You know America’s pastime isn’t baseball. It’s real estate and stocks. You probably have a good idea about house prices in your neck of the woods, and anywhere else you’re interested in. But when it comes to your home, most of the time, you’re not hanging on to its Zillow price, for example, quarter to quarter. That is unless you’re trying to sell your home and even more so if you’ve got a down payment to buy another contingent on it being sold. That puts a bit more pressure on you. You’re relying on the market to do something for you. And it doesn’t always work out. The same goes for … [Read more...]
Archives for February 2024
EV Battery Metal Market – From Boom to Bust
Rhiannon Hoyle and Julie Steinberg of The Wall Street Journal report that producers of lithium and nickel are pausing projects as prices collapse and momentum slows for electric-vehicle sales. They write: When the world’s most valuable lithium company last year announced plans for a $1.3 billion plant in South Carolina, local officials hailed it as transformative for the Palmetto State. The high-tech project from Charlotte, N.C.-based Albemarle was designed to process different sources of lithium, including from recycled batteries, and serve as a supplier of the critical mineral for … [Read more...]
Can America Ever Compete with China’s Lithium Dominance?
UPDATE 2.21.24: Lithium Americas Corp. has decided to split its operations because of the ongoing competition for control of lithium supplies between the United States and China. Lithium Americas's Argentina operation is partly controlled by a Chinese company, Ganfeng Lithium Group, and splitting off its Argentina operations would allow Lithium Americas to distance itself from China. Bloomberg News reports: Lithium Americas Corp.’s decision to split the company came down to one thorny issue: US-China relations. The mining company announced a plan in November to separate its … [Read more...]
China EV Makers Could Avoid Hefty Tariffs
River Davis, Ryan Felton, and Selina Cheng of The Wall Street Journal explain that a mix of engineering, government subsidies, and lower labor costs helps BYD and other China-based EV makers lure customers with attractive prices, stylish designs, and technology. They write: Chinese automaker BYD has set its sights on Mexico as its quest for global expansion turns toward North America. The Shenzhen-based car company, whose rapid growth has made it one of the world’s largest electric-vehicle sellers, is scouting locations in the country for a factory, from which it would consider exporting … [Read more...]
DIVIDEND: Because You Will Need One to Survive
How do you feel about taxation without representation? Not good, right? How about working your day job for an IOU? Exactly. Not going to happen. But that’s what we see with most tech stocks these days. You have management giving away stock options to retain employees and to goose their own net worth, living on a prayer that the stock price will go up. And the average investor, day trader? They’re not raising money for companies. Please. They’re trading. It’s a zero-sum game. This will change. There was a time when investors demanded a cash return on their money in the form of … [Read more...]
E.U. Industry Deal Looks to Rival China and U.S. in Green Shift
John Ainger and Ewa Krukowska of Bloomberg are reporting that Europe risks losing out to China and the U.S. if they don't cut red tape and boost clean tech funding. They write: The heads of major industrial companies want the European Union to cut energy costs and the regulatory burden of green rules to help the region stay competitive as the energy transition accelerates. Over 70 business and industry leaders — including Jim Ratcliffe, the billionaire chairman of chemicals giant Ineos Group, are urging the bloc to introduce a European Industrial Deal to boost competitiveness during the … [Read more...]
China Makes Record Mortgage Rate Cuts
Jamie Chisholm of MarketWatch is reporting that China is cutting mortgage rates by a record amount to help the struggling property sector. Chisholm writes: China made its biggest ever cut to mortgage rates on Tuesday, as the authorities try to support the struggling property sector, though the response from stock markets was muted. The People’s Bank of China said that the country’s lenders would reduce their five-year loan prime rate (LPR) by 25 basis points to 3.95%, a bigger cut than expected and the first since June last year. The one-year LPR was maintained at 3.45%. [...] “To … [Read more...]
Is Your Money with the #1 Online Broker?
UPDATE 2.20.24: Are you with the right broker? Again in 2023, Kiplinger's (and also Barron's) named Fidelity the best online broker. Originally posted October 20, 2016. "No surprises here as Kiplinger’s names Fidelity as the top online broker thanks to its mix of services, investing products, and retirement-planning tools. If you don’t have an account with Fidelity then you’re missing the boat,” I wrote to you in September. Choosing the right custodian could be one of the easiest, yet most important moves you make as an investor. Choose the right one. As Dick Young wrote in the … [Read more...]
Private Credit a $1.7 Trillion Industry
Kat Hidalgo of Bloomberg tells readers that private credit is booming, and banks are fighting back. She writes: Need a loan for a new factory or a buyout deal, but don’t like the terms your bank is offering? There’s a $1.7 trillion industry that’s ready to help. Private credit came of age after the 2008 financial crisis as an alternative to banks at a time when regulators were clamping down on risky lending by deposit-taking institutions. Today it’s become a serious rival to mainstream lending for all kinds of businesses, from real estate firms to tech startups. Money is pouring into private … [Read more...]
Your Survival Guy: Wine, Guns, Chicken, and Stocks
Your Survival Guy just finished reading Climbing the Vines in Burgundy: How an American Came to Own a Legendary Vineyard in France about Alex Gambal’s journey in the wine business. Not that he needed to do it. He wanted to. He left the family commercial real estate business and with his young family became entrenched in all things Burgundy. It’s a detailed account but not necessarily a happy one. As with nearly all entrepreneurs, it involves sacrifice. One small comment that stood out to me was how the locals like the store-bought chicken not the much sought-after poulet de Bresse. You can … [Read more...]
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