TheStreet: What Does 2017 Have in Store? 3 Market Metrics That Will Tell You

By SIMON CONSTABLE

Will 2017 bring investors good returns? History indicates that's likely, but as with all things related to the stock market, nothing is a certainty.

In the first place, a new U.S. president will take office, which generally signals gains for the S&P 500 and the exchange-traded fund that tracks it, the SPDR S&P 500. Read more here.

Forbes: A Vast Fraud In 1870s London Has Much To Teach Us

By SIMON CONSTABLE

Back in the 19th century some American scoundrels mounted a vast fraud on "The Old Lady of Threadneedle Street," as the Bank of England is known. They passed off millions of dollars of fake financial instruments as real to the country's central bank. The rough equivalent now would be to successfully pull off an enormous financial heist on the Federal Reserve. The period in which this happened was also one of great financial innovation and that matter should be notable to investors now. Nicolas Booth ably recounts the tale in his recently published book, Thieves Of Threadneedle Street. Read more here.

U.S. News: Will the Trump Administration Sink Crude Oil Prices Again?

By SIMON CONSTABLE

Should oil patch investors be worried that recent gains will soon be undone? Certainly, there is a case to be made, but on balance the major slide from mid-2014 through February is likely over.

The two major issues in the energy market are the recent agreement by OPEC and the desire by the incoming Trump administration to attain energy independence for the U.S. Read more here.

TheStreet: Don't Let Rising Rates Scare You Away From Bonds

By SIMON CONSTABLE

High-quality bonds have taken a beating lately, but they still make sense for the long-term investor. On top of that, the market indicates there is less risk of default now than there was a few months ago.

Here's what happened and why such investments still make sense:

WABC John Batchelor Show: Jobs and Dreams

By SIMON CONSTABLE

Talking with the great John Batchelor about economics and America's forgotten workers.

U.S. News: Key Indicators Show a Robust Economy in 2017

By SIMON CONSTABLE

Great news – the U.S. economy should speed up next year.

If all goes according to plan, that will mean better raises for those with jobs, and more opportunities for those looking for work. There are a couple of potential bumps in the road, but so far they don't point to an imminent problem. Read more here.

Forbes: 6 Reasons Trump Should Abolish Corporate Income Tax

By SIMON CONSTABLE

Corporate taxes are back in the news again this time with Apple Inc. appealing the E.U. tax demand for $14 billion (see report from Reuters.) At issue is the rate of corporate income tax Apple pays in Ireland."Apple's Irish tax bill implied a tax rate of 0.005 percent in 2014," according to European Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager, the Reuters report states.

Whether the actual rate it pays is that low isn't the major issue. What we do know is that big companies, like Apple, do what they can within the law to avoid paying taxes. In some cases, no taxes are paid, which will no doubt outrage many people.

It shouldn't. The bigger outrage is that we have corporate income tax at all.

The truth is that abolishing it should be at the top of the agenda for president-elect Donald Trump. When that happens we'll all be better off. Here are some reasons why:

Photo by Pepi Stojanovski on Unsplash

TheStreet: What a Stronger Dollar Means for Investments: Good, Bad and Ugly

By SIMON CONSTABLE

The greenback is back.

The U.S currency has climbed 4.1% this year against a basket of global currencies, and nearly four times that much against the British pound alone.

U.S stock markets, in the meantime, have made double-digit gains across the board, but that masks individual winners and losers. Coming out ahead are the consumers who drive the U.S. economy and can get more bank for their buck, as well as the import companies that sell to them. Exporters, on the other hand, may see sales suffer as overseas customers find American-made goods more costly. Read more here.

Photo by Vladimir Solomianyi on Unsplash

TheStreet: Who Picked Trump? Mrs. White, in the Kitchen, Sorting Bills: The Economy, Stupid

By SIMON CONSTABLE

What swung the election to Trump?
The way some people are talking, it's resembling a game of Clue.

• Was it Vladimir Putin in the Kremlin with the propaganda? The CIA seems to suggest such.

• Was it Roger Ailes (formerly) at Fox News with an agenda? Outgoing president Obama says so.

• Or was it Dr. Evil in a secret underground lair with a diabolical cat?

You get the idea.
The problem is that there are simpler explanations that don't require a conspiracy. Read more here.

w:Cluedo, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Forbes: Theme For 2016 -- Hypocrisy In Economics

By SIMON CONSTABLE

A standout theme of the year has been hypocrisy when it comes to economics and economic-related matters. Read more here.

Adam Smith, Founder of Economics

Scottish National Gallery , Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

U.S. News: What Italy's Big Vote Means for Investors

By SIMON CONSTABLE

Now, more than ever, Italy looks like a big, fat mess for investors.

On Dec. 4, Italian voters roundly rejected constitutional reform. The immediate impact was the resignation of Prime Minister Matteo Renzi.

He had promised to do so if the result went against him. That means at least one campaign promise has been kept. Still, the move creates other issues. Read more here.

