The Federal Reserve's actions can have a marked influence on the economy and financial markets. For instance, some market analysts believe that the Fed's massive, multi-year bond-buying program coupled with a record-setting period of near-zero interest rates fueled the six-year bull market for stocks. Now investors are awaiting news of when -- and by how much -- the Fed will raise short-term rates, and what that action might mean for stocks.(1) While many market watchers have

If I asked you to name the most risky asset class, which would you pick? Emerging markets(1) Commodities(2) High-yield bonds(3) Each investment has unique risks, but volatility of returns is one measure that can be applied to all. At its simplest level, volatility is the likelihood that an investment's return will change from one period to the next. It is often represented by a statistic called standard deviation. When the standard deviation is large, the investment is consid