This week offered another look at inflation numbers in the U.S. Inflation is robust and we see those inflation hotspots or pockets. Transportation costs for goods are soaring. Commodities prices (and especially oil) are on the march higher. Yet the markets have shrugged off the big inflation numbers. The stock and bond markets are buying […]
Pumped up earnings and tax threats, on Weekend Reads.
It’s early in the US earnings season, and it’s likely tis the season for earnings beats and upward revisions. From my MoneySense weekly, “With less than 10% of the S&P 500 having reported, results are strong and have boosted the blended consensus for first quarter year-over-year earnings growth to nearly 31% from 25%.” That’s more […]
The Sunday Reads. Scarcity cred, from David Bowie to Babe Ruth.
My recent MoneySense column stars David Bowie. He was much more than a music visionary. It’s almost as if David Bowie could see the future. He was a creative business man as well offering the Bowie Bonds that allowed him to buy back his music rights, as investors then profited from the success of his […]
The Dividend Aristocrats are fighting back.
The Dividend Aristocrats are S&P 500 companies that have increased their dividends each year, for at least 25 years running. That is an exclusive group. Companies that have increased their dividends for 50 years or more are dividend royalty – they are dividend kings. The Aristocrats have underperformed over the last year and more. You […]
Drug makers say that COVID-19 vaccines are still 3-4 years away. Stock markets continue to fall.
This would be the headline today if the ‘normal’ path of vaccine development had played out. While I am guessing on the response from investors and stock markets, I think it’s a good guess that stock markets would offer significant corrections if we knew that we would be in the grip of the first modern […]
The Canadian Dollar and your portfolio.
It looks like the Canadian Dollar is still considered a petrodollar. That is, our dollar is tied to resources and more specifically, oil and gas prices. The price of oil is on a massive run, and the Canadian dollar is going along for the ride. Most Canadian investors will hold US stocks and other US-priced […]