For Tesla , 2014 may be best labeled as the year the company ramped up its international expansion. While the electric-car maker began its expansion abroad in 2013 in Europe, beginning with Norway, the company took it to a whole new level in 2014. The most recent country to get to drive Tesla's Model S is the United Kingdom.

Tesla Model S in Wales. Image source: Tesla Motors.

The expansion
The first principle in the defining values of the "Tesla Culture" is "Move Fast." The company clearly gives this tenet some serious priority.

Tesla is expanding rapidly when it comes to both vehicle deliveries and its supercharging network. In fact, getting the Model S to China in 2014 was so important to Tesla that the supply-limited company was willing to let its first-quarter deliveries decline on a sequential basis from 6,892 to 6,457 in order to fill the Asian logistics pipelines to get its first deliveries to China.

Tesla delivered the first nine vehicles to China in April and has already begun building its Supercharger network in the country. Musk has said on several occasions that his instructions to the Tesla team in China are to spend money as fast as possible on expanding the Chinese network of charging stations without wasting it.

Tesla's latest international foray is in the United Kingdom. The company delivered its first vehicles to the country on June 7. The U.K. version of the Model S marks the first time the car has been built to right-hand-drive standards.

Right hand drive Model S. Image source: Tesla Motors.

While there is only one Supercharger energized in the U.K., Tesla CEO Elon Musk said that customers will "be able to travel the length of the U.K. for free using our Superchargers within the next 18 months."

In the press release detailing the U.K. launch event, Tesla said it is still on track for a Supercharger rollout that will enable Model S owners "to travel almost anywhere in Europe using Superchargers." The company is energizing a new Supercharger at a rate of nearly one per weekday.

Tesla's next moves?
The company's rapid expansion won't be slowing down. In its most recent quarterly letter to shareholders, Tesla said it plans to increase the number of its 2013 service stations by more than 75% to support its global growth. Superchargers are expanding even more rapidly; energizing its 100th Supercharger in April, Tesla plans to roll out 200 more globally this year.

At a minimum, Tesla is likely to concentrate its global rollout for the rest of the year on a continued push in Europe, and other right hand drive markets like Japan, Hong Kong, and Australia, according to the company's fourth-quarter letter to shareholders.

Even Tesla's factories are not bound to the U.S. Longer term, Tesla has mentioned having full factories in Europe and China, in addition to the final assembly plant it already has in the Netherlands.

While it may be costly for Tesla to expand so rapidly, the international penetration does Tesla investors the favor of keeping demand far above supply, eliminating need for advertising spend. So far, the company hasn't spent a dime marketing the Model S. And it hasn't pushed any promotions either. The day when demand could potentially outstrip Tesla's supply ramp-up is likely nowhere in the near future.

When Apple bought Beats Music for $3 billion in May, it also surprised many people by announcing plans to keep subscription apps alive on both Google's Android and Microsoft's Windows Phone. This was a 180-degree turnaround for Apple, which has historically discontinued apps on competing platforms immediately following an acquisition.

Now, Google has reciprocated, returning Apple's favor with an announcement on June 11 that it will offer iOS support for Instant Buy. Instant Buy is a Google Wallet-based authentication and payment platform that allows customers to bypass shops and make purchases with just a few clicks. By using the Instant Buy API for iOS, which leverages Google's authentication back-end as well as Google Wallet, companies now have a better chance of converting app visitors to sales.

What Google Wallet Instant Buy really does
Studies have shown that an average of 72% of online buyers across multiple platforms do not complete purchases once they initiate the process, a practice commonly known as shopping cart abandonment. But, for mobile devices, the average shopping cart abandonment rate is an astonishing 97%, meaning that only 3% of mobile buyers complete online purchases once they initiate the process.

Potential buyers usually fail to follow through on their purchases because of factors such as difficulty in creating accounts, difficulty typing in billing information and payment details, and so on.

Instant Buy makes checkouts via mobile devices painless and hassle-free by reducing the steps required to complete a transaction to as little as two clicks. The potential of the app to improve mobile shopping is, therefore, tremendous.

Welcome move for iOS users
Google's Instant Buy should be welcome for iOS users, as Apple currently does not have a dedicated wallet service for apps. However, Apple plans to make online shopping easier in the upcoming iOS 8 by implementing credit card scanning. Additionally, there are rumors that Apple could also be working on a comprehensive payments tool that may incorporate the Touch ID fingerprint recognition system, although the date of the actual launch remains unknown.

The fact that Google will not charge a fee for Instant Buy on iOS will likely accelerate its adoption by merchants and developers. The app has been around for about a year, and is apparently working well. RueLaLa recorded a 400% increase in purchase conversion using the app; Eat24 saw its order value increase by 11%, while Fancy saw its conversion rate jump by 20%.

Borders blurring with multi-platform computing
Historically, Apple, Google, and Microsoft have jealously guarded their ecosystems by stubbornly refusing to offer support for rival operating systems. Apple had dabbled in other platforms before, most notably iTunes for Windows PCs. However, Apple did that as matter of necessity, as it came at a time when the company was pushing its iPod media players, which required syncing with the desktop to transfer music.

Microsoft was first to break the barriers with Office for iPad, announcing a major shift from its earlier dogmatic policy of supporting Windows first, while other platforms were treated as second-class citizens. More importantly, Office for iPad is not simply a case of a Windows app ported to iPad, but rather, each application is native to iOS and supports documents from both the device and Microsoft's OneDrive cloud service.

