WSJ: What Is Halal Investing?

By SIMON CONSTABLE

Many people understand what halal food is—meals allowed under Islamic dietary laws. Halal is Arabic for “permissible.”

But what about halal investing? Read more here.

Elekes Andor, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Barron's: Corn Prices as High as an Elephant’s Eye?

By SIMON CONSTABLE

THE PRICE OF CORN COULD SOAR TO $8 A BUSHEL, A LEVEL NOT SEEN SINCE 2012, and more than double last Thursday’s closing price of $3.895. 

An unusual confluence of factors could propel prices higher over the next couple of years. These include declining output, an ethanol-led demand surge in China, and likely brutal weather. “Eight dollars is very possible,” says Shawn Hackett, author of the Hackett Money Flow Report newsletter, who adds that declining supplies will run headlong into increased Chinese demand. 

Traders wanting to profit from the rally should consider buying futures for July 2019 delivery. Note: The trading volume of such long-dated futures is significantly lower than for front-month contracts, which makes trading more expensive. Alternatively, consider the Teucrium Corn exchange-traded fund (ticker: CORN), which tracks corn futures.  Read more here.

Forbes: How To Help Colleagues Suffering Mental Illness

By SIMON CONSTABLE

The chances are high you'll eventually end up working with people who battle mental illness.

One-in-five adults get afflicted annually, according to the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI.) So even if you haven't worked with someone who suffers depression or similar, sooner or later you will. For many folks in the buttoned-up corporate world, that's a frightening thought, probably because they have no idea what it means.

Still, it behooves us all to understand better our colleagues who sometimes get sick in this way. Understanding goes a long way.

How can you learn about it without visiting the psych ward?  You could do far worse than read the recently published Walk A Mile: Tales of a Wandering Loon by Chris Young. Read more here.

Korn Ferry Institute: A Change of Tune for IPOs?

The leaders at Spotify thought something as basic as listening to music could be successfully turned on its head. This week they’re seeing if a process that’s a little more complex, selling shares to investors, could also be altered.

The world’s largest streaming music service has its initial public stock offering, or IPO, on Tuesday. But instead of having the sale managed by investment bankers—which is what nearly every large firm does when it first goes public—Spotify is selling its shares directly to investors. If the IPO goes well (its shares opened at $165.90 each, well above the offering price) it could make the company worth about $30 billion while saving the company millions in Wall Street fees. Plus, a successful direct-to-investor IPO could convince other private firms to go down the same route. “We have technology disrupting every single thing we do in life, and this IPO is a metaphor as to how Wall Street needs to adapt,” says Noah Schwarz, senior client partner in Korn Ferry’s Financial Services practice. Read more here.

Forbes: The Facts About Food Stamp Fraud

By SIMON CONSTABLE

There's too much misinformation about the U.S. government's food stamp scheme.

So after some investigation, here are some facts about the benefit which is also known as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, (SNAP.)

The takeaway is that food stamp fraud ballooned during the four years through 2016. Read more here.

Forbes: Venezuela's Latest Economic Idiocy -- Money With Fewer Zeros

By SIMON CONSTABLE

Socialism seems to require a special kind of stupidity.

Take, for instance, Venezuela's latest move to tackle the country's ruinous hyperinflation. Read more here.

Photo by Jeremith.DP, 

CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, 

via Wikimedia Commons

Mid East Eye: Middle East oil producers benefit from Venezuela's economic woes

By SIMON CONSTABLE

Venezuela’s economic woes just got even worse, but that's likely a blessing for the oil-rich nations of the Middle East.

Last week the Latin American country, which is also rich in oil resources, got slapped with US sanctions. It’s just the latest problem for the socialist government and will make it even harder for the country to pump oil.

Venezuela's oil problems are set to give a helping hand to the Middle East, especially those countries that are members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), because a drop off from Venezuela’s output allows energy-rich Middle East countries to increase their production rates. Read more here.