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.

Forbes: Market Turmoil Shows Why You Should Own Gold

By SIMON CONSTABLE

The plunge in the stock market is rightly worrying for investors, but there is also something to learn.

Diversified portfolios help during times of stress. Read more here.

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Barron's: British American, Philip Morris International Stocks Ready to Light Up

By SIMON CONSTABLE

Two European tobacco stocks, British American Tobacco, makers of Lucky Strike, Kool, and Newport cigarettes, and Philip Morris International, best known for its Marlboro brand, offer some stability for whipsawed investors.

After being beaten up for most of this year, the shares of both British American (ticker: BTI) and Philip Morris (PM) are substantially undervalued, generally less volatile than the overall market, and yield huge dividends. Read more here.

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Barron's: Cheap European Stocks to Buy for 2019

By SIMON CONSTABLE

It could be worth your while to shop for stocks in London, Paris, and Frankfurt during 2019.

While Europe’s top three economies didn’t prove much of a bargain for investors in 2018, their problems—ranging from Brexit to restive local populations—are likely to dissipate. The stocks are inexpensive, and central bank monetary policies will remain supportive. Read more here.

Korn Ferry: No Confidence. No Clarity.

By SIMON CONSTABLE

And we thought all the Brexit drama for the week happened Monday. That’s when UK Prime Minister Theresa May postponed a parliamentary vote on the details of finally leaving the European Union. She then jetted off to meet other European leaders to negotiate a better deal than the one she had just made.

Then Wednesday came along. May’s own party members in the House of Commons, angry at the deal May originally made, forced a vote of no confidence—an up-or-down vote on May’s leadership. May won, which means she will remain prime minister. But all that intraparty warfare did nothing to define the future of Brexit and give business leaders the one thing they need: clarity. Read more here.

Korn Ferry: Brexit Roulette

By SIMON CONSTABLE

So much for a clarifying vote on Brexit.

In yet another jolt to the historic divorce, UK Prime Minister Theresa postponed the first Parliamentary vote this week on a proposed detailing the UK’s departure from the European Union. May wants more time to convince skeptical members of Parliament to sign on to her deal. Read more here.

Forbes: Brexit And The Frankfurt Yeti

By SIMON CONSTABLE

A Brexit-related conundrum is vexing some London-based banking chiefs, or at least it should be.

If Britain leaves the European Union without a trade deal with the bloc, then banks will have to send part of their workforce to mainland Europe. That's what these top dogs of finance tell me.

Therein lies the crux of the issue. That's because it presents the bosses with an inherent contradiction that in some ways looks beyond-hard-to-solve. Read more here.

WSJ: What Is Hyperinflation?

By SIMON CONSTABLE

Triple-digit inflation has blighted some countries lately. However, the vast majority of those nations aren’t experiencing hyperinflation and most likely never will.

The difference is akin to the distinction between a bad cold and killer influenza. Read more here.

WSJ: The Reasons an ETF Succeeds or Fails

By SIMON CONSTABLE

The world is awash with exchange-traded funds, but not all succeed in appealing to investors. Some attract billions of dollars, and some barely anything.

So, what determines a fund’s success? Read more here.

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Barron's: Why It’s Time to Bail Out of Deutsche Bank

By SIMON CONSTABLE

There’s not much to love about Deutsche Bank. The German banking giant is mired in legal woes, the stock is expensive, and a restructuring will dog its performance for some time. Deutsche Bank shares have the potential to fall 30% on top of already-brutal declines. “We fail to see an improvement in the underlying business,” said a recent Morningstar report. Read more here.

Barron's: A Toast to J.D. Wetherspoon

By SIMON CONSTABLE

It’s time to quaff some shares of British pub chain J.D. Wetherspoon.

The stock (ticker: JDW.UK), which recently dropped after an earnings scare, is cheap and has a persistently high return on equity. “We view the pull-back as a compelling buying opportunity,” states a recent report titled “Playing the Long Game,” from European broker Berenberg. Read more here.

Forbes: Investors Get Bitten By the Gold Bug Again

By SIMON CONSTABLE

Investors started piling into gold exchange-traded funds in October.

Overall they added 23 metric tons of the metal to investments such as the SPDR Gold Shares ETF (GLD), according to a recent report. The Gold Shares ETF holds bars of solid bullion. Read more here.

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Forbes: Investors Should Love Tech Regulation, If It Ever Happens

By SIMON CONSTABLE

Some investors have caught the jitters over the crescendo-like call for more tech-company regulations.

They shouldn't. Read more here.

Forbes: Who's To Blame For GM's Woes -- Trump Or The Fed?

By SIMON CONSTABLE

There's more to General Motors' problems than steel tariffs.

While it is convenient to blame President Donald Trump for the recent mass layoff announcement at my former employer, there are other perhaps more important things to consider. Read more here.

Forbes: Why Stock Investors Should Cheer Plunging Oil Prices

By SIMON CONSTABLE

Some people are doing an awful lot of handwringing over plunging oil prices.

They shouldn't be. When oil prices take a major hit, just like we've seen recently, then stock prices should surge in short order, according to detailed historical market analysis. Read more here.

Forbes: How GDPR Became Europe's Tech Job-Killer

By SIMON CONSTABLE

The European Union seems to have shot itself in the foot.

Its efforts to protect your data from misuse likely cost the bloc tens of thousands of jobs in the fast-growing technology sector, according to a recent report from the National Bureau of Economic Research. Read more here.

Middle East Eye: Trump and the "Saudi Effect"

By SIMON CONSTABLE

Was Saudi Arabia really responsible for the recent plunge in global oil prices?

The Gulf kingdom deserves some of the credit that US President Donald Trump doled out just before the US Thanksgiving holiday this week, when he thanked Saudi Arabia for "oil prices getting lower".

But a slew of other things are involved, including expectations that the demand for oil will decrease and increased supplies from North American shale-fracking operations, analysts say. Read more here.

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Barron's: Dutch Materials Stock Looks Tempting

By SIMON CONSTABLE

It’s time to bet on Dutch materials firm AMG Advanced Metallurgical Group.

Investors recently soured on lithium, casting a pall over the stock (ticker: AMG.Netherlands), even though its exposure to the metal is small. Now the shares—including those traded over the counter in the U.S. under the symbol AMVMF—look cheap, especially given the company’s expanding profit margins. Read more here.