WSJ: What Is Gross Output and Intermediate Inputs?

By SIMON CONSTABLE

Big changes are happening at the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis.

It means you’ll be hearing more about two economic metrics: gross output and intermediate inputs. The two are related, but for economists, the latter has a meaningful use as an indicator of future economic activity. The BEA has been stepping up the speed at which it releases data on the metrics. Read more here.

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Barron's: Why Beef Prices Are Primed to Sizzle

By SIMON CONSTABLE

A little beef could put some muscle in your portfolio.

African swine flu, possibly brutal winter weather, and falling beef production could propel prices for cattle futures more than 15% higher over the next two quarters or so.

“It’s a perfect situation for a pretty wild price move higher,” Shawn Hackett, CEO of Hackett Financial Advisors told Barron's. Read more here.

Korn Ferry: The Brexit Clock Keeps Ticking

By SIMON CONSTABLE

With fewer than 100 days before the March 29 Brexit deadline, it is still as clear as mud how the United Kingdom will leave the European Union, or if it will even leave at all.

Between proposed deals quickly scuttled, votes of no confidence against UK Prime Minister Theresa May, and talks of another Brexit referendum, it’s hard for anyone to figure out what will happen. Whatever the outcome, experts say UK businesses need to review how their company interacts with the EU (and vice versa) and what the various Brexit outcomes would mean to them. Read more here.

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Forbes: Why Migrants Risk Death To Reach The UK -- It’s The Economy

By SIMON CONSTABLE

Britain is experiencing the best of times and the worst of times.

What you conclude will likely depend on which narrative you believe. There’s the story from financiers who bet with other peoples money, and then there’s the one from migrants who are willing to gamble with their lives.

Given the stakes involved, I’d say the latter is probably a better indicator that Britain’s economy is not lacking any mojo. The former probably says more about bankers than anything. Read more here.

Barron's: Platinum Prices Are Poised for a Pop

By SIMON CONSTABLE

Battered stock investors should put a bar or two of platinum in their portfolio. Prices for the metal, which are used primarily in automobile catalytic converters, looks ready to bounce more than 40% in the next few weeks, analysts say. 

“Our base-case scenario for platinum remains constructive, with a fair value of $1,000 [per troy ounce] driven by higher industrial demand, market volatility, and the South African rand,” says a recent note from Aberdeen Standard Investments. “Under a bullish scenario, platinum may rise to $1,150 [per troy ounce],” or 44% above recent prices. Read more here.

Claudio Pistilli, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Forbes: America Gets Baked

By SIMON CONSTABLE

Investors in pot stocks take note: New research should make you beam.

Drug use in the U.S. is on the rise and marijuana remains the indulgence of choice by a wide margin, according to a recent report from testing firm Quest Diagnostics. Marijuana also goes by the name weed, pot, ganja, and cannabis.

"[...] drug test positivity in the majority of industry sectors analyzed is growing,” according to Dr. Barry Sample, senior director, science and technology, Quest Diagnostics Employer Solutions, who was quoted in the research paper.  Read more here.

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Forbes: Slow Down Yes -- Recession Not Yet

By SIMON CONSTABLE

The U.S. economy will likely weaken in 2019, but that doesn't mean a recession is imminent.

At least that's what important economic metrics suggest.

"At present, the outcome looks to be only a modest slowdown in the next couple of quarters," states a recent report from financial research firm HCWE & Co.

In other words, no recession in the cards yet. Recessions usually get defined as two consecutive quarters of economic contraction. Read more here.