Will flight shame take off?
Flight shame, or the guilt travellers feel about the harmful emissions produced by air travel, is starting to reduce passenger numbers in Sweden. If this behaviour spreads to the rest of Europe, and in particular begins to influence corporates to cut down on flights, European airlines face a threat to which there is no obvious…
New Bricks in the Wall of Worry
In the finance world, a wall of worry is an increasing amount of negative information about a security or about the market. That is how the website investinganswers.com defines the expression “wall of worry” frequently cited expression in times of uncertainty. It seems an almost daily occurrence that investors are treated to another “brick” added…
The future of privately issued digital currency
Such are the prospects for mainstream acceptance for something like Facebook’s Libra. But the hurdles are daunting too. In 2015, China’s yuan joined the US dollar, euro, UK pound and yen as an elite currency in the IMF’s ‘special drawing rights’ that members can access in emergencies. The yuan’s ascent to IMF-sanctioned status recognised that…
Monetary Intervention Isn’t Quite Going To Plan
As interest rates approach zero in much of the western world, the linear relationship which economists expect from their monetary intervention isn’t quite going to plan. Rather than igniting animal spirits and spurring spending, declining rates are creating insatiable demand and stratospheric prices for safe haven assets whilst doing nothing for the velocity of money…
The Case For Small To Mid-Caps
If you research Australia’s largest listed companies, you’ll discover that some of them were much smaller stocks not that long ago. Small or medium companies can be overlooked, given they’re often considered riskier than their large cap peers. Yet historically, investors have been rewarded for additional risk with superior long-term returns. What are small and…
When the Smartest People in the Room Get it Wrong
For reasons ranging from time and temperament to financial acumen, many retail investors choose to allow the professionals – the “smartest people in the room” to manage their money. Why endure the pain of picking your own stocks when you can get a wizard at stock picking to do it for you? In the UK,…
Journalism’s ‘Fourth Estate’ Role Is Crumbling In The Internet Age
The telling blow is the damage wrought on local newspapers. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s embrace of Jody Wilson-Raybould while gazing into her eyes just after she was sworn in as the country’s first Indigenous attorney general in a cabinet that was notably half female epitomised the progressive image that Trudeau’s Liberal government sought to…
Silver Mining Stocks Fundamentals
The silver miners’ stocks have been pummeled in recent months, plunging near major secular lows in late May. Sentiment in this tiny sector is miserable, reflecting silver prices continuing to languish relative to gold. This has forced traditional silver miners to increasingly diversify into gold, which has far-superior economics. The major silver miners’ ongoing shift…
4 Healthcare stocks for punters
High-minded investors and analysts bristle with indignation at the suggestion that investing in a stock is little more than gambling. The term “punting” has historically referred to activities like race track gambling; but it has entered the investing lexicon as a means of separating seemingly foolish speculation akin to gambling from “true” investing. Taking a…
Experts weigh in on Fed hike: it was the right call, but will it work?
Editor’s note: The Federal Reserve’s policy-setting committee decided to raise its target interest rate – known as the Fed funds rate – for the first time in nine years. It increased the rate from a range of zero to 0.25% to a range of 0.25% to 0.5%. We asked a few of our experts –…
