A roundup of what The Globe and Mail's market strategist Scott Barlow is reading this morning on the World Wide Web.
Iraq is imploding politically and, while we'll leave the entirely justified U.S. foreign policy-related finger wagging to other sections of our website, the news is important for Canadian investors in the energy sector.
The Washington Post describes the full-on disaster in Iraq as, "al-Qaeda-inspired fighters swept … toward Baghdad and Kurdish soldiers seized the city of Kirkuk without a fight." Other reports indicate it's actually a bit worse than that, as the "al-Qaeda-inspired fighters" were allegedly kicked out of the terrorist organization for being too vicious.
The resumption of Iraqi oil exports was cited by Bank of America commodity strategist Francisco Blache, among others, as a trend that would push WTI and Brent crude prices lower. The WTI price is now surging as likelihood of Iraqi supply hitting global markets declines rapidly.
Iraq disintegrating as insurgents advance – Washington Post
The IMF published a study of global housing prices for member nations and Canada was found to be the least affordable and prone to declines. Researcher Min Zhu writes, where a sufficiently long time-series of house prices, rents and incomes is available, these ratios remain well above the historical averages for a majority of countries. This is true for instance for Australia, Belgium, Canada, Norway and Sweden."
In a related story, the Financial Times was very un-British with an alarming lead to their story, "The world must act to contain the risk of another devastating housing crash, the International Monetary Fund warned on Wednesday."
Era of Benign Neglect of House Price Booms is Over - IMF
Some great graphics: Global housing watch: Heady days ahead? - IMF
IMF sounds global housing alarm – FT and WSJ
Former PIMCO bigwig Mohammed el-Erian urges municipal governments to encourage the expansion of premium taxi service Uber. A taxi driver strike in London is only one indication of the resistance to Uber and it's clear that while investors like disruptive business models, revenue-and-control-hungry governments are far less receptive.
Don't stop the Uber Revolution – el-Erian, Bloomberg
Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger's investment philosophy has been a matter of public record for decades and yet few investors have the discipline to follow it. This Farnam Street blog post clearly lays out one the most important and successful aspects of Berkshire Hathaway's investment method that is continually ignored by investors: "It is remarkable how much long-term advantage people like us have gotten by trying to be consistently not stupid, instead of trying to be very intelligent."
Avoiding Stupidity is Easier than Seeking Brilliance – Farnam Street
Diversion: @TIME: Eat Butter—new science shows fat isn't what's hurting our health http://ti.me/UvPyCr
Scott Barlow