Forbes: J.Crew Even More J.Screwed

By SIMON CONSTABLE

Just when you thought it couldn’t get worse for J.Crew, it did.

Earlier this week I posted a column asking a question: Is J.Crew actually becoming J. Screwed? Read more here.

But that was before one of the company’s executives reportedly hit a new low and dragged its image even further down. The New York Post reports:

Read more here.

TheStreet: Will 'Obamatrade' Kill Another 1 Million Factory Jobs?

By SIMON CONSTABLE

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- The Trans Pacific Partnership, or Obamatrade as it's known to opponents, might be bad news for America's beleaguered manufacturing workers. That is, if it ever gets approved. 

It's hard to come to any other conclusion after reading a recent working paper from the Federal Reserve that studied the effects of liberalizing trade with China in the past decade. The authors conclude that the U.S. lost 1 million factory jobs in just eight years through 2007. 

The Trans Pacific Partnership could mean more of the same. By far the likeliest outcome will be "another trade-related disaster for U.S. domestic manufacturing," says Alan Tonelson, an international trade and manufacturing expert with more than three decades in the field.

Read more here.

Forbes: J.Crew Or J.Screwed?

By SIMON CONSTABLE

Is J.Crew actually becoming J. Screwed?

All is not well at the iconic apparel retailer J. Crew. The lead designer for women’s clothing has been ousted and the customers aren’t happy. In a rather unusual way they are letting their feelings be known.

The Washington Post sums up the mood with the following: 

“Customers aren’t just abstaining from buying the company’s famously preppy clothes, however. They are publicly criticizing J. Crew’s alleged style and quality shortcomings on blogs and on social media. Using the Twitter hashtag #revivejcrew, disgruntled customers are doffing their cashmere gloves and airing their complaints in 140 characters or less.”

Read more here.

Photo by Mika Baumeister on Unsplash

Curlyrnd, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, 

via Wikimedia Commonsr

WSJ: Women, Especially, Are Failing Financial Literacy

By SIMON CONSTABLE

The bad news: Women are falling far behind men in financial literacy. The even worse news: Men apparently don’t know much about the topic in the first place. 

The lack of knowledge can be costly for anyone, of course, but the consequences may be worse for women because they tend to live longer than men. There is some hope, though, at least for the women, as they seem to comprehend their shortcomings in financial expertise.

Those are the findings of two recent studies published by the Global Financial Literacy Excellence Center. Read more here.

Photo by JESHOOTS.COM on Unsplash

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.