CBS Eye on the World with John Batchelor: #Europe Energy equities after Glasgow COP 26; and cheaper cappuccino.

 By SIMON CONSTABLE

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 COP 26 UN Climate Summit 2021

President.am, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Forbes: Europe’s Energy Crisis Won’t Be Over Anytime Soon, Experts Say

 By SIMON CONSTABLE

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine quickly laid bare Europe’s dependence on Russian energy. But solving the matter could take years, experts say.

Worse still, the EU and UK will likely suffer economic turmoil while the situation rights itself. Read more here.

Forbes: It’s A Good-News Bad-News Scenario For The Gold Market

 By SIMON CONSTABLE

Here’s some bad news. Gold investors have taken a pummeling so far this year. 

The SPDR Gold Shares exchange-traded fund, which tracks the price of bullion, is down 5.3% in the year through Monday, according to Yahoo Finance data. Read more here.

Forbes: The Rise And Fall Of Crazy Eddie: A Tale Of Epic Fraud

By SIMON CONSTABLE

How bad is the worst thing you’ve ever done at work? Maybe you “borrowed” a few pens and paper for your kids. Perhaps, you “fudged” some expenses. And maybe you now feel guilty about such petty thievery.

A recently published book, Retail Gangster: The INSANE, Real-Life Story of CRAZY EDDIE, will likely make that guilt disappear in a trice. 

When you compare whatever you did to what happened at long-gone electronics chain Crazy Eddie, most malfeasance will likely pale into insignificance. Put another way, your infractions would likely be as noticeable as a miniature barnacle on the backside of a blue whale. Read more here.

Forbes: King Dollar? How The U.S’s Mighty Greenback’s Could Roar

By SIMON CONSTABLE

While soaring inflation took a bite out of your paycheck’s spending power, something else happened. The value of the dollar has surged, and by no small measure.

And it could go far higher before the rally ends, history shows. Read more here.

Forbes: China Suffers Another Dismal Month Of Steel Production

 By SIMON CONSTABLE

China’s economy continues to look wretched.

We know this because the country’s steel production continued to drop for yet another month. It fell 6.4% in July, and is down 6.4% for the first seven months of year, according to new data from the World Steel Association. 

For years China has been the world’s largest steel producer with output of 1.3 billion metric tons of the metal in 2021, or more than half of global production. In other words, it’s the world’s major producer. Read more here.

CBS Eye on the World with John Batchelor: #Europe: Coal, oil and natural gas encores in the troubled EU Plus 20 Years of SarbanesOxley

 By SIMON CONSTABLE

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Michael_Oxley.jpg: US House of Representatives Paul_Sarbanes,_

official_color_photo.jpg: 

N/A derivative work: Adam sk, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Financial History Magazine: TWO DECADES OF THE Sarbanes-Oxley Laws

By SIMON CONSTABLE

At the beginning of the millennium, a massive stock market meltdown along with some notable examples of corporate malfeasance carved a hole in the public’s trust in the stock market. The government’s response was to enact the Sarbanes-Oxley legislation, which would pile a heap of new regulations on publicly traded corporations and their leaders. At the time, the move saw huge bipartisan support and was generally greeted favorably. However, in the intervening two decades, the fallout from the new laws led to some likely unintended, but rather predictable, outcomes. Read more here.

Photo by Solen Feyissa on Unsplash

Barron's: Coal Is in Hot Demand. That’s Good News for Glencore’s Stock.

 By SIMON CONSTABLE

Swiss-based commodities company Glencore has emerged as a prime beneficiary of Europe’s energy crisis. 

High prices for coal, one of the company’s main offerings, are likely to persist as the war in Ukraine pushes past the six-month mark.  That, in turn, could lead to double-digit gains for the stock.

“Glencore has already outperformed, and we think there is more to come,” says Tyler Broda, head of European mining RBC Capital Markets in London. “Russia’s invasion changed the calculus in the global energy balance, and coal is a very key part of that, especially in Europe.” Read more here.

Photo by Jose Losada on Unsplash

CBS Eye on the World with John Batchelor: #MrMarket #EU #UK: Crushing inflation at the grocer's.

 By SIMON CONSTABLE

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Wikideas1, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons

Briefings Magazine: The Robots Are Coming: Faster, Better…Smarter?

 By SIMON CONSTABLE

It’s in language translators. Virtual shopping guides. Online movie suggestions. It helps diagnose diseases, makes video games more exciting, and so on. As the century progresses, artificial intelligence is becoming increasingly ubiquitous. And that, say experts, is the problem. Read more here.

Attribution: PAL Robotics, CC BY-SA 4.0,

 via Wikimedia Commons

Barron's: Orange Juice Is Spiking. It Could Leave a Bad Taste.

By SIMON CONSTABLE

It could be time for a mimosa cocktail while you still can afford one.

Orange juice prices could get fizzed up over the next few weeks. The market is already suffering from ultralow inventory levels, which means the risks of bad weather could potentially drive prices up more than 20% to record levels, say experts. Read more here.

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CBS Eye on the World with John Batchelor: #MrMarket: #Climate: #Airbus: Severe drought condition from Scotland to Tuscany.

 By SIMON CONSTABLE

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Photo by G-R Mottez on Unsplash

WSJ: 1982 and The Bull Market Begins Amid Gloom

 By SIMON CONSTABLE

Print-only story in The Wall Street Journal  

Barron's: Airbus Is a Steady Stock for Turbulent Times. Why It Could Soar 35%.

 By SIMON CONSTABLE

Airbus is ready for takeoff. Investors in the European aerospace company could see gains of more than 35% over the next 12 months as the company boosts production amid surging demand, analysts say.

“Airbus is on a very strong growth trajectory regardless of a recession and postpandemic normalization,” says Colin Scarola, an analyst at financial research company CFRA. He sees the stock (ticker: AIR.France) rising to 140 euros ($143) over the next year, up 35% from its recent level of €104. Plus, the stock yields a 1.4% dividend currently. U.S.-based investors could consider buying the American depositary receipts (EADSY.) Read more here.

Laurent ERRERA from L'Union, France, derivative work Lämpel, 

CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

CBS Eye on the World with John Batchelor: #Scotland #UK Already chill in the air with heating costs spiking.

 By SIMON CONSTABLE

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NASA; Uploaded by User:MaiDireLollo, 

Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons