Last week, the Fed shared some widely expected news: It will taper more — keeping up a policy of slowly reducing its bond-buying program with the goal to wind it down by year’s end. It has telegraphed this action repeatedly. And yet, the markets — at historic highs — sold off on the news. Perhaps this is a good time to revisit some favorite questions: Are stocks cheap or expensive? Where are we in the economic cycle? And has the market topped? To know whether stocks are cheap or pricey, we typically look at price-to-earnings ratio. Valuation is a tougher question than many folks realize. People forget that although ... (full story)