Forbes: How Trumponomics Torpedoed Gold Prices

By SIMON CONSTABLE

Gold's not been having a good year, and you can lay the blame at the door of Trumponomics. Read more here.

Forbes: Recession Signals From The Bond Market, A Phantom Menace

By SIMON CONSTABLE

Some economists have caught a case of recession jitters all because of what is happening to the so-called yield curve.

But the case for an economic slowdown based on interest rates is flawed, new research shows. That's in part because the Federal Reserve is largely responsible for changes in the yield curve and at the same time, the Fed no longer has the power to shock the markets with its actions. Read more here.

Barron's: Wheat Will Rise On Bad Weather

By SIMON CONSTABLE

Extreme weather is expected over the next 12 months and is likely to push up wheat prices to levels not seen since 2012. Read more here.

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Korn Ferry: UAE’s Prime Minister to Bosses ==> Make Your Employees Happier

By SIMON CONSTABLE

It doesn’t sound like something that would attract the attention of a country’s leader, at least not in countries where grumbling employees may be the norm. But when Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the prime minister of the United Arab Emirates, recently heard that only 60% of employees in five government departments were satisfied with their jobs, he gave the managers of the departments new orders: Fix the problem in six months. Read more here.

United Arab Emirates

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Forbes: Another Worry For Investors In Turkey -- A NATO Split

By SIMON CONSTABLE

As if a currency crisis alone wasn't enough, now investors in Turkey could have another thing to worry over.

The country could split from NATO as soon as the end of the year, according to a recent report. Read more here.

Forbes: Don't Blame Trump for Turkey's Woes

By SIMON CONSTABLE

These past two days it would have been easy to get the impression that U.S. President Donald Trump is responsible for the currency crisis in Turkey.

Unfortunately, for Turkey, Trump is not the source of all their economic woes.

Overwhelmingly, the real problems are insane economic policies implemented under the rule of Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan. Read more here.

Barron's: Time to Buy the British Pound?

By SIMON CONSTABLE

Paranoia over Brexit, the future of the British economy without Europe, has pummeled the British pound lately, taking it to levels not seen since last year.

However, the currency situation may not reflect the real strength in the British economy nor the historically uncanny ability of the European Union to reach eleventh-hour deals, and hat means there may be profits to be had for investors. Read more here.

MonkeyStolen234, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Barron's: Gasoline Prices Expected to Level Off This Fall

By SIMON CONSTABLE

The end of the U.S.’s summer driving season will remove some of the upward pressure on gas prices, though they won’t stray too far from recent levels through the fall. Read more here.

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WSJ: What Are Catalysts?

By SIMON CONSTABLE

You may hear Wall Street analysts opining about “catalysts.” Usually, they are referring to events or revelations that could spark a significant movement in the price of a security.

Consider two recent reports: “Top Picks—25 Stocks with Catalysts,” from Swiss banking firm UBS , UBS 0.25% and “Market Moving Catalysts,” from the Bullseye Brief investment newsletter. What can you expect when reading such reports? Read more here.

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WSJ: What's My Active Share?

By SIMON CONSTABLE

Investors recently gained access to more information about how their actively managed mutual funds are managed. Now they need to figure out how to use it. Read more here.

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Barron's: El Nino Modoki Could Jolt Coffee Market

By SIMON CONSTABLE

It’s time to drop a shot or two of espresso into your portfolio.

After years of sliding, coffee prices look set to jump due to a dry weather system that could stunt next year's crop. Read more here.

Korn Ferry: Responding to Europe's Record Heat Wave

The headlines tell it all: Europe's getting baked. July’s unprecedented wildfires in Sweden’s far north have forced town evacuations. Similarly, on the beaches near Athens, Greece, infernos have killed dozens. Britain, the land where rain rarely stops, is afflicted by drought. One utility has even instituted a hosepipe ban.

