TheStreet: Why China's Yuan Can't Take Down the Almighty Dollar

By SIMON CONSTABLE

Warnings that the Chinese yuan will oust the greenback as the world's primary reserve currency are premature at best. Absurdly premature, in fact. 

And that's a good thing for Americans. Having the dollar as king of currencies means borrowing costs from banks like JPMorgan Chase are lower than they would otherwise be. Likewise, imported goods in stores like Macy's, are cheaper. The good news is that situation isn't changing anytime soon.

It isn't so much that the dollar is a Goliath to the yuan as David as that the biblical fight between a giant and a young man looks fairly matched when you start comparing the two currencies. Read more here.

Photo by Sahand Hoseini on Unsplash

U.S. News: What Market Pros Will Be Watching in 2016

By SIMON CONSTABLE

If Mr. Market flummoxed you in 2015, don't worry. There's always tomorrow. 

Wall Street saw the eurozone narrowly avert disaster as Greece agreed to another bailout, China's stock market fall off a cliff and energy stocks suffer. Meanwhile, many health care companies and tech stocks continue to roll. 

What will the new year bring? To give you a little assistance in navigating the investment world, here's what some long-time market experts will be watching in 2016. 

Read more here.

TheStreet: Why Artificial Intelligence and Smart Machines Won't Destroy Us

By SIMON CONSTABLE

If you're worried that more intelligent machines will begin to make humans irrelevant in the work place, don't be. We've been down this road before, and it didn't turn out half as bad as many feared.

Yes, it's true that IBM's (IBM - Get Report) Watson computer has become a Jeopardy champion and that machines can learn. Apple's iPhone auto-correct seems to be improving, and Alphabet's Google search features do an increasingly good job of anticipating what you're really scouring the Web for.

Read more here.

Forbes: Schlonged -- Famous Quotes Using Trump's Latest Quip

By SIMON CONSTABLE

Entrepreneur and presidential candidate Donald Trump has done it again. He has captured the imagination of the press corps, this time by using the word “schlonged.” He meant “defeated,” he says.

Trump is not the first to use the word in that manner. Apparently, a host at National Public Radio described a 1984 political defeat using the term on-air in 2011, according to a report in the Washington Post. Another report by the Washington Post says he probably got the meaning wrong because he isn’t familiar with Yiddish, which maybe true.

Still, that’s where English is different from some other languages. It morphs over time. The way we use words changes and maybe Trump is an unlikely innovator in this field.

With that in mind I have amended some classic quotes to include this vernacular in the way Trump says he meant. No offense intended to anyone.

Read more here.

OZY: What More Cowbell Means For Europe's Economy

By SIMON CONSTABLE

A decade and a half ago, Saturday Night Live viewers first heard the phrase “More cowbell!” from actor Christopher Walken playing fictional music producer “the Bruce Dickinson.” Since then, the line has become an iconic quip — but one that’s not limited to pop culture. Across the pond, investors have been calling for more financial cowbell from the European Central Bank, and earlier this month, they got it. Sort of.

The head of the ECB, Mario Draghi, did deliver more cowbell in the form of some stimulus and lowered interest rates, but not as much as had been expected. “Ultimately, and profoundly, the ECB disappointed, and this has rarely been seen in Draghi’s tenure,” states a recent report from the bank Brown Brothers Harriman. Some small commotion followed in the financial markets. Still, the question remains: Will the policy move ultimately achieve the desired goals of lifting inflation and spurring growth? Read more here.

Photo by Christian Englmeier on Unsplash

U.S. News: 9 Things to Know About Investing in a Mutual Fund

By SIMON CONSTABLE

Once in a while, the markets deliver a timely reminder that not all investments are created equal. We just got one – and right in time for the holidays. 

Third Avenue Management's Focused Credit Fund recently announced it would stop investors from cashing in their holdings. The reason was to facilitate the orderly liquidation of the fund's holdings of speculative-grade fixed income securities, also known as junk bonds. To do otherwise would have meant a fire sale. 

Should investors have been surprised that they couldn't get their money when they wanted it? Maybe, maybe not. It is rather unusual for a mutual fund to do such a thing. That said, investors need to do their research before committing their hard-earned funds to any mutual fund. 

Read more here.

Barron's: Commodities’ Big Hurdle: The Strong Greenback

By SIMON CONSTABLE

The strength of the dollar will give no reprieve next year to already pummeled commodities markets.

