Most of us live and work in a small geographic area and because we do, we all tend to have a regional basis towards investing. It is not a bad thing, but it is reality. However, as we travel and read we often see people doing the same thing elsewhere. In business, ever since accounting was invented and profits mean profits, wherever in the world you are, the principles apply.

In an article from Reuters, the European Central Bank (ECB) policy makers in December appeared confident that inflation was back to target but saw plenty of risks that still warranted steady policy and high borrowing costs according to the minutes of the meetings.

The ECB left interest rates unchanged and made in clear no further hikes were coming, but it was too early to discuss cutting rates. The minutes said there was no room for complacency, and it was not the time to lower its guard. A need was seen for continued vigilance and patience and for the maintenance of a restrictive stance for some time. The task has not yet been completed.

Investors are expecting rate cuts, but the bank noted it needed to push back against market expectations for rapid policy easing, even if there was unusual uncertainty around the inflation and economic growth outlook.

If the ECB was changed to the Fed would you notice any difference?

Linking to dividend paying stocks, one of the reasons to invest in these types of stocks is the rules for investing are the same throughout the world. You may stick to where you live because it relatively easy to monitor those companies, particularly if you are a user of those services. Companies around the world need to have revenues exceed expenses in order to make profits which means doing your homework can be consistent no matter where you are in the world.

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

Every year, the smartphone becomes more woven into our daily lives and every year the features make the smartphone become a necessity into our daily lives. For the makers of the phone and the providers of the service, this makes the continuous monthly payments of consumers a joyous sound. Soon people will think of necessity services as housing, food and cellphone service. This makes the companies that receive the continuous monthly payments as worthy of your investment dollars. In the smartphone world, the leaders are Apple and iPhone and Samsung Electronics which produces the Galaxy phones powered by Android which is owned by Google.

In an article by Michael Liedtke of the Associated Press, the new smartphones which have been available for sale since January 31 include AI features. Naturally the better technology comes with an increase of price, in the case of Samsung S24 Ultra a price increase of 8% to $1,300. The Apple iPhone Pro Max also increased prices.

Among the features is live translation during phone calls in 13 languages and 17 dialects. The S24 will introduce Google’s Circle to Search feature. You can use your finger to circle snippets of text, parts of photos or videos to get instant search results about what has been highlighted.

Another feature is to point the camera at an object and have a summary about what is captured by the lens.

The increasing use in smartphones comes after OpenAI thrust the technology into the mainstream with its ChatGPT bot.

Linking to dividend paying stock, it is easy to say that a profitable company has to embrace new technologies, but some are a given and others are a nice thing to have. As the year passes since ChatGPT was open to more of the population, consumers have raised expectations the AI will be used to make better products and services. Does it?

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

There is an expression which shows lets see the numbers or show me the money. What it means is there is always a method to express optimism, but sometimes reality is different. For example if the you say the economy is doing well, but 40% of the people cannot pay an unexpected $1,000 bill. It is good that people are working and have some money, but can it last? What shocks would send people, because living often means there will be shocks from unexpected expenses.

In an article from Keith Bradsher of the New York Times News Service, he observes car production set records, restaurants and hotels were increasing full and construction of new factories surged. All those are good things until you look behind the numbers. Deep discounts helped car sales; dinners chose cheaper meals (the cheeseburger rather than the Big Mac) and less expensive hotel. Many factories ran at half capacity, during COVID they were at a quarter or less.

China’s economy rose 5.2%, but that was from almost no growth for 3 years. The real estate housing market prices continue to be 20% lower which is not good for previous buyers and developers wanting to pay back billion dollar loans. China had a one child policy for a number of years, now that policy is hurting it as the population ages and it is expected China’s population will decline.

The government has spent money on infrastructure which helps people move around except most infrastructure leads to more debt because public infrastructure is not taxed and makes no money.

Linking to dividend paying stocks, every company around the globe can point to optimism otherwise they would be selling or winding down their business. When a company is profitable and can pay dividends there is true optimism to keep doing what it is business to do. It is important to be cynical when you hear the results, but optimistic after you have done your research or looked behind the numbers.

