Category: Investing

Get the latest news and tips on investing from the perspective of entrepreneurs, side hustlers, and small business owners.  You may not have a million dollar stock or cybercurrency portfolio today but that doesn’t mean investing isn’t important to you. We’re here to help.

Investing

The Growing Economic Consequences of Terrorism

by Edmund Burden 4
According to the Institute for Economics and Peace, “in 2014 the global economic costs of terrorism reached US$52.9 billion, with a total economic impact of US$105.8 billion.” These alarming stats beg the question, "is the civilized world doing enough to combat terrorism or has the collective interests failed to effectively address this metastasizing cancer?" Obviously lives lost to terrorist actions are without a doubt unconditionally tragic, but rarely do the...
Investing

The Fed’s Loss-Absorbing Capacity Threatens Big Banks

by Edmund Burden 1
In October 2015 the Fed governors unanimously voted to pursue a “loss-absorbing capacity” measure requiring the largest eight banks, including “JP Morgan, Chase, Citigroup and Bank of America,” to issue hundreds of billions in new equity and debt to insulate the economy from the crippling effects of future financial shocks. The key focus of this proposal is to transfer the risk of failure back to the financial sector, specifically investors,...
Investing

Fed Targets December to Raise Federal Funds Rate - Really?

by Edmund Burden
Despite the Fed’s previous stated intentions to raise the federal funds rate sometime in 2015 no increases have been approved so far. However on October 28th the FOMC announced “in determining whether it will be appropriate to raise the target range at its next meeting, the committee will assess progress – both realized and expected – toward its objectives of maximum employment and 2 percent inflation.” That speculative announcement caused...
Investing

U.S. Consumer Sentiment Bullish Despite Weak Industrial Output

by Edmund Burden
According to the University of Michigan’s consumer sentiment index, which “rose to 92.1 in early October from a reading of 87.2 in September”, the U.S. economy could benefit from a “4 percent annualized rate of consumer spending growth” if this bullish behavior endures throughout 2015. Considering the disappointing impacts of a strong dollar on earnings, general stock market volatility, and underinvestment in capital markets dependable growth in consumer spending, which...
Investing

The Pros and Cons of the Strong Dollar

by Jonathan Dyer
If you’re an investor or just a regular watcher of business television you may have heard a lot about the current strength of U.S. currency, although not with the positive inflection one might expect. It almost seems strange to question whether a "strong dollar" could be a good or bad thing for the United States and yet it isn't as clear-cut as the name would imply. Recently many American companies...
Investing

Bernanke Boasts Monetary Policy in WSJ Piece

by Jonathan Dyer 3
How's the economy doing? According to Ben Bernanke, pretty well... and it's because of him. Writing in The Wall Street Journal, the Federal Reserve Chairman explains ever-so-humbly how "the Fed saved the economy." In the piece (which comes on the heels of his book release), Bernanke points to the decreasing unemployment rate and a moderate inflation rate as signs that our economy is reasonably healthy again. On unemployment, Bernanke says...