Microsoft's strategy is to get users hooked on its cloud services such as Windows InTune device-management, Azure Active Directory Premium, and OneDrive Cloud storage. Microsoft's cloud is now the second-largest after AWS.

Apple may soon support Android on iTunes
With the current trend of multi-platform computing, it won't come as a surprise if Apple releases a new iTunes application for Android to shore up its slackening sales. Apple's iTunes sales are down 24% year over year, although the slack is being picked up by increased app sales. Falling iTunes sales has been brought about by shifting consumer behavior, with users opting to subscribe to streaming services instead of paying for downloads. That's a big reason why the company purchased Beats Music.

Note: Figures in Billions of Dollars
Source: 9to5Mac

Apple made $16.051 billion from sales of iTunes, software, and services in fiscal 2013, almost 10% of its total revenue. This segment has been growing at 30%-40% for the last four years, compared to Apple's 9.2% top-line growth last year.

Bottom line
The move by Google to offer iOS support for Instant Buy is not only likely to increase its adoption, but also pique the interest of iOS users in other Google apps, possibly inducing them to try them out. Breaking down platform barriers not only means more business for the providers, but is also a welcome move for enterprises and individual users.

Forgot to order that fashionable phone case for your best friend's birthday? If you own one of 3D Systems' desktop printers, don't worry about it; just find the specs for a similar case and print it at home.

Even if you haven't realized it yet, this is the new reality of printing. It's called 3-D printing -- and industry leader 3D Systems has already worked the prices for its consumer printers down to $999.

3D Systems' newest Cube printer, retailing for just $999. Source: Cubify.

3-D printing technology isn't new. In fact, it's been around since the 1980s. But recently there has been a clear and irrefutable shift in the sentiment toward the industry's potential. Now it's inevitable: 3-D printing will be a major part of the future.

Best of all, there are clear beneficiaries to this trend, giving investors an opportunity to cash in on the revolution. One of my favorites? 3D Systems. Boasting the broadest portfolio of 3-D printers among its peers, this leader looks poised to ride the revolution.

What exactly is 3-D printing?
It's incredibly simple. In fact, it's the simplicity of the technology that makes its eventual mass adoption seem more certain than speculative.

Erik Brynjolfsson and Andrew McAffee, authors of The Second Machine Age: Work, Progress, and Prosperity in a Time of Brilliant Technologies, boil the new technology down to its simplest form: "3D printing, also sometimes called "additive manufacturing," takes advantage of the way computer printers work: they deposit a very thin layer of material (ink, traditionally) on a base (paper) in a pattern determined by the computer." The biggest difference, of course, is that "Instead of just putting ink on paper, they are making complicated three-dimensional parts out of plastic, metal, and other materials." It's like an act "straight out of science fiction," the authors explain.

3D Systems' CubePro enables end users to print in three simultaneous colors and it has three material options. Source: Cubify.

The simplicity of the technology means it's broadly applicable. Even better, however, it reduces time and cost while increasing efficiency and effectiveness. The name itself, "additive manufacturing," is indicative of the enormous amount of waste this form of 3-D printing saves compared to traditional ways to create. Historically, the creation process usually cuts away (subtracts) the excess waste, carving out needed shapes. But in 3-D printing, only the needed layers are built by adding one precise layer at a time.

Tapping into opportunity
If there's any company that will certainly benefit from a wide range of a growing number of applications of 3-D printing, it's 3D Systems. The company is already poised to be a game-changer in industrial manufacturing, professional prototyping, and consumer crafting. With key access to the three large core markets affected by 3-D printing, and a portfolio of products and services that addresses them thoroughly, 3D Systems offers investors a way to snap up their share of the broader industry's bright future. 3D Systems' performance over the long haul will, almost undoubtedly, closely follow the general market adoption of this disruptive technology.

Just how big is the opportunity? Globally, 3-D printing sales were just over $3 billion in 2013, according to figures from Wohlers Associates. But we're still in the beginnings. Wohlers estimates global industry sales to reach $6 billion by 2017 and $10.8 billion by 2021.

Even more intriguing, growth isn't slowing. In fact, growth has recently accelerated. "The compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 34.9% is the highest in 17 years," Wohlers said in a May 2014 report.

3D Systems isn't missing out on the boom. Consider some of these wild year-over-year growth rates 3D Systems reported in its first-quarter earnings release: 

• 76% growth in unit sales of design and manufacturing 3-D printers
• 41% growth in 3D printing materials
• 150% growth in consumer sales

But all this growth -- and clear opportunity for more -- doesn't automatically make 3D Systems' stock a buy. Sure, the clear trajectory for further disruption and sales growth is a great starting point. But investors should demand a deeper understanding of a particular company before they make it a long-term holding.

So, without further ado, here's a free report on this disruptive company and other key opportunities in the 3-D printing industry:

Source: Wikimedia Commons.

Online brokers have opened up the investment world to ordinary investors, and they've made it much easier for anyone to follow through on their dreams of making money in the stock market. But given how many online brokers there are to choose from, it's important to know how to pick the best one for you. Here are five things you should keep in mind as you consider how to choose from among all the online brokers out there.

1. Pay the right price.
Most online brokers have cut their commission rates sharply over the years, with most major online brokers offering stock trades for $10 or less. If you buy and sell stocks often, the amount you pay in commissions can make up a huge portion of your overall investing costs. On the other hand, those who trade infrequently will find that the difference of $1 or $2 in per-trade commissions isn't necessarily the most important factor in choosing among online brokers.

