By SIMON CONSTABLE
Last Monday was a tough day for citizens of Spain and Portugal.
Both countries were hit by an hourslong power outage that some say was the worst such event in living memory. What they did not get was a clear explanation of how it all happened. At least not from the government. It’s Read more here.
By SIMON CONSTABLE
Financial innovations often get overheated. Frequently there seems to be a mania, then a crash, which is followed first by state prosecutions and then acceptance of a new way of doing things. And, true to form, it has happened again seemingly in the form of cryptocurrency, which has fast become a cause célèbre.
Cryptocurrency began in January 2009 with the invention of Bitcoin; it built on the related blockchain technology introduced in 1991. One innovation was that the historical blockchain coding couldn’t be retrospectively altered. It was like a ledger where the prior entries could not be changed. Another distinctive characteristic was there would only ever be a fixed number of Bitcoins available. Once they’d all been discovered, or mined, there could be no more. This differentiated cryptocurrency from dollars, which get devalued as more and more bills get printed. For more than a few people, these two attributes were enough to embrace Bitcoin and blockchain. Read more here.
By SIMON CONSTABLE
You may not have heard of the "guardrails approach," but this investing tool for retirement planning is worth considering, especially in a volatile market. That's because one of the biggest challenges for many people in retirement is ensuring their retirement investments last for the rest of their lives, yet leave a bequest to heirs. It’s a tough knot to untangle.
Part of the problem is that assets such as stocks and bonds are prone to be volatile. Some years offer solid double-digit returns and others are distinctly poor with tremendous losses. For instance, in 2022 the SPDR S&P 500 exchange-traded fund, which tracks the performance of the large-cap stocks, fell 18%. That same year, the bond market also declined, with U.S. 10-year Treasuries also falling 18%, according to data from New York University. Yet inflation spiked. Read more here.
Hans-Joachim Fröde (User:Acf), CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
By SIMON CONSTABLE
Shares of European aircraft and military manufacturer Airbus could be set to take off following recent turbulence. The company is outpacing its main rival, U.S.-based Boeing, which has suffered from two 737 MAX crashes, a plane door falling off, and a major strike, not to say stranding two astronauts in orbit after Boeing Starliner problems. Airbus should also benefit as Europe builds up military capabilities.
By SIMON CONSTABLE
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