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

In the world there are slogans for power – the ying and yang; who is up, who is down; and the list goes on. The point is if there is a win-lose, somebody needs to be on the winning side and the other side is the loser. If you are involved in sports, you will see it weekly, if you are involved with people sometimes you need to learn. Often times at a workplace it is who is moving up and who is not moving up? The same dynamics happen in politics and in world politics.

In an article by Antoni Slodkowski of Reuters, every year there is a gather of many leaders of companies and countries in Davos, Switzerland. You could say it is the United Nations of the business world, if corporate leaders are talking to each other, then although there are competitive pressures, companies are not going to the extreme.

An important person who has regularly attended Davos is Chinese Premier Li Quing and this year the message was different that in the past. In the past, China was growing and using its clout around the world and offering its currency as an alternative to the US dollar. This year, the reality of the Chinese economy is it is sluggish recovery from the pandemic, a real estate slump and long-term growth prospects are slow, China is opening its door to foreign investment.

Premier Li said the economy was meeting expectations, but the expectations are lower than in the past. The world needs healthy competition to enhance co-operation and innovation, the removal of barriers to competition and co-operate on environmental strategies.

Choosing investment in the Chinese market is not a risk, but an opportunity.

At Davos, 2,800 leaders from 120 countries including 60 heads of state were due to participate at the annual meeting. (Bloomberg TV covered many interviews and they can be seen on YouTube)

Linking to dividend paying stocks, when a company consistently makes a profit and can pay dividends it starts at a higher confidence level and many companies would like to partner with or do joint ventures with the company. The profitable company is the top dog, when a company does not make profits, they stress the need for co-operation and being open to new business.

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

All industries change over the years to different markets and companies must shift to meet the demands of the customers. In the world of oil and gas, particularly gas has changed from heating homes and making electricity (less expensive than coal) to liquefied natural gas (LNG). The shift generally involves heavy infrastructure spending which limits the number of players involved due to the cost of the refinery plants. The refineries can easily cost into the billions of dollars, so when politicians say they want more, who is paying for them?

In an article by Arunima Kumar and Arathy Somasekhar of Reuters two large gas companies have decided to merge to create the largest independent US natural gas producer. The 2 companies are Chesapeake Energy and Southwestern Energy. The larger output from the combined company will improve the company’s position as it relates to unlocking and securing additional LNG opportunities according to Matt Portillo, an equity analyst at Tudor Pickering & Holt.

Thanks to shale production, US gas production has jumped well above domestic demand, pushing up inventories and reducing profits at gas producers. Most of Southwestern production is in Appalachia’s shale formations in the US East and in the Haynesville shale basin close to US LNG export plants in East Texas and Western Louisiana.

New to the industry are gas plants being built on the coast in Mexico. About an hour’s drive south of San Diego, California is Ensenda, Mexico and the Energia Costa Azul a $2 billion liquid natural gas refinery is being built which will connect to gas pipelines to send the LNG to India, China and wherever else there is a demand. With this refinery and others in the planning stage, Mexico would become the world’s 4th largest exporter of gas, although most of the gas will come from the US. Each terminal is expected to be in operation for decades.

If the deal goes through, shareholders in Chesapeake will own 60% of the company and its likely the company will be changing its name.

Linking to dividend paying stocks, companies change to reflect changes in markets. In a commodity-based business, supply and demand are the key to the reason for changes. When supply for domestic markets, prices fall and companies look to export or in this case LNG to stabilize and grow their revenues. Similar to many industries, it is easier said than done because of infrastructure concerns. In this case where the refinery plants are and where the commodity is found. It is often less expensive to merge.

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

If you work in the hospitality sector, you were seeing good things because people were travelling and seeing the world. Flights were booked solid and the earnings for the airlines were bullish and even the airline makers had large back orders to satisfy the future demand. Things were going good and then a cabin panel door blew up a plane.

