Economic Trends

Long-term trends grow from short term trends. We attampt to determine the short term trends and where they are pointing.

Global Trade

How Is Technology Affecting Global Trading Markets

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Being able to enter and execute stock trades on a smartphone application is something we can easily take for granted these days, which is amazing simply because this was not even remotely possible a couple of decades ago. Technology has always been at the forefront of innovation in the financial markets; we can’t forget that the stock market we know today as the Nasdaq made its debut in 1971 as the first electronic trading platform open to ordinary investors. Prior to that, all transactions had to be cleared with a personal broker by means of a telephone call. And individual transaction fees were much higher. Prior to May 1, 1975 brokerage commissions were regulated by the government and actually kept artificially high. In those days, buying 100 shares of a blue-chip company could cost $100 or more in commissions.

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Real Estate Rental Trends

The Making of the Next Housing Crisis

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Who could imagine that the seeds of the next housing crisis would be planted by the CDC during a pandemic? But that is exactly what happened. On September 4, 2020… well past the peak of COVID cases, the CDC unilaterally decided that landlords shouldn’t be allowed to evict tenants for non-payment of rent because a bunch of homeless people milling around could spread the disease. 

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Bitcoin Trading

Is Bitcoin Headed For a Fall?

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These days, whether or not you’ve actually bought any, you’ve at least heard of bitcoin. The first “ cryptocurrency”, bitcoin was introduced in 2009 and enjoys far more notoriety than its counterparts Etherum, Litecoin, and Cardano et.al.
For the uninitiated, however, bitcoin is created, distributed, traded, and stored with the use of a decentralized ledger system, known as a blockchain. The currency has no physical manifestation; it simply exists as balances in a public ledger. If you’re considering investing in it, you’re probably wondering if bitcoin is headed for a fall. Well, let’s take a look.

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Blockchain

Blockchain Goes to Ethiopia

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When you think about blockchain you probably think about Bitcoin, e-commerce, and possibly Ethereum.  What you probably don’t think about is Africa, Schools, and Open Source Software.  But according to the World Economic Forum blockchain is making inroads in Ethiopia. Because the code for blockchain is “open source” it is available to the public domain and can be used for a variety of applications. Recently, the Ethiopian government signed a deal to create a national database of student and teacher IDs. This system will enable peer-to-peer interaction between network participants. This will provide IDs for 5 million students across 3,500 schools which will be used to store educational records. The premise is to allow primary, secondary, and university students a way to track their educational, career, and future progress via a digital identity built on Atala Prism which is a decentralized identity solution that enables people to own their personal data and interact with organizations seamlessly, privately, and securely. It is hoped that once they have a secure digital ID it will enable future “financial transactions”.

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Robinhood Statistics

Online Stockbrokers Going Public

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2020 was a big year for the online stock broker industry and 2021 may be an even bigger year. The initial public offerings of eToro and Robinhood will leave both companies flush with plenty of capital to capitalize on that growth. The COVID-19 pandemic resulted in a surge in demand for online stock brokers. Stock markets worldwide were in freefall during the early stages of the pandemic, and many new investors recognized an opportunity to buy shares of beaten-up companies via online brokerage companies. This was truly a global trend. While Robinhood dominated new account creations in the US and media headlines worldwide, other stockbrokers were competitive outside the USA.

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Asset Allocation

Aspiring Investors: Getting Started in the Stock Market

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The fear of a missed opportunity, if the stock market does indeed continue to rise throughout 2021,  is often a powerful motivator to the new investor. Although starting out is relatively easy, navigating the various pitfalls of investment can be an extremely intricate challenge without the right knowledge to back you up. In his classic book “Influence” Robert Cialdini lists “fear of loss” as an extremely powerful motivator, so we must be cautious in the face of the temptation to jump in with “both feet” without knowing what we are getting ourselves into.  Here are some tips for anyone wishing to act upon their interest in the stock market. 

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