January, 2018

• 7 January

  Real estate is underrated as a source of wealth

  

  When most people think of wealth in the modern economy, they tend to think of stocks and bonds. The word ‘capital’ is often synonymous with corporate ownership. Land wealth, meanwhile, is often relegated to a footnote. Yes, people own houses, but vast fortunes are made in the stock market, while the fates of nations rise and fall with the bond ...

  Read More »
• 7 January

  Facebook’s climbing ad prices may be a sign of weakness

  

  Facebook Inc. had countless conflagrations in 2017, but financially it was on fire in a good way. Revenue climbed 47 percent through the first nine months of 2017. It generated a remarkable 46 cents of operating profit for each dollar of revenue, and its stock price shot up more than 50 percent. Facebook is the internet’s best combination of quickly ...

  Read More »
• 7 January

  Stock investors will benefit from corporate tax overhaul

  One of the worries about large tax cuts for corporations is that stock-market investors will benefit more than working-class wages. There is a growing concern that much of savings will be used for dividends or share repurchases, which would potentially boost returns for those invested in stock market. This is likely to accelerate US inequality because wealthy are now by ...

  Read More »
• 7 January

  Europe should not waste a good recovery

  Europe could not have asked for a better end to 2017. Data from the Markit Purchasing Managers’ Index showed that economic activity was the strongest in nearly seven years. The unemployment claims rate in Germany is at its lowest level since the early 1990s. Even Greece’s factories are enjoying the best run in nearly a decade. Indeed, the euro-zone economy ...

  Read More »
• 7 January

  Indian billionaires are back on world deal-making stage

  

  It’s hard to believe it now, but once upon a time Indians had a far bigger appetite for outbound M&A than their Chinese rivals. That was just before the 2008 financial crisis, which dealt a body blow to India Inc.’s global ambitions. Then, in quick succession, came the credit-fuelled growth of China’s state-owned enterprises; the yuan’s appreciation; a string of ...

  Read More »
• 7 January

  Not everything is expensive if you know where to look

  

  Investors love to complain that asset prices are too high, but they have only themselves to blame. Investors bid up the S&P 500’s price-to-earnings ratio to 26.8 at the end of 2017 from 11.1 when the 2008 financial crisis eased in February 2009, based on 10-year trailing average positive earnings from continuing operations. They drove down yields on the Bloomberg ...

  Read More »
• 7 January

  Welcome to the year of censored social media

  

  This year, don’t count on the social networks to provide its core service: an uncensored platform for every imaginable view. The censorship has already begun, and it’ll only get heavier. A 2017 law in Germany obliging social networks to delete hate speech as soon as it’s reported or face massive fines went into effect on January 1 —and immediately claimed ...

  Read More »
• 7 January

  Profit elation for the ages fuels best week for stocks in a year

  

  Bloomberg It always looks inevitable in retrospect. Why wouldn’t US stocks rally, surging to the biggest weekly gain in a year, amid earnings euphoria like this? With no hint of fatigue, the S&P 500 Index spent the holiday-shortened week rolling past 2,700, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average jumped over 25,000. Ninety-eight companies in the Nasdaq 100 rose. It happened ...

  Read More »
• 7 January

  Saudi rises on royal handouts to citizens

  

  Reuters Saudi Arabia’s stock market rose on Sunday after King Salman announced a package of handouts for Saudi citizens to compensate for rising living costs, while Qatar was the strongest market in the region ahead of dividend announcements. The Saudi index gained 0.6 percent. Shares in most retail sector firms, which could benefit from the package’s boost to consumer spending ...

  Read More »
• 7 January

  Fed’s Harker sees two 2018 rate hikes amid yield-curve concern

  

  Bloomberg The US central bank should take its time before raising interest rates again to avoid inverting the yield curve and because inflation is still low, said Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia President Patrick Harker. In remarks during the annual meeting of the American Economic Association in Philadelphia, Harker also revealed a dovish rate call for 2018: two hikes instead ...

  Read More »