Ernest Hemingway once said about bankruptcy, it happens “gradually and then suddenly.” Well on Wall Street we got a rude awakening recently as we moved from little or no volatility last year to multi-day triple digit declines. We were lulled into complacency in 2018 with a gently rising market. Now it’s back to reality. Over […]
News
“How To Invest In An Overpriced World”…
My apologies to The Wall Street Journal for stealing their headline from an article by Burton Malkiel on how to best position yourself in today’s uncertain times. Malkiel is important to listen to since he is the author of the all-time Investment classic, A Random Walk Down Wall Street. With the market increase in 2018, […]
Making Sense of GE…
What in the world is going on with General Electric? Once one of the world’s most revered companies known for producing managers par excellence, now it looks like a disaster. The Lex column in the Financial Times just called GE “a rolling train wreck of unexpected and expensive blunders.” Its stock is off 40% the […]
What Japan And The Olympics Can Teach Us…
The U.S. economy continued to gain steam last year, increasing at a 2.5% inflation-adjusted rate. Exports grew nicely thanks to the dollar’s 7% decline, and on the consumer front, low unemployment and a buoyant stock market helped boost spending levels. Keeping our economic engine humming at this rate, however, will not be easy. In order […]
The 2-Minute Thought: A Tale of Two Cities: Cape Town and Toyama
Cape Town, South Africa is running out of water. The city has managed to temporarily fend off what it calls “Day Zero,” the day it will turn off the taps to the city’s 4 million people and businesses. But as of now, Day Zero still is coming. Just a few weeks ago, Day Zero was […]
The 2-Minute Thought: Avoiding Crowded Exits
Since volatility and fear have returned to the market, there has been a lot of talk about where you might hide if things get really bad. Suggestions span the gamut: Cash, gold, put options, and various selections of large-cap “safe” stocks are some recent ones I’ve read about. Here’s another thought — not just for […]
The 2-Minute Thought: “My Hopes Are in Cryptocurrency”
Personally, my hopes are not in cryptocurrency. I have no hopes tied up in Bitcoin, Ripple, or Ethereum, though I am interested in seeing how they evolve. But I just read a post by Korean journalist Juwon Park titled, “I Am a 24-Year Old South Korean, and My Hopes Are in Cryptocurrency,” and now I […]
The Trend Is Your Friend…Except At Both Ends…
What does 2018 hold for the market? Anne discusses this in more detail on page 4 but the consensus probably is for MOTS – “More of The Same.” Growth in the Global Economy and higher corporate profits should lead to higher stock prices. Caveat Emptor however, this is the perceived wisdom and we all know […]
A Trip To China…
I recently traveled to China for two weeks both to visit a company we are invested in and also to visit a publisher who has translated into Chinese my father’s book on life as a newspaper reporter in China in the 1930’s (Haldore Hanson, Humane Endeavour, Farrar Rinehart, 1939). No matter how often I visit […]
Retail is Dead, Long Live Retail…
Is there hope for retailers with a heavy bricks and mortar presence? There may just be. In fact, it may just be that reports on the death of retail have been greatly exaggerated. For one thing, quite a few retailers have announced good holiday results. The tone at the recent ICR Conference for consumer and […]
Expecting The Unexpected…
2017 turned out to be a banner year for investors. Stock markets around the globe produced stellar gains with limited volatility and even bonds inched ahead in the face of gradually rising rates. Understandably, most are wondering if this benign environment can continue in 2018. In a recent article, the Financial Times predicted that this […]
The 2-Minute Thought: The Lesson from Retail Stocks: Patience
The stock of Kohl’s Corporation (KSS), the operator of Kohl’s department stores, fell from $79 in early 2015 to $36 by mid-2016. For anyone who got interested in the stock as it was falling, it’s been a frustrating period. Kohl’s has had its ups and downs, but the news has been generally dismal. The stock […]
