Warren Buffett has long been considered the consummate value investor. His penchant for value investing is generally attributed to his relationship with the renowned father of value investing Ben Graham. However, what is often overlooked is the influence that partner Charlie Munger brought to Warren Buffett’s investing philosophy.

Equity investors are increasingly focused on short-term results. In an impatient marketplace, investors can discover powerful sources of returns in emerging-market companies that deliver extended growth over several years.

Proxy metrics for financial conditions from the US dollar, to interest rates to corporate bond spreads have been loosening since June and suggest continued moderate economic growth in the second half of 2017 and a firm equity market.

We’ve heard Warren Buffett continue to repeat an important phrase, “what the wise man does in the beginning, the fool does in the end.” This begs the question, when does a foregone conclusion become what we call “a well-known fact”?

Household debt increased by $114 billion (0.9%) to $12.84 trillion in Q2. There were modest increases in mortgage, auto and credit card debt, no change to student loan debt and a modest decline in balances on home equity lines of credit.

Now that some of Europe’s most critical elections have been resolved, investors looking ahead to the second half of 2017 may want to redirect their focus. This may be the time to take a closer look at other market drivers like economic growth, rising inflation and global monetary policy says Ann-Katrin Petersen, investment strategist at Allianz Global Investors.

Last week, President Trump promised to unleash "fire and fury" on North Korea, which prompted its leader Kim Jong Un to see that bid and raise it to a direct threat against the U.S. territory of Guam. Collectively at Schwab (Schwab Center for Financial Research as well as our experts in Washington, DC) we believe the likelihood of military action remains low.

Much of my dividend growth investing is currently focused on looking for high quality dividend growth stocks that are yielding 3% or better. The reason is quite simple. I am managing dividend growth portfolios for clients that are retired and require at least a yield of 3% or better in order to live on.

Reading the signs in markets can be tough. When he headed the Federal Reserve, Alan Greenspan missed early signs of a housing bubble. Now he’s warning of a bond bubble that’s about to burst. We disagree.

The Census Bureau's Advance Retail Sales Report for July released this morning showed an increase over the revised June figures. Headline sales came in at 0.6% month-over-month to one decimal. Today's headline number was above the Investing.com consensus of 0.4%. Core sales (ex Autos) came in at 0.5% MoM. Figures were revised going back to June 2016.

Right now, we don’t know if we can put this North Korea news in the same category of past market shocks, but looking back at history, major market collapses generally occur because of economic and financial deterioration, not geopolitics.

A few months ago I was honored to speak at the prestigious SALT investment conference in the US city of Las Vegas. It had been quite a while since I’d been to Las Vegas. The activity and energy of the place really surprised me, even though I don’t gamble.

All eight indexes on our world watch list have posted gains for 2017 through August 14. The top performer thus far is Hong Kong's Hang Seng with a gain of 23.86%, followed closely by India's BSE SENSEX at 18.11%. In third is our own S&P 500 with 10.14%.

The only constant is change — and the global market is certainly proof of that. As we assess our outlook for the rest of the year, we see several potential changes that could impact international small- and all-cap funds. Here are the five trends we anticipate having the biggest effect — and the ways the Invesco International and Global Growth team is poised to respond.

When planning for retirement income, it helps to understand the various risks you may encounter, says Christine Russell, TD Ameritrade.

Stocks of some innovative companies with differentiated business models may be unfairly punished along with those genuinely vulnerable to Amazon’s disruption.

“Determinants of Portfolio Performance,” the seminal 1986 paper on asset allocation by Gary P. Brinson, Randolph Hood, and Gilbert L. Beebower (BHB), is one of the most frequently cited – and misunderstood – examples of financial research. But if you correctly interpret its findings, you will realize that they are absurd.

Tesco is a great example of how one should be very careful judging a company’s fundamental performance by looking solely at the performance of its stock.

We extract signals about the preferences of investors toward speculation or risk-aversion based on the joint and sometimes subtle behavior of numerous markets and securities, so our inferences don't map to any short list of indicators. Still, internal dispersion is becoming apparent in measures that are increasingly obvious.

Atop the “what matters most” list is debt. Specifically, global sovereign debt: U.S., Europe, Japan and China. We are at the end of a long-term debt cycle. Borrow, spend and grow is good for the economy. Credit is money. It is a multiplier that enables you to spend more than you have.

In a normal, quiet summer week we would be lazily considering consumer confidence and the Fed minutes. Instead, the escalating war of words between the U.S. and North Korea has claimed the agenda.

Over the next 12 to 24 months, we expect that Asia, led by China, will become a far more significant part of the global capital markets – and global investment portfolios.

Looking for a way to increase your US exposure without adding equities? Need more income but worried about rising rates? US high-yield bonds deserve a place in your portfolio.

Dalio’s not the only one recommending gold right now. Speaking to CNBC this week, commodities expert Dennis Gartman, editor and publisher of the widely-read Gartman Letter, said that he believed “gold is about to break out on the upside strongly” in response to geopolitical risks and inflationary pressures. Gartman thinks investors should have between 10 and 15 percent of their portfolio in gold.

Well, I went to camp this summer, too. I go every year, and I always learn more than I can manage to remember. Camp Kotok is an invitation-only gathering of economists, market analysts, fund managers, and a few journalists. It takes place at the historic Leen’s Lodge in Grand Lake Stream, Maine. We fish, talk, eat, drink, and talk some more. It’s a three-day economic thought-fest (and more rich food and wine than is good for me or anyone else at the camp). For me, that’s about as good as life gets.

The S&P has seen daily losses in 5 of the last 7 market days and closes the day with a loss of 1.43% from the previous week. The index is up 9.04% YTD.

Let's have a look at a long-term perspective on Treasury yields. The chart here shows the 10-Year Constant Maturity yield since 1962 along with the Federal Funds Rate (FFR) and inflation. The range has been astonishing. The stagflation that set in after the 1973 Oil Embargo was finally ended after Paul Volcker raised the FFR to 20.06%.

After taking a hit earlier this summer, oil prices have climbed back around $50 a barrel. What’s my advice on oil price volatility? Hang in there. The good news—we’ve been through this before. The bad news—we’ve been through this before.