Issues
Apple Will Lead the Augmented Reality Revolution
Apple is developing a new augmented reality (AR) headset that could hit the market as early as 2020. Tim Cook, Apple's CEO, says AR is going to change the way we work, play, learn and connect. Investors should take note. …
Laser Weapons Set to Boost Military Might at the Speed of Light
The military is testing laser weapons for deployment on the land and the sea and in the air. In tests, the weapons have melted pickups from a mile away... …
Pricing Power Gives Apple an Edge Over Amazon, Alphabet
The new iPhone X shows that Apple can charge top dollar no matter how much the competition slashes prices. Customers willingly pay for the brand's cachet. …
When Wall Street Speaks, Cover Your Ears
Hedge funds can make a lot of money with risky, trades and fancy strategies. But most people should just invest in solid, tried-and-true companies. …
How the Merger Frenzy Hurts Your Portfolio
Bigger isn't always better. When major industries have few players, they tend to deliver low margins -- which often means lower returns for stockholders. …
Car Makers Want to Sell You a Subscription
Volvo has a new plan to get millennials into its cars: by selling them subscriptions. Here's how investors can get in on the action... …
World Food Crisis Looms. How Investors Can Help …
Global warming has overdosed plants on CO2, causing them to stop making or storing vital nutrients for our bodies. Now our farms are fields of junk food. …
Who Needs Flashy When Simplicity Delivers?
Finding companies with terrific financial performance and a long, consistent history of rewarding shareholders is what I find for my members. …
Look Up, Investors! It’s Spy-in-the-Sky!
Drones are the biggest trend in security and surveillance. So investors should be looking at companies that make drones and that make their components. …
Investors Should Make ‘Vroom’ for Ferrari
The best companies never stop doing what they do best. Ferrari is one of those companies. An important lesson for investors ... …
I’ve Seen the Future … And It’s Electrifying!
The future of transportation will include electric-powered cars, ships, planes and trains. Now's time for investors to hitch a ride to Profit Land. …
Airlines Finally Upgrade Customer Service
Airlines have been the butt of customer service jokes for years. Now they hope software will help them provide better all-around experience for passengers. …
Steer Clear of the Street’s Old Darlings
Small investors can't trust Wall Street analysts because they don't care about Main Street. The Street's experts only care about big, institutional clients. …
New Real Estate Boom: Data Centers, Cell Towers
Investor Alert: As people spend more time in the digital world, internet companies will need more real-world ways to connect with customers. …
Simple Strategy Rakes in the Profits
Investors should look for companies that get good at one thing and then stay laser-focused on doing it better and cheaper. …
This Start-up is Planting the Seeds to Disrupt Farming for Good
Plenty is using its agricultural technology as a commodity. It's bringing healthy food closer to the people, and disrupting farming for good. …
Don’t Buy the Numbers Game Hype
Legendary trader Jesse Livermore believed the markets are driven by fear and greed. They still are, so beware of traders who tout emotionless algorithms. …
Electronic “tokens” avert credit card fraud
Google and Apple provide new digital tools that help bankers avoid credit card fraud and identity theft, which means masses of investment opportunities. …
Passive Investments Plagued by Momentum
Individual investors have been deserting managed mutual funds for passive ETFs -- and ruining the best-laid plans of brokers who want to call the shots. …
The Real Story Behind Amazon and Whole Foods
Whole Foods makes Amazon's best product way more attractive. Let me explain why ... …
Don’t Blame the Dragon for the Crude Bear
Wall Street's worried about a recession in China. And the Street's fears have sent oil plummeting. But the truth is: No one needs to worry about the Red Dragon. China can take care of itself. …
Robots Will Replace Hard-Hatted Copper Miners
Open-pit mines can't produce enough copper for our high-tech world. So we need robot miners to go down deep shafts where humans should fear to tread. …
Some Retail Chains Will Survive Amazon’s Onslaught
Analysts claim Amazon is likely to step up its assault on the grocery sector, after buying Whole Foods Market. It appears to fit the Death by Amazon narrative. Here's my take... …
Gene-editing offers a taste of change
In the near future, scientists will engineer food that grows faster and does not spoil. Bioengineered food could end world hunger. And, at least in theory, it would be perfectly safe. …
Thinking About Selling Your Tech Stocks?