Also, keep your eyes open beyond stock commissions for other fees and costs. Some online brokers charge annual fees to all accounts, as well as inactivity or minimum-balance fees to certain accountholders. Other costs include custodial fees for IRAs and costs for wire transfers and other money-transfer services. Make sure you consider all of the costs you'll bear for your online brokerage account.

2. Get the best service.
Every investor has different needs and wants from online brokers, but you shouldn't settle for less than the best service you can get. Online brokers rely on their websites, so you should choose one that offers an interface you're comfortable with and the resources you need to invest well. The best online brokers offer a variety of research, investing tools, and live customer support to help you make your money work as hard as it can for you.

3. Get access to the investments you want.
All online brokers will give you basic access to the stock market. But if you want different investments, you'll need to check to make sure your broker will make them available. Many online brokers offer mutual funds through your brokerage account, although some of them charge fees that you wouldn't have to pay if you went directly through the mutual-fund provider. In addition, some online brokers have partnerships with exchange-traded fund providers to offer ETF trading at no commission.

Increasingly, online brokers also offer access to more sophisticated investments. Individual bonds, options, futures contracts, and foreign exchange are just a few of the more exotic markets that you can get access to if you want them for part of your diversified investment strategy.

4. Get paid while you wait.
Most investors keep some cash on hand, ready to invest when a bargain opportunity strikes. But it's important not to let that free cash sit idle. Most online brokers offer ways to let your account balance bear interest, and the better the rate, the better your return while you wait for the right buying opportunity to arise. Right now, with rates so low, expecting big returns from online brokers is unrealistic. But your broker should still do something to make your money work as hard as it can for you.

5. Make sure you have crash protection.
The biggest challenge with online brokers is that when the market gets jittery, everyone floods onto their websites at the same time. You don't want to be stuck at the worst possible time without being able to get access. Reviews of online brokers include comments about availability at times of peak volume, so look at them to make sure you'll get the performance you need when you need it. In addition, look to see what alternatives your preferred online brokers have to Internet-based trading and account access. That way, you'll be sure that whether a problem is on your end or your broker's end, you'll still be able to invest the way you want.

Choosing from all the online brokers available to you can seem like a huge task. But if you focus on these five key areas, you'll find an online broker that's the best for you.

Markel Corp is an insurance holding company with a wide variety of products. Since its founding in 1930, the company has grown tremendously and continues to do so. What makes Markel different than the rest, and is it a good fit for your portfolio?

An insurance business like no other
What makes Markel different than most insurance companies is the sheer diversity and uniqueness of its product line.

The company's wholesale division provides insurance solutions for common purposes like commercial property and casualty as well as medical malpractice. However, Markel prides itself for its non-standard offerings like its DataBreach and professional liability insurance products, just to name a couple.

Markel's Specialty Commercial division offers even more unusual solutions, and specializes in quantifying risks that are tough to determine. For example, the company provides bicycle insurance policies, as well as solutions to insure camps and recreation programs, child care centers, health clubs, farms, investment advisors, and pest control providers.

A full list of their unique specialty commercial programs is available here, and is a very interesting and thought-provoking read. After all, how many other companies have more than 50 years of experience insuring show horses?

There is also an extensive list of personal products Markel provides. Want to specifically insure your karate classes? Want insurance in case your parents' anniversary party needs to be cancelled? You've found the right company.

Impressive growth
One of the reasons Markel has such an enormous array of products is its long history of acquisitions. Since the 1980's, Markel has acquired 15 separate companies, many of which were highly specialized, like a summer camp insurer and a trucking insurance specialist.

Most recently, Markel acquired Alterra Capital, a deal which nearly doubled its insurance portfolio, but even excluding that, the growth is impressive. Markel's portfolio of insurance premiums written has averaged an impressive 18% annual growth rate over the past two decades.

However, aside from the acquisitions, Markel has grown rapidly because it's very good at what it does - offering a unique product to consumers at a price that attracts business. It is also very good at judging risk, and has done a very good job of taking in more in premiums than it pays out.

Over the past decade, Markel's combined ratio (that is, the amount it pays out relative to the premiums it collects) has only been around 100% twice, and just barely, at 101% and 102%. During the past decade as a whole, Markel has averaged a combined ratio of just under 96%, meaning it is doing a very good job of approximating the risk their policies are taking on.

On top of this, Markel receives income from its investments while it holds the collected premiums in its accounts (this is actually how insurance companies make the bulk of their profits).

In fact, over the past 20 years, Markel's insurance portfolio per share has grown at an average annual rate of 13%.

It's relatively easy to quantify Markel's overall performance over the past few decades. The company doesn't pay a dividend, and instead feels its money is better spent reinvested into its business (sounds kind of like Warren Buffett). Over the past 20 years, shares have risen from $39 to about $647 as of this writing, for an average annual return of more than 15%. With returns like that, I'm inclined to agree with management on the no-dividend policy.

The bottom line
Markel is the kind of company any long-term investor should love, because it has a distinct competitive advantage in its extremely diverse and unique product portfolio.

Finally, one of the most compelling reasons to love Markel is its shareholder-friendly management. In the company's 2013 letter to shareholders, the company's board members wrote:

"This is your company. We as managers are stewards of your capital. You've entrusted us with the authority to run this business, and this annual report functions as our report card to you."

The management has delivered for its shareholders year after year.

If only every company's management thought like that...

Programmable-logic-device maker Xilinx  posted record revenue in the fiscal year ending this March, and at its 2014 Investor Day, it laid out a plan for annual growth of 8%-12% for the next two years. Can the company manage its current and future technology portfolio to deliver on these ambitious goals, or will competitors like Altera  and Intel  thwart the company's efforts?