Any rallies for crude oil, steel, coal, copper, and other base metals will be muted as the buck heads higher against most major currencies in 2016. It will do so because, while the U.S. economy isn’t exactly strong, it’s in a lot better shape than other key economies.

All major commodities are priced in greenbacks. So when the dollar strengthens, their prices fall if nothing else has changed. Put another way, if the dollar rallies 10%, then it buys 10% more materials than it did previously. As the U.S. dollar climbed 9.9% over the past year against a trade-weighted index of major currencies, prices of diesel fuel, natural gas, and U.S. benchmark West Texas Intermediate oil slid 40%, 39%, and 34%, respectively. Read more here.

Photo by NeONBRAND on Unsplash

Forbes: How To Be The Worst Boss Possible -- Part 7

By SIMON CONSTABLE 
The Horse’s Behind

Episode seven of a continuing series, which outlines how you too can be an appalling manager. Read part six here.

Last week I received an email from someone I work with now and then. The sender said that he and his friends had some personal experience of “worst bosses.”

I’m always curious to hear about others’ experiences, so we arranged to chat on the phone. The conversation was to be on condition of anonymity.

When we spoke I wasn’t quite sure what to expect, but I quickly learned that the man and his buddies had been subjected to a whole level of abuse that was beyond what most bosses could imagine. 

Read more here.

U.S. News: Will 2016 Be a Good Year for Stocks?

By SIMON CONSTABLE

Will 2016 be good for stocks? It's more than likely the market will do well, if you believe the so-called "presidential stock cycle" theory will continue to hold. But that's the rub – because while history shows the odds will be in your favor if you follow it, it doesn't always work.

Since 1946, the stock market has risen 76 percent of the time in the final year of a president's four-year term, with the Standard & Poor's 500 index rallying 6.1 percent on average, according to an analysis provided by S&P Capital IQ to U.S. News & World Report. Read more here.

TheStreet: 5 Gifts Almost as Good as Cash -- And Way More Thoughtful

By SIMON CONSTABLE

It's that holiday time again, when many of us rush out at the proverbial last minute to buy gifts for friends and family. 

Or we opt for a simpler alternative that involves no crowded stores or long checkout lines: Cash.

Unfortunately, that doesn't go over well with everyone: Cash gifts have been criticized as showing a lack of both imagination and care. Money-themed gifts, however, are a different matter: Here are five that will suit budgets from small to large. Read more here.

Photo by Taisiia Shestopal on Unsplash

Forbes: Bukowski's 'On Cats'

By SIMON CONSTABLE

I’ve long held that real men love cats. Why? Because real men don’t need to own a butch dog to prove their masculinity. Because real men know that cats are as choosy as they are. Because real men appreciate that cats are all born engineers who will assist you by quickly highlighting the many structural short comings in your home. The fact that author Charles Bukowski loved them also only helps solidify my view.

Ecco just published a compilation of Bukowski’s poems and other writings titled On Cats. It is edited by Abel Debritto who also put together On Writing, which I reviewed earlier this year.

Read more here.

WSJ: Socially Responsible Gifts Are Great—Primarily for the Givers

By SIMON CONSTABLE

Those shopping for socially responsible gifts this holiday season, be forewarned: A recent study suggests they have the potential to disappoint.

The reason, succinctly put: A fair-trade fruitcake is still just a fruitcake.

In fact, socially responsible gifts are appreciated much more by the givers than the receivers, concluded the authors of a study recently published in the journal Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes. Read more here.

Photo by Photo Boards on Unsplash

U.S. News: Lift Your Returns With a Barbell Strategy

By SIMON CONSTABLE

Here's a puzzle: Should you invest in last year's beaten-down stocks, or should you stick with the winners and put even more money there?

The answer appears to be yes, do both.

That conclusion is based on an analysis conducted by S&P Capital IQ conducted exclusively for U.S. News & World Report. It looked at 25 years of data going back to 1990 and found that investing in last year's 10 worst and 10 best-performing subsectors of the Standard & Poor's 500 index is historically a winning strategy.

Read more here.

Forbes: How To Be The Worst Boss Possible -- Part 6

By SIMON CONSTABLE

Pin the Blame on the Donkey

Part six of a continuing series, which outlines how you too can be an appalling manager. Read part 5 here.

The holidays are almost upon us and what better way to celebrate than for fun and games in the office. As a potential “worst boss possible” you should consider running a continuing game of Pin the Blame on the Donkey, which is just like the pin the tail on the donkey game you played as a child. However, it is far more destructive to workplace morale.

Read more here.

