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 luxury sector has been in the headlines this week, though the outlook has been muddled.  High-end home goods retailer Williams-Sonoma (WSM) beat earnings estimates on Wednesday, initially sending shares higher.  Unfortunately, the details were a lot less impressive.  Overall, sales were up 12.3% and same-store sales were up 8.4%… but the retailer had to...Read More

It’s that time again.  Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway (BRK-A) released its quarterly 13F filing today, which details stock by stock what Buffett and his managers have been buying and selling. At the top of the list?  A 17.8-million-share position in Suncor Energy (SU), Canada’s biggest oil and gas producer.  Suncor is a major producer in the...Read More

Even the greats make mistakes.  I wrote a piece two years ago with those words as the headline with a very specific purpose: to show that, over time, the market has a way of humbling us all.  Even investment demigods like George Soros or John Paulson. I bring this up because one of my favorite...Read More

Jeff Reeves at The Slant did a write-up on Facebook ($FB) and GSV Capital ($GSVC) that featured some comments from my last newsletter: You’ve heard of Facebook, but you’ve probably never heard of GSV Capital. But if I told you GSV Capital is a major Facebook investor gapped up almost 50% in the last month, you’re...Read More