28-nanometer node
Xilinx's current flagship products are its 28-nanometer FGPAs. They were the first 28-nm chips on the market when they were launched in 2010, and they dominate at the 28-nm geometry with 70% share. It's taken several years for client prototypes to make it to volume production, but last year, Xilinx finally earned a substantial $380 million from 28-nm, exceeding its target of $350 million.

For the next year, Xilinx has set a more ambitious goal of $700 million in revenue from 28-nm. It seems likely the company will achieve this number, considering the 40% sequential growth of 28-nm chip revenue in the most recent quarter. Also, given the nature of the market, the company has good visibility into many current customers who will be ramping up production with 28-nm FPGAs.

In particular, the Kintex-7 FPGA, which Xilinx states was explicitly developed to be attractive in the wireless market, is expected to do increasingly well thanks to the continued rollout of 4G LTE. Even though the LTE rollout in China has been a hot topic in the technology market for quite some time now, Xilinx management claims that it is still only in the very beginning stages and should benefit the company for several more years.

The next generation
Starting last December, Xilinx began to unveil the new generation of its products, which it calls UltraScale. The mid-range Kintex and high-end Virtex products, built on 20-nm nodes, were the first to be announced and are already shipping. Like the 28-nm generation before it, the UltraScale products will likely take several years to generate significant revenue, but they are the future of the company.

But, there is where things get interesting. Xilinx's main competitor in FGPAs, Altera, is developing its own next-generation products in an exclusive partnership with Intel. Intel recently opened its world-class foundry to third parties, and so far, Altera has been its biggest foundry customer. The big news is that Intel and Altera will be manufacturing FPGAs on the 14-nm node, a generation ahead of Xilinx.

Who will win the next generation? When asked about the tendency of Xilinx and Altera to trade off the dominant position at subsequent geometries, Xilinx CEO Moshe Gavrielov answered that he doesn't "think there is a physical rule of nature that says that you need to swap leadership." He also reiterated that he is very confident about his company's position for the next generation of chips. Still, with Xilinx's foundry, and TSMC only rolling out its 16-nm node late this year or early next year, Xilinx might find itself a year or more behind Altera.

Taking on the ASIC market
The fight for the next generation of FPGAs is especially important, as Xilinx and Altera hope that their addressable markets will increase drastically in coming years. Both companies have claimed that FPGAs are becoming more competitive relative to application-specific chips, known as ASICs or ASSPs, with Altera estimating that FPGAs could eventually take almost $50 billion from ASICs and ASSPs.

The change seems to be happening slowly at the 28-nm geometry, with one-third of 28-nm design wins coming against incumbent ASICs and ASSPs. But, this is likely to accelerate rapidly with the new generation of FPGAs. It is becoming economically infeasible to continue to produce limited-applicability ASICs and ASSPs using the most advanced technological processes, and this will give new FGPAs more of an edge.

In conclusion
Xilinx is well-positioned to keep benefiting from the success of its 28-nm chips in the ongoing LTE rollout. However, success down the line is not guaranteed, as competitor Altera seems to have a momentary advantage in the development of the next generation of FPGAs. Keep watching for design win announcements to find out who will take charge of the expanding FPGA market over the next several years. 

Intel promised it would roll out a revolutionary new television service by the end of 2013. Instead, it sold its media division to a pay-TV operator after hitting several stumbling blocks.

Sony says it will deliver pay-TV over the Internet before the year ends. That notion was reiterated this week when Shawn Layden, president and CEO of Sony Computer Entertainment of America, spoke with Re/code.

Can Sony succeed where Intel failed? There are two factors that are in Sony's favor, but there's one big roadblock it will have to overcome.

Sony's equipment is already in the living room
Sony's popular game consoles, Blu-Ray players, and smart TV sets give it a presence in people's living rooms. Intel may dominate the PC market, but it has practically zero presence in the consumer-facing living room entertainment market. In fact, Intel's strengths don't lend themselves to marketing toward consumer electronics.

Sony, on the other hand, has a huge portfolio of consumer electronics devices it sells, including the PlayStation and Bravia television sets. All told, Sony has sold more than 30 million PS3 and PS4 units in the United States, and millions more Internet-connected Blu-Ray players and Bravia TVs. Additionally, the company plans to roll out its $99 set-top box, dubbed PlayStation TV, to the U.S. in order to attract a wider audience geared more toward over-the-top video services.

With a built-in market to sell its service to, Sony can get new customers to try the service with just a few clicks of their PS4 remotes. Comparatively, Intel required users to shell out for new hardware before they could even try the would-be service.

Sony has a better line on content deals
Intel's biggest stumbling block in its pay -TV plans was negotiating content deals. The chipmaker has no experience with content partnerships and practically no clout with the major media brands.

Sony, on the other hand, runs a movie and television studio. Although that division operates separately from Sony's consumer electronics business, it gives the company significantly more weight when negotiating deals with media companies.

The company has yet to announce any definitive agreements with content owners, including its own studios, but it's been in talks with at least one major content company. Additionally, it should be able to work out a deal with its own studio.

In the interview with Re/code, Layden claimed that consumers should expect the content "you would find the most interesting." That includes live sports.

Sony could also make a go at producing original content or acquiring exclusive rights for its service. The company is already developing an original TV series for PlayStation owners called "Powers," based on the comic book. There's not much stopping it from doing the same for its potential pay-TV service.

Additionally, Sony may be interested in the rights to the NFL's Sunday Ticket. The NFL's current contract is set to expire at the end of the 2014 season, and Sony could snatch it up.

