Barron's: Oil Prices Haven’t Peaked Yet

By SIMON CONSTABLE

They Said What? Read more here.

PJ Media: Food Stamp Cuts Would Bite Into States That Voted for Trump

By SIMON CONSTABLE

Republicans may have a problem taking a bite out of the food stamp program.

The matter comes down to two things. First, the states with the highest portion of food stamp recipients overwhelmingly voted for the GOP in the last election. Second, any cuts to the program will no doubt be portrayed by Democrats as “hating everyone.”

While it may be possible to streamline the program, those in Congress will need to navigate a complicated political minefield. Read more here.

Forbes: Don't Conflate Tariffs With Sanctions, They're Quite Different

By SIMON CONSTABLE

Not even close. To think so, would be to equate legal products such as beer with illicit drugs such as heroin.

Neither does the increase in some tariffs mean we are in a trade war. To think that, then you'd have to believe a lover's tiff is equivalent to dropping 1,000 tons of napalm on a village. It isn't of course. Read more here.

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.