U.S. News: Bonds Are Ideal For Balancing a Portfolio

By SIMON CONSTABLE

Even people who understand the stock market sometimes slip when it comes to bonds.

It makes sense because to most people fixed-income investing equates to math, which can be scary. Still, it doesn't have to be hard, and such securities are usually a vital part of a portfolio. Read more here.

Photo by Aziz Acharki on Unsplash

Forbes: Why Do We Worship Nasty Bosses?

By SIMON CONSTABLE

Mean Men: The Perversions of America's Self-made Man by Mark Lipton, published Tuesday, is a long overdue book. How long overdue? I'd say at least a quarter century.

As the title suggests, the topic is the character of the entrepreneur and how unpleasant such individuals can be in the work place. Perhaps more than that, its topic is the dichotomy between the hero status given to the most successful entrepreneurs and the diabolical behavior that some such individuals exhibit. Read more here.

Forbes: Twelve Reasons Why Gold is Better Than Bitcoin

By SIMON CONSTABLE

The world has gone wild for the cryptocurrency known as Bitcoin.

One Bitcoin would set you back $4,425 at the time of writing. That's up from less than $600 a year ago, according to CoinBase.

But a word of caution. Gold is still a better bet for anyone who wants to own a time-tested asset.

Here's why:

WSJ: What is GARP?

By SIMON CONSTABLE

In a recent report—“The Death of Value?”—Wall Street powerhouse Goldman Sachs poses an important question about an out-of-favor investing style.

Its conclusion seems to be that value investing isn’t dead. Rather, it has morphed into a stock-picking strategy known as GARP, or “growth at a reasonable price.” Read more here.

WSJ: Could Some VIX-Related Funds Go ‘Poof’ in a Day?

By SIMON CONSTABLE

Some exchange-traded funds related to the CBOE Volatility Index, or VIX, could vanish just when traders might want them most.

The VIX, also known as the fear gauge, measures the cost of buying insurance against a drop in the broad market. At issue are funds that seek to profit when short-term VIX futures contracts fall in value. The VIX itself isn’t an investible product and the VIX futures don’t exactly track the VIX, but they are closely correlated. Read more here.

Tigerzeng, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

P.J. Media: Here's Why a Storm Surge in Gas Prices Should Settle Down Soon

By SIMON CONSTABLE

Ugh!

As if a humongous hurricane battering the Gulf Coast wasn’t enough of a problem, now gas prices are surging to their highest level in two years.

But don’t listen to the scaremongers. Sticker shock at the pump is most likely a temporary phenomenon. Unlike the storm itself, and the associated devastation, in a year you won't remember the surge in gas prices. Read more here.

U.S. News: Why You Should Consider Frontier Markets

By SIMON CONSTABLE

If you've never heard of frontier markets, then get ready. You are likely to do so a lot more over the coming years.

In the meantime, there is potential for savvy investors to profit. Read more here.

FS Insider: Economic Indicators Interview

By SIMON CONSTABLE

 

M.E.E.: Saudi economic future looks bleak amid falling oil prices

By SIMON CONSTABLE

Oil-rich Saudi Arabia faces a sticky problem.

Its economy is barely growing. Its government is spending way more than it receives. And its economic reforms, which would move the country away from reliance on oil, are operating at a snail’s pace.

If something doesn’t give, then the government may need to hold “a fire sale”. At least, that’s what one financial firm warns. Read more here.

P.J. Media: Waiting Longer for an Ambulance When Seconds Count? Blame Obamacare

By SIMON CONSTABLE

If you’re waiting for the administration to replace the Affordable Care Act, you should pray that you won’t need an ambulance.

If you do call the 911 emergency services, then you’ll be waiting longer than you would have before President Obama’s signature healthcare reform was implemented. Read more here.

U.S. News: 3 Do's, 3 Don'ts for Boosting Your Portfolio Returns

By SIMON CONSTABLE

Everyone wants their investments to grow faster, but the real question is how to do it.

There are legions of Wall Street professionals who struggle to beat the major indexes. So, how will the rest of us manage?

"It's all about the things that you can control," says Bob Stammers, director of investor engagement at the CFA Institute in New York. "A lot of people focus on the next new investing trend, or the next great fund." Read more here.

