Asian Firms Preparing to Take the World Stage The development of Asian capitalism over the past several decades has been robust. According to data from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the proportion of world GDP generated by the advanced G7 economies peaked in 1988 at 69 percent. In that year, developing Asian Read more…
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe Gets Support For Corporate Tax Cuts Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has struggled to maintain the momentum of the ambitious reforms he set in motion when his party came to power in December, 2012. Broadly, those reforms aimed to jolt Japan out of a decades-long period of Read more…
Big Data Comes to the Farm Although the prospect seems far-fetched, the second-oldest profession is on the cusp of a technological revolution. Farmers have faced a long transition over the past three centuries in which their ancient art has become more and more of a science. But the pace of that change Read more…
India — Growth Ahead: a Plan for Inclusiveness Under the New Prime Minister A New Day: the Congress Party’s Ineffectual and Corrupt Leadership Is Out For At Least Five Years The new Indian Prime Minister, Narendra Modi of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), is known for the economic growth that he brought Read more…
Standards Ease for Home LoansStill Tough For Homebuilders, But Looking Better for Suppliers Even though it was exotic financial instruments and an over-leveraged system that brought on the financial crisis in 2007 and 2008, the first shot fired was the collapse of the sub-prime lending market. Readers will remember the slack lending Read more…
U.S. Hegemony, Global Flashpoints, and Military Spending In February, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel delivered the Obama administration’s proposed 2015 defense budget. It was notable for the reduction of the U.S. Army to its lowest force level since World War II. It envisions “a military capable of defeating any adversary, but too small Read more…
Robotics: New Applications, Mass Technologies Robots have been a theme of science fiction for nearly a century, and a gleam in investors’ eyes for about half that time. As with many such secular themes, especially technological ones, public excitement and the vision of possibilities can outrun real options for investment. Promises of Read more…
China Eases — One More Step in the Dance Chinese premier Li Keqiang gave a speech to provincial officials last week which indicated that the arrival of some form of stimulus to the Chinese economy is imminent. We continue to hold our core China thesis, that a national financial crisis and Read more…
Cross-Currents Affecting the Markets We see many cross-currents that are currently, or soon will be, affecting U.S. and European markets and thepsychology of investors: Positives: 1. Money is leaving money market funds and moving into stocks in a big way. Interest rates have risen slightly, yet money market funds pay virtually Read more…
Bioprinting: Applications May Be Closer Than You ThinkIn previous issues of this letter we’ve commented on 3D printing developments. Companies such as 3D Systems (NYSE: DDD), Stratasys (NASD: SSYS), and ExOne (NASD: XONE) may be familiar to investors who have investigated this new technology. 3D printing, or “additive manufacturing,” is a way Read more…
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