“A few years ago, I said: if people do not watch it, Europe will become an open-air museum for traveling Chinese. Well, we are halfway there.” The quote above was from a Financial Times interview with Johann Rupert, Chairman of the Swiss-based Richemont (Switzerland:CFR), the second largest luxury goods group in the world (see “Tourist...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

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

Switzerland will always have a special place in the hearts of doom mongers.   For decades its franc has been the “go to” safe haven currency when the world got dicey.   The meticulous Swiss gnomes have always had a well-deserved reputation as prudent stewards of wealth—and a well-deserved reputation for discretion and privacy.  And importantly, their...Read More