Tech stocks dropped, and bears felt vindicated. But if you're thinking of selling your tech stocks, remember nothing is harder than staying long a strong stock in a downside reversal. …
They’re coming faster than you think…
No country wants to be left behind in this tech race. America, Japan, China and Germany have already left the starting gate in the race for autonomous vehicles. …
Video Games Are Growing More Realistic — and Dangerous
There is a dark side to digitalization and video games. People are dropping out of the physical world. But it also brings opportunity to savvy investors. …
Tax Reform Faces a World of Hurt in Congress
Tax reform is the true engine of the Trump rally, and now the president needs a win. But it won't be easy. …
Tesla Rides to the Rescue of Bad Drivers
Advances in computing power, data analytics and modeling mean pie-in-the-sky concepts like truly self-driving cars are not just possible, they are near. It’s a great time to be a consumer and an investor. …
Scientists recode DNA to help the blind see
Changing genetic code offers real hope for those with inherited diseases. …
Faith-Based Investors to Face a Big Test
Understanding that markets often zig when they should zag is something Gilded Age trader Jesse Livermore did so well. And it's that same time-tested criteria I use to sort out the best-performing stocks for my members. …
The Workplace Robot Revolution Is Accelerating
Robots are replacing humans on factory floors at an unprecedented rate. Every sector will be touched. Investors should seize the opportunity. …
Blockchain Battles Somali Pirates
Blockchain is the distributive ledger system that grew out of Bitcoin. Here’s what makes it unique… …
Farmers Reap Fresh Profits from Data Harvest
In the new Gilded Age, companies are more productive as they move from producing information technology to consuming it. And shareholders reap the rewards. …
Investors Flee Mutual Funds for Stocks, ETFs
Investing in single stocks or ETFs is more profitable than mutual funds in markets that have evolved into winner-take-all contests. …
Amazon’s Plan for World Conquest: First India…
People keep underestimating Amazon’s strategic vision. They routinely find short-sighted ways to explain away why the company expands into new businesses. Big mistake. …
Firms Merge Digital and Physical Worlds
Consulting firms will have more work than ever as companies push themselves to merge the physical and digital worlds. …
Security Is Only as Strong as its Weakest Link
Cyber threats are growing increasingly common and sophisticated. Here’s how businesses are responding… …
Killing Cancer One Gene at a Time
Precision medicine promises to change healthcare by using data analytics and what we know about our DNA to tailor personal therapies and treatments. …
Robots, a welcome helper or an existential threat?
In general, humans are OK with robots. But we do prefer cute and cuddly over scary and threatening-looking. So designers should keep this in mind because the coming boom of prosperity and better living is going to feature millions of them. …
Media giants learn to monetize your time
It’s a new Gilded Age – software is a growing business with significate revenue streams investors need to consider. …
Labor of Love: Writing New Human DNA
After mapping the human genome, scientists have set out to create a synthetic copy. …
Cyber-Wars … Cyber-Heists … Cyber-Terror
The World Wide Web has become more like the Wild Wild West. Can anyone protect us and our investments? …
Big firms buy hot high-tech before it burns them
Investors can profit from looking out for big companies that rush to buy small, hot high-tech enterprises. …
Siri Is Finally Getting Smart
Artificial intelligence is creeping into modern life, and it will ultimately become one of the great investment opportunities of the new Gilded Age. …
