There’s a lot of debate about the best ways to hedge against inflation. This results from the consensus view that future policies will do nothing but stoke it. Putting aside the problem that consensus views are often wrong, it’s usually a bad idea to pursue faddish, reactive approaches to macroeconomic predictions. Pundits are full of new advice—much of it fueled by Wall Street marketing teams—to park money in “inflation-hedged” ETFs, speculate in crypto, buy gold, or dabble in derivatives. As Warren Buffett would tell you, not one of these is the best way to prepare yourself for inflationary times. Buffett…

Fixed income markets anticipate that the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates in 2025, but not by much. Short-term interest rates are expected to end 2025 close to 4%, down from the current 4.25% to 4.5% range as of January 2025. This is after the Fed cut rates in December 2024. This forecast assumes that the U.S. economy continues to grow, unemployment remains slightly above 4% and inflation ends the year close to 2.5%. These projections were the median forecasts of Federal Open Market Committee policymakers in December 2024. If the economy performs differently than these expectations, then the interest…

Europe’s automakers face existential threats on many fronts in 2025, but it’s not all bad news and beleaguered investors are offered some hope. The headlines are not reassuring and the key crisis words are CO2, China, tariffs, restructuring, and Germany. Despite overwhelming negativity, investment bank Morgan Stanley and investment researcher Evercore ISI find positives for investors. The most pressing problem concerns European Union rules on carbon dioxide emissions, with bottom-line-destroying fines for the bigger failures. These CO2 rules, to force reluctant Europeans to buy electric vehicles and gradually ban sales of new internal combustion engine vehicles until all new ones…

Ever wonder how Elon Musk avoids investment regrets even with high-stake decisions? In the realm of investments, it’s easy to gauge success based just on the sheer volume of agreements or the dizzying sums of money put in place. But as Elon Musk’s open analysis of “unregretted seconds” reminds us, not all hasty actions produce desired results. When developing your investment plan, the quality of every investment should take front stage rather than the number. This strategy guarantees that any investment not only could be quite profitable but also fits your financial objectives, risk tolerance, and investing schedule. After all,…

The Dogs of the Dow 2025 pay big dividends—up to 6.8%! Collectively they yield three-times what the broader market pays. We’ll discuss individual Dogs—and their divvies—in a moment. First, the simple three-step strategy: Step 1: After the final trading day of the year, identify the 10 highest-yielding stocks in the Dow. Step 2: Buy all 10 stocks in equal amounts and hold them for a year. Step 3: At the end of the year, sell, then rinse and repeat. Why has this strategy worked in the past? Dividends are an indicator of value. Especially for big blue-chips like Dow stocks.…

Bitcoin’s breathtaking 2024 performance and its rise above $100,000, has captured the world’s attention. Here’s why one card-carrying value investor is bullish on the volatile digital asset. By Taesik Yoon, Forbes Staff My first trip to Las Vegas is one I remember very fondly. I was only about a year out of college when my best friend offered me a free flight to go with him for a few days. We stayed at the Hard Rock Casino, which was off the Strip at the time and exactly the kind of place where someone my age would want to be at…

The big picture may appear rosy, but execs are bracing for a rough patch The new year begins with plenty of momentum, propelled by a financially stunning 2024 and heralded by a swarm of headlines suggesting that more of the same is in store for 2025. But on the ground, where real consumers live, optimistic forecasts are starting to sound more like whistling past the graveyard. Industry leaders say they expect conditions to deteriorate before they improve. As last year ended, the financial media mostly flogged the familiar Goldilocks theme—conditions are not too hot and not too cold. Yes, consumer…

For a long time now, it seems like the stock market has had a “theme of the year.” Clearly in 2024 it was AI, while 2023 was the year of recovery from 2022, which was a year of panic over a recession that never came. This is odd, as past trends have lasted several years. From 2012 to 2014, for example, it was momentum driven by the Fed’s quantitative easing after the financial crisis. And the dot-com-bubble years spanned more or less from 1994 to 2000. So will 2025 be another “theme year,” or will we see markets shift back…

Rithm Capital has been named as a Top 10 Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT), according to Dividend Channel, which published its most recent ”DividendRank” report. The report noted that among REITs, RITM shares displayed both attractive valuation metrics and strong profitability metrics. For example, the recent RITM share price of $10.86 represents a price-to-book ratio of 0.9 and an annual dividend yield of 9.21% — by comparison, the average stock in Dividend Channel’s coverage universe yields 4.4% and trades at a price-to-book ratio of 2.6. The report also cited the strong quarterly dividend history at Rithm Capital, and favorable long-term…

Key News Asian equities were mixed, as India outperformed, Mainland China and Hong Kong underperformed, and Japan closed for New Year’s. President Trump’s inauguration is creeping closer, causing weak investor sentiment on tariff concerns. The renminbi was slightly weaker versus the US dollar, while the offshore traded renminbi weakened to 7.33 CNH per USD. The 10-year Chinese government bond yield fell to another 52-week and all-time low of 1.62%. The Caixin Manufacturing purchasing managers’ index (PMI)’s “miss” of 50.5 versus expectations of 51.7 and November’s 51.5 was also cited as a factor in the risk off environment, as the “official”…