Business

  • The Financial Race Towards the Presidency

    The race for the White House is always a race for funds. Last week's Iowa caucus sheds a spotlight on the correlation of fund-raising success and success at the polls.

    This chart ranks possible US presidential candidates by the amount of funding they had raised by the end of 2015.

     

    160205 Financial Race Towards the Presidency

    via Statista.

     

    While he didn’t come out on top in the Iowa Caucus, Donald Trump surely has proven he knows how to make the biggest bang for the buck. While he isn’t even in the top ten of the best funded candidates (of both parties) … He still achieved a second place showing in the Republican candidates in Iowa.

    The Republican winner was Ted Cruz, who is the second best funded in the GOP camp.  

    In contrast, while Jeb Bush is the best funded Republican candidate (second overall after Democrat Hillary Clinton), he only managed a sixth place finish against the Republicans in the Iowa caucus.

    While Cruz has a comfortable lead over Trump in the caucus in the Republican camp, Democratic hopeful Clinton has the most money of all candidates, democratic and overall. She virtually tied with second best funded Democrat Bernie Sanders in the caucus, who’s only in fifth place of the best funded overall.

  • Is a Leading Indicator of Economic Activity Drying-Up?

    People are afraid abandoned 'zombie ships' are an early sign of global economic collapse.

     

    160130 Abandoned Ships Image Credit: Sometimes Interesting. 

     

    If you are looking for insight into global supply and demand trends, the Baltic Dry Index is one of the purest leading indicators of economic activity. It offers a real-time glimpse at global raw material and infrastructure demand, as well as the supply of ships available to move this type of cargo.

    Unfortunately, it is sinking faster than a ship.

     

    160130 Baltic Dry Index Sinking

     via StockCharts.com

    The low is troubling because this Index is often interpreted as a reliable indicator of demand.

    The Index moved higher from 2003 to 2008. Since then, we have seen a series of lower highs and lower lows (in other words, it has been trending downwards since then).

     

  • Is a Leading Indicator of Economic Activity Drying-Up?

    People are afraid abandoned 'zombie ships' are an early sign of global economic collapse.

     

    160130 Abandoned Ships Image Credit: Sometimes Interesting. 

     

    If you are looking for insight into global supply and demand trends, the Baltic Dry Index is one of the purest leading indicators of economic activity. It offers a real-time glimpse at global raw material and infrastructure demand, as well as the supply of ships available to move this type of cargo.

    Unfortunately, it is sinking faster than a ship.

     

    160130 Baltic Dry Index Sinking

     via StockCharts.com

    The low is troubling because this Index is often interpreted as a reliable indicator of demand.

    The Index moved higher from 2003 to 2008. Since then, we have seen a series of lower highs and lower lows (in other words, it has been trending downwards since then).

     

  • 2015 Was an Amazing Year for Science [Video]

    Lots of people thought last year was tough.  

    There were lots of great things too.

    Here is a quick video highlighting some of the amazing breakthroughs achieved in science and technology.

    Fun to watch … Lot's of innovative ideas.

     

     

     

    via Yahoo News.

  • 2015 Was an Amazing Year for Science [Video]

    Lots of people thought last year was tough.  

    There were lots of great things too.

    Here is a quick video highlighting some of the amazing breakthroughs achieved in science and technology.

    Fun to watch … Lot's of innovative ideas.

     

     

     

    via Yahoo News.

  • Which U.S. Markets Did Best In 2015?

    There is always something working in the Markets.  It still surprises me how often it changes.

    A look at the recent winners and losers (based on year-end performance) shows the volatility and varied nature of this list.

    Who would have guessed the big winners this year would be the French and German markets, along with the U.S. Dollar. 

    The chart below shows the top-and-bottom performing markets for the year.  The data is color coded based on sector. The first column shows 2015 performance, followed by six columns of the most recent prior yearly market performances.

    Click the image to jump to the full chart.

