It’s been one heck of a two weeks. One would think the world was coming to an end, given the way global markets have behaved. You may not be able to make much sense of why markets sold off so quickly, but out of the carnage we may be able to predict what comes next. [...]

It has been over a year since investors experienced the kind of sell-off that has beset the global stock markets this week. As of Thursday, most indexes have lost 10% or more. The jury is split on whether we are at the bottom or have more to go.

While the investing world is distracted by the U.S. debt ceiling crisis and the on-going drama of Italy and Greece, I’ve noticed that a small but increasing stream of money is finding its way back into some emerging markets. 

Readers should know by now that I’m a contrarian. The worse things seem to get, the more interested I become. Take Japan for example.

  Did you know that Congressmen and Senators consistently outperform the stock market year after year? On average, the lower house members beat the market by about 6% a year while those of the higher chamber wrack up a 10% level of outperformance annually. Now, if you believe that’s purely coincidental, well, I have a [...]

The flooding of the Mississippi River will be the worst disaster in the Delta farming region’s history since1927. Millions of fertile acres in Missouri, Tennessee, Louisiana, Mississippi and Arkansas are under water. Farms along that riverbank could take a $2 billion hit, but to us it simply underscores our argument that agriculture is a long [...]

Given that the stock market has almost doubled since its low in March, 2009, one would expect that an entirely new crop of youngsters would be clamoring to become the next generation of America’s stock brokers. So far the evidence points to the opposite conclusion.

On a daily basis, I review portfolios of stocks and mutual funds from clients and readers. What strikes me most about all these portfolios is that I rarely come across one that has done better than the market. A large part of the problem lies in their choice of investments.

Trashed by environmentalist, near and far, it is the bad boy of the energy arena. Environmentally hazardous, its producers and consumers are notoriously lax in even attempting to do something to control the pollution they spill into our atmosphere. You know these boys. Their industry usually hides under the proverbial wood pile minting money, only [...]

Like hucksters selling hot dogs in the ball park, the media is having a field day with the Japanese nuclear crisis. Americans, fearing for their safety, immediately bought out the nation’s supply of potassium iodide tablets. Investors are panicking worldwide, dumping trillions in equities, commodity and currency investments indiscriminately. There are so many rumors, falsehoods [...]