Forbes: How To Be The Worst Boss Possible -- Part 5

By SIMON CONSTABLE

Part four of a continuing series, which outlines how you too can be an appalling manager. See parts one through four, here, here, here, and here.

Most of what’s been mentioned in this series has been of a tactical nature such as lambasting employees and reducing morale. However, when it comes to the topic of leadership you can actually implement a strategic initiative that will wreak havoc on whole companies.

Leadership is such a misunderstood topic, which is why you, as a potential terrible manager, can use the many nebulous definitions to your advantage. Read more here.

Photo by Robin Battison on Unsplash

WSJ: A Mark Against Broker-Sold Funds

By SIMON CONSTABLE

Should investors hesitate before buying an actively managed U.S.-stock mutual fund through a broker?

A new study finds evidence that suggests that when such funds are sold through brokers, their returns—after fees are taken into account—underperform those of similar funds sold directly to investors.

Read more here.

WSJ: What Is a Short Squeeze?

By SIMON CONSTABLE

Sometimes when a downtrodden stock jumps, it is due to a “short squeeze” rather than some massive change in the fortunes of the company. So what is a short squeeze and why does it matter?

Short sellers sell borrowed stock, hoping to buy the shares back at a cheaper price and lock in a profit. It is considered a particularly risky strategy because while the price of a stock can’t fall more than 100%, it can go up indefinitely, causing potentially infinite losses.

Read more here. 

Forbes: The Diabolical Tale Of Hitler's Art Thief

By SIMON CONSTABLE

There are times in history when business and government start working together in a diabolical way. Most recently we’ve seen the so-called Islamic State develop an industry of looting priceless artifacts from the middle east and selling them to willing collectors around the world. They are but the latest group to engage in such behavior.

Back in the 1930s and 1940s the Nazis teamed up with art experts to rob Europe’s Jews of enormous caches of priceless art, often via forced sales. Paintings were then shipped off to collectors in New York, for instance. Susan Ronald chronicles one man’s extraordinary career of thievery in her recent book, Hitler’s Art Thief: Hildebrand Gurlitt, the Nazis, and the Looting of Europe’s Treasures.

Read more here.

U.S. News: Why Defensive Stocks Aren't Safe Any More

By SIMON CONSTABLE

Nervous investors should think twice before diving into so-called defensive stocks, especially those securities with high dividends. You might end up putting more risk into your portfolio than you realize. 

Stocks that have less volatility than the overall market and pay higher dividends than most other stocks are often seen as a way to reduce risk in a portfolio. Traditionally, these are found in the defensive sectors, including consumer staples, utilities and health care.

Read more here.

Cal State East Bay Alum Mag: How Technology is Transforming the Afterlife

By SIMON CONSTABLE

"I’m not sure my mother understands Twitter or why I tell her millions of people love her — but she says she’s ver[sic] touched,” Scott Simon tweeted to 1.3 million followers on his mother’s deathbed.

It was one of many such public announcements the NPR journalist and host of Weekend Edition Saturday made in the weeks leading up to his mother’s passing:

“Heart rate dropping. Heart dropping.” / “You wake up

and realize you weren’t dreaming. It happened. Cry like

you couldn’t last night.” / “Between last minute flights,

fees, lawyers, forms, cemeteries etc. how do families afford

deaths?”

Simon wasn’t the first to do so, but his broadcast of the before, during, and after-death experience inspired both intense public criticism and unfailing support. As one reviewer said, “He just needs an Internet hug.” Another was less sympathetic: “What’s with the tweet when he said he was holding his mother’s hand? I imagined him by his mother’s side doing just that … and typing in his tweet with the other hand. It’s his way of dealing, but in my experience, sometimes you’re more in the moment if you just put your mobile device away.”

Read more here.

Forbes: ObamaCare's Marie Antoinette Moment

By SIMON CONSTABLE

ObamaCare could be facing a Marie Antoinette moment. In case you didn’t know, she was the Queen of France who reputedly said of the starving peasants, “let them eat cake.” That was of course, just like telling someone who is hungry and broke, why don’t you just eat at the Harvard Club like the rest of us?

Marie Antoinette was later beheaded during the terror of the 1790s.

Her comment, which she may or may not have made, seems reminiscent of news earlier this month about the so-called Affordable Care Act. In November, one healthcare insurer warned that it may pull out of the ACA exchanges after 2016, citing low enrollment and poor economics.

There appears to be nothing stopping such a move, which may or may not be ok depending on how you look at the problem. Read more here.

