A Healthy Year Ahead? According to professional forecasters around the world, the global economic landscape is healthy going into 2018—so much so that only three countries and one territory are expected to experience a downturn in their gross domestic product over the coming 12 months. The map and chart show which countries are growing fastest […]
Downturn for What? On Tuesday morning, Wall Street traders woke up to something they haven’t experienced much of lately: actual market volatility. One trader posted an image of his Bloomberg terminal at the market opening (re-posted here), which showed an immediate scary-looking plunge in U.S. equities as the opening bell rung. By the end of […]
False Visions of the Future The financial experts know a lot more about the markets and how the markets will perform in the future than the ordinary rest of us. Right? As it turns out, the predictions made by financial experts are no better than those made by gypsies looking into crystal balls, soothsayers gazing […]
Eerily Quiet on the Market Front While the U.S. stock market tests new highs, and valuations keep rising farther above long-term averages, you may not have noticed something very odd about our current bull market. The last six and a half years have set a record for lowest market volatility, and the past 299 trading […]
Professional or Sales Agent? You Decide. You’ve probably read a dozen articles that tell you how to tell a good financial planner from a salesperson or product-pusher, but the truth is, the salespeople and product pushers are so good at looking like the real thing that most articles fail to unmask the pretenders. Not so […]
How Important is a Healthy Breakfast? In health circles, there’s an old saying: for maximum health, eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince and dinner like a pauper.” A new study confirms at least the first part of the formula. The study published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology found […]
When the Index Beats the Algorithms You might wonder why there wasn’t more media coverage of one of the most interest bets ever made in the investment world. We’re not talking about betting on a company; this bet was made between Berkshire Hathaway chairman Warren Buffet and a hedge fund called Protégé Partners, on whether […]
The Value of Diversification It’s not always easy to grasp the value of diversification—why, in other words, it’s better to own many stocks inside a mutual fund than one or two stocks on their own. But recent research conducted by Arizona State U. finance professor Hendrik Bessembinder offers some insight. Bessembinder is not afraid of […]
Population in Decline You’ve probably read some alarming statistics about the world becoming overpopulated, unable to feed itself, and meanwhile using up all the fresh water and energy that is available. If you found these reports disturbing, and believe that humans are multiplying like jackrabbits, then here’s some good news: it appears that the human […]
2017 Year-End Investment Market Report The bull market continued for another year, causing market indices to soar to new heights over and over again and—ominously—also pushing valuations further beyond the long-term averages. A breakdown shows that just about everything gained in 2017. The Wilshire 5000 Total Market Index—the broadest measure of U.S. stocks—rose 6.39% for […]
