Forbes: How Jean-Claude Juncker's Ohio Rant Is Making A Joke of The E.U.

By SIMON CONSTABLE

Last week's outburst by the  European Union's boss is comical at best. Worst than that, it's only his latest diplomatic snafu. He's making the whole organization look desperate.

I write of course of Jean-Claude Juncker who threatened that he would help Ohio campaign for independence from the U.S. if Donald Trump didn't stop encouraging European countries to follow Britain out of the E.U.

But there's where Juncker sounds like a hick who just showed up on the world stage rather than the master of realpolitik that one would hope for from a world leader. Read more here.

Photo by Sara Kurfeß on Unsplash

U.S. News: Stop Watching the Fed's Every Move

By SIMON CONSTABLE

You need to stop worrying about what the Federal Reserve is going to do next. It's most probably just making you anxious.

This advice might seem to be at odds with the hullaballoo emanating from TV business news where some commentators think that the Fed's next utterance is the be-all and end-all.

For some people, watching the Fed is rightly an obsession. But such individuals are frequently employed in roles managing tens of billions of dollars of money, and where nuances in the Fed's actions may mean the difference between a profit or a loss which can often be counted in millions.

Most of us aren't in those jobs. Here's some detail on why it mostly doesn't matter what the Fed says or does. Read more here.

WSJ: The Key to Financial Discipline? It May be as Simple as Taking a Class

By SIMON CONSTABLE 

It is well-known that successful investing requires patience and the ability to delay gratification. The question has long been: Can such discipline be taught?

A recent study suggests it can. Read more here.

Forbes: What A Wine Connoisseur Taught Me About Business

By SIMON CONSTABLE

When you meet a wine connoisseur you expect to learn about wine. But I learned something far more useful when I met with Mark Oldman, author of How to Drink Like a Billionaire: Mastering Wine with Joie de Vivre.

Better still, I don't know if he was aware of the matter.

The key is that Oldman knows wine and he knows rich people. It is the intersection between the two that gave me an insight into how to be better at business. Read more here.

Barron's: Lumber Prices Headed Higher

By SIMON CONSTABLE

A mini-trade war between the U.S. and Canada is set to send lumber prices higher.

At issue is the price Canadian foresters charge to cut down a tree, which is known as stumpage. The Canadians charge less than their U.S. counterparts, explains Kevin Mason, managing director at ERA Forest Products Research in Vancouver. U.S. producers believe the price is unfairly low and is undercutting U.S. lumber activity. 

The immediate result of any new tariffs or trade restrictions would be reduced supply of wood to the U.S., where demand for housing lumber is likely to rise sharply. The effects have already spread from the outdoors to Chicago’s trading floors. Active-month contracts closed Friday around $377 per 1,000 board feet, up from around $338 at year end. But there’s potential for further gains as a tariff-free solution looks unlikely before a preliminary ruling set for April 24. Read more here.

Photo by Irena Carpaccio on Unsplash

Forbes: 13 Reasons To Love Open Plan Offices

By SIMON CONSTABLE

Open plan offices have gotten too much of a bad name. It's a shame because they are far better than the alternative which is the ubiquitous cube, or cube farm, as I call the plural.

Here's why you should love the "no walls" working arrangement. Read more here.

Forbes: The Stock Market's Half Trillion Dollar Problem

By SIMON CONSTABLE

The stock market has a problem.

It has become dependent on new money from those companies buying back their own stock.

The amount of money coming into the market from this source is huge. Read more here.