Five years is a long time when thinking about where we’ve been since 2018. But over a lifetime, time flies. Because in our minds, we’re always about 30 or so, even when our bodies beg to differ. With all our living, we don’t know what next year will bring. Yes, I know; there are plenty of predictions out there. Here’s a reminder of how those making them are “often wrong, but never in doubt.” Roll the footage (WSJ article Nov. 2018): U.S. public pension funds are taking on more real estate, and at times some of the riskiest types of property investments, as they try to close their funding … [Read more...]
Archives for December 2023
Amazon’s Betting on Online Car Sales
Sebastian Herrera of The Wall Street Journal tells his readers that Amazon aims to make online car purchases as seamless as getting everyday essentials. He writes: Willie Hall loves to browse and buy cars online, but he wants more options. Soon, he may turn to Amazon.com. “I’m already a Prime member,” said Hall, who lives in Colorado and bought a used Fiat 500 Abarth on Carvana in 2021. “I’ve been with Amazon for God knows how long and know the way they operate.” Amazon is eager to see just how many Willie Halls there are in the U.S. The company last month said shoppers next year … [Read more...]
Shale Driller Tries to Produce ‘Guilt-Free’ Gas
Phred Dvorak of The Wall Street Journal is reporting how a natural gas producer will bury enough carbon dioxide to offset emissions generated in making and burning its gas. She writes: A shale driller is out to prove that it is possible to go completely green—while still producing natural gas. Denver-based BKV says that by the 2030s it will store millions of tons of climate-warming carbon dioxide in wells deep underground to eliminate or offset all of the emissions generated from manufacturing and using its gas. The idea is that consumers can buy that gas and use it without … [Read more...]
U.S. Steel Sale: Potential Impact on National Security and Supply Chain
Tarini Parti and Katy Stech Ferek of The Wall Street Journal are reporting the sale of one of America’s most storied industrial enterprises, U.S. Steel. The buyer is Japan’s Nippon Steel, and it has the potential impact on national security and supply chains. The Biden administration’s top economic adviser said Thursday the $14.1 billion deal to acquire U.S. Steel by Japan’s Nippon Steel deserved “serious scrutiny” regarding its potential impact on national security and supply chains. “This looks like the type of transaction that the interagency committee on foreign investment Congress … [Read more...]
The #1 Tool Used to Snag Investors
One of the many pitfalls for the investor, and there are many, is the lure of past performance. Past performance is the rock that catches many a ship. Even when the investor might know better, the false confidence that past performance provides can be ruinous. With all the information out there today, it never fails to amaze me how reckless investors can be by betting their savings on yesterday’s winners. If you’ve ever been stuck in the fog, you know what I’m talking about. You think you’re in one place, and when it clears, you can’t believe where you are. What we imagine, or what we … [Read more...]
Court Pauses Apple Watch Ban in U.S.
Aaron Tilley of The Wall Street Journal reports that Apple has won a temporary reprieve as U.S. court pauses watch ban. Apple AAPL won a temporary reprieve for its $18 billion smartwatch business after a U.S. appeals court on Wednesday paused a federal agency’s import ban on most of its watch models. The ruling will allow sales to resume in the coming weeks while the court weighs Apple’s request to pause the ban pending its appeal of an October decision by the U.S. International Trade Commission. The commission banned the import into the U.S. of some versions of the Apple Watch over … [Read more...]
Share Prices are Sputtering for EV Charging Companies
Jennifer Hiller of The Wall Street Journal writes that EV charging companies have fallen from lofty valuations as concerns mount about their profitability. She continues: The companies that install and operate electric-vehicle charging networks are in the middle of a building boom, but their share prices are sputtering. ChargePoint Holdings shares have tumbled 74% this year, and the company missed initial revenue projections for the third quarter. Blink Charging BLNK -9.59% have dropped 67%, while EVgo is down 21%, and both project annual losses. The charging providers don’t expect to … [Read more...]
Manias, Panics, and Crashes: A History of Financial Crises
As a reminder of how ugly markets can be, this holiday season, Your Survival Guy’s been thumbing through Manias, Panics, and Crashes: A History of Financial Crises (fourth edition) by Charles P. Kindleberger. I’ll offer some titles that also work: Bad Stuff Happens, Look Out Below, They Never Learn. The first edition was published in 1978 with plenty of pre-World War II disasters to cover. But what has me thinking this morning is that the latest one, the fourth edition, was written in 2000 before the dot com crash. Little did Kindleberger know what was about to take place, or did he sense … [Read more...]
Merry Christmas!
“What Have You Done for Me Lately?”
In a “What have you done for me lately?” world, it’s easy for investors to see this year’s returns on the S&P 500 and compare their performance. That’s short-sighted. Because if we look over the last two years, for example, the S&P 500 has basically returned to where it was this time in 2021. What’s lost on many is that a dividend-centric approach offered a way to be paid while the market price spun its wheels. Now then, what’s not often discussed is how many investors bailed out of stocks on the way down and missed the rebound, and in their frustration, are now … [Read more...]
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