One big problem
Sony may be able to work out the content deals and have devices in millions of living rooms, but it still faces one major hurdle. It's going to have to rely on the Internet service providers to deliver its content. That's either not going to work out smoothly, or it's going to cost a lot. Either way, it will deter consumers from choosing Sony's service over a traditional cable operator's.

Recent history has shown ISPs don't always play nicely with over-the-top video services. Sony will have to establish strong relationships with content-delivery networks and ISPs in order to ensure smooth streaming for all of its customers. That won't be cheap. As an added cost on top of the content-acquisition prices, which are sure to be relatively expensive, Sony may get priced out of the market.

Unless Sony can deliver unmatched service in either content, interface, or something truly innovative, it's not going to be able to justify the premium price it will likely have to charge.

Succeeding where Intel failed
If Sony succeeds in bringing over-the-top TV to market, it will be very exciting. The television industry has faced a lot of pressure from other over-the-top services, but has yet to undergo any real disruption.

While Intel's project was swallowed up by the would-be competition, Sony stands a fighting chance of making it to market. If it does, it will face a big roadblock in the ISPs, but it could cause them to innovate instead of complain.

Although we don't believe in timing the market or panicking over market movements, we do like to keep an eye on big changes -- just in case they're material to our investing thesis.

What: Shares of Geron , a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on developing therapies to treat hematologic malignancies, skyrocketed as much as 33% after announcing that the Food and Drug Administration had removed the partial clinical hold on imetelstat in its myelofibrosis investigator-sponsored trial.

So what: As a refresher, the partial clinical hold was put in place by the FDA in March due to concerns of imetelstat-driven liver damage. Per its press release, Mayo Clinic investigator Dr. Ayalew Tefferi needed to supply the FDA with additional safety information regarding imetelstat as a treatment for myelofibrosis. With that being done and the partial hold now lifted, its IST can continue as planned. However, Geron notes that the FDA still has a full clinical hold in place for its polycythemia vera and multiple myeloma indications.

Now what: I'm not too shocked with today's press release as imetelstat had delivered meaningful clinical responses in its myelofibrosis investigator-sponsored trial which likely merited further research. In fact, this was right along the lines of what I expected would happen. However, we have to consider that imetelstat is Geron's only clinical compound, so if it continues to experience safety issues, is unable to get its full clinical hold removed for its two additional indications, or it simply fails to meet its primary endpoint in trials, then Geron's share price is likely going to be crushed. Companies with single drug clinical pipelines are far too risky for my blood and I'd suggest you also consider looking elsewhere for investing ideas.

Source: 401(K) 2012.

One of the most important factors when you're planning to buy a home is what mortgage rate you'll have to pay to get a home loan. Over the past several years, home buyers have benefited from some of the lowest mortgage rates in decades, with prevailing mortgage rate trends having pointed downward ever since the end of the housing boom in the mid-2000s. But about a year ago, those mortgage rate trends encountered a key reversal, and even though home-loan borrowers have gotten a bit of relief more recently, most market participants remain convinced that future mortgage rate trends will make borrowing less affordable for U.S. home buyers. Here are three reasons why.

1. The Federal Reserve isn't supporting low mortgage rates as much as it used to.
One major factor that helped prolong downward mortgage rate trends over the past several years was the Federal Reserve's quantitative easing program. Starting in November 2008, the Fed started buying mortgage-backed securities, and a further round of bond buying that started in late 2012 involved $40 billion in monthly purchases of mortgage-backed bonds.

U.S. Mortgage Rate data. Source:YCharts.

Yet as you can see in the chart above, mortgage rate trends reversed in mid-2013, and that corresponded with comments from former Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke that the central bank would start tapering its quantitative easing activity as the economy improved. Just the threat of an end to bond buying sent mortgage rates up a full percentage point. Beginning last December, the Fed has reduced its monthly purchases of mortgage bonds from $40 billion to $20 billion as of last month, and many expect further reductions in future meetings.

With the Fed's purpose in buying mortgage bonds having been to keep rates low, pulling back will likely create upward mortgage rate trends that will make borrowing more expensive for home buyers. Rates are still low by historical standards, but rising rates will still threaten home affordability for many would-be buyers.

Federal Reserve building. Source: Wikimedia Commons.

2. Economic conditions look poised to improve.
Another thing that establishes mortgage rate trends and interest rates in general is the health of the economy, and right now, prospects for economic growth look good. Even after a tough winter in which many companies reported slowdowns, the Conference Board's Leading Economic Index has climbed almost 3% in the past six months. In particular, building permits contributed substantially to the recent gains, accounting for a quarter-percent boost in the LEI in April alone.

Mortgage rates don't always track the health of the economy. But with the Fed having based its zero-interest rate policy on economic sluggishness, a recovery is clearly what the central bank is looking for. Improving economic conditions will likely turn mortgage rate trends higher.

3. Uncertainty in the mortgage market could disrupt financing.
For years, government-sponsored enterprises Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have helped create a liquid mortgage market, supporting mortgage rate trends toward lower rates by buying mortgages that banks originate and packaging them into mortgage-backed securities. But since 2008, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have been in conservatorship, and the federal government is looking at winding the two hybrid entities down.

Source: Flickr/Future Atlas.

Prominent hedge fund investors have challenged the government's efforts, urging that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac should be privatized rather than allowed to disappear. For now, though, the government seems to be encouraging private competition by raising the fees Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac charge. Higher fees mean higher mortgage costs for consumers, and until private competition emerges, the result could be less liquid mortgage markets that lead to upward mortgage rate trends.

