Hurricane Harvey brought biblical floods to Houston. Ten days later, Hurricane Irma devastated the Caribbean. Were these freak storms the direct consequence of man-made climate change? What lessons can we learn to prepare for extreme weather events in the future? Who will be the key players in a world of freak weather? And can the insurers cope with this…
With inflation moving back up to 2.9% in August, obtaining a real return may become more difficult for investors. Certainly, there are a number of popular income shares which are likely to offer income returns in excess of inflation. However, they may become more in-demand if inflation keeps rising, and this may cause their yields…
As dividend stocks go, life insurance companies have a mixed track record. On the one hand, they operate in a sector which is relatively immune to the economic cycle (people don’t typically cancel their life insurance just because there’s a recession). On the other hand, dividend cuts are fairly common within the sector, despite its…
Last week I argued that the main issue with Tesla (NADAQ:TSLA) is that its product – the electric car – is inherently flawed. A number of readers got in contact. What about hybrids and hydrogen fuel cell powered vehicles? It turns out that these technologies are also to be found wanting. “Green” technology is not…
Total military expenditure as a percentage of global GDP has been in steady decline over the last 60 years or so. It fell from just over 6 percent in 1960 to 2.225 percent in 2016. That could be about to change. The absolute amount of money spent on soldiers, sailors, airmen and their increasingly technologically…
Defensive stocks such as utility companies could become more popular over the medium term. Instability in North Korea may escalate in the coming months, and this may create an increasingly risk-off attitude among investors. Higher inflation may also cause utility stocks to become more popular, with their high yields and bright dividend growth prospects having…
The electrification of vehicular transport is coming. France, the UK and now India have set target dates for the demise of petrol engines. (Diesels will be banished even sooner). But are electric cars really all they are cracked up to be? Are they really that environmentally friendly? And will the economics of electrification really be…
The UK property sector offers a significant investment opportunity for the long term. There is a fundamental lack of supply of housing, while demand remains high. Population growth is forecast to significantly exceed the number of new homes built over the next decade, so this situation is unlikely to change. However, within the UK property…
In the September edition of the MI magazine I’m going to be analysing why military expenditure is going to rise in a multi-polar world. This will be good news for defence contractors. The world is a much more dangerous place than we thought it would be when the Cold War ended in the early 1990s…
Following its demerger from Tarmac Group in 1999, Carillion has given its shareholders fantastic returns year after year. Perhaps the best example of this is its dividend, which grew every single year, going from 2.7p in 1999 to 18.4p in 2016. That’s equivalent to a growth rate of 12% per year, every year, for 17…
