Ask most investors about E*Trade and you’ll get a mouthful about why the company is a toxic asset to be avoided at all costs.

Is the U.S. stock market rally for real? Or have stock prices gotten a little ahead of themselves?  After more than eight weeks in rally mode, it certainly appears that stock prices are outpacing economic reality.

In the depths of a bear market that has carved between $500 billion and $2 trillion from U.S. retirement accounts so far this year, as many as two-thirds of all Americans have stopped contributing to their retirement plans, a new study shows.

And that’s precisely the wrong decision to make at the wrong time. No matter how poorly the financial markets are performing, saving for retirement has to remain a top priority.

“It’s not a time for people to stop contributing,” Diane Young, director of retirement and goal planning at TD Ameritrade Holding Corp. (AMTD), the Omaha, Neb.-based brokerage firm that conducted the retirement study, said in an interview with Bloomberg News. “Because time is money, it’s important to stay on track.”

According…

Nokia Shares Plummet on Missed Earnings; “The World” Developer Posts Quadrupled Annual Profits; Google Beats Estimates; Capital One Profit Drops 19%; TD Ameritrade Gets a Boost; Societe General Chief Steps Down; Avant Soars on Pfizer Deal; Southwest Ekes Out Profit.