Think long term
No matter what happens in the short run, mortgage rate trends look like they'll point upward, at least as long as the economy keeps improving. As a result, if you're thinking about buying a home, doing so sooner rather than later could get you cheaper financing than you're likely to see in the future.

Although we don't believe in timing the market or panicking over market movements, we do like to keep an eye on big changes -- just in case they're material to our investing thesis.

What: Shares of Organovo Holdings , a clinical-stage biologics company focused on engineering human tissues that can be used in the drug discovery process or as therapeutic implants, dipped as much as 14% after reporting its full-year results before the opening bell.

So what: According to Organovo's press release, revenue (as much as it has any, given that it's wholly clinical) dipped 67% to $0.4 million from $1.2 million in the prior-year period as operating expenses doubled to $21 million from $10.5 million. Specifically, research and development expenses soared 135% to $8 million, while selling, general and administrative expenses spiked 83% to $13 million. The company announced that it ended the year with $47.3 million in working capital, though the company raised $43.4 million in net proceeds from offering 10.35 million shares during the course of the year.

Now what: While investors are clearly excited about the coming debut of Organovo's first product, a 3-D liver assay test, today's earnings report is a stark reminder that clinical-stage companies burn through cash at an exceptional rate, and if Organovo isn't able to successfully translate its ideas on paper into tangible revenue quickly then it could be forced to seek additional financing. Chances are if you've already come this far with Organovo you're not going to be deterred by its full-year report and are invested for the long haul based on its unique technology. As for me, with an accumulated deficit now topping $92 million I'd much rather stick to the sidelines and let its initial product do all the talking.

Photo: Björn Láczay

What: Back in September of 2011, Chimera Investment Company  received the first of many "Non-timely filing notices" from the SEC.

Stemming from an accounting blunder in which the company incorrectly accounted for the amount of deterioration on its non-agency securities (its largest asset class at the time), Chimera was forced to restate all of its filings since its inception in 2007. 

According to Chimera CEO Matt Lambiase, the accounting adjustments were all non-cash changes and had no real effect on the company's book value, cash flows, dividend, or taxable income. However, that isn't to say falling behind on filings hasn't come without consequences. 

For instance, it limits Chimera's access to public markets and therefore its ability to raise capital, the company reduced its borrowing by roughly $1 billion because lenders are more likely to make margin calls (force pay-back on loans early) on companies behind on filings, and certain licenses are necessary to buy mortgage loans, however, without up-to-date filings, Chimera was forced to withdraw some of these licenses which altered its investing strategy toward less cost-effective channels. 

Not to mention the possibility of a lawsuit. Because whether or not the accounting inaccuracies on the non-agency securities made a significant difference in the company's operations, it lead to an overstating of net income from 2007 to 2011 by roughly $700 million (from approximately $1.06 billion to $370 million) and certainly had the potential to mislead investors. 

So what: The good news is at least some of this looks like it's coming to an end. Last week, Chimera officially filed its 2013 annual report, which should be followed by its 2014 first quarter and second quarter results in July and August, respectively. 

At the company's current pace, fillings could be up-to-date by the end of 2014. This is a good sign things are getting back to normal and the focus will make its way back onto the business itself, which, all things considered, has performed fairly well.

In fact, since 2011, Chimera's total return (dividends plus price appreciation) is just over 45% -- this is compared to the S&P 500's return of 61% in the same time. 

Now what: Ultimately, I think the future is looking brighter for Chimera. Not only is the company well on its way to filing on time, but recent disclosures show some nice improvements. As of May 2014, the company added $4 billion to its agency residential mortgage-backed securities portfolio, which slightly boosted the company's year-over-year book value. Chimera also locked in its $0.09 dividend for the rest of the year -- which at current per share prices creates an 11% yield. 

With that said, considering the likelihood of legal troubles mixed with the current lack of transparency, you might expect the stock to be at least a little beaten-down. However, despite Chimera carrying  more baggage, it's trading at roughly 1 times book value, the same valuation as fellow non-agency REIT Two Harbors -- who, unlike Chimera, outperformed the S&P 500 over the last three years. 

Therefore, I don't' see any real incentive for investors to rush out and buy Chimera today, but rather wait for the dust to clear and allow management to prove they can finish the job.

Freddie Mac released its weekly update on national mortgage rates on Thursday morning, showing continued rises in rates nearly across the board.

Thirty-year fixed-rate mortgages, or FRMs, rose six basis points to 4.20% over the past seven days, while 15-year FRMs jumped eight basis points. to 3.31%. One year ago, 30-year FRMs averaged 3.98% and 15-year mortgages averaged 3.10%.

Five-year adjustable-rate mortgages, or ARMs, shot up even faster in the most recent week, rising 12 basis points to 3.05%. One-year ARMs stood pat at 2.4%. A year ago, 5-year ARMs were at 2.79% and 1-year ARMs at 2.58%.

Freddie Mac Vice President and Chief Economist Frank Nothaft noted in a press release that an increase in 10-year Treasury yields appears to be behind the rise in rates. He also noted that the economy added 217,000 jobs in May, following a 282,000 surge in April and a 203,000 increase in March.

These jobs create paychecks that workers can use to pay higher mortgage rates, helping the rates to rise.

 

Barrick Gold's failed attempt to merge with Newmont Mining didn't go over well in the stock market, as its shares have fallen by more than 6% in the past month. Looking forward, will shares of Barrick Gold keep falling? Let's review the main developments in recent months that could impact its valuation.