Marie-Antoinette

After Jean-Baptiste André Gautier-Dagoty , 

Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Fortune: Here's What Happened to the Great Thanksgiving Pumpkin Shortage of 2015

By SIMON CONSTABLE

It was the pie crisis that wasn’t, at least not yet.

In early October, crop experts warned that a poor pumpkin harvest threatened to ruin Thanksgiving for lovers of one of the holiday’s most famous offerings. And those warnings turned into a national story. One news source screamed, “Pumpkins for Halloween, but shortage looms for Thanksgiving pies.”

Read more here.

U.S. News: These Stocks Will Be Winners This Holiday Season

By SIMON CONSTABLE

The holiday season could be good for investors this year as consumers seem to have found their spending mojo. But it pays to understand where the dollars will likely flow so that investors can target stocks that should outperform analysts' expectations.

"The improving condition of the U.S. consumer implies a fairly brisk holiday shopping season ahead," says Joe Brusuelas, chief economist at professional services firm RSM.

Read more here.

OZY: Building Blocks for A Cheaper Housing Market

By SIMON CONSTABLE

In the mid-1970s, my grandfather retired after decades with the Admiralty, the U.K.’s equivalent of the U.S. Navy, and bought the first home he ever owned — paying 100 percent cash for it. Not bad for a man who spent most of his life getting by on a government salary. These days, the idea that an average working person in Britain or the U.S. could accomplish such a thing seems ludicrous, a truly impossible dream.

Read more here.

Forbes: Should UnitedHealth Be Allowed To Walk Away From ObamaCare?

By SIMON CONSTABLE

Well fancy that!

UnitedHealth Group is warning that it may pull out of the Obamacare (a.k.a. the Affordable Care Act) exchanges after 2016. Why? Because enrollment has been low and the people who have enrolled have tended to use a lot of healthcare, which of course costs United lots of money.

If this doesn’t strike you as unseemly then let me explain. With great privilege comes great responsibility. Noblesse oblige, if you like. The greater the privilege  the greater the responsibility.

Read more here.

TheStreet: Why Age Discrimination Hurts Your Mom the Most

By SIMON CONSTABLE

As if women in corporate life didn't already face enough obstacles, new research shows the challenges get worse with age. 

The authors of a National Bureau of Economic Research paper, who examined 40,000 job applications in cities from New York to Chicago and Los Angeles, found "considerably stronger evidence of discrimination against older women than older men" in fields from sales to teaching, administration and security services. 

Read more here.

OZY: The Hidden Costs of Border Control

By SIMON CONSTABLE

After Friday’s atrocious attacks in Paris, messages of condemnation and condolence were soon joined by a drumbeat of calls for Europe to reintroduce internal border controls. Combined with the deaths of Charlie Hebdo magazine staff earlier this year, it’s easy to see why politicians would want to reintroduce some passport controls, at least to know who is inside which country. No one in their right mind wants a repeat of anything like those events if they can possibly be prevented. The problem is, financially, it would slow the beleaguered European economy, which is still struggling to find robust growth.

Read more here.

Forbes: How To Be The Worst Boss Possible -- Part 3

By SIMON CONSTABLE

Part three of a continuing series, which outlines how you too can achieve the heights of awfulness in management ineptitude. See Part one here and part two here.

Hiring is one of those things that you have to do, but that doesn’t mean you have to do it well. In fact, if you hire badly (either by your natural ability or through studied effort) you can quickly lower performance of your company and demoralize your staff at the same time.

Read more here.

U.S. News: 4 Facts Investors Should Know About Bonds

By SIMON CONSTABLE

If you listen to investment pundits, or read them with any frequency, you'll hear a consistent mantra: Bonds, particularly treasuries, are a losing proposition, at least in the current investment environment. Unfortunately, the analysis behind such a view isn't a valid reason for you to avoid them in your portfolio. That's whether or not you believe interest rates will fall or rise. 

"Bonds provide much more protection than most people realize," says Peter Tchir, managing director of macro income strategy at Brean Capital in Darien, Connecticut. Read more here.

Photo by Michael Longmire on Unsplash

TheStreet: Investors Pull $50B From Emerging Markets, Outpacing '08 Crisis

By SIMON CONSTABLE

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Bearishness about emerging market economies in general, and China in particular, has reached an unprecedented level, according to a fund manager who has specialized in the sector for more than three decades.