Investors Have a New Frontier in the Cloud
This is just the start of the cloud-computing story. It gives bright people access to unlimited computer power. Investors iwill have a field day. …
Apple tries to grab its future by the ears
Apple has doubled down in the digital home assistant race by using AirPods to help iPhone’s Siri connect with other devices. …
Amazon Shakes Up the Delivery Business
Amazon’s gearing up to compete with the Big Three freight handlers, UPS, FedEx and DHL. And they should be very afraid. …
Amazon’s Worth Primed to Hit $1 Trillion
Sellers beware. Amazon has plans to totally conquer the retail market. Today batteries and baby wipes, tomorrow the world. …
Robots Terminate White-Collar Jobs
Once, only factory workers worried about being replaced by robots. Today, new software threatens to make millions of white-collar workers obsolete. …
Live sportscasts thrown for a loss
Live sportscasts are getting sacked by the trend for fans to watch on-demand digital replays and highlights. …
Amazon Reinvents Retail in Historic Fashion
At the experimental Amazon Go grocery store, Amazon Prime customers just grab what they want and go out the door, no lines, no cash registers. …
Electric Vehicles Recall Dawn of Auto Age
The move to electric powertrains in cars, buses and trucks is going to be unstoppable. …
Genius fund’s tricky efforts have roots in the 1890s
How today’s genius traders compare with the swashbuckling stock market wheeler-dealers of the Gilded Age? …
Nvidia Bets Big On ‘Deep Learning’
Nvidia’s deep learning artificial intelligence software helps companies build more intelligent products and solve the most complex problems with software. …
Trump Can’t Stop the Chinese Super Truck
China has a big advantage over American companies in the race to bring autonomous trucks to the U.S. and the world. …
Facebook Gets Its Game Face On
Videogamers have been elevated to the level of professional athletes – attracting big money to invest in their teams. …
MSFT Surface Lures Apple Fans
Microsoft clearly has designs on Apple’s most prized market – the hip, sophisticated creative types. …
Pixel Leads Voice-Command Smartphone Revolution
For the Pixel smartphone, Google has made an artificial intelligence program that’s more portable, easier to use and even smarter than its A.I. competition. …
Self-Driving Cars Wreck Old Auto Ideas
The world auto industry faces big changes as self-driving cars speed toward everyday use. …
Automation Zaps Factory Workers
It doesn’t matter who wins the White House. They can’t stop the old-time American factory worker from going the way of the buffalo. But don’t blame China, blame automation. …
Samsung Finally Gets More Intelligent
Samsung enters the A.I. wars by investing in a cutting-edge digital assistant named Viv. …
Smart Cars and the Cyber-Afterlife
Smart cars and a cyber-afterlife are small steps toward creating true artificial intelligence. …
Why Online Giants Woo Twitter
Twitter has corporations hooked on its Big Data feed – now one of them’s going to pay big bucks to keep the data coming. …
Cybersecurity ‘Cold War’ Heats Up
There’s a secret war being waged in cyberspace to save your Internet. …
Big Data Can Cure Big Illness
Three companies are leading the big data revolution in healthcare – IBM, Splunk and Alphabet (the parent company of Google). …
Boom Coming in Connected Healthcare
To cut costs from avoidable readmissions, hospitals will combine the cloud with devices that monitor patients at home or wherever they may be. …
FedEx Should Fear Amazon
When the retail giant Amazon learns to make its own deliveries, it could make FedEx and UPS obsolete. …
Facebook Tries To Re-Friend Teens
Facebook hires a boy genius to develop apps that will attract one of the most-coveted markets for advertisers – teenagers. …
Nvidia Has Still Got Game!
