance, accident and health insurance, credit insurance, annuities, endowment and retirement and savings products to both individuals and groups. In August 2012, it acquired Reynolds Plantation. In January 2013, the Company completed the sale of MetLife Bank, N.A.'s deposit business. Effective July 25, 2013, MetLife Inc acquired Broadstone Laurel Highlands, from Alliance Residential Fund I. In September 2013, MetLife Inc and Thayer Lodging Group acquired the 365-room Hilton Los Cabos Beach & Golf Resort in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico in a joint venture.

Insurance Products

The Insurance Products segment offers a range of protection products and services aimed at serving the financial needs of its customers throughout their lives. These pro! ducts are sold to individuals and corporations, as well as other institutions and their respective employees. It is organized in three businesses: Group Life, Individual Life and Non-Medical Health.

The Group Life insurance products and services include variable life, universal life, and term life products. It offer group insurance products as employer-paid benefits or as voluntary benefits where all or a portion of the premiums are paid by the employee. These group products and services also include employee paid supplemental life and are offered as standard products or may be tailored to meet specific customer needs.

The Individual Life insurance products and services include variable life, universal life, term life and whole life products. Additionally, through its broker-dealer affiliates, it offers a full range of mutual funds and other securities products. The products within both Group Life and Individual Life include Variable Life, Universal Life, Term Life and Whole Life. Variable life products provide insurance coverage through a contract that gives the policyholder the policyholder flexibility in investment choices and, depending on the product, in premium payments and coverage amounts, with certain guarantees. With variable life products, premiums and account balances can be directed by the policyholder into a variety of separate account investment options or directed to the Company�� general account. In the separate account investment options, the policyholder bears the entire risk of the investment results.

Universal life products provide insurance coverage on the same basis as variable life, except that premiums, and the resulting accumulated balances, are allocated only to the Company�� general account. Universal life products may allow the insured to increase or decrease the amount of death benefit coverage over the term of the contract and the owner to adjust the frequency and amount of premium payments.

Term life products provid! e a guara! nteed benefit upon the death of the insured for a specified time period in return for the periodic payment of premiums. Specified coverage periods range from one year to 30 years, but in no event are they longer than the period over, which premiums are paid. Death benefits may be level over the period or decreasing. Decreasing coverage is used principally to provide for loan repayment in the event of death. Premiums may be guaranteed at a level amount for the coverage period or may be non-level and non-guaranteed. Term insurance products are sometimes referred to as pure protection products, in that there are typically no savings or investment elements. Term contracts expire without value at the end of the coverage period when the insured party is still living.

Whole life products provide a guaranteed benefit upon the death of the insured in return for the periodic payment of a fixed premium over a predetermined period. Premium payments may be required for the entire life of the contract period, to a specified age or period, and may be level or change in accordance with a predetermined schedule. Whole life insurance includes policies that provide a participation feature in the form of dividends. Policyholders may receive dividends in cash or apply them to increase death benefits, increase cash values available upon surrender or reduce the premiums required to maintain the contract in-force.

The Non-Medical Health products and services include dental insurance, group short- and long-term disability, individual disability income, long-term care (LTC), critical illness and accidental death & dismemberment coverage. Other products and services include employer-sponsored auto and homeowners insurance provided through the Auto & Home segment and prepaid legal plans. The Company also sells administrative services-only (ASO) arrangements to some employers. The products in this area are Dental, Disability and Long-term Care (LTC). Dental products provide insurance and ASO plans that ass! ist emplo! yees, retirees and their families in maintaining oral health while reducing out-of-pocket expenses and providing superior customer service. Dental plans include the Preferred Dentist Program and the Dental Health Maintenance Organization. Disability products provide a benefit in the event of the disability of the insured. This benefit is in the form of monthly income paid until the insured reaches age 65. In addition to income replacement, the product may be used to provide for the payment of business overhead expenses for disabled business owners or mortgage payment protection. This is offered on both a group and individual basis. LTC products provide protection against the potentially high costs of LTC services. They generally pay benefits to insureds that need assistance with activities of daily living or have a cognitive impairment.