John Batchelor Show: Brexit Watch

By SIMON CONSTABLE

Forbes: Still Sick -- Even Massive ObamaCare Subsidies Won't Help Low Income Adults

By SIMON CONSTABLE

ObamaCare ain't dead yet, but it's still suffering a congenital defect.

The problem?

It is doomed to fail some of the exact people whom it was aimed at helping, namely the poor.Read more here.

PJ: Panicking About North Korea's Nukes? The Stock Market Isn't

By SIMON CONSTABLE

No, the world isn’t heading into a nuclear war, at least not anytime soon.

That’s not PJ Media saying so. It’s not me, either.

It’s the stock market.

Read more here.

Forbes: How Esports Will Win The Future And So Will Activision

By SIMON CONSTABLE

When an investing firm which boasts about how few investments it makes, says it's excited about a company, then it's time to listen.

The operation in question is London-based J. Stern & Co., which describes itself as a private investment office -- somewhere between a family office and an investment manager. 

“We are very long term investors and since inception of the core portfolio in October 2012, we have traded only two or three companies a year,” says Chris Rossbach, chief investment officer at J. Stern. Read more here.

Photo by Alex Haney on Unsplash

U.S. News: The Outlook for Stocks for the Rest of 2017​

By SIMON CONSTABLE

Will stocks continue rallying for the remainder of the year? As with many things, the late baseball genius Yogi Berra summed it up well: "It's tough to make predictions, especially about the future."

Anyone who has tried to forecast the stock market knows that investing is no exception: It often makes fools of otherwise smart people. Read more here.

Forbes: Britain's Chicken and Egg Problem

By SIMON CONSTABLE

Britain has a chicken and egg problem, this time with its food supply.

Unlike the classic riddle involving the two items, we know which issue came first. Read more here.

Forbes: Corporate Pension Funding Gap To Hit Record This Year

By SIMON CONSTABLE

Ouch!

Just when you thought things were getting better, up pops another problem.

This time it's the pensions provided by the biggest U.S. companies. The level of underfunding at these plans is set to reach a record this year, according to the author of a recent report. Read more here.

Photo by Andre Taissin on Unsplash

Street Fight: How an Italian Wafer Brand Targets U.S. Moms and Millennial Foodies on a Local Level

By SIMON CONSTABLE

Unless you grew up in a household of recent immigrants you may never have heard of Loackerwafers — but Crystal Black Davis, the VP of marketing and deputy to the president at Loacker USA, would like that to soon change. Read more here.

Forbes: Why God Would Get Fired On Wall Street

By SIMON CONSTABLE

In a recently published book, Wesley Gray, founder of Alpha Architect, poses an important question:

If God is omnipotent, could he create a long-term active investment strategy fund that was so good he could never get fired?

The stunning answer is that "God would get fired," he writes. Gray's emphasis.

He then goes on to explain why this would be so, even though God-like "perfect foresight has great returns." The reason that God would lose his job is that although the exceptional vision of the future would lead to great investing results the short-term journey to huge returns often leads to massive (temporary) losses. It's the sort of thing that gets you fired. Just like the rest of the business world, Wall Street preaches long term results but so often measures performance using short term metrics.

His analysis is detailed and clear. He's also is at pains to mention he means no offense by referring to God.

Gray's story is just one of the topics covered in a new book of essays on finance edited by veteran Wall Street investor Meb Faber. Published late July, The Best Investment Writing: Selected writing from leading investors and authors includes pieces by a host of people many of whom I know, have spoken to, or have met. Read more here.

WSJ: What to Consider Before You Buy an Emerging-Markets Fund

By SIMON CONSTABLE

Investors are flocking back to emerging markets, after dumping billions of dollars of emerging-markets securities and funds late last year.

For those who are thinking of following suit by putting their money to work in emerging markets, here are some important considerations. Read more here.

WSJ: What Is Risk Parity?

By SIMON CONSTABLE

An investment strategy known as risk parity has drawn attention lately because of the lack of volatility in the stock market and what might happen when volatility reappears.

“A risk-parity portfolio tries to derive equal risk from all the asset classes it’s involved with,” says Jack Ablin, chief investment officer at BMO Private Bank in Chicago. Read more here.

WSJ: Pakistan Status Grows In Indexes

By SIMON CONSTABLE

Pakistan has gotten a leg up from the indexing world and could get more attention from investors because of it.

