Stories we should be thinking about

A few finance and related stories we need to be thinking about before Monday morning:

Macro matters:

Very interesting posting here on whether we can expect the FTSE-100 (currently around the 7,000 index point level) is next going to the 5,000 or 10,000 level. I totally agree with the use of the dividend yield signal.

Greek leak which noted 'no progress has been made' with the IMF/other authorities multiple recent discussions...compromise really needs to occur otherwise volatility, in my view, is inevitable. 

I liked this: 'Warren Buffett: I read and read and read. I probably read five to six hours a day. I don’t read as fast now as when I was younger. But I read five daily newspapers. I read a fair number of magazines. I read 10-Ks. I read annual reports. I read a lot of other things, too. I’ve always enjoyed reading. I love reading biographies, for example'.  I totally agree (quote sourced from here). 

Wisdom Tree talk about a 'wonderful time' for Japanese equities based on higher payout ratios here.  Fair point it is a stock picking market. 

A brilliant article on why buying farmland is becoming a big business / theme (link here).  The graphic below shows importers (net buyers of farmland by number of countries active in) versus exporters (net sellers of farmland). Some clear themes there with China, US, UK, Germany big buyers in other countries.  

Not the greatest on US economic growth:

Interesting correlation of the US dollar and macro hedge funds.  Guess who was long the US dollar...

I have mused on El Nino and other factors that are influential for the agricultural sector.  Nice set of charts here via @TechCharts including this one on corn (support to kick in soon?)

Interesting on Saudi Arabia.  I read in the Sunday Times that they may be looking to 'buy nuclear weapons' (from Pakistan).  Meanwhile they are pumping oil aggressively with an aggressive looking rig count chart below: 

Company-related observations:

Good observation on the always influential transport sector by @HumbleStudent:

A solid summary on DuPont here which in the last week defeated an activist investor in the courts.

'Peltz and his firm will likely be the ones to hold the company’s management accountable for making the changes they promised, and if they don’t deliver, Peltz may just try again to get seats on the chemical company’s board'.

Really interesting from Google on lesson learnt from the driverless car project (link here):

'...driver error causes 94% of crashes…Over the 6 years since we started the project, we’ve been involved in 11 minor accidents (light damage, no injuries) during those 1.7 million miles of autonomous and manual driving with our safety drivers behind the wheel, and not once was the self-driving car the cause of the accident'

Back onto the core Google business this article caught my attention because it potentially threatens the ever more core mobile advertising business via the telecoms companies blocking such output in Europe.  Surely just a negotiating tactic today...otherwise AOL is going to look like an expensive mistake for Verizon.  

A shorter in Tesco writes in a pretty thorough piece (link here). 

And finally...

'A 2-Minute Walk May Counter the Harms of Sitting' (link here). I agree with this totally... 

I am a little away from retirement but this article on the 'safe 4% withdrawal rule' is a worthy read for anyone thinking about a necessary nest egg to build up before they can leave the world of work. 

Brilliant, brilliant posting on the hidden meaning behind 40 different logos (link here). 

Have a good week