PJ: Panicking About North Korea's Nukes? The Stock Market Isn't

By SIMON CONSTABLE

No, the world isn’t heading into a nuclear war, at least not anytime soon.

That’s not PJ Media saying so. It’s not me, either.

It’s the stock market.

Read more here.

Forbes: How Esports Will Win The Future And So Will Activision

By SIMON CONSTABLE

When an investing firm which boasts about how few investments it makes, says it's excited about a company, then it's time to listen.

The operation in question is London-based J. Stern & Co., which describes itself as a private investment office -- somewhere between a family office and an investment manager. 

“We are very long term investors and since inception of the core portfolio in October 2012, we have traded only two or three companies a year,” says Chris Rossbach, chief investment officer at J. Stern. Read more here.

Photo by Alex Haney on Unsplash

U.S. News: The Outlook for Stocks for the Rest of 2017​

By SIMON CONSTABLE

Will stocks continue rallying for the remainder of the year? As with many things, the late baseball genius Yogi Berra summed it up well: "It's tough to make predictions, especially about the future."

Anyone who has tried to forecast the stock market knows that investing is no exception: It often makes fools of otherwise smart people. Read more here.

Forbes: Britain's Chicken and Egg Problem

By SIMON CONSTABLE

Britain has a chicken and egg problem, this time with its food supply.

Unlike the classic riddle involving the two items, we know which issue came first. Read more here.

Forbes: Corporate Pension Funding Gap To Hit Record This Year

By SIMON CONSTABLE

Ouch!

Just when you thought things were getting better, up pops another problem.

This time it's the pensions provided by the biggest U.S. companies. The level of underfunding at these plans is set to reach a record this year, according to the author of a recent report. Read more here.

Photo by Andre Taissin on Unsplash

Street Fight: How an Italian Wafer Brand Targets U.S. Moms and Millennial Foodies on a Local Level

By SIMON CONSTABLE

Unless you grew up in a household of recent immigrants you may never have heard of Loackerwafers — but Crystal Black Davis, the VP of marketing and deputy to the president at Loacker USA, would like that to soon change. Read more here.

Forbes: Why God Would Get Fired On Wall Street

By SIMON CONSTABLE

In a recently published book, Wesley Gray, founder of Alpha Architect, poses an important question:

If God is omnipotent, could he create a long-term active investment strategy fund that was so good he could never get fired?

The stunning answer is that "God would get fired," he writes. Gray's emphasis.

He then goes on to explain why this would be so, even though God-like "perfect foresight has great returns." The reason that God would lose his job is that although the exceptional vision of the future would lead to great investing results the short-term journey to huge returns often leads to massive (temporary) losses. It's the sort of thing that gets you fired. Just like the rest of the business world, Wall Street preaches long term results but so often measures performance using short term metrics.

His analysis is detailed and clear. He's also is at pains to mention he means no offense by referring to God.

Gray's story is just one of the topics covered in a new book of essays on finance edited by veteran Wall Street investor Meb Faber. Published late July, The Best Investment Writing: Selected writing from leading investors and authors includes pieces by a host of people many of whom I know, have spoken to, or have met. Read more here.