In May, index provider MSCI Inc. decided to give Pakistan emerging-market status and added it to the MSCI Emerging Markets Index. MSCI had previously classified the country as a frontier market. Read more here.

Pakistan's Flag

Photo by Abuzar Xheikh on Unsplash

U.S. News: Defense Stocks Are Booming and Won't Slow Down

By SIMON CONSTABLE

Is it time to bail on defense stocks, or is there more upside to come?

The sector, which includes giant companies such as Lockheed Martin Corp. (NYSE: LMT), Raytheon Co. (ticker: RTN), and United Technologies Corp. (UTX), is on an impressive run, beating the broader market index by a factor of nearly 2-to-1 over the past 24 months. Read more here.

Forbes: Fowl Matters -- Will Britain Really Reject U.S. Trade Deal Over Chickens?

By SIMON CONSTABLE

Did the British government just fowl up the chance of a trade deal with the U.S. before negotiations have even begun? Not to be a Chicken Little, but sure seems that way.

And it all started off so well just a few weeks ago. Read more here.

U.S. News: Low Volatility Worries Some Investors

By SIMON CONSTABLE

The so-called "fear gauge" is looking low and that has some investors concerned. The matter at hand is complacency, or not worrying enough about the risks of investing.

The CBOE volatility index, or VIX, is known colloquially as the fear gauge. It measures the price that investors are willing to pay to buy insurance against a drop in the broad stock market.

"It gives you an idea of how much people will pay up for that protection," says Russell Rhoads, director of education for CBOE’s Options Institute in Chicago. "The more concerned they are, the more it goes up in value." Read more here. 

Forbes: What We Can All Learn From An Art Forger

By SIMON CONSTABLE

At the best of times, the market for fine art and antiquities is murky, but even at its worst, it's nothing compared to the seedy underworld of forgeries.

The latter is the world which Shaun Greenhalgh illuminates in his book, A Forger's Tale, which was published last month. It's the story he wrote in prison after the 2007 conviction for crimes that he details in the book. In addition to the inner workings of the art world, there is something for business people to learn. Read more here.

U.S. News: Forecasting Recessions Can Boost Your Returns

By SIMON CONSTABLE

Does it make sense to change your investments if you see a recession coming? Possibly so, but you'll need some economics know-how.

The bottom line is fairly simple. If you can get your prediction of the beginning or end of an economic cycle correct, then it could boost your portfolio returns substantially, according to some recently published research. Read more here.

Forbes: Undead Again -- How ObamaCare Became The Law That Wouldn't Die

By SIMON CONSTABLE

A decade ago the world economy was threatened in what became known as "Attack of the Killer Zombie Banks."

Now there's a new horror movie playing only in the U.S.:

"Undead Again: The Law That Wouldn't Die."

It's the terrifying tale of how the Congressional Republicans repeatedly try to kill ObamaCare, but by some occult science, the beast just keeps living. It has some comic aspects too. Read more here.

Forbes: The Only Three Market Sectors To Watch This Year

By SIMON CONSTABLE

Investors should do themselves a favor this year and focus on just three sectors. Why? Because that's where the earnings action is most likely to be, according to KKR which published its Insights report earlier this month. The paper had some other important findings as well. Read more here.

Barron's: Hot Weather Could Light a Fire Under Corn Prices

By SIMON CONSTABLE

Red hot dry heat in the western part of the upper Midwest is threatening the corn crop and could spark a big rally.

“The extreme drought in North and South Dakota (and currently spreading into Canada) may begin to hit the western corn belt,” says a report from Best Weather, a meteorological forecaster and advisor in Sarasota Fla. Adds Matthew Davey, a commodity analyst and meteorologist for the firm: “All the models are showing warm dry air sticking around.” Read more here.

Photo by Alejandro Martin on Unsplash

Middle East Eye: Egypt's economy on path to recovery

By SIMON CONSTABLE

Things are looking up for Egypt’s beleaguered economy. At least investors think so, which is why they are pouring money into the country. Analysts are optimistic also. The news must come as welcome relief for the country's residents who have suffered brutal inflation and soaring unemployment.

In what must be one of the bitterest ironies of this decade, the optimism of the Arab Spring in 2011 quickly turned sour as Egypt became mired in economic malaise. Read more here.

