Will an increase in oil demand from China following the end of its COVID-19 restrictions drive the price of oil higher? Tom Wilson reports on IEA projections that demand will reach new highs. He writes in the Financial Times: Global oil demand is set to rise to an all-time high in 2023 as China relaxes its Covid-19 restrictions in a move that may push crude prices higher in the second half of the year, according to the International Energy Agency. Demand for crude oil could rise 1.9mn barrels a day to reach a record 101.7mn b/d, while the evolving impact of western sanctions on Russia … [Read more...]
Archives for January 2023
Stocks Go Up and Down: Get Paid Along the Way
Time flies when you’re having fun. But don’t tell that to the investors who got crushed last year. All of a sudden they’re seeing the light—the wisdom in a balanced portfolio. As Ben Graham taught us, you need to have some balance in your portfolio whether it's 30-70 or 70-30 or something in between. I’m reading now how investors need to think about 60-40 after all the hand-wringing about the approach last year. Look, stocks go up, stocks go down. I want you to get paid along the way. The same is true for bonds but with a finish line, especially for individual bonds, in the form of a set … [Read more...]
REGULATION D: Beware of Wolves in Advisors’ Clothing
The average investor has a hard time dealing with low interest rates. Don’t we all? But to put your life savings at risk is foolish and yet it’s done all the time. Sometimes the best advice is to do nothing at all and pick up yield gradually when rates begin to normalize. Unfortunately, there are wolves out there looking for sheep to prey on. Here are the stories of some unlucky investors who trusted their advisors and were tricked into buying nearly worthless Regulation D securities. Jason Zweig reports in The Wall Street Journal: Jeff Temeyer, 64 years old, is a semiretired farmer in … [Read more...]
Tim Cook Tied Apple Tightly to China
In his previous role as Chief Operating Officer, current Apple CEO Tim Cook tied the company's fate to China by developing a complex supply chain within the country. Patrick McGee reports in the Financial Times: Over the past decade and a half, Apple has been sending its top product designers and manufacturing design engineers to China, embedding them into suppliers’ facilities for months at a time. These Apple employees have played integral roles co-designing new production processes, overseeing the minutiae of manufacturing until things were up and running, and keeping close tabs on … [Read more...]
Happy Martin Luther King Jr. Day!
Slow and Steady: The Man Behind the Maps
All you skiers out there probably know the work of James Niehues but never knew it. He’s the guy who paints the ski mountain images used for the trail maps we all gaze at over hot chocolate at the picnic table in the lodge or on a chairlift (dropped gloves or poles to boot). It wasn’t until Niehues was in his 40s that he realized his success. His book captures the trails we’ve skied or hope to ski someday. Check out his work here. Legendary Trail Map Artist James Niehues Announces New Original Work Collectionhttps://t.co/LlckBjdxgX pic.twitter.com/y8hGMy7sWo — SnowBrains (@SnowBrains) … [Read more...]
Tesla Slashing Prices on Its Cars
Tesla is slashing the prices of its cars sold in the United States. Rebecca Elliott reports for The Wall Street Journal: Tesla Inc. TSLA -2.31%decrease; red down pointing triangle cut prices for some of its vehicles sold in the U.S. by nearly 20%, aiming to lure new buyers at a time Wall Street is concerned appetite for the car maker’s vehicles is weakening. The cuts, which span Tesla’s lineup, are likely to allow some buyers to qualify for a $7,500 U.S. government tax credit. Elon Musk’s car company slashed the price of its baseline Model Y crossover by almost 20% to $52,990, not … [Read more...]
Slow and Steady: You Don’t Need to Be Young to Be a Success
Turns out you don’t need to be young to be a success. As I wrote to you this week, there’s nothing wrong with being a beginner at different times in your life. Don’t just take my advice for it. Look at what this 93-year-old writes in the WSJ. No one has seen entrepreneurship help minorities improve their economic circumstances more than I have—and that’s not only because I’m 93. I saw the power of entrepreneurship firsthand after co-founding the Home Depot. My experiences led me to believe that preserving and expanding entrepreneurship is the key to advancing racial and economic … [Read more...]
Government Could Crimp Big Pharma Drug Pipeline
Pharmaceutical companies are sounding the alarm over new price controls on medicines. Bloomberg's Ike Swetlitz and Angelica Peebles report: Drugmakers say a new US law aimed at cutting prices on top-selling medicines after they’ve been on the market for several years has them stuck in limbo. One after another, company executives at the JPMorgan Healthcare Conference in San Francisco cited the same problem: How do you figure out which drugs to invest in without knowing how much money they’ll make years down the road? Some say the uncertainty has had a chilling effect on deals, normally a … [Read more...]
The Importance of a Balanced Portfolio
For the person who can handle the slow and steady road to wealth, the importance of a balanced portfolio cannot be overstated. In 2011, I coined the phrase “Sleep Well-esley at Night” to capture the safety first, survivalist manner of the balanced Vanguard Wellesley fund. It’s not an exciting fund. After all, close to two-thirds of the Vanguard Wellesley fund is in bonds. The rest is in stocks. The fund's performance over time is a testament to the power of a balanced portfolio. You can see in the chart above that during Vanguard Wellesley's long performance history, the fund has … [Read more...]