For a year that started with one of the best first quarters in history, the second quarter has proven to be something of a disappointment. On the first trading day of June, the U.S. averages had their worst performance of 2012, pushing the Dow Industrials into negative territory for the year. The S&P 500 is...Read More

“Buy low and sell high” is the standard advice of any value investor. It can also be remarkably hard to put into practice. You see, we humans are herd animals, and we tend to think and act as groups, particularly during times of stress. Call it the primal human instinct to seek strength in numbers....Read More

Utilities are the proverbial red-headed stepchild of stock market sectors. During bull markets (so the thinking goes), utilities tend to underperform more aggressive sectors like technology or industrials. But during a good market rout, utilities take a beating along with the rest. How unloved are utilities? As I wrote in a recent article, they were...Read More

The financial press is not particularly good at forecasting market moves or giving reliable investment advice.  In fact, it’s generally awful at both.  (It’s a structural flaw; markets are forward looking, anticipating what will happen, while journalism is backward looking, explaining after the fact what already has happend). But if the financial press is truly good...Read More

The following is a review and analysis of Exceptional People: How Migration Shaped Our World and Will Define Our Future, by  Ian Goldin, Geoffrey Cameron and Meera Balarajan.  In a U.S. election year, the subject of immigration is a controversial topic; kudos to the authors for stirring up a little controversy.   “We live in...Read More