The Wall Street Journal's Jacob Bunge reports that Monsanto is attempting to stay ahead of its competitors by adding new technologies to its genetic modification tool kit. New gene editing methods like the much publicized Crispr-Cas9 and the lesser known Exzact are changing the way scientists modify organisms. Bunge writes: ...seed giants and Farm Belt upstarts view gene editing as the new front in genetic technology, potentially offering a cheaper and easier method of tweaking plants’ DNA. Emerging technologies such as Crispr-Cas9 and Exzact allow scientists to change a plant’s … [Read more...]
Can Summer Save the Automakers from a Slump?
Adrienne Roberts and Mike Colias write in the Wall Street Journal that automakers are hoping a surge of summer buying will save their bottom lines from what appears to be a rapidly cooling market for automobiles. They write: Overall, auto makers sold 1.43 million vehicles in the U.S. in April, down 4.7% from a year earlier, according to Autodata Corp. Detroit is hoping its traditionally strong summer sales season will get it out of the rut. Car makers plan to offer plenty of discounts, and rely on low gasoline prices and broad economic strength. The U.S. auto industry has been on a … [Read more...]
Portfolio Strategy: Do Trees Grow to the Sky?
Speculation seems to be alive and well in the stock market. Young Research’s Bubble Basket index is up 32% YTD. Meanwhile, high quality stocks represented here by the Nasdaq Dividend Achievers Index, or if you prefer the NYSE composite, are up about 5%. Did the value of the six businesses in Young’s Bubble Basket really increase by over 32% in just four months? Hard to see how this ends well for those who still believe trees can grow to the sky. Retired investors and those soon to be retired are still best served by quality and balance. … [Read more...]
These Megacities are Changing the World of Energy
A "megacity" is one populated with 10 million or more souls. You can imagine the energy needed to power, feed, and keep that many people warm or cool each day. ExxonMobil's Energy Factor explains that in some developing megacities, governments are working hard to change their energy footprints before they become unsustainable. Here are some examples: Shenzhen, China Shenzhen was little more than a sleepy fishing village bordering Hong Kong when the Chinese government made it one of the country’s first Special Economic Zones in 1979. The move unlocked foreign investment, and the population … [Read more...]
If You Had to Own Just One Mutual Fund Should it be this One?
If you had to own just one mutual fund, which one should it be? My answer is Vanguard Wellesley. In 2011, I coined the phrase “Sleep Well-esley at Night” to capture the safety first, survivalist manner of this balanced fund. A must have for you and your family. Since then we've made a lot of money together with the 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. But Vanguard Wellesley pays you a decent wage while you work through this market. It yields 2.74%. Sure there’s stocks or mutual funds that … [Read more...]
Never Run Out of Gas Again with a Connected Car
ExxonMobil is teaming up with Ford to add ExxonMobil's Speedpass+ app to Ford's SYNC3 Connectivity System. The connected systems will tell users before they even get into their vehicles if they're running low on gasoline. It will also pay for their gasoline automatically at Exxon and Mobil stations. Drivers will find the stations with GPS connected to the app that will show them the fastest route to the nearest station. The system will also help protect customers from credit card skimmers attached to gas pumps. ExxonMobil's Energy Factor explains the sytem: “What we heard from consumers is … [Read more...]
This is the Future of Elon Musk
I know and speak with a handful of Tesla car owners. They love them. Their enthusiasm is more powerful than an army of car salesmen. That’s not easy to do. It’s a good idea to listen to what Elon Musk is thinking. … [Read more...]
Banks Ask Trump to Hold Off on Crippling New Rules
Some of America's largest banks have asked the Trump administration to hold off on implementing new rules that would change the way banks book losses on their loans. Especially hard hit would be community banks. The bankers told the Trump administration the new rules could reduce lending, especially in depressed economic times. Michael Rapoport writes at The Wall Street Journal: The new loan-loss rule drawing fire from banks will require firms to immediately book all losses that they project their loans will ever suffer, as soon as the loans are issued. That is a significant change from the … [Read more...]
RAGE Gauge: Investors are Becoming Complacent
Complacent. That’s the word that sticks out in my mind in studying May’s RAGE Gauge. Investors have become complacent. As the indexing craze continues mad money props up the same stocks. Is that a good idea? There’s a false sense of confidence in believing one is diversified from buying an index when only a handful of companies move it. May’s reading is another warning of how complacent investors have become. It doesn’t mean the party is over. But it does mean more money riding on a few names. Don’t let the complacency bring you down. … [Read more...]
The Growing Costs of Cybercrime
This week hackers implemented an attack on Gmail users that used a fake authorization for Google Docs to lure users into giving over their login information. Google shutdown the operation quickly, but not before it had snared some unsuspecting users. The cost of global cybercrime is rising, with estimates for 2016 at around $460 billion and projections for 2019 at a stunning $2 trillion. Steve Morgan writes at Forbes: From 2013 to 2015 the cyber crime costs quadrupled, and it looks like there will be another quadrupling from 2015 to 2019. Juniper research recently predicted that the rapid … [Read more...]
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