In an article by David Shepardson of Reuters, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) launched a formal investigation into the Boeing 737 Max 9 after a panel door came off from an Alaskan Airlines plane. The plane was leaving Portland, Oregan when the door came off, the door was found in suburbs and the plane went back to Portland to make an emergency landing.

Boeing has delivered 171 planes to Alaska Airlines and United Airlines and the planes were grounded, pending safety inspections.

Boeing said in a statement We will cooperate fully and transparently with the FAA and NTSB investigations.

Similar to automakers, Boeing does not make most of the parts but assembles them. The supplier of the door is Spirit AeroSystems Holdings Ltd. Boeing was treating the issue as a quality control item. Alaskan Airlines and United Airlines will need revised inspections and maintenance instructions from Boeing that must be approved by the FAA before the planes can fly again.

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said the only consideration on timeline is safety.

It is noted in an article by Liz Alderman of the New York Times News Service, Airbus delivered more aircraft and cemented more deals than Boeing in 2023 for the 5th straight year.

Linking to dividend paying stocks, in 2023 Airbus and Boeing had record orders for planes to be delivered in the future. In 2019 all Max aircraft were grounded for 20 months. Just when the sky seemed to be sunny for the airlines and airline makers, an incident happened. The stocks went down and should bounce up again.

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

As a general rule, no one really wins in a war. Every war has fallout both for the people fighting the war and those that try to keep the economy going or not on the front lines. There may be very good reasons to go to war, but unless the war is short, no one really wins.

In an article by Roni Rabin of the New York Times, Israel and Hamas are at war and Hamas is in the middle of the Palestine people. People have died on both sides, people have been displaced on both sides and normal life has been disrupted, more on the Palestine side, however this article focused on Israel.

Israel’ ‘s economy depends on tourism and it has come to a virtual standstill.

In a war, government spending jumps.

Israel’s technology sector has been the engine for Israel’s growth and accounts for almost half of the exports and 1/5 of the economic output according to the Israeli Innovation Authority. In Israel all men and women have to do military duties and then they are in the reserve. 350,000 reservists have been called up for duty.

Many customer orders were put on hold or cancelled outright. While the war is on, foreign investment or investors are waiting till the war is over. The Israeli Innovation Center has $100 million to support technology companies particularly startups that have lost funding.

The Bank of Israel has cut interest rates by a quarter point to 4.5% and the Governor of the Central Bank Amir Yaron expected more cuts in the future. The war will cause higher deficits and more public debt.

The government is planning to increase the number of foreign workers from 50,000 to 70,000 because of worker shortages. Workers from West Palestine have been banned from working in Israel.

Linking to dividend paying stocks, if your investments are located outside of the US, sometimes that is wonderful and sometimes it is not good. There are some companies than benefit from products to wars but for most peace is better for in war there is always a toll to be paid and it takes time afterwards to become normal again. What are the contiguity plans for your company?

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

In 2023 if you owned big tech or some or all of the magnificent 7 companies the assets under administration in your portfolio went up. In 2024, big tech is likely to go up again, but will it go up at the same percentage levels? no one knows, which means there might be other sectors that could go up or which sectors offer value?

In an article from Reuters, one area that underperformed in 2023 was healthcare. In the S&P 500 index healthcare has about 13%.

Why might the index go up? The exciting news of the weight loss drugs from Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly. If the drugs work well as hoped people will be healthier and there may be fewer obese patients. The amazing surgeries doctors can do to treat people will make an even better difference.

Health care was trading at the middle of January at 17.9 times earnings versus the index of 19.7 times or a discount of 9%. Historically the difference is a 4% premium according to data from LSEG Datastream. If things are normal, at least a 10% rise is possible.

Will the rally that boosted tech and growth stocks broaden to include more sectors including healthcare?

Healthcare stocks tend to struggle in an election year, because politicians started pointing to health care as a big expense, they say they will lower the costs. However, this year some investors believe there is less risk because no one is proposing big policy items and no party is expecting big gains in Congress, diminishing the chances of any legislation to overhaul the industry.

