WSJ: Fund Investors Found Commodities Golden in 2016

By SIMON CONSTABLE

U.S. fund investors caught commodities fever in 2016 in the biggest way in six years, as prices of gold, oil and other commodities rallied.

Funds specializing in precious metals were back in fashion, as were those that invest across the commodities spectrum. Funds that hold single commodities other than precious metals were out of fashion. Read more here.

TheStreet: A Gold Price Slump Is Good News, Even If You Own the Metal

By SIMON CONSTABLE

Gold prices have been in a slump these past few months. But investors who own the metal shouldn't be sad.

In fact, quite the opposite. They should be thrilled. Read more here.

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.