WSJ: What Is Implied Earnings Growth?

By SIMON CONSTABLE

Investors may start hearing more about “implied earnings growth.” It is a metric that can help people make investment decisions, and it is especially relevant during times of market tumult when stocks frequently get mispriced.

Whenever analysts value securities, they make assumptions about the growth of the company. Faster-growing firms generally warrant higher valuations than those likely to see only modest profit increases, other things being equal. Read more here.

WSJ: Commodities Outlook Remains Rocky

By SIMON CONSTABLE

Commodities-focused funds took a beating in the last three months of 2018 as worries over a slowing economy sent prices for energy and materials plunging.

While there has been a modest rebound early this year, analysts aren’t optimistic for a return to boom times soon. Read more here.

Grain Silos

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WSJ: British Stock Investors Go ‘on Strike’ Ahead of Brexit

By SIMON CONSTABLE

Individual investors in the U.K. soured on fund investments in a big way in 2018, and analysts say nervousness over Brexit was mostly to blame.

The amount of money flowing into retail investment funds in the U.K. plummeted more than 85% last year to £7.2 billion (about $9.2 billion) from £48.5 billion the year before, according to recently published data from the Investment Association, a London-based fund-management trade body. Last year’s total was well below the £22.3 billion average over the past decade, the data show. Read more here.

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WSJ: In a Down Market, ETFs Could Make Things Even Worse

By SIMON CONSTABLE

There’s a potential problem lurking in the financial markets, and it is partly a result of exchange-traded funds.

While ETFs have been widely praised for lowering trading costs, and have soared in popularity with investors, there have been concerns dating back at least to 2011 that the profusion of ETFs based on the same or similar stocks makes markets more vulnerable in times of volatility. Read more here.

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Barron's: Ferrari’s Stock Could Keep Speeding Ahead

By SIMON CONSTABLE

While many automobile makers are stuck in second gear, Italy’s Ferrari is speeding ahead.

The recent improvements in the luxury-car maker’s operating performance will probably continue, the stock looks cheap, and the company just gave an optimistic outlook for this year. Read more here.

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Forbes: The World Has Changed And Leaders Need To Do So Too

By SIMON CONSTABLE

Savvy investors don't spend most of their time trading. They spend their time reading to stay informed about a fast-changing world.

If you don't already do so, try doing the same this year.

A great place to start is the recently published The Leadership Lab: Understanding Leadership in the 21st Century, by Chris Lewis and Pippa Malmgren. Lewis (whom I've met) is a best-selling author and Malmgren (whom I also know) is a former economic advisor to President George W Bush. Read more here.

Forbes: Economic Disaster Threatens Algeria

By SIMON CONSTABLE

Things are bad in Algeria, and they will likely get far worse.

"[...] crunch point is approaching fast," states a recent report from London-based financial analysis firm Capital Economics.

The problems stem from a multitude of factors including a weak oil price and rotten economic policies, which are both exacerbated by recent mass protests.

If things don't change soon, then expect higher inflation, skyrocketing unemployment, and the likelihood of the government running out of cash within a few years, analysts say. In other words, Algeria is heading for something close to an economic Armageddon. Read more here.

Forbes: Norway Makes Multi-billion Dollar Bet On Britain's Economy, And You Should Follow Suit

By SIMON CONSTABLE

Norway has placed a bet on Britain totaling tens of billions of dollars, even though no Brexit deal has been signed with the European Union.

Savvy investors should follow suit by investing in British stocks such as those in the FTSE 100 index, which tracks the largest public companies in the UK. Read more here.

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TheStreet: How Gold Mining Merger Mania Is Here to Stay

By SIMON CONSTABLE

The merger mania sweeping the gold mining sector isn't a flash in the pan - it's likely just begun.

Unless these companies want to shrink, they must continue to gobble each other up.

"There is going to be a new wave of M&A as a way to grow reserves especially because organic growth is so hard to come by," said Matthew Miller, a Denver-based equity research analyst at financial research firm CFRA. Read more here.

Forbes: The Most Innovative U.S Tech Entrepreneurs Are Foreign

By SIMON CONSTABLE

Some people won't like this.

Immigrant technology wizards are the secret sauce behind America's overwhelming lead in the high-tech industry.

These Brainiac non-natives aren't better by a small margin. They win hands down when it comes to inventing things compared to the U.S. peers, according to recent research. Read more here.

