Tuesday, January 9, 2018

U.S. News: When Are Small Companies Worth Your Investment?

By SIMON CONSTABLE
Don’t you love it when the little guy wins against the giant? It goes back thousands of years to the biblical story of David, the boy who used a slingshot to defeat the Philistine giant Goliath.
The stock market may be about to do similar, with small-capitalization stocks outperforming large-cap stocks. Read more here.

Monday, January 8, 2018

WSJ: What Is Alternative Risk Premium?

By SIMON CONSTABLE
It used to be an obscure technical term: alternative risk premium. But you are going to hear a lot more about it soon. Read more here.

WSJ: Why Fund-Flow Stats Aren’t the Indicator They Used to Be

By SIMON CONSTABLE 
Smart investors used to be able to identify market tops and bottoms by watching the weekly flows of money into and out of mutual funds. Then came ETFs and everything changed. Read more here.

Sunday, January 7, 2018

Julie Jason: Keeping tabs on economic trends

If you are an investor, do you watch economic trends? Some economists believe that being aware of economic trends gives investors an edge. I spoke with economist Simon Constable a few weeks ago to discern how his work might provide some insights and guidance to today’s investors. Constable is co-author of “The Wall Street Journal Guide to the 50 Economic Indicators That Really Matter: From Big Macs to ‘Zombie Banks,’ the Indicators Smart Investors Watch to Beat the Market.” Read more here.

Friday, January 5, 2018

PJ Media: How Income Taxes Increase Economic Inequality

By SIMON CONSTABLE

New research suggests that some politicians may have been barking up the wrong tree when it comes to battling income inequality.
Take for instance, Bernie Sanders, the former left-wing candidate for U.S. president who in 2015 said that a 90 percent top income tax rate on the wealthy would not be too high. His idea was to reduce income inequality and he cited the eye-watering tax rates as the right way to do it. Plenty in the media rushed to his defense.
The problem is that the evidence from the real world doesn’t support such assertions. Read more here.

Thursday, January 4, 2018

U.S. News: Why an Inverted Yield Curve Signals Financial Disaster

By SIMON CONSTABLE

If the bond market inverts, will your portfolio get upended?
Increasingly market pros today are talking about a flatter yield curve in the bond market. And as the curve flattens we come closer to a dreaded inverted yield curve and a likely recession, which would not be good for stocks or riskier bonds. Read more here.