It’s all about Europe. With earnings season largely over and the United States distracted by the upcoming presidential election, the only news likely to move the markets over the next month will be coming out of Europe. Late this week, the European Central Bank will be having a press conference that many market watchers hope...Read More

Long-time readers are familiar with my shtick on European stocks: many of the best plays on the rise of the emerging market consumer are to be found in boring, prosaic European blue chips.  Switzerland’s Nestle ($NSRGY), the British-Dutch Unilever ($UL), and Spanish communications juggernaut Telefonica ($TEF) are all companies I’ve highlighted for their large exposure...Read More

The problem with taking a vacation is that, alas, you eventually have to come home. And given the ubiquity of smart phones and wifi access, you’re never really “away” to begin with. This is good and bad, of course. When you have capital at risk, you need to be able to trade in a hurry...Read More

You really never know where a conversation on demographic trends will sprout up. I recall a conversation I had nearly a decade ago in a London pub with some Italian classmates from my graduate program at the London School of Economics. After, perhaps, one pint too many, I decided to rile my new friends by...Read More

If the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results, then Congress and the Administration must both be stark raving mad. It was just four years ago that the world found itself facing a food crisis.  If you are reading this article, you may very well not...Read More