Forbes: Multi-billion Dollar Debt Crisis Looms For Dubai

By SIMON CONSTABLE

Investors in the Persian Gulf need to watch out.

A debt-fueled crisis is headed to Dubai, the trading hub of the United Arab Emirates.

"[A] decade after the [E]mirates' crisis, its debt problems are not over," states a recent report from London-based financial firm Capital Economics.

In fact, they may just be beginning. Read more here.

TheStreet: Why the British Pound Is Set for a Big Move

By SIMON CONSTABLE

The British pound looks set to break out soon. The only question is whether it soars or crashes.

Either way, savvy investors could profit by purchasing options on exchange-traded funds.

Range-Bound Pound

For the last six months, the value of the pound has fetched between $1.26 and $1.32, according to data from Bloomberg. It was recently trading just under $1.32. Read more here.

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Barron's: Buy U.K. Baker’s Vegan-Sausage Roll, Sell the Stock

By SIMON CONSTABLE

The Brits have gone crazy for Greggs, a chain of 1,700 or so bakery shops, in part because of its wildly popular new vegan-sausage roll. 

Unfortunately, investors have been gobbling up the stock (ticker: GRG.UK), which has jumped 68% in the six months to Thursday versus losses of 5.1% for the FTSE 100 index, the benchmark for the 100 largest listed stocks in the United Kingdom. It looks like the shares have gotten ahead of the sausage, and shareholders should consider taking profits. Read more here.

John Batchelor Show: Corbyn's Antisemitism Plunges Labour Into A Crisis

By SIMON CONSTABLE 

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TheStreet: Gold Rises as Investors Panic and Pile Into Bullion

By SIMON CONSTABLE

Gold prices were rising again as scared investors seek refuge from paltry bonds yields.
The metal recently fetched $1,344 a troy ounce, a level it hadn't seen since April 2018, or 10 months ago, according to data from Bloomberg. Its also rallied more than 14% since the low of $1,174 in August. The SPDR Gold Shares exchange-traded fund, which holds bars of solid bullion, performed similarly. Read more here.

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Korn Ferry: Brexit's $1 Billion Weekly Price Tag

Brexit has become a nail-biting game of high-stakes poker, and it might be costing Britain big-time.

While the deadline for Britain and the European Union to reach a trade deal is inching dangerously close to the March 29 “leave” date, the costs to the British economy are rising. Already the tab is expanding at blistering rate: £800 million ($1 billion) a week, according to Bank of England estimates. In addition, the United Kingdom’s economy is slowing. It grew at a paltry 1.3% annualized rate in the latest reading, the slowest pace since 2012, according to government data. Read more here.

TheStreet: Why The Pain Isn't Over Yet for Emerging Markets

By SIMON CONSTABLE

Emerging markets took a beating last year, and despite a recent respite, the pain likely isn't over. 

Here's what you need to know.

Barron's: Looking to Reverse Its Slide, Austrian iPhone Supplier Pushes Beyond Apple

By SIMON CONSTABLE

Austria’s AMS was one of many Apple suppliers hit by soft iPhone sales last year. The company, once known as austriamicrosystems, produces 3-D sensors and laser technologies used in smartphones.

The shares (ticker: AMS.Switzerland) have dropped 74% over the past year versus gains of 3.7% for the S&P 500, according to Morningstar data. Both figures include dividends. Read more here.

Briefings Magazine: A New Order of Chaos

By SIMON CONSTABLE

It all seems like it’s unraveling at once. Talk to leaders in Berlin, Bangalore, Boston, or anywhere else trying to do business and the conversation quickly comes around to how there’s so much … disorder. Troubles in Turkey, a Middle East morass, trade disputes, unpredictable leaders, populist protests—it’s all happening at once. It’s making people pine for the halcyon days of 2016, when there was only a US presidential election and a Brexit referendum that caused potential upheaval. Read more here.

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TheStreet: 3 Reasons to Buy Gold

By SIMON CONSTABLE

Wobbly stock prices are sending many panicked people running scared for gold, sending prices for the yellow metal soaring. Savvy investors should follow suit.

The World Gold Council recently reported that investors sank $3.1 billion into gold-backed exchange-traded funds for the second month in a row during January. That's the fourth consecutive month of net inflows for gold ETFs, with the overwhelming majority of the cash coming from North America over the period. Read more here.

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