Barron's: Vanuard's Precious Metals Fund -- Back to Conservatism

By SIMON CONSTABLE

Ask Jamie Horvat, co-manager of the Vanguard Precious Metals & Mining fund, where he thinks the price of gold is heading, and he’s quick to tell you: “I don’t really care.”

Horvat joined the $2.1 billion fund (ticker: VGPMX) in 2014, right after the price of gold tanked, falling 29%, from $1,692 an ounce at the beginning of 2013 to $1,202 by the end. That same year, 2013, the fund lost 35%. That sounds bad, but that 35% loss made Vanguard Precious Metals & Mining the best-performing fund in the category, according to Morningstar.

Read more here.

Forbes: Newscorp's WSJ Makes Bold Move on Fleet Street

By SIMON CONSTABLE

They don’t call Fleet Street, the traditional home Britain’s newspaper industry, “the crucible” for nothing. That makes the announcement by my former employer Newscorp. even more notable.

Its Dow Jones division, which I was employed by until earlier this year, says it will re-launch its European and Asian editions of The Wall Street Journal with new broadsheet newspapers. Gone will be the smaller sized, or tabloid editions.

Why is it so notable? Read more here.

Alex Proimos from Sydney, Australia, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

TheStreet: How Your Portfolio Can Profit From Japanese Manufacturing Growth

By SIMON CONSTABLE

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- The manufacturing sector is ready for liftoff in Europe and Japan, according to an analysis by the New York-based Economic Cycle Research Institute, which studies such matters. Even the U.S. factory sector will benefit, but most of the growth will be overseas, ECRI said. 

What's more, there should be ample time for investors to get in on the action. 

"A clear global industrial upturn is happening," said Lakshman Achuthan, co-founder & chief operations officer of ECRI. He's basing that assessment on data showing a current rebound in industrial production from six months ago as well as proprietary ECRI indicators pointing to a sustained upswing.

Read more here.

TheStreet: China's Steel Producers Choke

By SIMON CONSTABLE

NEW YORK (The Street) -- China's steel producers seem to have indigestion. It's a sign that things are not quite right in the world's second-largest economy, where steel is used in industries from construction to automobile manufacturing. 

It's as worrying as if your 17-year-old son who usually eats you out of house and home suddenly and inexplicably lost his appetite. For years, China's economy voraciously dined on steel bars for breakfast, lunch and dinner. 

To see how that's changing, take a look at the chart showing year-to-year growth for China's steel production, based on data for crude steel output from the World Steel Association. It says the data it collects account for about 98% of global production. China produces about half of that each year. Read more here.

It's Not the Cat's Poop that Makes You Nuts

By SIMON CONSTABLE

News that a so-called "cat poop parasite" causes schizophrenia has me somewhat skeptical. Actually, very skeptical.

At 2 am in the morning when you are trying to get some well-earned shuteye, it is not the cat's poop that wakes you up by punching you in the face. It is the cat.

At 2.15 am it is still the cat and not the cat poop.

At 2.25 am, 2.31 am and 2.46 am, 2.58 am and all the times through when the alarm goes off it is always the cat that wakes you up before she goes back to bed for a nap. It is never the cat poop. 

Sleep deprivation caused by the cat would eventually turn even a psychic muscleman into a psychotic mess, given a long enough time period.

Yes, cats poop. But it's the cat that you love that's driving you nuts, not the cat's poop.

See original post here.

TheStreet:The Reason You Should Worry About Falling Factory Orders Isn't What You Think

By SIMON CONSTABLE

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Look out, below: There's a worrying sign in the factory orders data, one that's also somewhat puzzling. 

When you chart the data, it looks even worse. Data reported by the St. Louis Federal Reserve Bank shows a dramatic downward trend in new factory orders for consumer goods over the past year. Consumer goods are items that you and I might buy like shoes or hats. It's not industrial machines or aircraft. 

Read more here.

WSJ: What Are Frontier Markets?

By SIMON CONSTABLE

Most investors know about emerging markets like Mexico or Brazil. Lesser known are the so-called frontier markets such as Argentina, Pakistan, Botswana, Ukraine and Vietnam.

As far as economic development, frontier markets are at the bottom of the heap, says Win Thin, global head of emerging markets at Brown Brothers Harriman in New York. “Typically they are poorer countries, but they are on the way up.” Read more here.

Pakistan's Flag

Photo by Burhan Ahmad on Unsplash