If you think about Twitter (and maybe you use it) the short news or short form is highly desired. For a wide variety of reasons, people like a short version to help them form opinions and even make decisions. If you consider the stock market, there are thousands of companies to choose from, most you likely should not buy, but there are many choices. To help make the choices easier, you begin to establish themes that the market leaders seem to have in common. The theme helps you understand what is happening and we all do it, we all look for the theme and when we all do it, the companies which do indexing and mutual funds bring out funds to reflect the themes to make it even easier to make a decision.

In an article by Jamie McGeever of Reuters, he tells us that many themes of the past change and they tend not to last for ever. Often the themes are a gift for investment marketing teams. We tend to think of the items in the grocery store as needing marketing, but marketing in the investment world is also worth billions.

It is important to understand that each component of the acronyms has unique characteristics and dynamics that demand they be taken on their own merits. In the FAANG group, after Meta (Facebook) reported its earnings, the stock went down in value by $230 billion, while Amazon jumped $190 billion.

Jim O’Neil who coined the BRIC acronym in 2001, when he was chief economist at Goldman Sachs stresses the concept is and was aimed at shining a light on the changing state of the world economy and need for change in global governance. At the time the BRIC countries economies were growing, the age of globalization was the buzz world and BRIC indexes were rising. Then some of the countries economies went down and a new group needed to be uncovered.

CNBC host and investor Jim Cramer coined the FAANG stocks in 2013 and they have been market leaders. What will be the next theme or acronym?

Linking to dividend paying stocks, owning stocks which make a profit and can pay dividends is never out of season, there maybe groups which outperform the dividend sector for a year or two, but when the group is out of favor, they tend to lose money and when did the average person buy the group? The investment world is similar to every other market in the world, there needs to be buying and selling for the industry groups to make money, while the investor if they can buy and hold for a long time, they make money and the industry group does not not. There will always be another theme, but owning stocks which are profitable is a good thing no matter how the market is doing.

There are more questions than answers, till the next time – to raising questions.

If you follow the European press and listen to politicians, you might think the oil and gas sector is off limits and no bank or financial institution would sign on to new loans. There are government agencies whose job it is to tabulate what is going on in every economic sector. In the oil and gas sector, the agency is called the International Energy Agency.

In an article from Reuters, the International Energy Agency reported in 2021, the top 25 European banks provided $55 billion to continue and expand oil and gas production. That total is a fall from $106 billion lent in 2020 and $83 billion in 2019, but above the 2018 and 2017 with numbers of $49 billion and $50 billion respectively.

The banks at the top of the list was HSBC, Barclays and BNP Paribas.

Linking to dividend paying stocks, oil and gas companies for the past 150 years have been some of the most profitable companies in the world and with world oil prices closing on $100 a barrel, they are going to stay that way. It would be very hard for a bank not to lend to oil and gas and make the type of revenues it does. When oil and gas companies lose money, the banks will lend to other sectors, until that time you can own the companies and with the dividends you have a choice of what you wish to do with the money. Reinvest in renewables, reinvest in oil and gas or other choices.

There are more questions than answers, till the next time – to raising questions.

Recently announced Cryptocurrency was part of a balanced portfolio, and it may be. For most citizens crypto is something you have heard about or something that people who try to steal your money deal with. It can be for you, because what you may have heard was some great gains were made and then losses occurred. Is the currency regulated or non regulated, is good or stay away from. Eventually you need to make your own decision about it, however there was good news reported by the US Justice Department.

In an article from the Associated Press, the US Justice Department it seized $3.6 billion in assets and arrested a couple of laundered billions of dollars in cryptocurrency from the 2016 hack of a virtual currency exchange.

The currency exchange is known as Bitfinex and the US Justice Department sent a signal to criminals cryptocurrency is not a safe haven. We can and will follow the money, no matter what form it takes deputy attorney-general Lisa Monaco said.

The couple who was arrested did not do the hack of Bitfinex, but authorities traced the stolen funds to more than a dozen accounts controlled by the couple. Court documents accuse them on relying on classic money-laundering techniques to hide their activities and the movement of money, such as setting up accounts with fictitious names and using computer programs to automate transactions.

Linking to dividend paying stocks, cryptocurrency does not pay interest it relies on capital gains, but along with capital gains is the opposite capital losses. What goes up generally comes down, so how do your protect yourself? Buying dividend paying stocks that are profitable which can increase their dividends and over time the dividends and capital gains will make you wealthier. Compounding interest is a very powerful tool to use to create wealth. If you believe you have time, then be patient.

There are more questions than answers, till the next time – to raising questions.

On stock markets around the world, there are expected and normal returns for shareholders. One significant player is hedge funds who search for value, and have money to spend, and the ability to push the shareholding system. The hedge funds have made money from America tech companies and they search for other tech companies in the world, some have focused on Japanese companies.

In an article by Makiko Yamazaki of Reuters, Toshiba announced it will be breaking up into 2 companies as opposed to 3 companies. The previous plans called for one company to focus on devices, one for energy and infrastructure and the third for its Kioxia flash memory chip assets.

Toshiba says they will only spin off the devices business by March 2024.

One has to remember in Japan, the Japanese culture encouraged conglomerates and they are supported by the Trade Ministry. The conglomerates are interconnected and as they became larger, the government issued statements such as the company possesses important technology including nuclear power and semi-conductors that are related to national security and it is important that the businesses are maintained and developed.

Linking to dividend paying stocks, companies around the world do the same thing, however depending on where the company is headquartered, the government or one of its agencies has a say in the operations or changes in the operations. Governments around the world use the phrase economic development, and the phrase means different things to different governments. While it is important to look around the world, remember there are subtle differences which can make change more difficult. Understanding the subtle differences allows you to invest around the world.