Photo by Emma Fabbri on Unsplash

Video: America's Forgotten Workers

By SIMON CONSTABLE

ECRI's Lakshman Achuthan explains.

America's Forgotten Workers from Constable Confidential on Vimeo.

Photo by Gabriel on Unsplash

Video: Was The Election A Cry For Help?

By SIMON CONSTABLE

Michael McKinley explains.


Was The Election A Cry For Help? from Constable Confidential on Vimeo.

Forbes Video: Grow Your Business With SnapChat? Maybe So.

By SIMON CONSTABLE

Once upon a time, getting your product to market meant placing ads in newspapers, magazines, or on TV. That can still be helpful, but only in as much as that is where people are consuming their media. 

There is also SnapChat, which according to one social media expert can be useful in growing your business as well.

Socialfly co-founder & co-CEO, Courtney Spritzer explains the benefits of the service in this video. She clearly knows more about it than I do, so watch, listen, and learn.

Forbes Video: Why You Should Read Shakespeare Now.

By SIMON CONSTABLE

It's a cliche to say it, but I will anyway: "The more things change, the more they stay the same." Still, there is much truth in it. 

The reason is that people are the same throughout the ages. They end up having the same weaknesses. Some are power-hungry. Others are vengeful. Occasionally, people are treacherous. You get the idea. That was true 3,000 years ago, and it is true today.

William Shakespeare, possibly the greatest playwright ever, captured such characters and how they behave in various scenarios. His plays are as relevant today as they were when he wrote them, possibly more so. 

That's why you should read some of them. Or failing that, maybe watch a movie, go to the theater, or listen to a recording of the plays. Documentary maker Michael McKinley explains his thoughts in this video.

Forbes video: Why Inflation Is Going Higher

By SIMON CONSTABLE

Even before the financial crisis, pundits expressed their concern that devil-may-care bank lending, and loose monetary policy would result in inflation. Despite the same repeated calls that such an event was imminent, the inflation didn't really show up in the government's main statistic -- the Consumer Price Index. 

That phenomenon of very low levels of recorded inflation is now coming to an end. Soon it will start to edge higher. It won't be 1970s style high, just that there will be more inflation than we've seen in a long while. That's according to Lakshman Achuthan, co-founder of the Economic Cycle Research Institute. He explains his thoughts in this video.

U.S. News: Why the Dollar Will Surge Further in 2017

By SIMON CONSTABLE

Hold onto your hat. The dollar surge, which started in April, looks set to continue next year.

The trade-weighted dollar index versus major currencies recently hit 95, having rallied from 88 at the end of April, according to data from the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis.

There are plenty of reasons to believe that the recent move is the start of something a lot bigger. Read more here.

Forbes: Unskilled Manufacturing Jobs Aren't Coming Back -- They Never Existed

By SIMON CONSTABLE

Whenever I hear of the need to bring back unskilled manufacturing jobs to the U.S., I want to scream. It happened to me late November. Somehow I managed to stay calm.

Don't misunderstand me. It's not that I hate manufacturing jobs. Rather, what riles me is this pernicious idea that such jobs are unskilled. They aren't and they likely never have been. Read more here.

Photo by carlos aranda on Unsplash

WSJ: When Will Investors Stop Dumping Japanese Stocks?

By SIMON CONSTABLE

What a difference a year makes. 

Individual investors have soured on Japan in a big way since December 2015, pulling $12.7 billion from mutual funds and exchange-traded funds that specialize in Japanese stocks, according to research firm Morningstar Inc. Only one month, January, saw an inflow in the period through October.

The outflow might not seem to be much in dollar terms, but it amounts to more than a quarter of the total $44.3 billion of assets held in such funds a year ago. Read more here.

WSJ: What Is a ‘Moat’ and Why Does It Matter?

By SIMON CONSTABLE

Medieval castles were surrounded by moats to keep attackers at bay. 

Now comes the 21st-century version. 

Today, the term “moat” is used in the business world to describe companies with a sustainable competitive advantage that allows them to keep competitors at bay. Read more here.

Caerphilly Castle and Moat 

by David Dixon, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Forbes Video: What's Wrong With Canada?

By SIMON CONSTABLE

Photo by chris robert on Unsplash

During the election campaign some celebrities promised to flee the Untied States if Donald Trump won. Now that he has, some of those people seem not to have fulfilled their promise. Still, that might be explainable.

The day after the election I sat down with Canadian documentary maker Michael McKinley. Despite the awful weather, and the fact that many people in New York weren't happy with the election result, Mckinley says he's staying in the U.S..

Why? He lays out why the United States is a whole lot better for people in the creative business, such as film making. In short, the free market in the U.S. beats how the Canadian's do things. He explains in this video.

    

TheStreet: 5 Financially Themed Gifts for the Holidays

By SIMON CONSTABLE

It's that time of the year again when thoughts invariably turn to holiday gifts. In what has become an annual tradition, I have compiled a list of financially-themed items to suit all budgets, from less than $10 to more than $8,000. Read more here.