U.S. News: Sometimes, the Best Advice Is 'Do Nothing'

By SIMON CONSTABLE

Think back to the 2016 U.S. presidential election, when markets tanked overnight as Donald Trump's victory shocked investors. The next day in the gray and the rain, anxious traders at the New York Stock Exchange rushed to the exchange floor for what they expected to be a foreboding day. Read more here.

Forbes: China's Market Regulators Appear To Be At War With Themselves

By SIMON CONSTABLE

China's latest financial markets move is puzzling.

The country wants to open up its bond market to foreign investors. The reason for this would seem to be part of its apparent long-term goal of having the Chinese yuan become a major world currency just like the euro or the yen or the greenback. Some people even say the yuan could supplant the dollar as the number one reserve currency. Even if that happens it's a long way off in large part because of what the Chinese government is doing to itself.

The issue is that different parts of China's bureaucracy would appear to be working against each other, at least in their actions if not their intent. Read more here.

WSJ: What Are Interval Funds?

By SIMON CONSTABLE

Investors may soon be hearing more about interval funds.

With these funds, investors can redeem shares only at specified times or intervals.

Why would an investor want to own one? Because it’s hard for an individual to find another way to invest in the assets these funds hold. Read more here.

WSJ: Asia Might Beckon for Junk Investors

By Simon Constable

Could Asian junk debt be a sweet spot for investors?

Over the past few years, high-yield bonds from Asia have offered better returns than similar bonds offered in the U.S. and other regions, with comparable or lower volatility. There are reasons to think the trend may continue. Read more here.

Photo by CHUTTERSNAP on Unsplash

No.3 Magazine: Deliberately Irreverent

By SIMON CONSTABLE

Some people manage to fit more into their list of achievements than seems reasonable. Take, for instance, British-born Anthony Haden-Guest: journalist, art critic, soldier, amateur boxer, war correspondent, escapee from a WWII internment camp, and cartoonist. He also wrote The Last Party: Studio 54, Disco, and the Culture of the Night, and numerous other books. 

That list only scrapes the surface. “Some people can be a Mozart or Keats and be together by twenty years old,” he says modestly. “Or you can be like me; just turned eighty and learning how to handle your weaknesses.” He’s obviously handling them quite well. 

Earlier this year, for his eightieth birthday party he held a boxing match in which, among others, he fought off an opponent dressed as President Donald Trump. Not long after that, he brought forth his latest collection of art “The Further Chronicles of Now,” which opened at Anderson Contemporary in fashionable lower Manhattan.

As with his boxing match, Haden-Guest is irreverent, but that's not the whole of it. He draws his cartoons mainly in ink, with limited color and seems to follow two rules of thumb simultaneously: bold is better, and less is more. Together they morph into a well defined aesthetic. That’s something with which he has wrestled over time. “I was a photographer for a while and and I realized that if I took a roll of 36 pictures, they would look like they’d been taken by four different photographers,” he says. “That’s a killer for a photographer.” Likewise, he looks back at his drawings and wishes everything from more than a decade ago was turned to ash.

For him, the process of ‘cartoonery,’ is deliberate. “Any artist will tell you there is always a mystery about how everything got there,” he explains. “That is not true about cartoons – it has to be a missile – even the colors should help towards to the joke.” 

Of course, one wonders what deliberate field Haden-Guest will take on now he’s entering his ninth decade.

See original story here.

U.S. News: Why Emerging Markets Are a Good Bet Now

By SIMON CONSTABLE

Emerging markets have been on something of a tear over the past year, and experts say they have more room to run. That's good news for investors who have arrived late to this party.

The MSCI Emerging Markets Index, which tracks stocks in 24 countries – including China, Russia, Poland, and Peru – is up more than 25 percent this year. That compares to gains over the same period of less than 20 percent for the Standard & Poor's 500 Index, excluding dividends.

What's behind this stellar performance? First, emerging markets are cheap compared to the U.S. stock market. Read more here.

Forbes: Why Obama May Be The Ultimate Victor In Healthcare?

By SIMON CONSTABLE

Who'll be the ultimate winner in the health care insurance battle?

When all is said and done, perhaps it will be former President Obama. Read more here.

Forbes: Bad Economics Just Made The U.K.'s Nursing Crisis Worse

By SIMON CONSTABLE

Britain's National Health Service already has a shortage of nurses and it has little to do with the country's decision to leave the European Union.