The gold market stabilizes
The gold market hasn't performed well in the past couple of years, but the price of gold has stabilized in recent months: So far in the second quarter, the average price of gold reached $1,288 per ounce -- nearly unchanged from the first quarter of 2014. The company's assumptions on realized prices are still at $1,300 per ounce, which are in line with the current price of gold. If the price of gold remains stable in the coming months, the company won't have to adjust its assumptions again, and no major write-offs will be made.

Will production start to pick up again?
In its first-quarter earnings report, Barrick Gold revised down its guidance for copper production. Its gold production remained unchanged, but still lower than last year. Based on its production in the first quarter and guidance, its quarterly production is likely to remain close to its production quota in the first quarter.

The table below shows the expected changes in Barrick Gold's revenue in the second quarter compared to same quarter last year.

Source of data: Barrick Gold

As you can see, for the second quarter, the expected 14% drop in production and 8.7% fall in the price of gold are likely to slash its gold-related revenue by almost 22% year over year. In the first quarter, the company's net revenue also fell by 22%.

But the company's production could pick up by 2015: Barrick Gold expects to resume construction in its Pascua-Lama mine in the coming months. Barrick Gold's temporary shutdown of this mine back in late October 2013 is expected to cost the company $300 million.

Moreover, because of this ramp-down, it had to compensate its streaming and royalties partners such as Silver Wheaton for the delay by providing precious metals from other mines. The reopening of the mine for construction will augment its production by 2014-2015. Further down the line, its Goldrush project near the Cortez mine is expected to be completed by the middle of next year.

Will production costs keep falling?
During the first quarter, Barrick Gold's all-in sustaining costs for producing an ounce of gold reached $833, which is 10% below the cost of production in the parallel quarter in 2013. The company's annual guidance is still around $950. But if it maintains a low production cost, as in the first quarter, this could partly offset the low price of gold. As presented in the table above, if Barrick Gold's all-in sustaining costs don't change, its cash margin per ounce will remain stable, around 35%.

One way Barrick Gold is reducing its production cost is by selling non-core assets. During the past year, it has divested several assets for over $1 billion, including its Kanowna and Plutonic mines in Australia. This asset reduction plan is likely to keep cutting down its production costs and bringing in cash.

Other gold companies have also been making great strides in reducing their production costs: During the first quarter of 2014, Yamana Gold recorded an all-in sustaining cost of $820 per GEO -- a 4% drop from the $856 per GEO recorded in the first quarter of 2013.

Takeaway
Barrick Gold isn't likely to show any dramatic developments in its second-quarter earnings report. But if the company succeeds in maintaining its low production cost, this may partly offset the low prices of gold and reduced production quota. Finally, as the price of gold stabilizes, Barrick Gold's stock is also likely to level out.

Boeing released its latest report on airplane orders received -- and canceled -- through June 10 on Thursday. No additions to the order count have been reported in the past seven days.

To date this year, the aerospace giant has booked:

• 439 "gross" orders for various flavors of its 737 regional airliner.
• seven orders for the 777 airliner.
• one 747 order.
• one 787 order.

No new cancellations were reported for the week, either. As a result, Boeing's 448 gross orders placed for planes to date, minus the 54 cancellations last reported, results in a net gain of 394 planes to Boeing's order book.

Last year at this time, Boeing had notched 505 gross orders and 435 net orders.

In all of 2013, Boeing booked a total of 1,531 gross new plane orders, which after cancellations resulted in a net gain of 1,355 -- the second-largest number of net new orders received in a single year, in company history.

Here near the half-year mark for 2014, the company's performance on gross and net orders suggest Boeing may be falling short of that near-record mark achieved last year. With the year nearly 50% gone, Boeing has recorded only about 29% as many gross and net plane orders in 2014 as it received in all of 2013.

Last year at this time, Boeing had received about 32% of its yearly orders.

Source: DryShips.

It's easy to get get bummed out daily by disappointing rates in the dry shipping industry. I'm guilty of it myself. While I don't always agree with the always-optimistic executives at DryShips , its latest earnings report and conference call offer rational insight that suggests a rapid rise in global market shipping rates may be here shortly.

Why DryShips needs rates to go up -- and fast
DryShips has some debt obligation problems it needs to solve with its creditors by the end of this year. The better the state of the dry shipping market, the better the chances that DryShips can score leniency or better-negotiated terms.

DryShips is following a strategy to let its fleet operate based on daily spot rates as much as possible rather than enter into fixed-rate contracts. By doing this, each dollar increase in rates is a dollar that falls directly to DryShips' bottom line, all things being equal.

DryShips has 7,023 operating days with spot rate exposure available for the remainder of the year. For 2015, it has 12,208 days. The more confidence that current or future creditors have in DryShips making money, the better off the company will be.

First-half showers bring second-half flowers
In the first-quarter call, CEO George Economou admitted that rates during the first half of the year have been disappointing, but market sentiment has remained steadfast. As evidence, he pointed to global long-term-contract rates and asset prices, for things such as used ships, all holding steady. Since these things tend to be priced based on a longer-term, future outlook, they signal much stronger sentiment than the temporarily low daily spot rates suggest.

Economou believes that oversupply is finally balancing with demand, and DryShips expects a "sustainable recovery" for the second half of the year. DryShips is so confident that it is betting as much of its fleet on it, having it "positioned to take full advantage of the expected market recovery."

DryShips' stance during the conference call was that the main reason for the delay in a rate rally can be summarized in one word: weather. Weather-related disruptions affected shipments on the high seas. Winter weather delayed certain construction projects in China. A late rainy season in South America delayed the harvest and shipping season. This just means, DryShips reasons, that those shipments will be more robust in the third and fourth quarters.

