The French are funny. They smoke cigarettes while riding bicycles. They hail Jerry Lewis as a filmmaking genius. My favorite scene in Monty Python and the Holy Grail is when King Arthur and his men encounter the insulting French knight. And throughout the rise of western civilization, they’ve ALWAYS been a lynchpin in global affairs where continental Europe is concerned. #-ad_banner-#We’ve been reminded of that for the last few weeks as the world and markets have been biting their collective nails over the French presidential election. And it’s no surprise; the nervousness follows the UK Brexit vote and Donald Trump’s… Read More

The French are funny. They smoke cigarettes while riding bicycles. They hail Jerry Lewis as a filmmaking genius. My favorite scene in Monty Python and the Holy Grail is when King Arthur and his men encounter the insulting French knight. And throughout the rise of western civilization, they’ve ALWAYS been a lynchpin in global affairs where continental Europe is concerned. #-ad_banner-#We’ve been reminded of that for the last few weeks as the world and markets have been biting their collective nails over the French presidential election. And it’s no surprise; the nervousness follows the UK Brexit vote and Donald Trump’s populist-tilted upset in the 2016 U.S. presidential election. In France, the contest has pitted ultra-right wing, anti-EU Marine Le Pen versus, basically, everyone else, but mainly center-left candidate, pro-EU Emmanuel Macron. After the first round, Macron has emerged as the frontrunner and, although he faces Le Pen in the run-off, indications tell us that the French are leaning towards the more moderate Macron. Markets have breathed a sigh of relief with encouraging rallies and pundit-talk of, at long last, real growth in European equities. Here are three growth stocks for 2017 investors should look at. 1. Royal Dutch Shell (NYSE:… Read More

Income investors have it pretty bad right now. Despite a recent spike, the 10-year Treasury note yield of 2.3% is near an all-time low. Those low bond yields have pushed income-starved investors into the S&P 500 in search of reliable dividend stocks. Unfortunately, their options are slim… After a 70% gain in five years, the S&P 500’s dividend yield has compressed to 1.92%, also near an all-time low. Take a look below. Source: Multpl.com If you’re one of those investors banging your head against the wall trying to find better yields, I have the solution for you. Read More

Income investors have it pretty bad right now. Despite a recent spike, the 10-year Treasury note yield of 2.3% is near an all-time low. Those low bond yields have pushed income-starved investors into the S&P 500 in search of reliable dividend stocks. Unfortunately, their options are slim… After a 70% gain in five years, the S&P 500’s dividend yield has compressed to 1.92%, also near an all-time low. Take a look below. Source: Multpl.com If you’re one of those investors banging your head against the wall trying to find better yields, I have the solution for you. You might be surprised to learn that a huge collection of high-yield stocks is right at your fingertips. However, in order to capitalize on this opportunity, you have to be willing to overcome one of the biggest investor biases. The Bias Keeping U.S. Investors From The Best Yields In The World Home Bias is the tendency for investors to invest heavily in domestic stocks despite the potential benefits of diversifying into international equities. According to research from mutual fund company Oppenheimer, U.S. stocks make up over 70% of U.S. investors’ equity portfolios. Not only is… Read More

Tensions between the United States and North Korea have flared in recent weeks after Pyongyang conducted missile tests. President Trump, meanwhile, recently ordered strikes in Syria and Afghanistan and has stated that the United States will not tolerate much more belligerence from North Korea. While Kim Jong-un has played this dangerous game of brinkmanship in the past, recent events risk boiling over into a full-blown conflict. Neither side looks likely to back down. North Korea put its army on ‘maximum alert’ and the United States is moving warships within striking distance. Even a brief conflict is sure to scare the… Read More

Tensions between the United States and North Korea have flared in recent weeks after Pyongyang conducted missile tests. President Trump, meanwhile, recently ordered strikes in Syria and Afghanistan and has stated that the United States will not tolerate much more belligerence from North Korea. While Kim Jong-un has played this dangerous game of brinkmanship in the past, recent events risk boiling over into a full-blown conflict. Neither side looks likely to back down. North Korea put its army on ‘maximum alert’ and the United States is moving warships within striking distance. Even a brief conflict is sure to scare the markets into a correction, but one group of companies could see an even bigger risk from geo-political instability. Is The World Marching To War? A day before President Trump met with China’s President Xi Jinping, North Korea tested an intermediate-range ballistic missile capable of reaching the U.S. territory of Guam. These missile tests are nothing new for the belligerent Asian nation but recent tests have raised the stakes in its game of nuclear cat-and-mouse with the West. #-ad_banner-#Satellite images show what could be preparations for a sixth nuclear test at Mount Mantap, the mile-high peak where North Korea conducts… Read More

