Currently, SPY adjusted for dividends is 3.4% below its record high. Last week I wrote, “Sentiment charts are now “mixed” indicating roughly equal odds for up or down.” While 3.

The factor of the likely harvest reduction in Brazil dominates the corn market at the moment. While the USDA forecasts the harvest at the level of 82 million tons, the local consulting companies expect it to reduce to the level of 75.8 million tons.

I often like to point out that my favorite companies – that is, those I deem investment worthy – must meet the following criteria: (1) be a well-established business in a growing industry, (2) with a history of solid financial performance, and (3) available at a very attractive price.

Are overweight people victims of capitalism? Plenty of people think so. Documentaries like Supersize Me blast the market for offering unhealthy foods. Food, Inc proclaimed that “industrial food” is making us fat and sick.

Bitcoin is an open source decentralized digital currency and a payment system. It has raised a lot of attention and interest worldwide and an increasing number of articles are devoted to its operation, economics and financial viability.

As the June 23rd BREXIT (the UK-wide referendum to leave the EU) vote draws near, the polls indicate a close result. Those urging a vote for the UK to remain inside the EU are suggesting increasingly dire economic consequences that would follow a yes vote by the British people to leave.

Some investors like to use index levels to measure the valuation of the market. I prefer using share prices on ETFs that track the index. Therefore, you won’t hear me talking about the level of the S&P 500, but I will reference the share price of the SPDR S&P 500 Trust ETF (NYSEARCA:SPY).

American Capital Agency Corp. (NASDAQ:AGNC) recently announced the next monthly dividend, still $.20, and provided some insight on their book value. Their transaction to purchase the external manager is expected to close in Q3 of 2016 so no impact on book value yet.

A growing number of R packages are created by various people in the world. A part of the cause of it is the devtools package that makes it easy to develop R packages [1].