WSJ: Gender Bias in Hedge Funds?

By SIMON CONSTABLE

Running a successful hedge fund is a challenge for anyone. But it’s especially hard for women, a recent study says.

Hedge funds run by women are struggling for capital despite there being no statistically significant difference in performance between their funds and those run by men, according to new research. Part of the reason, say the researchers, is that women running hedge funds get a low level of news-media attention. Read more here.

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WSJ: What Is the Presidential Predictor?

By SIMON CONSTABLE

Will the stock market’s performance this year determine who will be the next U.S. president?

It’s a questionable proposition, but a study of market data in presidential election years since World War II found a strong correlation between the performance of the S&P 500 index and who ended up in the White House. Read more here.

Forbes: Truman's Forgotten Economic Crisis

By SIMON CONSTABLE

President Harry S. Truman is famous for many great lines, including one of my favorites: ”I never gave anybody hell! I just told the truth and they thought it was hell.”

What perhaps isn’t so well known is the economic turmoil his administration had to navigate as peace broke out.

Kenneth Weisbrode reveals that story, as well as other parts of the first post-war year, in his new book: The Year of Indecision, 1946: A Tour Through the Crucible of Harry Truman’s America. It was published in March. 

Read more here.

Forbes: Worst Boss Possible Part 13

By SIMON CONSTABLE

Part 13 of a continuing series, which outlines how you too can be an appalling manager. Read part 12 here.

I read with horror about a new practice sweeping the offices of corporate America. It seems tailor-made for the awful manager. In this case, a very high level manager.

CNN Money reports that companies are introducing “hoteling” and “beach toweling.” Confused?

Read more here.

Forbes: Worst Boss Possible -- Part 12

By SIMON CONSTABLE

Part 12 of a continuing series, which outlines how you too can be an appalling manager. Read part 11 here.

One of the things I've noticed about great bosses is that they are consistent in the way they treat their team. It's not just in one way, but in all. For instance, they are typically consistently fair, consistently level headed, consistently decent to people, consistently respectful, consistently encouraging etc. You get the idea.

I have had bosses who behaved this way and I adored them. However, this column is about how to be truly awful as a manager.

If you want any chance of achieving the status of the world's worst boss, then you must in no way be consistent. Instead, you should strive for what I call "self-contradictory inconsistencies."

Read more here.

U.S. News: Why Is Investor Sentiment So Bad?

By SIMON CONSTABLE

Mr. Market has caught a case of the grumps. The question is why – and what that means for your investments. 

Pessimism remains above its historical average of 30 percent for a seventh consecutive week and for the ninth time in 10 weeks, according to the American Association of Individual Investors. 
That ambivalence has led investors to buy so-called safe-haven investments such as Treasury bonds and gold, rather than riskier assets such as stocks. Read more here.

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U.S. News: 3 Stocks to Play to Shortage of Phosphorus

By SIMON CONSTABLE

It could be time to feed your portfolio with some plant food stocks, but only if you are prepared to take a very long-term view. 

The world's grasslands, which is where much meat and milk production ultimately starts out, are being depleted of a vital mineral. Phosphorus is the chemical that farmers apply through fertilizer to replenish grassland after grazing. 

A new study that in the Nature Communications journal warns that an acceleration in grassland degradation will require farmers to apply four times as much phosphorus – both from livestock manure and commercial products – to their pastures by 2050 to "achieve an anticipated 80 percent increase in grass production" and keep the soil fertile. Read more here.

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