It’s tough to make predictions.  Especially about the future. The quote above is alternatively attributed to the physicist Neils Bohr and to the New York Yankee catcher Yogi Berra.   But it is nonetheless true, particularly in the financial markets. Of course, that doesn’t seem to stop us from trying. I bring this up because Barron’s...Read More

Two macro themes that have been plaguing the market this summer should be reaching their conclusions this month: the Syria War and the long-awaited tapering of quantitative easing. I’ll start with Syria.  The civil war has been raging for more than two years, and I am not suggesting that it is anyone close to being...Read More

The Senate Foreign Relations Committee gave its blessing to President Obama’s plan to take limited action against the Syrian regime for using chemical weapons against its own people.   A full Senate vote is expected in the next few days and will likely pass.  Barring any hiccups in the House, the bombs could start falling as...Read More

The Irish are fleeing Ireland at the fastest rate since the Potato Famine. Think I’m exaggerating? I assure you I’m not.  Recent data had one person leaving the Emerald Isle every six minutes. Since the onset of the financial crisis, nearly 400,000 people have left Ireland.  That may not sound like much at first, but the...Read More

British telecom giant Vodafone (VOD) agreed to sell its stake in Verizon Wireless to Verizon Communications (VZ) in one of the biggest deals in history.  That’s the headline.  But the question no one seems to be asking is Why was Verizon that eager to spend $130 billion on a capital-intensive business in a saturated market...Read More