Facebook and Twitter shares both cratered this week. It may be time to ask yourself, as I did here on January 17, 2018, are you ready for when the stock market crashes? When the stock market crashes, there will have been plenty of opportunities for you to prepare for it. But that’s easier said than done. Because to do so you need to go against the grain. For example, bond investors are getting a blast of Arctic air as interest rates march higher. Prices are down. But does that mean it’s time to sell? No. The key to weathering this bond chill is to remember why you own bonds in the … [Read more...]
Archives for July 2018
How Facebook’s Disaster Quarter Can Make You A Better Investor
Facebook reported second quarter earnings last night that beat analyst estimates, but the shares tumbled as much as 24% on the news in after-hours trading. Why the sell-off? Doesn’t the quarterly earnings crowd reward companies that beat expectations? Not always. Investing is a counterintuitive art. So what went wrong for Facebook? The CNBC video below offers a clue. This was taped before the company reported. Anything stand out? Note the almost universal agreement from the panel that Facebook is an outstanding stock. The confidence is off the charts. Lopsided bullish … [Read more...]
Risk and Reward: An Efficient Frontier
The Efficient Frontier, created by Harry Markowitz in 1952, measures the efficient diversification of investments that delivers the highest level of return at the lowest possible risk. Investors must consider the trade-offs between risk and reward in their portfolios. You can see on the chart below an efficient frontier line representing risk vs. reward for a portfolio allocated between different proportions of stocks and bonds using data back to 1977. On the vertical axis is the return earned by the portfolios, and along the horizontal axis is a measure of how much risk was taken to earn … [Read more...]
Fidelity Remembers William Byrnes
Though I did not know Mr. Byrnes personally, I did know he was a highly revered gentleman throughout the halls of Fidelity and the investment community he nurtured. Fidelity remembered Mr. Byrnes here: BOSTON — The Fidelity Investments family is deeply saddened to announce the passing of William Leo (Bill) Byrnes, its former president and vice chairman, and one of the company's key leaders as it grew from a Boston-based mutual fund company into a highly diversified global firm. Bill, 96, died peacefully on July 21st surrounded by his loving family. Our hearts go out to the Byrnes family and … [Read more...]
Exxon’s “Fairy Tale” Multi-Billion Barrel Oil Find in Guyana
Off the coast of Guyana, Exxon Mobil Corp. has found what appears to be a multi-billion barrel oil patch. The find could be a just what Exxon needs, and could put Guyana among the major oil producing countries in the world by generating even more production than OPEC members Equatorial Guinea and Gabon. Bloomberg's Kevin Crowley reports: Exxon Mobil Corp. increased its estimate for a giant offshore oil discovery in Guyana by 25 percent yesterday, but it may just be the beginning. Some 8 of 10 exploration wells have struck oil since 2015 and Exxon has identified a further 19 targets to … [Read more...]
Railcar Orders Signal Economic Growth
American companies and rail operators are preparing for economic growth by ordering many more railcars than they did last year at this time. Railway Age reports that railcar orders increased 130% in the first quarter of 2018. Tank cars, usually used for moving oil by rail, and hoppers for moving rock, gravel and sand accounted for the bulk of the new orders. William C. Vantuono writes: “We think improved tank car orders could reflect stronger CBR (crude by rail) economics due to higher crude prices and limited domestic takeaway capacity,” observes KeyBanc analyst Steve Barger. Together, tank … [Read more...]
The “Sith Lords of Crony Capitalism”
That's what Eric Peters calls Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos in an article on The Spectator. Peters is referring to Musk's reliance on government subsidies to sell Teslas, and Jeff Bezos' contracts with the Department of Defense for cloud storage. According to an investigative report in the Wall Street Journal, Bezos has a lobbying operation in DC that’s bigger and better-funded than Walmart and Exxon Mobil. He has 100 full time lobbyists beating the bushes on behalf of Amazon and spent some $13 million on glad-handing the government last year alone — a five-fold increase over what it spent on … [Read more...]
Your Retirement Life: Seeking Higher Yields?
You can thank low interest rates for the temptation to seek higher returns. Don’t think for a minute that risk/reward no longer applies to you. Like gravity, it’s always there, even if you can’t see it. Unfortunately it’s never fair when those with good intentions get burned. But it happens all the time. In The Wall Street Journal, Jean Eaglesham reports on a scam that duped investors for $100 million. She writes: Scott Kohn, a 64-year-old felon, ran a company from a Nevada strip-mall mailbox that investors claim took them for more than $100 million in losses. Mr. Kohn’s company, Future … [Read more...]
More American Manufacturing Coming Home
Weiler Abrasives Group has announced it will bring its Chinese abrasives production line to the United States. In a press release on Inddist.com, Weiler said that it will close its Suzhou, China location in coming months and move production to its Cresco, Pennsylvania facility. The company continued: "We are confident this will be entirely seamless to our customers. We are excited about the benefits the move will bring to our local community and our North American customers, including improved service levels that our customers have come to expect from Weiler,” said Bill Dwyre, managing … [Read more...]
Tesla Wants its Money Back
Bleeding cash and desperate to show a profit, Tesla has been asking suppliers to give back some of the money the company had given them. After news of this leaked out, investors weren't taking it well. Angus Whitley reports in Bloomberg: Tesla Inc. asked some suppliers to return a portion of its payments to them in an attempt by the electric-car maker to turn a profit, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing a memo sent to a supplier last week. The company, whose eroding cash position has alarmed investors, requested a “meaningful” amount of payments made since 2016 to … [Read more...]
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