From the edge of the Arctic tundra down to the shores of the Mediterranean, extreme dry heat is threatening Europe with temperatures at or near the highest on record. The unusual spate of natural disasters has government responders and planners overloaded, but equally challenging are private sector's readiness, and the leadership required there as well. Read more here.

Forbes: Brexit May Slow Britain's Innovation

By SIMON CONSTABLE 

Britain's exit from the European Union may risk the U.K. losing that most valuable of all things: Innovation. At least that's according to one scholar.

It could be a blow to the country's three leading exports, which are defense/aerospace, pharmaceuticals, and financial services. Read more here.

Forbes: Why A Surging Dollar Will Crush Emerging Markets

By SIMON CONSTABLE

The surge in the dollar isn't over yet, and that means bad news for investors in emerging markets.

Beginning in late January the dollar index against major currencies has so far added more than 7% in value, according to government data. The move has come as the U.S. economy has accelerated while growth much of the developed world has remained sluggish. Read more here.

Barron's: Gold Could Be in a Prolonged Tailspin

By SIMON CONSTABLE

Don’t expect gold prices to recover anytime soon, because the strength of the U.S. dollar will keep a lid on any rally at the very least and could push prices for the metal down further. Read more here.

Forbes: Did The Fed Break The "Yield Curve Indicator?"

By SIMON CONSTABLE

A once-reliable indicator of future recessions may be broken.

The metric in question is the so-called treasury yield-curve which measures the difference in the cost of the government borrowing for two years and the cost of the government borrowing for 10 years.

In the past, when the 2-year interest rate on U.S. Treasuries was higher than the 10-year rate on U.s. Treasuries, then we could reliably expect a recession in short order.

Not so much anymore, because recent actions by the Federal Reserve may have broken the indicator, according to one analyst. Read more here.

PJ Media: How GMOs or 'Frankenfoods' Help Reduce World Poverty

By SIMON CONSTABLE

Could so-called “Frankenfoods” be a solution to global poverty?

The answer is yes, according to a new study that shows increased use of genetically modified (GM) crops (those that have higher yields than non-modified plants) boosted the economics of some of the world’s poorest countries. The derogatory term Frankenfoods likens engineered plants, aka GM crops, to the fictional lab-made monster of Dr. Frankenstein, made famous in many movies.

However, the findings from the research also show the GM crops aren't a horror show at all. They provide yet more evidence of how capitalism is far better at tackling economic privation than any attempts at socialist-style wealth redistribution. Ironically, it could turn the producers of genetically modified (GM) crops and activists into unlikely partners. Read more here.

Forbes: Economics Disaster Won't Prompt Iran Regime Change

By SIMON CONSTABLE

There's some bad news for Iranians who are now suffering the wealth-withering effects of hyperinflation and mass unemployment.

Just because Iran's beleaguered economy is a mess doesn't mean that the end is in sight for the theocratic regime that has ruled the country since 1979.

History shows that regimes that send their countries into economic armageddon can continue on for years without being ousted. Read more here.

Forbes: Trump's Economy Still Lags That Of Clinton And Bush

By SIMON CONSTABLE

When the first read on second-quarter U.S. GDP data gets released Friday, its expected to be good enough to grab some big headlines.

But no one is expecting the growth to be anywhere near as good as things got in the years under President Bill Clinton or those of President George W Bush. Read more here.

Forbes: Why Globalization Ain't Dead Yet

By SIMON CONSTABLE

Claims that the era of free trade is on its last legs are much exaggerated.

It is nowhere near dead. Not by a long shot.

Assurances that the U.S. has embarked on a trade war that will collapse the world economy similarly grasp at a phantom menace.

Who knows for sure why people say such things, but we can make educated guesses.

A couple of probable reasons stand out as feasible. First, it may be because such scaremongers are too focused on the recent spats between the U.S. and China, plus the U.S. and the European Union. Alternatively, it could be that they aren’t aware of how the current tariffs fit into the move towards increasingly freer trade over the last two centuries. Read more here.