At my premium newsletter Game-Changing Stocks, I have the challenging but exciting task of identifying companies that are set to change the way the world operates. I’m talking about companies that hold the promise of revolutionizing their specific sectors of the economy or companies that create and nurture promising new businesses. And, of course, these are companies that will richly reward investors. #-ad_banner-#If there’s one thing true game-changers have in common, it’s the ability to innovate. But it’s not just companies that are innovative — countries can be, too. An innovation-friendly environment on a country level should, in theory, do… Read More

At my premium newsletter Game-Changing Stocks, I have the challenging but exciting task of identifying companies that are set to change the way the world operates. I’m talking about companies that hold the promise of revolutionizing their specific sectors of the economy or companies that create and nurture promising new businesses. And, of course, these are companies that will richly reward investors. #-ad_banner-#If there’s one thing true game-changers have in common, it’s the ability to innovate. But it’s not just companies that are innovative — countries can be, too. An innovation-friendly environment on a country level should, in theory, do wonders for companies domiciled in this country. Therefore, it should end up benefitting investors, too. So to complement my growing set of promising companies in Game-Changing Stocks, I recently featured a look at a highly innovative country that holds promise of fostering as many game-changing ideas as possible. It’s not a coincidence that so many revolutionary technologies, processes, consumer goods, medicines and devices originated here in the United States: Our country spends a big chunk of its GDP on research & development (R&D). The National Science Foundation put the number at a record $499 billion in 2015. Of that amount,… Read More

American companies are on a shopping spree for foreign companies. Four of the largest acquisitions of overseas companies in history were announced within the last five months. Qualcomm (Nasdaq: QCOM) announced its $47.7 billion acquisition of NXP Semiconductors (Nasdaq: NXPI) in October just a month before Praxair (NYSE: PX) offered $44.8 billion for Linde. #-ad_banner-#Kraft Heinz (Nasdaq: KHC) agreed to withdraw its $143 billion acquisition offer of U.K.-based Unilever (NYSE: UL) earlier this month but it set the stage for American interest in foreign companies. The takeover would have been the third-largest in history and the… Read More

American companies are on a shopping spree for foreign companies. Four of the largest acquisitions of overseas companies in history were announced within the last five months. Qualcomm (Nasdaq: QCOM) announced its $47.7 billion acquisition of NXP Semiconductors (Nasdaq: NXPI) in October just a month before Praxair (NYSE: PX) offered $44.8 billion for Linde. #-ad_banner-#Kraft Heinz (Nasdaq: KHC) agreed to withdraw its $143 billion acquisition offer of U.K.-based Unilever (NYSE: UL) earlier this month but it set the stage for American interest in foreign companies. The takeover would have been the third-largest in history and the largest ever purchase of a foreign firm by a U.S. company. These aren’t random buyouts for isolated reasons. U.S. firms are looking at strategic advantages and some strong macro-level factors are driving the buying spree across multiple sectors. These larger forces could lead to more announcements soon, driving headlines and prices for foreign companies. The Big Picture Driving The Buyout Search Abroad While the three examples above are from completely different industries, there are bigger forces making foreign acquisitions a smart move for U.S. firms. A strong dollar, available cash, business confidence, and the potential for tax reform that… Read More

Canada had the best performing stock index in the developed world in 2016. The TSX (Toronto Stock Exchange) index delivered a total return of 18.26%. That was a 34% premium to the S&P 500’s total return of 13.59%. #-ad_banner-#This awesome performance was driven by a newly-listed TSX stock. On July 26, Canopy Growth Corp (TSX: WEED) became the first-ever cannabis company to be listed on the TSX Index. The listing generated huge interest from investors eager to cash in on the high-growth medical cannabis industry. Since the listing, shares of Canopy have gained 186%, making it the one of the… Read More

Canada had the best performing stock index in the developed world in 2016. The TSX (Toronto Stock Exchange) index delivered a total return of 18.26%. That was a 34% premium to the S&P 500’s total return of 13.59%. #-ad_banner-#This awesome performance was driven by a newly-listed TSX stock. On July 26, Canopy Growth Corp (TSX: WEED) became the first-ever cannabis company to be listed on the TSX Index. The listing generated huge interest from investors eager to cash in on the high-growth medical cannabis industry. Since the listing, shares of Canopy have gained 186%, making it the one of the best performing stocks on the entire TSX Index. I wrote about CGC on November 1, telling investors to pay attention.  Since my article was published, Canopy is up 81%. If you missed out on those big returns, don’t worry. I see that same pattern unfolding again. Canopy is about to be joined on the TSX Index by another cannabis company. Aphria (TSXV: APH) is the second-largest medical cannabis company in Canada with a market value of $591 million. Shares of Aphria are currently traded on the Toronto Venture Stock Exchange, a subsidiary of the TSX that allows smaller companies to… Read More

