A quick “glance under the hood” shows us which sectors have been hot in 2014, which have not and which could be leaders for 2015. The nine SPDR Sector ETFs have been telling us about the advances and declines of the various sectors throughout the year. While many of us had our own expectations about…
The world is awash in oil, I’m hearing. The problem is, it’s fairly expensive oil. Take for example Canada. The country has managed to increase its production of oil by a million barrels a day over the last decade. But almost all of that increase has come from oil sands. If you consider only conventional…
There was much hope for America’s struggling brick-and-mortar retail outlets that was aided by plunging gasoline prices, Americans would come out in droves to chase Black Friday (and increasingly Thanksgiving) blockbuster deals on the ground across America’s increasingly troubled shopping malls and retail outlets. And while there was the usual hysteria on select occasions (see this…
With nearly nearly 33% of exhibitors coming from France in the CES Eureka Park, the EU member state will be sending over 100 startups to the event while the U.S. will be sitting at around 20. With the advent of Connected Hardware & Internet of Things, the once-passée CES has seen a revival in the last 3…
Colgate-Palmolive (CL) is one of the largest publicly traded personal products companies. The company has a market cap of $63 billion which is large for the personal products industry; larger than Kleenex maker Kimberly-Clark’s (KMB) $43 billion market cap, but significantly smaller than Procter & Gamble’s (PG) $244 billion market cap. Colgate-Palmolive has an extremely long dividend history. The…
Throughout the last few months, we have identified three forces that are shaping the investment climate: the economic and monetary divergence that favors the U.S., the decline in commodity prices, and a slowing of China. These forces remain very much intact, and if anything, have strengthened and reinforcing each other. The unexpected upward revision…
Seoul, with its rapidly growing startup ecosystem is gaining precedence as one of the most promising entrepreneurial hubs in the world. Home to two of the most influential global tech leaders, Samsung and LG, the perception of Seoul has traditionally been of a corporate hub. But this is now rapidly changing, as a new breed…
Small businesses often capitalize on their less formal, more personal, approach to their customers and clients. While there is nothing wrong with this approach in general, it should not extend to business agreements and legal matters. On the contrary, a small business should insist on reducing all agreements to writing just like their larger counterparts…
The U.S. dollar has been consolidating for the past couple of weeks, and that phase appears to be coming to an end. Next week’s economic data and events will likely underscore the divergent theme, which works in the dollar’s favor. We do not expect the ECB to announce a sovereign bond purchase program at…
Whether as a result of an unprecedented scare campaign by the Swiss National Bank (most recently reinforced by Citigroup), or due to confidence that Swiss gold is as safe abroad as it is at home, or simply due to good old-fashioned “hanging chads”, today’s most awaited event has come and gone and the result – according to early…