"More than $50 billion has been withdrawn from emerging markets in the first nine months of this year, which is more than in the 2008 financial crisis," says Allan Conway, head of emerging market equities at Schroders, and portfolio manager of the $1.3 billion Schroder Emerging Market Equity Fund (SEMNX)

Read more here.  

TheStreet: Why Bubble Phobia Is Bad For Your Investing Health

NEW YORK -- Has the investing world completely succumbed to bubble phobia? 

Maybe the housing crash and the dotcom bust have addled our brains, but hardly a month goes by without someone warning of a bubble. Is the market for Treasuries in a bubble? What about Silicon Valley startups and junk debt? Is there, perhaps, a bubble in everything? 

The problem with that perspective (or rather, the good news) is that financial bubbles just aren't that common, and if you see them everywhere you may be hallucinating. 
Read more here.

OZY: How Good Is the Biggest Trade Deal In History?

By SIMON CONSTABLE

Already bustling with activity, the enormous ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles will likely be bursting at the seams within the next five years as more and more brightly colored containers get loaded and unloaded. Together, they’re already the ninth-busiest port in the world — and a similar scene looks set to be replicated up and down the coast in the ports of Oakland, Tacoma, Seattle and Vancouver.

The boost will be driven by the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a deal pushed heavily by the Obama administration that will cover trade between a dozen countries, including the U.S., Canada, Mexico and Japan. While an agreement was announced last month, its details only recently emerged and all of the countries involved still need to ratify the agreement. Still, it’s clear that, at first, the benefits will go to the ports. “The longshoremen, who are already well paid, will have a lot more hours and more overtime pay,” says Natasha Boyden, an independent shipping analyst. 

Read more here.

U.S. News: Four Things to Know About Real Estate Investments

By SIMON CONSTABLE

If you own your home, should you buy real estate securities? It's a reasonable question because for many people, their home is a large portion of their overall wealth. 

A family with $500,000 in savings, including stocks and bonds, and a home valued at $300,000 would seem to be heavily invested in real estate. But that's probably not the best way to look at things – although your home may act as a store of wealth, history has shown it likely won't do much better than keep up with inflation. It probably won't beat the returns you'd get from the stock market. 

Here's why and how at least some real estate securities have a place in your investment portfolio.

Read more here.

TheStreet: How Social Media Boosts Trading -- Without Helping Traders

By SIMON CONSTABLE

NEW YORK -- Just as YouTube prompted a deluge of cat videos, so social media seems to stimulate more trading in the financial markets. But unlike the cat videos, it isn't all laughs: The phenomenon seems to leave traders worse off than before.

In other words, social media boosts the quantity of trades but not the quality.

Read more here.

OZY: How England's Worst King Spawned Capitalism

By SIMON CONSTABLE

“What’s that smell?” I asked my dad as we approached Rievaulx Abbey on a visit to Yorkshire, England. “It’s wild garlic,” he said — which I’d later learn was a surprising crop to find so far north, though the story behind the monastery would prove even more surprising.

The monastery was established in 1132 by Cistercian monks from France’s Clairvaux Abbey and remained in operation until the 1500s. But it plays a part in a uniquely English story — one that begins, as many do, with church and crown but ends with the Industrial Revolution. Read more here.

Photo by Tom Podmore on Unsplash

WSJ: What Is the Interest Coverage Ratio?

By SIMON CONSTABLE

What is the interest coverage ratio, and why might it matter for investors? 

The interest coverage ratio is a measure of how affordable a company’s debt is given the company’s earnings. Or put another way, how much cushion there is for a firm to withstand hiccups in the business and still make its debt payments—an important consideration for investors.

Read more here.

WSJ: Money-Fund Flows Are a Risk Meter

By SIMON CONSTABLE

When investors start piling into money-market funds, it is a remarkably accurate indicator that credit markets are getting dicey, according to new research conducted by a pair of finance professors.

The study says the money-fund indicator can be just as accurate as more-wonky indicators of market risk, such as credit-default-swap spreads, which show the cost of insuring corporate debt against default.

Read more here.

Forbes: How To Be The Worst Boss Possible -- Part 2

By SIMON CONSTABLE
Part two of a continuing series, which outlines how you too can become a truly awful manager instead of just mediocre. (Why write such a series? It’s fun.)
Some people believe they aren’t cut out to be a terrible manager. Please be assured that some gentle mind training will get you there faster than your employees would ever wish for. Here’s how:

Photo by Boston Public Library on Unsplash

Fortune: How the Fed's 'schizophrenia' could be holding back the economy

By SIMON CONSTABLE

The Federal Reserve’s latest proposal to limit the need for big bank bailouts has some claiming it could curtail something the Fed wants and economy needs: More lending.

