Over the past 24 months, Warren Buffett’s insurance and investing conglomerate Berkshire Hathaway, has become one of Apple’s largest shareholders and Apple has become Buffett’s most substantial dollar value investment. Initially, the revelation that Berkshire had started to build a position in the tech business surprised Buffett watchers. Historically, Warren Buffett has avoided tech businesses as he…
According to Transparency Market Research, the global sales performance management market grew 17.1% annually from $2.3 billion in 2017 to $8.1 billion by the end of 2025. Utah-based InsideSales.com is a Billion Dollar Unicorn in the sales performance enhancement space. It has been toying with the idea of an IPO for a while. Maybe 2018 is the year that…
The S&P 500 has averaged a daily change of 0.01% so far in 2018. That’s about as close to zero as it can get, but at least it’s positive! Below is a chart showing the S&P 500’s average daily change by weekday so far in 2018. As shown, Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday have averaged declines,…
Pfizer Inc. (PFE) is not the most exciting stock to own, since it is not likely to produce huge growth rates. But this does not necessarily mean it is a bad investment. Far from it, particularly for income investors. Pfizer offers investors a steady stream of dividends and a high yield, backed by a strong…
On May 4, 2018, the Institute of Supply Management (ISM) stated that the service index in the United States has grown for 99th consecutive month, indicating flourishing non-manufacturing activity. However, the metric actually came in lower than expected for the month of April. This decline has been the result of trade-war related tensions and Trump’s tariff…
There are ostensibly three main political forces in Italy. The Five Star Movement is seen as a populist party who’s agenda appears unique blend of right/left issues. From the March elections, it emerged as the single biggest force. The center-right alliance has two main components, the Northern League, a nationalist party and Berlusconi’s Forza Italia. The…
Continuing to take risk measurements and pay attention to what’s underinvestment marketing wrappers is key to protecting and growing capital over full market cycles. But it takes discipline and constant attention, so most people don’t do it. Therein lies the downfall of the masses, and the opportunity inherent for the few who do. This extreme…
“Davidson” submits: Capital shifts globally everyday seeking the highest returns which sometimes means avoiding a perceived higher level of risk. Just as in equity and fixed income markets, capital flows always occur after events become well known. Prominent capital shifts have occurred recently in the Trade Weighted US$ and oil prices ($WTI). This is how policy changes/economic…
Four years ago, the last target-date, or lifecycle, exchange-traded funds withdrew to a rather ignominious retirement. You remember them, don’t you? They were supposed to be one-stop solutions for retirement portfolios which would dynamically allocate assets along a glide path—from higher to lower risk—as an investor aged. It’s not that there was anything inherently wrong…
US DOLLAR TO FRESH 2018 HIGHS, AGAIN The US Dollar has continued to rally and as we open Tuesday trade out of the US, the currency remains at fresh 2018 highs. We had some commentary from Fed Chair Jerome Powell earlier this morning taken from a speech in Zurich. He had a couple of interesting comments, key…
