Bond is back.  And so are the product placements. Skyfall—the latest film in the James Bond franchise—opens in theaters next month, but the marketing blitz has already begun.  This week’s Economist opened with a two-page advertising spread for an Omega Seamaster watch—“James Bond’s Choice”—featuring Daniel Craig. Not only does Craig endorse the Omega brand personally...Read More

Back in April, I wrote favorably about Molson Coors ($TAP) (see “Beer Stocks: Crack One Open”), noting that the brewer was significantly cheaper than Anheuser Busch InBev ($BUD) and SABMiller (SBMRY) and that it paid the best dividend of any major brewer.  At 3.1%, its dividend yield at the time was nearly double that of...Read More

Last week, I recommended that investors embrace risk (see “Reaching for Risk? Try Emerging Markets ETF”). European Central Bank president Mario Draghi had just pulled out all the stops, announcing that he would engage in as many “outright monetary transactions” as it took to force the yields of periphery debt to sustainable levels. Equity markets around...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

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