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.

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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.