Famous hedge fund manager Bill Ackman of Pershing Square Capital Management is watching his investors flee his fund. It may take them some time to leave due to rules allowing the withdrawal of only an eighth of their investment each quarter, but even that slow rate of withdrawal is reducing the fund's assets under management. Scott Deveau writes at The Globe and Mail: Bill Ackman’s Pershing Square Capital Management is facing more bad news as many of the institutional investors in its private funds have asked to redeem their money. About two-thirds of the capital that investors could … [Read more...]
Trump: $100 Billion More in China Tariffs?
On Tuesday the Trump administration outlined tariffs on $50 billion worth of Chinese goods imports to the United States. The tariffs focused on drugs, metals, machinery, electronics, trains, ships, optics, medical equipment, and weapons and ammunition. The following day, China outlined its own $50 billion worth of tariffs on American goods, mostly agricultural goods, tobacco products, vehicles, plastics and chemicals, and aircraft. The Trump administration's justification for the original $50 billion in tariffs was China's unfair intellectual property practices. After China retaliated … [Read more...]
Signs of Trouble in Chinese Economy?
Despite national reporting that details steady-as-she-goes growth in China's economy, the FT's Confidential Research team suggest there may be signs of trouble. Deteriorating wages and possible new fervor in government to reign in spending could be hard on the economy going forward. The team writes: Our readings, based on monthly surveys of 1,000 consumers and nearly 1,000 businesses, suggest the widely expected economic slowdown is yet to take hold. But the devil in the details of our survey results does suggest that underlying conditions may be softening. Tightening credit conditions and a … [Read more...]
Kudlow: Blame China, Not Trump
In his new capacity as head of the White House's National Economic Council, Larry Kudlow has begun a push to create an alliance against China's bad trade practices. To doubters of President Trump's recently announced punitive tariffs aimed at China, Kudlow said people should blame China itself, not Trump. Bloomberg reports: The U.S. wants to rally pro-market allies to push back against China’s unfair trade practices, a senior White House adviser said. “The damage of our economy comes from China’s restrictive practices. Blame China. They’ve been doing this for decades. Don’t blame Trump,” … [Read more...]
Digital Currency Risks: Sweden Considers Cashless Society
When you consider good governance vs bad governance, Sweden typically falls into the good camp. Life is pretty good if you’re a Swede. But a recent push by central banks to adopt a cash-free-society has put many on edge. Riksbank governor, Stefan Ingves, says going cash-less is for the “collective good” of society. “Most citizens would feel uncomfortable to surrender these social functions to private companies,” he said. “It should be obvious that Sweden’s preparedness would be weakened if, in a serious crisis or war, we had not decided in advance how households and companies would pay for … [Read more...]
New York Real Estate Sales Plunge
Buyers faced with the twin realities of high prices and high real estate taxes are stepping back from the New York City real estate market. After being fully exposed to the state's high tax rates after the federal tax reform bill passed last year, buyers are taking recoiling from what has been one of the world's hottest real estate markets for at least a decade. Lindsay Fortado writes in the Financial Times: The number of co-op and condominium sales in Manhattan fell nearly 25 per cent during the first quarter compared to the same period last year, according to new research by Miller … [Read more...]
Will Congress Give the Trucking Industry Some Relief?
Strict rules created by the Obama administration have been galling the American trucking industry since their implementation. Congress is now looking at making these rules more flexible for drivers, with an effort led by Congressman Brian Babin of Texas. James Jaillet writes at Commercial Carrier Journal: A bill filed in the U.S. House Thursday by Rep. Brian Babin (R-Texas) would allow drivers to take one break per day — of up to three hours — that does not count against their 14-hour on-duty allotment. The bill mirrors a petition filed by the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association … [Read more...]
How to Make Money in a Falling Market
The S&P 500 sold off sharply yesterday breaking through a key technical level (its 200-day moving average) and falling back into correction territory—a decline of 10% or more from its prior high. Ten percent corrections are not uncommon. We see about one 10% correction per year. On average, corrections last for about four months. This correction is about two and half months old. Stocks were lower on an intra-day basis during the initial stages of the correction in February, but yesterday was the lowest closing price this year. More interesting than the performance of the overall market, … [Read more...]
Is Vanguard too Big?
Personally, I have had only one minor administrative error recently with Vanguard where they incorrectly deposited SEP-IRA money into my traditional IRA. I called them to explain their error, they pulled up the letter of instruction, recognized their mistake and made the correction. Problem solved. With record inflows of more than $1 billion per day in 2017, or $369.3 billion, some investors are wondering if Vanguard’s success is a problem. I don’t think that’s the case. In a transaction oriented business there are always going to be mistakes. They can be corrected. When I worked at … [Read more...]
Do Google and Facebook Have Bigger Problems than Privacy?
While battles rage in the U.S. and Europe over to what extent the big internet companies should be allowed to collect people's personal information and sell that information to advertisers and other end users, the companies may actually have a bigger problem. It turns out, the internet is a pretty boring place. Generation Z, i.e. the young people born between 1998 and 2010 (post-Millennials), have fallen out of love with the internet. The youngsters are bored like all kids have been in their day, but now they are "phone bored," as Taylor Lorenz calls it in The Daily Beast. Imagine if … [Read more...]
- « Previous Page
- 1
- …
- 385
- 386
- 387
- 388
- 389
- …
- 638
- Next Page »