Retirement Products

The Retirement products segment includes a variety of variable and fixed annuities that are primarily sold to individuals and employees of corporations and other institutions. The products in this area are Variable Annuities and Fixed Annuities. Variable annuities provide for both asset accumulation and asset distribution needs. Variable annuities allow the contract holder to make deposits into various investment options in a separate account, as determined by the contract holder. The risks associated with such investment options are borne entirely by the contract holder, except where guaranteed minimum benefits are involved.

Fixed annuities provide for both asset accumulation and asset distribution needs. Fixed annuities do not allow the same investment flexibility provided by variable annuities, but provide guarantees related to the preservation of principal and interest credited.

Corporate Benefit Funding

The Corporate Benefit Funding segment includes a range of annuity and investment products, including, guaranteed interest products and other stable value products, income annuitie! s, and se! parate account contracts for the investment management of defined benefit and defined contribution plan assets. This segment also includes certain products to fund postretirement benefits and company, bank or trust owned life insurance used to finance non-qualified benefit programs for executives. The products in this area are Stable Value Products, Pensions Closeouts, Torts and Settlements, Capital Markets Investment Products and other Corporate Benefit Funding Products and Services. The Company offers general account guaranteed interest contracts, separate account guaranteed interest contracts, and similar products used to support the stable value option of defined contribution plans. It also offers private floating rate funding agreements that are used for money market funds, securities lending cash collateral portfolios and short-term investment funds.

The Company offers general account and separate account annuity products, generally in connection with the termination of defined benefit pension plans, both in the United States and the United Kingdom. It also offers partial risk transfer solutions that allow for partial transfers of pension liabilities and annuity products that include single premium buyouts. It offers strategies for complex litigation settlements, primarily structured settlement annuities. Under the Capital Markets Investment Products, the products offered include funding agreements, Federal Home Loan Bank advances and funding agreement-backed commercial paper. Under the Other Corporate Benefit Funding Products and Services, it offers specialized insurance products designed specifically to provide solutions for non-qualified benefit and retiree benefit funding purposes.

Auto & Home

The Auto & Home segment includes personal lines property and casualty insurance offered directly to employees at their employer�� worksite, as well as to individuals through a variety of retail distribution channels, including independent agents, property and casu! alty spec! ialists, direct response marketing and the individual distribution sales group. Auto & Home primarily sells auto insurance, which represented 67% of Auto & Home�� total net earned premiums in 2011. Homeowners and other insurance represented 33% of Auto & Home�� total net earned premiums in 2011. The products in this area are Auto Coverages and Homeowners and Other Coverages. Auto insurance policies provide coverage for private passenger automobiles, utility automobiles and vans, motorcycles, motor homes, antique or classic automobiles and trailers. Auto & Home offers traditional coverage, such as liability, uninsured motorist, no fault or personal injury protection, as well as collision and comprehensive. Homeowners��insurance policies provide protection for homeowners, renters, condominium owners and residential landlords against losses arising out of damage to dwellings and contents from a variety of perils, as well as coverage for liability arising from ownership or occupancy. Other insurance includes personal excess liability (protection against losses in excess of amounts covered by other liability insurance policies), and coverage for recreational vehicles and boat owners. Most of Auto & Home�� homeowners��policies are traditional insurance policies for dwellings, providing protection for loss on a replacement cost basis. These policies also provide additional coverage for reasonable, normal living expenses incurred by policyholders that have been displaced from their homes.

International

International provides life insurance, accident and health insurance, credit insurance, annuities, endowment and retirement & savings products to both individuals and groups. The Company focuses on markets primarily within Japan, Latin America, Asia Pacific, Europe and the Middle East. It operates in international markets through subsidiaries and affiliates. The Company operates in 22 countries in Latin America, with operations in Mexico, Chile and Argentina. It operates in fou! r countri! es in Asia Pacific with operations in Korea, Hong Kong and Australia. It operates in 35 countries in Europe and the Middle East with operations in Poland, the United Kingdom, France, and the United Arab Emirates, as well as through a consolidated joint venture in India.