The bigger problem is the paltry pay, an issue which the government made worse earlier this week. It's part of a long-standing problem. As with so many things, it comes down to simple economics. Read more here.

Forbes: New Market Regulations Will Backfire For China

By SIMON CONSTABLE

If there is one thing to understand about financial markets, it's that government interference frequently makes things worse than they would otherwise be.

A case in point is China, which over the past couple of months has placed increasing regulations on how its stock markets operate. The sad fact is that the new rules will undermine those markets over the longer term. Read more here.

U.S. News: The Next Bull Market for Gold May Have Just Begun

By SIMON CONSTABLE

With stocks pricey and investors getting valuation jitters, precious metals may be just the thing to add a little luster to your portfolio. 

For starters, there are reasons to believe that a bull market for gold and silver might be beginning. Read more here.

Forbes: Napoleon Hill's Advice On Success Still Relevant After Nine Decades

By SIMON CONSTABLE
Napoleon Hill's classic The Law of Success was reissued last month, nearly nine decades after its first publication. Still, the lessons seem as relevant as ever. Read more here.

Forbes: What The Great Economist Galbraith Can Teach Us About Etiquette

By SIMON CONSTABLE

Despite the reputation of some economists, it is still possible to learn things from them and not just about economics.

A case in point is a recently published book of letters from legendary economist J.K. Galbraith, who clearly had a lot to say. The book, The Selected Letters of John Kenneth Galbraith, edited by Richard Holt, runs just over 700 pages. Still, it's worth flicking through for some nuggets of wisdom.

Read more here.

Barron's: Iron-Ore Prices Will Fall Further

By SIMON CONSTABLE

iron-ore prices look set to tumble. as with many commodities, the issue comes down to China, where the economy is likely to slow down, thus reducing demand for a key component in the manufacture of steel. At the same time, ore inventories are climbing. Read more here.

U.S. News: Subprime Loans Are Haunting Investors and Auto Stocks

By Simon Constable

Just when you thought the economy is safe again, the ghost of subprime loans is back. This time it's haunting the auto industry and doesn't bode well for automotive stocks. In fact, the problem is beginning to hurt car companies in myriad ways, including fewer sales.

Subprime refers to riskier loans made to borrowers with a less-than-pristine credit history. The loans, you may recall, had a hand in the global financial crisis. In the years leading up to 2008, banks made many subprime loans to home buyers. The result was the banking industry's overexposure to risky loans and the painful paying of the piper that followed. When the housing market bubble popped and borrowers defaulted, banks – and ultimately taxpayers – were on the hook for the money, and the world economy became mired in a credit crisis. Read more here.

U.S. News: What Britain's Election Means for Investors

By Simon Constable

A surprising result in last week's U.K. election, which left no party with a majority in Parliament, holds possibilities for savvy investors willing to navigate a tumultuous market.

The election "takes an uncertain situation and throws it up in the air," says Jack Ablin, chief investment officer at BMO Private Bank in Chicago. Read more here.

Britain's Houses of Parliament

Photo by Mark Stuckey on Unsplash

U.S. News: Why You Should Buy Converts Now

By SIMON CONSTABLE

The time is ripe for investing in convertible bonds.

You may not have heard of them before, but these hybrid securities can help protect your wealth if interest rates rise or stock prices fall. Convertible bonds are fixed-income securities that can be converted into the stock of the company that issued the bond.

"They can make a lot of sense for investors who want to see some stock market upside but also want to receive a regular interest coupon payment," says Brad McMillan, chief investment officer for Commonwealth Financial Network. Read more here.

U.S. News: The Case for Treasury Bonds

By SIMON CONSTABLE

It's easy to dismiss owning U.S. Treasury bonds as a waste of time, but they play an important role in a portfolio.

Yields on 10-year Treasury bonds have been falling for decades. In July 1981, Treasury yields were more than 15 percent but have since dropped, paying just 2.3 percent recently. The falling yields led many to falsely predict the end of the bond market rally. Bond prices and yields move in opposite directions, so falling yields mean higher bond prices. Read more here.

WSJ: How to Invest When Some Asset Classes Look Expensive

By SIMON CONSTABLE
By some time-tested metrics based on corporate earnings, the U.S. stock market is overvalued. The S&P 500 index, Nasdaq and the Dow Jones Industrial Average all set fresh highs on Friday.
Read more here.