The new rule, announced last week, would force the big banks to raise long-term debt that could be turned into equity if the banks needed addition capital to absorb lending losses. The Fed estimated that the rule would cost the nation’s eight largest banks $1.5 billion in additional financing expenses a year. That may sound like a lot, but it only equals roughly 2% of the combined profits of the banks, and they will have years before they have to fully comply with the law.

Read more here.

TheStreet: Why Now May Be the Time for a Dose of Pharmaceutical Stock

By SIMON CONSTABLE

Maybe it's time to give your portfolio a dose of pharmaceutical stocks.

The sector has taken a beating lately with the NYSE Arca Pharmaceutical Indexdown around 10% in the three months through Friday, while the  Market Vectors Pharmaceutical exchange-traded fund  (PPH) , which tracks the sector, was off 13% in the same period. The S&P 500 Index was down 1% over that time span.

At least part of the selloff was a media circus that erupted when one company raised the price of an HIV drug by 5,000% and Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton weighed in on the topic. What it means is that the sector is getting a lot of unwanted (and perhaps in some cases, unwarranted) attention, which adds to concerns about government interference in the industry. That, in turn, is making the stockholders nervous. Read more here.

U.S. News: Why Investing in Brazil Will Remain Difficult

By SIMON CONSTABLE

For the last few years, Charles de Gaulle's quip that "Brazil is the country of the future, and always will be," seemed like an anachronism as the Latin American economy seemed to blossom. But it didn't last long. 

Unfortunately for Brazilians, de Gaulle's witticism now seems on target once again. And things may deteriorate even further before they get better. For investors, that will likely mean staying away from Brazilian stocks until the second half of next year. 

How bad is it? Pretty awful. Brazil is beset by an economic crisis and a huge political controversy that is threatening its president. Read more here.

Photo by Marcos Paulo Prado on Unsplash

OZY: When Emerging Markets Don't...Emerge

By SIMON CONSTABLE

There’s nothing like the expectant feeling of hope in the air, and we got a sense of that after a Tunisian street vendor set himself alight and ignited the so-called Jasmine Revolution and then the Arab Spring. Many around the world watched, wishing for better things. And we recently had reason to celebrate when an alliance of civil society groups in Tunisia won the Nobel Peace Prize for helping to build democracy there with a newly adopted constitution. That’s to be applauded. But for another important issue — economic development — things don’t look so rosy. Read more here.

WSJ: Alzheimer’s Link Leads to More Financial Planning

By SIMON CONSTABLE

People whose families have a history of Alzheimer’s disease are much more likely to seek expert financial advice and are more likely to delay retirement, compared with people for whom Alzheimer’s isn’t an issue, says a forthcoming study from professors at the University of Utah.

Cost concerns arising from Alzheimer’s disease, which can require years of institutionalized care, are pushing individuals to plan more, according to the study, which was sponsored by the National Institute on Aging. Read more here.

Photo by Robina Weermeijer on Unsplash

Barron's: As Sunspots Fade, Will Crop Yields Fall?

By SIMON CONSTABLE

A decades-old government crop report, combined with the very latest data from NASA, seem to indicate that there will be poor growing conditions and lower grain yields over the next few years. As a result, traders should expect prices for wheat and corn to rise.

The report from the U.S.D.A., published almost four decades ago, studied crop yields in the U.S. from 1866 to 1973. The paper, “Do Sunspot Cycles Affect Crop Yields?” by Virden Harrison, an agricultural economist with the commodity economics division of the USDA’s economic-research service, matched historical crop-yield data for wheat, corn, rice, and cotton with sunspot activity. And NASA forecasts for sunspots suggest that the sun is commencing lower activity. Read more here.

Photo by NASA on Unsplash

TheStreet: Why Dinner's About to Start Eating More of Your Wallet

By SIMON CONSTABLE

New York (TheStreet) -- If food prices start taking a bigger bite out of your wallet in the near future, you can blame it on Mother Nature.

A confluence of events including strange weather from El Nino, activity on the solar surface, and the effects of a U.S. drought years ago are reducing agricultural output, which may drive up grocery store prices for individual consumers and supply costs for dining chains like Chipotle Mexican Grill (CME - Get Report)  and coffee shops like Starbucks (SBUX - Get Report)  Read more here.

Photo by Shayda Torabi on Unsplash