It’s a little early for Christmas in July, but now is the time for investors to be putting together their “Christmas lists” of sorts. Recently, I wrote a piece that described an old investment strategy of Sir John Templeton (see “An Anniversary We’d Prefer to Forget”).  Sir John would make a list of companies he’d...Read More

The first time I set foot on Spanish soil was the spring of 2000, and what a fantastic time it was to visit.  The dollar was near its all-time high versus the Euro, and an American could live like a king on a pauper’s budget. My, how times have changed.  I most recently visited Spain...Read More

Men are not always the best about remembering anniversaries, but there are a few that we would all like to forget.  This past Sunday marked the two-year anniversary of the infamous “Flash Crash” of May 6, 2010 that saw the Dow Jones Industrial Average swing by 600 points in 20 minutes. What is perhaps most...Read More

Credit card rivals MasterCard (NYSE:$MA) and Visa (NYSE:$V) released earnings on Wednesday, and both knocked the ball out of the park. We’ll start with MasterCard.  This smaller of the two rivals enjoyed earnings growth of 25% in the first quarter and a 17% increase in worldwide purchase volumes.  Not to be outdone, Visa announced a...Read More

It’s that time of year again, dear reader.  Twice per year, Barron’s does a survey of large professional money managers to get their outlook for the market (see “Reason to Cheer”). I get a lot of value out of reading the survey results, but not necessarily for the reasons you might think.  This is a...Read More