The German Constitutional Court delivered excellent news Wednesday morning: the world as we know it will not be ending after all. More accurately, the judges rejected a petition to block German participation in the Eurozone’s €500 billion bailout fund, the European Stability Mechanism.  I don’t need to tell you that the stakes were high. Had...Read More

There is an art to following the recommendations of Wall Street strategists.  Taken individually, the average strategist tends to be pretty sharp.  They do their homework, they have well-funded research teams, and it can be worthwhile to hear what they have to say, even if their advice tends to be very conventional. But whatever value...Read More

There is never a dull moment when owning Turkish telecom provider Turkcell Iletisim Hizmetleri ($TKC).  As I’ve highlighted in recent articles, the company is still embroiled in a multi-year, intercontinental boardroom struggle that would rival a daytime soap opera for melodrama and intrigue. Two rival shareholder factions are fighting for control, and after bouncing around...Read More

ECB President Mario Draghi fired his “big bazooka” on Thursday, or at least that is how the market interpreted his press conference comments. The ECB would engage in potentially unlimited “outright monetary transactions,” meaning that the ECB would buy as many short-term bonds as it takes to keep yields manageable. To drive home his point...Read More

The following are notes from comments I recently gave on the pitfalls of investing in nontraditional ETFs. The regulators would be wise to keep an eye on non-traditional ETFs. The original ETF structure was something that should be celebrated. It added a new level of liquidity and tax efficiency and lowered trading costs for investors...Read More