Over the years, one thing has become abundantly clear: that is being a contrarian makes sense in the stock market. To be clear, I am not talking about going against my research. When I say contrarian, what I mean is going against the prevailing public/media sentiment. Often, when everyone is saying one thing, it’s time to take the opposite side. #-ad_banner-#For example, when everyone is overtly bullish, it’s time to look for compelling reasons to get short. The same thing can be said when the entire financial press has turned bearish, meaning it’s actually a superb time to search for… Read More

Over the years, one thing has become abundantly clear: that is being a contrarian makes sense in the stock market. To be clear, I am not talking about going against my research. When I say contrarian, what I mean is going against the prevailing public/media sentiment. Often, when everyone is saying one thing, it’s time to take the opposite side. #-ad_banner-#For example, when everyone is overtly bullish, it’s time to look for compelling reasons to get short. The same thing can be said when the entire financial press has turned bearish, meaning it’s actually a superb time to search for reasonable long ideas. Along with offering a reliable supporting case for the contrarian view, the recent Presidential election made several additional market axioms clear. First, things are not always as they seem. The media tends to exaggerate the harmful to obtain viewership. Second, it is critical to look behind the headlines and think for yourself when it comes to making investment decisions. This can be tough, but the rewards for bucking media bias and the consensus are often handsome. Even the mighty George Soros has been carried away with biases and media hype. One particular error in judgment resulted in… Read More

The biggest bull market in history was triggered by the Federal Reserve pouring money into the economy to prevent financial Armageddon during the 2008 meltdown. Since that time, the Dow has soared from a low in the mid-6000s to just below 20,000 in seven short years. The lesson we can learn here is that the government is the most powerful influence over stock prices. Investors who went long the market just before the bailout are sitting on handsome profits. Watching carefully for additional governmental actions in global economies is the way smart investors rack up outsized gains. The good news… Read More

The biggest bull market in history was triggered by the Federal Reserve pouring money into the economy to prevent financial Armageddon during the 2008 meltdown. Since that time, the Dow has soared from a low in the mid-6000s to just below 20,000 in seven short years. The lesson we can learn here is that the government is the most powerful influence over stock prices. Investors who went long the market just before the bailout are sitting on handsome profits. Watching carefully for additional governmental actions in global economies is the way smart investors rack up outsized gains. The good news is that I have identified another governmental “cash injection” that will likely fuel strong gains in the respective stock market. First, let’s look at what happened in the United States, then drill into how to profit from the next governmental cash injection. #-ad_banner-#The United States was on the brink of financial disaster. Stalwart financial institutions were failing. Century-old names like Lehman Brothers collapsed in the rubble of over-leveraged positions and decades of hubris. If you were investing during these risky times, you understand what it is like to be on the front lines of a global superpower’s economic collapse. Many… Read More

When it comes to international exposure, investors have literally thousands of mutual funds, closed-end funds, and exchange-traded funds to choose from. European small-cap stocks, Latin American dividend stocks, Asian government bonds — you name it. Vanguard alone offers 19 different equity funds with either global or purely foreign portfolios. But investing in individual securities is a different matter entirely. While the introduction of online trading platforms has facilitated the buying and selling of foreign stocks, it’s still an onerous process. Many brokers can’t help you buy shares of a company trading on the Toronto Stock Exchange, for example — and… Read More

When it comes to international exposure, investors have literally thousands of mutual funds, closed-end funds, and exchange-traded funds to choose from. European small-cap stocks, Latin American dividend stocks, Asian government bonds — you name it. Vanguard alone offers 19 different equity funds with either global or purely foreign portfolios. But investing in individual securities is a different matter entirely. While the introduction of online trading platforms has facilitated the buying and selling of foreign stocks, it’s still an onerous process. Many brokers can’t help you buy shares of a company trading on the Toronto Stock Exchange, for example — and Canada is a relatively accessible market. Want to buy or sell a stock on exchanges in Copenhagen, Stockholm, Brussels or Tokyo? You’ll have to submit specific paperwork and pay substantially higher brokerage commissions. There will also be foreign currency exchange fees if you choose to settle positions in U.S. dollars, as well as foreign tax withholding in some countries. Heck, even getting a ticker symbol and price quote can be tricky. —Recommended Link— The Government Can’t Hide This Forever There’s a secret way to increase your portfolio exponentially. A former secretary used it to turn $200 into $7 million. Read More

If you’re an investor looking for game-changing trends, your formula for success should include seeking out a growing business, trend, sector, or even country. Often, knowing what to look for is the most important step in your process. That’s why just this month, my Game-Changing Stocks subscribers and I went… Read More