Bring on the rally
The bottom line, when all is said and done, is that DryShips displayed in its quarterly presentation the expectation of a 7.4% rise in shipping demand with a supply growth of only 5%. With the old supply and demand rules being enforced, the imbalance that is tilted in demand's favor should send shipping rates higher, meaning increased shipping profits. Yet none of this, as DryShips implies, includes the best-case scenario: the scrapping "potential" of so many old ships being removed from the world supply.

The exciting thing, according to DryShips, is that the market is now at a point of "very little" oversupply. Economou explained during the Q&A session on the call that the market operates very tightly. He looks forward to it being the other way around shortly, when the market is a little under-supplied and rates shoot up just from the smallest increases in demand.

Foolish final thoughts
I have to admit, Economou makes some very compelling arguments in his interviews, conference calls, and press releases for a dry shipping rally. I usually take company executives' words with a grain of salt while they are busy raising money or negotiating with their creditors, but Economou and DryShips backs their words with hard evidence, and follows up with action. I, for one, will be watching the daily rates very closely to see if they start to show signs of the reversal that DryShips is expecting. The gambler in me may be tempted to hop on board for a ride.

The market took a big hit yesterday and has only seen more of the same today, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average  down 11 points as of 2:35 p.m. EDT and all but five blue-chip stocks in the red. Caterpillar  shed 1.8% to drop to the bottom of the Dow, but airlines have suffered more than any industry, with Delta Air Lines , Southwest Airlines , and other notable stocks falling amid the latest turmoil in the Middle East. Let's catch up on what you need to know.

Will retail turn it around?
The retail sector kicked things off today on a downbeat note, a disappointment for a U.S. economy in need of good news after a GDP contraction in the first quarter. The Commerce Department reported that retail sales picked up slightly in May -- although below April's gains -- but the growth was driven almost entirely by a 1.4% hike in demand for cars and trucks. Retail sales gained just 0.1% when transportation sales were excluded, and staple industries such as groceries and department stores slid in May. Economists still believe the U.S. economy will turn around this summer after a poor start to the year, but retail sales will need to pick up in the near future to drive American consumer spending, which accounts for roughly two-thirds of GDP.

A Caterpillar loader in Iraq. Source: Wikimedia Commons.

Caterpillar this week raised its dividend by 17%, bumping its overall yield to around 2.6%. While the heavy-equipment maker's stock has risen sharply this year, the company is suffering through a tough downturn in sales in 2014.

Global retail machinery sales declined by 13% year over year in the three months ending in April, according to the company, and ongoing weakness in the mining sector has slammed Caterpillar's performance. Still, in the long run Caterpillar is well positioned atop this sector to capitalize on the ongoing economic recovery; for now, the increased dividend should help investors feel stronger about the stock's rise this year.

Airline stocks have been huge risers in 2014, but that's not helping this industry today. The Iraqi government appears to be teetering in the face of insurgent takeovers of several major cities; fuel prices have soared, particularly after Kurdish fighters occupied Kirkuk, an oil city in Iraq's north. The situation has sent Delta Air Lines' stock down by 6.4% as of 2:35 p.m. EDT, while Southwest's stock plunged by 5.1%. Fuel prices are as volatile as any trend on the market, and it's not surprising to see these stocks fluctuate today given that fuel makes up one of the airline industry's biggest costs. However, the economic recovery has boosted hopes that airline traffic will grow into the future, and Delta and Southwest in particular have capitalized by topping rivals in traffic to start the year. Investors can't predict where and when volatility in fuel prices will hit, but keying in on strong businesses and stocks -- and Delta and Southwest's dividends sure don't hurt -- is always pivotal.

Although we don't believe in timing the market or panicking over market movements, we do like to keep an eye on big changes -- just in case they're material to our investing thesis.

What: Shares of OncoMed Pharmaceuticals , a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical focused on developing monoclonal antibodies to target cancer stem cells, tumbled as much as 25% this morning after voluntarily halting phase 1 enrollment and dosing in both of its Wnt pathway inhibitor programs, vantictumab (previously OMP-18R5) and Fzd8-Fc (previously OMP-54F28).

So what: According to OncoMed's press release, the company voluntarily halted the studies after being informed from its clinical sites that eight of 63 patients treated with vantictumab and two of 41 treated with Fzd8-Fc had mild-to-moderate bone-related adverse events. As a precautionary step OncoMed halted the study and plans to submit amended protocols to the Food and Drug Administration to continue its study, including lower and less-frequent dosing, updated measures meant to curb bone-related adverse events, and modified enrollment criteria. However, as OncoMed notes, it does plan to continue its study with patients on both therapies as patients in these studies have also demonstrated extended periods without disease progression.

Now what: This, in a nutshell, is the danger associated with clinical-stage companies in that we have nothing tangible to value expect for snippets of trial data here and there and supposed market potential of lead therapies which can often prove to be off the mark. The good news here is that voluntary holds and modified trial protocols do often lead to a drug being able to continue being studied. In addition, both programs are drugs being developed in cooperation with Bayer , meaning there's a big pocketbook backing this project and potentially banking on its success.

While today's move is certainly disappointing, I believe it's far too early to give up on OncoMed. Remember, this is a company that signed what could amount to a multi-billion dollar collaboration deal with Celgene late last year. There's still a lot going on within OncoMed's pipeline, and I wouldn't let that discourage you from keeping a close eye on this company going forward.