With the October 31 deadline for a Brexit withdrawal rapidly approaching, it is increasingly clear that there is no political consensus for the terms under which the United Kingdom would exit from the European Union. It has been suggested that, while 52% of British citizens voted in favor of Brexit in June 2016, increasing awareness … Continued
“Flygskam” is Swedish for “flight shame,” a rising headwind for the airline industry that is particularly strong in Sweden and Scandinavia. Climate studies show that airlines are a major factor in the increase in greenhouse gases. A European Commission study noted that someone flying from Europe to New York, and back, generates roughly the same … Continued
The global auto industry is scrambling to meet carbon-emission mandates and, currently, EVs appear to be the solution of choice. Unfortunately, advances in battery technology and cost are not cooperating. Cutting the cost of batteries is probably the industry’s most urgent challenge. Batteries are estimated to account for 35%-45% of EV total costs. Unless EV … Continued
In light of British Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s move to suspend Parliament for several weeks, it might be helpful for investors to review our blog of 30 Apr 2019; Understanding Brexit. Understanding Brexit In Great Britain you can bet on almost anything through authorized bookmakers. Currently, the odds on Brexit happening are now, for the … Continued
Beta testing is generally defined as external pilot-testing of a product before commercial quantity production. At the beta test stage, the product has already passed through first-level, internal pilot-testing (alpha testing) and glaring defects have been addressed. Beta testing puts a new product through “real world” testing by selected customers under normal, everyday conditions. Investors … Continued
Matt Krantz, in an article recently published in the Investor’s Business Daily, pointed out that six companies that commanded market values of more than $1 billion at the start of the decade (12/31/2009), were now penny stocks. Without attempting to analyze the underlying fundamentals of each of the companies in question, (J.C. Penney, Frontier Communications, … Continued
One of the few things that investors can absolutely count on is that there will be a next recession. Currently, recession talk has completely taken over the discussion on Wall Street and CNBC. Economists and other prognosticators seem to be constantly competing with each other to be the first to predict the next downturn in … Continued
Near record unemployment rates and an increase in help wanted signs would suggest that there is a labor shortage. If this is the case, we should be seeing the signs of a tight labor market, with wage growth and inflationary pressures. Surprisingly, wage growth has been modest and inflation has been relatively benign. What is … Continued
According to Wikipedia, survival of the fittest is a phrase that originated from Darwin’s evolutionary theory as a way of describing the mechanism of natural selection. In the corporate world, perhaps an appropriate corollary would be, survival of the lowest costs, and the probable fate of high cost producers as an industry develops excess capacity. … Continued
Reuters recently reported that India’s coal-fired power generation capacity is expected to rise by 22.4% in three years, based on comments by India’s federal power ministry’s chief engineer. India, the third largest emitter of greenhouse gases, saw annual coal demand increase 9.1%, to nearly 1 billion tonnes, in the year ended March 2019. Coal demand … Continued
Purely on the basis of anecdotal, personal experience, it appears that English is increasingly becoming the world’s second language. As of 2019, there are 55 sovereign states and 27 non-sovereign entities where English is the official language. More important to business and leisure travelers, even in countries where English has no official status, there seems … Continued
According to Investopedia, the Nifty 50 was a group of stocks that were most favored by institutional investors in the 1960s and 1970s. Companies in this group were usually characterized by consistent earnings growth and high P/E ratios. Recently, The Wall Street Journal published an article that started with the statement, “a rally in stocks … Continued
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