Corporate & Other

Corporate & Other contains the excess capital not allocated to the segments, which is invested to optimize investment spread and to fund company initiatives and various start-up and run-off entities. Mortgage products offered by MetLife Bank include forward and reverse residential mortgage loans. Residential mortgage loans are originated through MetLife Bank�� national sales force, mortgage brokers and mortgage correspondents. The residential mortgage banking activities include the origination and servicing of mortgage loans. Mortgage loans are held-for-investment or sold primarily into Federal National Mortgage Association (FNMA), Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation (FHLMC) or Government National Mortgage Association (GNMA) securities. Deposit products include traditional savings accounts, money market savings accounts, certificates of deposit (CDs) and individual retirement accounts.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Laura Brodbeck]

  Wednesday

  Earnings Expected: MetLife Inc. (NYSE: MET), Humana Inc. (NYSE: HUM), Kraft Foods (NASDAQ: KRFT) Economic Releases Expected: British consumer confidence, U.S. oil inventory data, US GDP, German CPI, eurozone industrial sentiment, eurozone business climate, eurozone consumer confidence, Spanish GDP, French consumer confidence

  Thursday

10 Best Financial Stocks To Buy Right Now: Bank of America Corporation(BAC)

Bank of America Corporation, a financial holding company, provides banking and nonbanking financial services and products to individuals, small- and middle-market businesses, large corporations, and governments in the United States and internationally. The company?s Deposits segment generates savings accounts, money market savings accounts, certificate of deposits, and checking accounts; and Global Card Services segment provides the U.S. consumer and business card, consumer lending, international card and debit card services. Its Home Loans & Insurance segment offers consumer real estate products and services, including mortgage loans, reverse mortgages, home equity lines of credit, and home equity loans. It also provides property, disability, and credit insurance. The company?s Global Commercial Banking segment offers lending products, including commercial loans and commitment facilities, real estate lending, leasing, trade finance, short-term credit, asset-based lending, and indirect consumer loans; and capital management and treasury solutions, such as treasury management, foreign exchange, and short-term investing options. Its Global Banking & Markets segment provides financial products, advisory services, settlement, and custody services; debt and equity underwriting and distribution, merger-related advisory services, and risk management products; and integrated working capital management and treasury solutions. The company?s Global Wealth & Investment Management segment offers investment and brokerage services, estate management, financial planning services, fiduciary management, credit and banking expertise, and asset management products. Bank of America Corporation serves customers through a network of approximately 5,900 banking centers and 18,000 automated teller machines. It was formerly known as NationsBank Corporation and changed its name on October 1, 1998. Bank of America Corporation was founded in 1874 and is based in Charlott e, North Carolina.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Amanda Alix]

  This is the week that the fate of a distinctly unsettled prior settlement between Bank of America (NYSE: BAC  ) and 22 institutional investors gets put to the test in the courtroom of New York State Supreme Court Justice Barbara Kapnick. At issue is a New York law called Article 77, which will be used to answer the question of whether or not Bank of New York Mellon (NYSE: BNY  ) , as trustee for the settlement, acted reasonably in accepting the terms on behalf of the complainants.

• [By David Hanson and Matt Koppenheffer]

  After having its annual meeting and corporate headquarters repeatedly protested by environmental groups, it appears Bank of America (NYSE: BAC  ) and the rest of the banking industry may be listening.

• [By John Maxfield]

  4. Banks rebounding today
  Finally, bank stocks are rebounding in early trading after taking a beating yesterday. At the time of writing, JPMorgan Chase (NYSE: JPM  ) , Bank of America (NYSE: BAC  ) , and Wells Fargo (NYSE: WFC  ) are up 1.09%, 0.85%, and 1.04%, respectively. Meanwhile, the industry overall is up somewhat less, as measured by the KBW Bank Index (DJINDICES: ^BKX  ) , which is currently higher by 0.66%.