Investing globally has never been easier. With the click of a mouse, an investor can access research and data on public companies from London to Bangkok, and with another, buy shares through a mutual fund, depository receipt, or directly through an international exchange. This level of information and access is unprecedented. Paradoxically though, the same […]

Investors who have heeded our advice to hold gold related assets have seen the dollar price of gold rise appreciably in recent weeks. As of December 19th the price stood at $345 per ounce, a price not reached in six years. A rising chorus of voices, largely those of gold enthusiasts, is proclaiming (yet again)

We know of a retirement program that has been very much in the news, in which investments were restricted to the securities issued by a single entity. Most participants appeared satisfied, until it was discovered that the accounting methods used to track the soundness of those securities, while apparently within recognized guidelines, completely obscured the

Prior to the mid 1950s, common stocks usually paid more in dividends than corporate bonds, except during brief periods, such as the late 1920s, when common stock prices were unusually high. The historic rationale for pricing common stocks to provide more dividend income than was available on bonds was that companies are under no obligation

The table below is an update to the table we published immediately following the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. The stock market has bounced back sharply, as it often has following dramatic events in history, but this is hardly a signal to “buy on bad news.” The fact is, stock price

U.S. economic activity reached a peak in March 2001. Conventional wisdom suggests that at the onset of recession, investors should avoid the stocks of companies selling big-ticket items because nervous consumers or businesses might defer these purchases and instead focus on firms that are ostensibly unaffected by GDP trends. Following this logic, an investor would

Our parent, AIER, recently reported on misapprehensions over the United States capital-account surplus and corresponding current-account deficit, which have persisted since 1982 (see Research Reports, No. 11, June 10, 2002). Critics assert that the current situation reflects foreigners paying for our profligacy, but they miss the point. The capital surplus is very large because the

It does little good for investors to dwell on large paper losses they might currently be witnessing, and in fact wise investors can take advantage of the occasion to derive valuable insights. We can point to two important lessons. With the markets in turmoil, the mettle of investors’ is being tested, and we continue to