Healthcare deals in big data, will AI help to lower costs and help make better companies?

Linking to dividend paying stocks, during election years some sectors are painted with a broad brush because politicians have to appeal to a broad number of people to win and often health care and insurance is added because we all need them, they all tend to raise prices. However, since we all need them, it makes the companies profitable to pay dividends and that you can enjoy. One method to investing is examine the companies you pay bills to see if they are worth investing in. If yes, as long as you are a purchaser, you can keep your eye on the company to ensure they give value.

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

In the movie The Graduate starring Dustin Hoffman and Anne Bancroft has memorial lines and scenes which are often repeated. One of the lines is Mrs. Robinson are you trying to seduce me? the another line is Mr. Bancroft tells the Dustin Hoffman – the future is plastics. The plastics comes from the chemical industry world and in many ways the line was true. To use less weight, plastics were invented and are used in many manufacturing industries, that is the good part. The non so good part is for chemical companies what did they do with the wastes from plastics and other chemicals used in our present lives?

A book called Paradise Falls by Keith O’Brien published by Pantheon Books, New York, 2022 shows chemical companies often dumped the wastes into the waters around the planet or put the wastes in drums and buried them. Out of sight out of mind was an accepted solution. The problem was not right away but over the months and years, the drums or containers broke down and then whatever was in the barrel flowed the same way water flows underground. The difference when water flows underground it may cause flooding, but that be mopped up or protective measures around homes to prevent the flooding. When chemicals flow the way water does – the chemicals will eventually get into the body and caused multiple reactions and 99% plus are not good. Children and pregnant mother’s are affected first, then anyone with lower immune systems and eventually men and older women. The chemicals take time to develop in the body and often are diagnosis as something else because we all think we are living reasonably normal lives. Then within a few years multiple people within the area are having medical problems higher than normal or clusters and people investigate to the why?

In the book, the area that is focused on is Love Canal in Niagara Falls, New York. If you ever been, the town was a working-class town because the companies that made products from chemicals and the biggest city nearby is Buffalo. To make chemicals relatively low cost energy or hydro electric power is needed, Niagara Falls has the falls for electricity. A working-class town tends to mean that people have income but not high savings which limits their ability to move or they accepted the employers not being environmentally correct and go about their regular working lives.

In this case, the company buried drums of chemicals in a partially build canal system, which years later was filled with dirt to stabilize the land, eventually a school and a neighborhood were developed on top of it. From the surface the area looked like a good neighborhood to raise a family. Under the surface, the chemicals leaked from the drums and flowed underground similar to water patterns. If your home was above the canal or one of the old stream beds, your health was going to be worse than a neighbor a few houses over.

In the book, most of the data was being organized and collected by women, the decision makers were men. In all worlds, there is a bias, women have to better data than men, otherwise men will ask for more studies done by what they feel are organizations will a long history of studying the problems. The issue in Niagara Falls what should governments do and who should pay? The easy answer and the reality of the answer was to move everyone to other neighborhoods and ensure no one uses the land, till it is cleaned up. The harder answer is time frames, the book starts in the mid 1970’s people are living in single family dwellings and children going to school, by 1983 the school was taken down and people had left both where the canal was and where the old streams flowed. Getting to the end was a very long process to both recognize the issue and to have decision makers allocate enough money to find solutions, both easy and hard. In Washington, the rise of Superfund Act to clean up environmental dumps rose from President Carter’s administration in 1980, because in many places in the US chemicals were buried, just most did not become subdivisions.

Linking to dividend paying stocks, some chemical companies are some of the long-term payers of dividends and without their products the world would be different. However, with their products, what happens to the waste is a good thing to know. Sometimes new industries can be formed to find solutions to the wastes, but usually they are not as profitable as the maker of the chemical because of the barrier to entry cost. As a dividend buyer your big interest is the profitability of the company and hope with all the engineering talent in the company solutions are possible.

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