With stocks back at pre-financial crisis levels, some small investors are stepping gingerly back into the market. With encouraging corporate and economic news, why the hesitance?

The Dow jumped almost 6 percent in January — its best start to the year since 1994. Does this mean the individual investor has returned to the stock market?

The latest home price numbers from the S&P/Case-Shiller Index show the strongest year-over-year growth since 2006.

Two of the major stock indices closed at five-year highs today, while the CBOE Volatility Index drops to its lowest since April 2007.

Corporate earnings season is here again. The first reports arrive today, starting with the aluminum company Alcoa. Analysts are bracing for a slew of lackluster numbers.

Distillery stocks in China tumble this week after the government announced a ban on high priced spirits at state events.

Throughout all of this fiscal cliff back and forth, the stock market has reflected a certain stoicism from corporate America: Not much movement at all. But the stock market leaves out a huge chunk of our economy: Private companies.

A British academic and banker have composed an opera that highlights the harmonies they find in the world of finance , which some view as a place of turbulence.

The 2008 stock market crash sent folks walking away from Wall Street. Even today, an air of fear still holds some from re-entering the market. Have investors come around?

Following Tuesday's election, the markets took a plunge. The major stock indexes all fell nearly 2.5 percent — the biggest sell-off of the year.