Nvidia earns its profits by dominating best-in-category products in four high-growth, tech arenas – gaming graphics, professional visualization, data centers and automotive electronics. …
Pentagon Funds Our Future Robot Overlords
A Pentagon cyber war game may mark the beginning of the end for humans if super-smart robots won’t tolerate them. …
Samsung Debuts Dumbest Elite Smartphone
Samsung and Apple can no longer survive by simply churning out one hot new cell phone after another. …
Apple Falls Far From the Tree
The Apple Services division could save the tech giant’s bacon as sales plummet for iPhones, iPads and Macs …
Facebook’s Hardware Revolution
Facebook’s Open Compute Project (OCP) has launched a renaissance of innovation in hardware development and networking. …
Data Storage Is in Our DNA
Microsoft wants to use synthetic DNA strands to store the world's data. And that could make giant data centers obsolete. …
A Threat to Reality Television
It’s gritty, voyeuristic, astonishingly addictive and live. What is it? Jon Markman explains. …
Parking is the New “Plastics”
What’s the biggest cause of urban congestion? It’s motorists who must drive around to find a parking place. Sidewalk Labs has a plan to solve this. …
Say Good Night, Siri
Apple has stubbornly avoided embracing cloud computing – leaving Siri powerless to compete with a new generation of AI assistants. …
Intel Leaps into the Cloud
To move into the future and back to the top of the heap, Intel has revamped its focus on cloud computing and the Internet of Things. …
Banks Turn to Blockchain to Fight Cyber-Crime
To combat a rash of cyber-thefts, bankers plan to borrow a trick from the Bitcoin playbook — it’s called Blockchain. …
June May Signal a Hot Streak in S&P 500
June’s usually a sleepy stock market month, but this year June has the potential to kick-off a hot streak in the S&P 500. …
App Makers Chase an Elusive Dream
The app-development frenzy started with a good slogan and quickly gained speed. What’s the future hold? …
22 Stocks Have the Midas Touch for Profits
In an era of declining earnings, tight consumer spending and scant inflation, 22 stocks have discovered ways to grow gross profits over the long haul. …
The Future of Software is Wide Open
The cloud and open-computing platforms are completely changing the landscape in which tech companies must compete. …
We All Pay When Big Investors Lose NIRP-Incited Gambles
NIRP pushes Wall Street to take big gambles, but Main Street pays for the price when Wall Street loses these big bets. …
Apple Takes a Bruising as the Cloud Takes Over
Once a groundbreaking innovator, Apple finds itself playing catchup in the brave new world of the Cloud. …
Just like old-time TV, Internet providers take to the airwaves
The future of the cyberspace may be totally wireless, says Jon Markman, as powerful antennas beam the Internet directly to your computer. …
Banks Still Banking on Taxpayer Bailouts
The FDIC and the Fed say five of the largest U.S. banks have no credible plan in place that would not leave taxpayers on the hook for liabilities in the event of bankruptcy. Sound familiar? …
GAP shares suffer unkind cuts as company’s sales unravel
Jon Markman analyzes why The Gap’s sales graph looks like the Grand Canyon …
Investors Remain Cautious Despite Recent Rally
The current market is full of skeptics. What does this mean for stock prices going forward? …
Wall Street Out of Synch With Reality
The optimism seen by Wall Street is out of synch with the worsening results at companies. …
Oil Shorts Shellacked
Oil shorts have been hit hard in the recent rally. What’s next for the hedge funds and others who bet against the commodity? …
Markets in No-Man’s-Land
When you consider that gasoline prices are near their lowest of the decade and jobs are firming up, you would expect that small-business owners should be optimistic. Yet they’re not. In fact, …
What Next for This Unexpected Rally?
Here are some semi-random items that should help you think about what’s happening in the markets at this time. — The major indexes are off to a stunning start in March, with the S&P …
Consolidation Required?
The rally last week pushed the S&P 500 over its 50-day moving average for the first time in 2016 — or the first time in 38 trading days, to be exact. That was …
Don’t Get Swept Away by Surge
Stocks rallied 6% off their Feb. 11 low - accomplishing more in three days than they did in the prior 26 months. Here are a few reasons ... …
Nasdaq Knockdown: How Bad Is It?
The Nasdaq has been walloped of late, in case you hadn’t noticed. After being untouchable last year, it is unwatchable this year, down 15% from its December high. Many see this as …
Markets Await Yellen After Jobs Data
The unemployment rate has fallen below the 5% threshold for the first time since the 2008-09 recession ended, hitting 4.9% for January. But the government reported Friday that non-farm payrolls increased just …
Corporate Profits Need Oil Rebound — Quickly
If the energy sector can get some relief, the overall market will as well. Ed Yardeni, of Yardeni Research, notes that S&P 500 earnings fell 14.1% in 3Q15 over 3Q14. But that …
Resist the Impulse
Here are some notes on the recent market and coming week. — The highlight of the coming week for markets will be the Federal Reserve meeting that concludes Wednesday. Deutsche Bank economist …
