Economic Outlook
China unveiled the world’s first intelligent Very Large Crude Carrier, which will have a capacity of more than 2.257 million barrels, China News Service reports, adding that the vessel, named New Journey, was delivered to China Merchant Energy Shipping Co. in Dalian.
“At present, countries around the world are actively promoting intelligent navigation and developing intelligent technologies for ships, which plays an important role in improving maritime traffic safety, energy conservation, emission reduction and economic efficiency,” the news service quoted the vice chief engineer of the company that built the VLCC, Dalian Shipbuilding Industry Co., as saying.
Among the “intelligent” features of the vessel, according to Guan Yinghua, are assisted autopilot navigation, intelligent liquefied cargo management, comprehensive energy efficiency management, equipment operation and maintenance, and finally integrated ship-to-shore communication, China News Service reports.
The market’s freshest technology stocks tumbled on Monday, performing worse than the major indexes and trailing the broader tech sector.
Emerging tech companies have been some of this year’s best performers, but they now trade at revenue and earnings multiples that are significantly higher than their peers. That leaves them vulnerable to bigger drops on days when investors express concerns about the economy. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index fell just 0.3% on Monday, and the S&P 500 slipped 0.2%….CLICK for complete article
“The economy at the moment is in a superposition of two states.”
A fixture of debates about the relative merits of Fed cuts in the current environment is the paradox of conflicting data, some of which suggests the US economy is rolling over, some of which suggests it’s not.
This is something that’s vexed Fed officials and while there are a number of ways to illustrate it, a simple visualization might simply show, on one hand, unemployment loitering at a five-decade nadir and, on the other, manufacturing surveys diving to Trump-era lows amid trade uncertainty.
Jerome Powell has, of course, spent quite a bit of time documenting the extent to which the data has a habit of sending conflicting signals. Trump’s trade policies cloud the outlook for corporate America and also for the Fed. With respect to the latter, there’s an argument to be made that the president is deliberately muddying the waters to engineer easier monetary policy….CLICK for complete article
Bitcoin has been doing very well in 2019, as the cryptocurrency has already more than doubled from around US$4,000 at the start of the year to Monday getting close to US$11,000. It’s a big recovery. Many people thought that Bitcoin was dead after crashing in 2018 after peaking at around US$20,000 in late 2017. Concerns about safety and security have had disastrous impacts on the adoption of the digital currency, especially with companies banning it and making it hard for prospective investors to learn about it.
However, since mysteriously receiving a big order this year, it’s been gaining traction and made a good recovery. While it still has a long way to go to getting back to its previous highs, there’s definitely interest in crypto again, and it’s even more impressive now that it has been able to rise given the obstacles that Bitcoin still faces today….CLICK for complete article
-
I know Mike is a very solid investor and respect his opinions very much. So if he says pay attention to this or that - I will.
~ Dale G.
-
I've started managing my own investments so view Michael's site as a one-stop shop from which to get information and perspectives.
~ Dave E.
-
Michael offers easy reading, honest, common sense information that anyone can use in a practical manner.
~ der_al.
-
A sane voice in a scrambled investment world.
~ Ed R.
Inside Edge Pro Contributors
Greg Weldon
Josef Schachter
Tyler Bollhorn
Ryan Irvine
Paul Beattie
Martin Straith
Patrick Ceresna
Mark Leibovit
James Thorne
Victor Adair