U.S. News & World Report: How Global Conflict Can Boost Your Portfolio

By SIMON CONSTABLE

When the world goes to war, should you fortify your portfolio with defense stocks? Technically, we might not be in a world war, but little by little, the globe is becoming a chaotic jumble of military conflicts.

Some conflicts are burning slowly, like that in Ukraine; others, such as those across the Middle East, are raging. Either way, governments around the world are seeing the need to arm up, if only to head off unwanted excursions from neighboring countries.

If spending does pick up, it could bring in some huge profits for those companies manufacturing the latest high-tech weaponry, smart bombs and warplanes. Specifically, it's companies such as Lockheed Martin Corp. (ticker: LMT), Northrup Grumman Corp. (NOC), Raytheon Co. (RTN), General Dynamics Corp. (GD) and Boeing Co. (BA) that should profit.

Read more here.

OZY: The Sad Truth About Major Energy Finds

By SIMON CONSTABLE

You have just discovered a sizable natural gas field. Actually, not sizable but what could be the world’s largest. It happens to be located ideally enough off the coast of Egypt, a growing energy hub, and it may hold up to 30 trillion cubic feet of gas. Do the math, and at current European prices, it’d be worth roughly $200 billion, or more than two-thirds the size of Egypt’s entire economy.

You can hear that Bangles song — “Walk Like an Egyptian” — can’t you? Or at least, they’d better be dancing in the street there with this kind of news.

But of course, this is the world of energy, an Alice in Wonderland nightmare that can make absolutely no sense. Demand can rise, and still prices can fall. Or countries too dependent on it (read Venezuela or Russia) can find themselves with little to fall back on. Which brings us to what this latest discovery will really mean to Egypt. Will it be its savior? Will it make Egypt rich? Read more here.

Natural Gas Flare

Photo by Tim Evanson, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

WSJ: What Is the Buyback Window?

By SIMON CONSTABLE

What is a buyback window, and does it matter for investors?

It is a period when a company is allowed to buy back its stock. Companies including the largest, Apple Inc., have been buying, which tends to support the price. 

The reason for a period when a company can buy back stock and a period when it can’t is to prevent companies from violating insider-trading rules. A company can’t buy back stock when it has nonpublic information that could affect the share price. Read more here.

WSJ: Unfriendly Tax-Friendly Funds

By SIMON CONSTABLE

Here’s hard news about mutual funds that are designed to minimize tax burdens: The amount they save investors is often less than the extra fees investors pay the funds themselves. 

“The performance of these funds is really quite abysmal,” says David Nanigian, a professor of investments at the Richard D. Irwin Graduate School at the American College of Financial Services in Bryn Mawr, Pa., and one of the authors of a report titled “Is Your Tax-Managed Fund Manager Hiding in the Closet?” published in the Fall 2015 edition of the Journal of Wealth Management. The other authors are Dale Domian and Philip Gibson, professors at York University in Toronto and Winthrop University in Rock Hill, S.C., respectively. Read more here.

IRS, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Barron's: Milk Prices Likely to Rise in 2016

By SIMON CONSTABLE

It could soon be time to lay off the latte and, for that matter, grilled cheese sandwiches, too. Why? Because milk prices are set to rally next year. In case you forgot, cheese is made from milk.

Recently plummeting U.S. milk prices mean it doesn’t pay for farmers to maintain the highest quality milk production of their dairy herds. As a result, herd size is set to drop and production with it. It’s a problem that could take years to work out. Still, there’s a chance for traders to profit.

November-dated futures prices for class III milk have been sliding for much of the year, trading Friday on the CME at $15.61 per hundred pounds, down from more than $17 in early June. Class III milk is primarily used in the manufacture of cheese, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. In 2014, prices were in excess of $20 per hundred pounds for the first 11 months of the year, says the USDA. Read more here.

Photo by Eiliv-Sonas Aceron on Unsplash

TheStreet: Obamacare Actually Isn't All That Affordable -- Unless You're Broke

By SIMON CONSTABLE

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- It's time for the Affordable Care Act to join a long list of oxymorons. Why? Because rather like "military intelligence," "cat proof," "government organization," and "simple calculus," the law better known as Obamacare turns out to be an inherent contradiction. For a sizeable part of the population, anyway.

The ACA is just not affordable to a big chunk of those it was most meant to serve: The previously uninsured. In fact, many are worse off than before, according to a new study. That fact could also unravel part of the program's foundation, which could be a problem for healthcare insurers. 

Read more here.

TheStreet: Why You'll Actually Be Richer When the Dollar is Worth Less

By SIMON CONSTABLE

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- The great thing about pain is that the moment it stops, you feel better. And the agony the strong dollarinflicted on stocks -- and consequently, your portfolio -- may soon be over.

The U.S. Dollar Index, which measures the greenback against major world currencies, surged 22% from July 2014 through mid-March, according to data from the St. Louis Federal Reserve. It stalled then, however, and has moved in a mostly sideways range since.

Read more here.