There are more questions than answers, till the next time – to raising questions.

If you think about the Great Wall of China, it is one of the world’s great construction projects however it was built with by humans with little machinery, they had tools but not machinery. How was it done? the emperor at the time brought in recruits from the lands he conquered or slave labor. For many years, people could and can do many things, but add a machine and the whole economy advances as machines enabled more to be done. If you think about farming, prior to the tractors made by John Deere, farms were generally 100 acres or less. After the tractor and other farming machinery the farms get much bigger to feed the world.

In 2022, companies across North America spent $2 billion for almost 40,000 robots to help them with record demand and shortage of bodies. There is wonderful You Tube video about how robots help build the Ford 150 truck and robots in the auto plant have been there for decades. Now robots are doing more work in companies to meet the demands of consumers.

In an article by Timothy Aeppel, the Association for Advancing Automation or A3, is the industry group for robots, reported the share of robots going to non-auto companies grew further in 2021. Some of the fastest growth in orders came from the metals, food and consumer goods category.

The number one driver for automation is the labor storage in manufacturing, said Joe Campbell, a senior manager in applications development at Universal Robots, a unit of Masschusetts based Teradyne which specializes in co-bots.

A field which has resisted robots is the construction business, but Universal sold a robot to a company that uses them to install drywall.

Linking to dividend paying stocks, business are in the business of finding solutions. Customers pay for the solution and they typically give little thought how the process works as long as the end result makes them happy. The process works till it does not, robots help companies maintain production cycles and the robots are beginning to do the more flexible jobs many thought you needed people to do. As long as people have access to income, companies will be doing more with robots and investors will like it. In your company investments, how do they use robots?

There are more questions than answers, till the next time – to raising questions.

Alphabet is one of the largest tech companies and if you own an index fund whether it is tech related or index of the market it is likely there and that is good. Alphabet’s is a very profitable stock and when you look at its divisions, there are 7 divisions that are billion dollar divisions. People use Google search as they shopped on line and advertisers followed shoppers with larger budgets.

In an article by Paresh Dave and Nivedita Balu of Reuters, Google beat expectations with sales jumping 32% to $75.3 billion in the 4th quarter for a third straight quarterly sales record.

Consumers used Google’s search for apparel and hobbyist items, while retail, finance, entertainment and travel advertisers raised marketing budgets said Google’s chief business officer Phillip Schindler.

Analysts said, Google generates more revenue from internet ads than any other company. It seems the growth will continue to move upwards.

Shares of Alphabet rose after the company announced it will be splitting 20 for 1 share on July 1.

For the full year, Alphabet’s sales rose 41% to $258 billion.

You Tube’s revenues increased, Google Cloud increased quarterly revenue by 45% to $5.5 billion.

Alphabet’s quarterly profit was $20.6 billion or $30.69 a share.

Linking to dividend paying stocks, a company similar to P &G with its numerous divisions of over $1 billion allows dividends to be increased for decades. Alphabet will be one of those companies as it continues to be a very profitable company. It is company to buy and hold and buying before the split is a good thing to do.

There are more questions than answers, till the next time – to raising questions.

Branding exercises are some of the most aspects to any company, for all companies the owners look at what the brand means to them and hopefully the rest of the world. Branding can be the greatest element of a company or it can not seem to work or need a reboot. If you are a NFL football fan, the Washington Football Team changed their nickname from Redskins to Commanders. Perhaps it will work during the season.

In an article from Reuters, Daimler AG is changing their name to Mercedes Benz Group AG to unlock shareholder value. The car maker was originally called Daimler Benz, changed its name to Mercedes and then changed to Daimler now back to Mercedes Benz.

CEO Ola Kaellenius said they have reach chance to raise the multiple.

Linking to dividend paying stocks, branding is a very important exercise and over the years everyone has seen it work and not work, even with the best paid consultants. Most people including me have worked for companies who rebranded and then went back to the old brand. It is an art, not a science, however when it works it works very well. Hopefully the companies you invest in have great brands and are not changing them anytime soon.

There are more questions than answers, till the next time – to raising questions.

At one time, it was relatively easy for mining companies to go into any country around the world to extract minerals. In the name of economic development and some benefits flowing to the host government, mining companies operated and the rest of the developed world benefited from the mining companies.

In an article by Clara Demina of Reuters, perhaps the scenario is changing a bit. Rio Tinto is one of the largest mining companies in the world based in Britain and Australia (where it is largest iron ore miner), as goes the economy of China goes the fortunes of Rio Tinto.

Rio Tinto was expecting to invest $2.4 billion in a mine in Serbia to extract lithium which is needed for battery production of EV vehicles. The country’s leaders cancelled the project. One can easily imagine a $2.4 billion project in Serbia would be good for their economy. It should be noted there is an election looming, perhaps after the election the government will review their decision.

Rio Tinto found the lithium in jadarite which is only found in Serbia’s Jadar Valley and Rio Tinto has spent $450 million figuring out how to extract the lithium and become Europe’s biggest lithium mine producing 58,000 tonnes of refined battery grade lithium carbonate a year, enough to power 1 million electric vehicles.

Rio Tinto being a global miner has other options such as an mine in Argentina which it paid $825 million to buy. Rio Tinto is working through the court system to build one of the world’s largest copper mines in Arizona.

Linking to dividend paying stocks, at one time the phrase economic development was one of the world’s most important phrases and many projects were done to increase economic development. Now days, both sides of every issue has similar information and able to use public relations in similar fashion, some battles will be won, some will be lost. Ideally, the company you invest in has potential investments to do which will lead to good profits to pay dividends.

There are more questions than answers, till the next time – to raising questions.