U.S. News: Good Outlook for M&A Should Boost Stocks

By SIMON CONSTABLE

Just like the 1980s video game Pac-Man, corporations look set to start gobbling up each other this year.

If that happens, and it looks likely to do so, then the stock market should rally. That's because greater numbers of mergers and more acquisitions tend to go hand in hand with gains in the major stock indices, such as the Standard & Poor's 500 index. In short, more deals equal higher stock prices. Read more here.

Forbes: A Simple Way to Help Your College-bound Student Ace Personal Finance

By SIMON CONSTABLE

It's normally this time of year that first year undergraduates start to realize that their finances are a mess. At least that's when it dawned on me when I was at college.

Author Kingsley Amis nailed the sentiment when he wrote: "[...] he [Jim] must review his financial situation, see if he could somehow restore it from complete impossibility to its usual level of merely imminent disaster."  That was from Amis' superb novel, Lucky Jim.

Yes, right now many students may feel just like the protagonist of that novel right now -- totally skint, or broke.

The problem has long been simple. We spend a lot of time insisting that students learn algebra and punctuation. But we spend close to zero time teaching basic personal finance.

That's where the O.M.G. Official Money Guide for College Students by Susan Beacham et al., comes in handy. Read more here.

Erdogan Top Ten For Journalists in Turkey

By SIMON CONSTABLE

Top ten list of safe topics for journalists in Turkey:

1. Erdogan is awesome.
2. Err... That's it.
3. ...
4. .
5. .
6. .
7. .
8. .
9. .
10. .

By Secretary of Defense [CC BY 2.0], via Wikimedia Commons

Forbes: 2016 -- The Beginning Of The End For E.U.

By SIMON CONSTABLE

Britain's historic vote last June to leave the European Union marks the beginning of the end for the European Union. It will be a change as monumental as the end of the Soviet Union a quarter century ago. The parallels are eerie. Read more here.

By User:Verdy p, User:-xfi-, User:Paddu, User:Nightstallion, User:Funakoshi, User:Jeltz, User:Dbenbenn, User:Zscout370 - File created by various Wikimedia users (see "Author").File based on the specification given at [1]., Public Domain, Link

TheStreet: What Does 2017 Have in Store? 3 Market Metrics That Will Tell You

By SIMON CONSTABLE

Will 2017 bring investors good returns? History indicates that's likely, but as with all things related to the stock market, nothing is a certainty.

In the first place, a new U.S. president will take office, which generally signals gains for the S&P 500 and the exchange-traded fund that tracks it, the SPDR S&P 500. Read more here.

Forbes: A Vast Fraud In 1870s London Has Much To Teach Us

By SIMON CONSTABLE

Back in the 19th century some American scoundrels mounted a vast fraud on "The Old Lady of Threadneedle Street," as the Bank of England is known. They passed off millions of dollars of fake financial instruments as real to the country's central bank. The rough equivalent now would be to successfully pull off an enormous financial heist on the Federal Reserve. The period in which this happened was also one of great financial innovation and that matter should be notable to investors now. Nicolas Booth ably recounts the tale in his recently published book, Thieves Of Threadneedle Street. Read more here.

U.S. News: Will the Trump Administration Sink Crude Oil Prices Again?

By SIMON CONSTABLE

Should oil patch investors be worried that recent gains will soon be undone? Certainly, there is a case to be made, but on balance the major slide from mid-2014 through February is likely over.

The two major issues in the energy market are the recent agreement by OPEC and the desire by the incoming Trump administration to attain energy independence for the U.S. Read more here.