Young Research & Publishing Inc.

Investment Research Since 1978

Wealth Management: Year-End Planning

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One of the “must dos” for any serious investor is to make sure your investment house is in order as year-end quickly approaches. Ensuring that you have the best technology is an important way to do that, and I have found through years of experience with different custodians that Fidelity has always been the industry's technology leader (this is not a paid endorsement, just the truth learned from my experience). Fidelity's technology leadership began in its earliest days, pushed on by former Chairman Ned Johnson's passion. I recently wrote about Johnson's focus on technology that "He … [Read more...]

The Last Debt Domino to Fall?

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Leveraged loan investors are heading for the door. Loans have their place in investment portfolios, but as late cycle assets to hold, these are not great. The Wall Street Journal's Sam Goldfarb calls them the "last domino to fall," in debt markets. He writes: While mutual funds represent just one source of demand for loans, the recent outflows have had a big market impact, leading to sharp declines in the prices of existing loans and prompting more investor-friendly terms on a shrinking supply of new loans entering the market. To some extent, loans—often referred to on Wall Street as … [Read more...]

How Can You Spot a Loser in Investing?

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Back in July 1994, I wrote: You Has It or You Don’t. Dressed in snakeskin, feathers, grease paint and radiant colors, New Orleans gris-gris musician, Dr. John, delivers his musical message. Funky, gumbo-tinged rhythms spiced with a Bayou flavor makes for a perennial Mardi Gras atmosphere when delivered by Crescent City favorites like Jessie Hill, Cyril Neville, Chuck Carbo, Allen Toussaint, and the eclectic Night Tripper, Dr. John. When asked what makes the whole musical gumbo of New Orleans come together, Dr. John explains that it’s the groove of the thing, a pulse, an inner self sort … [Read more...]

A Troubling Look for iPhone Sales

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Taiwanese suppliers for the iPhone are reporting a month-to-month revenue decline for November reports the Nikkei Asian Review. The news could be a sign that demand for iPhones has peaked, suggest Lauly Li and Cheng Ting-Fang, writing: TAIPEI -- A majority of Apple's Taiwanese suppliers suffered a monthly fall in revenue in November, as hopes for a sales uptick of the new iPhones ahead of the holiday season were dashed. Seven of nine Apple suppliers tracked by the Nikkei Asian Review logged a month-on-month revenue decline in November, according to figures released on Monday. The nine … [Read more...]

Wealth Management Pitfall: ESG

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Your wealth manager should act as your fiduciary, plain and simple. Sounds easy. But in reality it’s not. Today, I want to help you overcome one of the more absurd obstacles you may face. It’s called environmental, social and governance investing, or ESG. Thousands of investment managers have pledged to follow ESG—a pledge to abide by a U.N.-sponsored statement of ESG principles. Investing in fossil fuel stocks, for example, would likely be on the “no go” list of companies available for investment. You can forget those juicy pipeline yields. “It isn’t only student activists but the … [Read more...]

McDonald’s Fights Overuse of Antibiotics in Beef

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Deena Shanker writes for Bloomberg that McDonald's is fighting the overuse of antibiotics by implementing new guidelines for its beef suppliers. McDonald's is such a large buyer of beef, its new policies could affect the entire beef industry. Shanker writes: As consumers have grown increasingly concerned with how their food is made, they have demanded a number of changes, including antibiotic-free meat and poultry. Scientists say the overuse of antibiotics in agriculture is behind the growing global problem of antimicrobial resistance. The chain has been on a mission to clean up its … [Read more...]

E-Commerce: Not Just for the West Anymore

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While Amazon has rapidly dominated the e-commerce market in the United States, America isn't the only place e-commerce is revolutionizing the way people shop. Cheap, internet connected electronic devices have opened the entire world to e-commerce, and consumers everywhere are taking advantage of the efficiency of shopping online. Indonesia's Jakarta Post explains the surge in online shopping there, writing: Global management consulting firm McKinsey & Company has forecast fast growth for e-commerce in Indonesia, predicting sales to reach US$65 billion annually by 2022, eight times the $8 … [Read more...]

Have Democrats Killed the Trump Bump?

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In what may be a reaction to Nancy Pelosi's Democrats winning control of the House of Representative in November, small businesses' outlook for the future has declined sharply. Patrick Thomas reports for The Wall Street Journal: Optimism among small-business owners fell slightly in November for the third straight month, mainly due to concerns about slower economic growth and moderating expectations for sales, according to a survey from the National Federation of Independent Business. The NFIB Small Business Optimism Index had a November reading of 104.8, down 2.6 points from the prior … [Read more...]

A Safe Port in the Stock Market Storm

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U.S. equity markets tumbled last week, with the S&P 500 down more than 4.5%, and the Russell 2000 index of small company stocks falling 5.50%. Both indices hit all time highs in late summer/early fall, but since then the ride has gotten rough. Since August 31st of this year, the Russell 2000 index is down almost 17% and the S&P 500 has fallen by about 9%. Young Research’s maximum safety Dynamic Maximizers® portfolio is up about 7 basis points over the same time period. The Dynamic Maximizers® portfolio has not experienced a down year this century, and we anticipate another up year … [Read more...]

Cryptocosm and Life After Google Part V

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Operations Management? When I was at Babson College one of our core curriculum courses was Operations Management. And, at the time, I didn’t see the vast opportunities that would unfold from this course. Who wants to spend a career figuring out how to piece together a supply chain or re-tool a factory? Then, when I had an internship at an online grocery delivery start-up, I recognized how fruitful a career in Ops could actually be. Fast forward to today and if you’re an Ops wizard, companies like Walmart or Amazon want to talk with you. Sometimes it’s hard to see the forest through … [Read more...]