     

    160109 2015 Best and Worst US Performers

    Table Key:

     

    Note: The S&P 500 Index is shown in black to highlight its performance vs other markets that offer an equity portfolio full diversification.

     

    Click this link to view weekly, monthly, quarterly, and yearly views of this data.

     

    So, how did the U.S market compare to other markets around the world? Here is an interactive chart showing how the S&P 500 out-performed this past year.

    160101 Relative Yearly Market Performance

  • Which U.S. Markets Did Best In 2015?

    There is always something working in the Markets.  It still surprises me how often it changes.

    A look at the recent winners and losers (based on year-end performance) shows the volatility and varied nature of this list.

    Who would have guessed the big winners this year would be the French and German markets, along with the U.S. Dollar. 

    The chart below shows the top-and-bottom performing markets for the year.  The data is color coded based on sector. The first column shows 2015 performance, followed by six columns of the most recent prior yearly market performances.

    Click the image to jump to the full chart.

     

    160109 2015 Best and Worst US Performers

    Table Key:

     

    Note: The S&P 500 Index is shown in black to highlight its performance vs other markets that offer an equity portfolio full diversification.

     

    Click this link to view weekly, monthly, quarterly, and yearly views of this data.

     

    So, how did the U.S market compare to other markets around the world? Here is an interactive chart showing how the S&P 500 out-performed this past year.

    160101 Relative Yearly Market Performance

  • Graduation Time

    This was an interesting week. It started with a quick trip to Washington, DC to visit my older son and his fiancé. For dinner, I thought they were taking me to the "Tipped Cow" (which sounded good). Instead, we went to a Laotian restaurant (called "Thip Khao") which serves lots of vegetables and mixes their colors.

    In addition, I had hand surgery. While not pleasant, it should result in my ability to hold things – and to use my hand again (which I consider favorable).

    Finally, I went to Auburn, Alabama for my younger son's college graduation. I am very proud of him. His grades got continually better, the longer he was there … and he's been there a long time.

      

    IMG_0477

      

    Graduation marks the end of one level in the beginning of a new level. In this case, there is a ceremony with caps and gowns, a procession, and everyone knows what it means.

    In business, graduations take many forms. It could be a promotion, a product release, or the launch of a fund.

    In any case, the strategies and skills that got you to this point only represent the strategies and skills they got you to this point. It often takes a different set of strategies or skills to excel at what comes next.

    In that vein, We just finished our annual planning session for 2016.

    Onwards.

     

  • Graduation Time

    This was an interesting week. It started with a quick trip to Washington, DC to visit my older son and his fiancé. For dinner, I thought they were taking me to the "Tipped Cow" (which sounded good). Instead, we went to a Laotian restaurant (called "Thip Khao") which serves lots of vegetables and mixes their colors.

    In addition, I had hand surgery. While not pleasant, it should result in my ability to hold things – and to use my hand again (which I consider favorable).

    Finally, I went to Auburn, Alabama for my younger son's college graduation. I am very proud of him. His grades got continually better, the longer he was there … and he's been there a long time.

      

    IMG_0477

      

    Graduation marks the end of one level in the beginning of a new level. In this case, there is a ceremony with caps and gowns, a procession, and everyone knows what it means.

    In business, graduations take many forms. It could be a promotion, a product release, or the launch of a fund.

    In any case, the strategies and skills that got you to this point only represent the strategies and skills they got you to this point. It often takes a different set of strategies or skills to excel at what comes next.

    In that vein, We just finished our annual planning session for 2016.

    Onwards.

     

  • Here Are Some Links for Your Weekend Reading

    Google is good for a lot of things.  Watching the auto-complete choices is often fun.  According to this, PDF might be the fourth most popular religion.

     

    151205 PDF Becomes the 4th Most Popular Religioin 

    Here are some of the posts that caught my eye. Hope you find something interesting.

     

    Lighter Links:

     

    Trading Links: