Investing isn’t something that can be learned in a day, week, or even a single year. Finance is a study which many people dedicate four to eight years of their lives studying in college.
But beginners have to start somewhere, and the stock market is a great place to get started in the world of investing. Let’s look at a few methods that beginners can use to buy and sell stock as an investment.
Despite the turmoil and political unrest, more investors are looking to Africa as the new frontier market.
A frontier market is a market which hasn’t yet reached emerging market condition. Investing in Africa would certainly fit along the guidelines of a frontier market investment.
Who knew that water could be as valuable as it is. Most of us wake up each morning, take a shower (which consumes gallons of water), brush our teeth (which takes at least a gallon or two) and then go about our day.
The rest of the day consumes plenty of water resources, as well. Washing clothes, our cars, dishes, and even going to the bathroom creates a serious drain on our world’s natural resources. Even though water is a renewable resource, turning dirty water into clean water (and thus making it more valuable) is a very profitable business.
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With rates at record lows, US Treasury prices are now at record highs. Investors who want to solidify their position in the next move toward rising interest rates needs to know how to short Treasuries to profit on rising rates.
Traditionally most investors could not short Treasuries. Futures accounts were restricted only to those with sufficient capital and knowledge of the futures market.
Additionally, the bond markets have always been the Achilles heel to stock investors, who understand one market but not the other. We’ll show you how to short Treasuries in the article below.
As the economy fails to start after several rounds of stimulus, investors wonder where they can park investment capital without accepting too much risk. Low risk investments are the perfect choice, but what investments qualify as low risk, and what kind of returns can I expect on my low risk investments?
The Dow Jones is not a benchmark, though the media and others like to use it as such. The weird thing about this particular average is that you couldn’t easily replicate its returns with a simple buy and hold strategy. Sure, you could buy an exchange-traded fund like the DIA etf, but you cannot recreate the performance of the DJIA like you could the S&P—by purchasing the stocks in equal weights.
I could not have been more timely posting my critical review of the connection between General Electric Company (NYSE: GE) and the Obama Administration.
Now just one day after that blog post, we’re left with some insane news: GE CEO Jeffrey Immelt will head a new board intended to replace the Economic Recovery Advisory Board currently lead by the best Fed banker in history, Paul Volcker.
While the world focuses on the United States and Europe, two areas that have seen massive bailouts and easing in their own right, investors might be better instead to focus that attention elsewhere—China.
Of all the brokerage firms to release commission-free ETF trading, TD Ameritrade has the best overall fund selection, hands down. The list of 101 popular exchange-traded funds includes long time favorites, cheap index funds, and even double and triple-leveraged funds. Read more…
The new popular thing is allowing investors the opportunity to buy and sell your own branded exchange-traded funds for free. Vanguard is one of three ETF sponsors currently offering this benefit to their customers, and apparently the gimmick is working quite well to attract new customers as ETF assets cross the $1 Trillion threshold. Read more…
Exchange-traded funds in the United States reached a record $1 trillion in assets on December 16, 2010. The industry, which had less than $66 billion in assets in the year 2000, put up growth that easily outpaced any other investment vehicle. Read more…
In terms of the Greater Fool Theory, I have often found myself part of the “Greater Fool.” The Greater Fool Theory contradicts the discounted cash theory in that it says the assumption that investors aren’t always rational, and aren’t always interested in pure cash flow. Read more…
Competition in retail trading has led to incredible cuts in the price of trading index exchange-traded funds. Charles Schwab, Fidelity and Vanguard now offer commission free trading on a myriad of indexed exchange-traded funds, opening the door for investors to create highly balanced portfolios at zero cost. Read more…
The SEC has proposed a new circuit breaker system that would first go into effect on a “trial” basis with S&P 500 stocks. The circuit breaker system would come into place after a 10% drop in any S&P500 stock within any 5 minute trading period. Immediately after the stock would cease trading for five minutes before starting again. Sounds great…until you really start thinking about it. Read more…
Dividend investors had a rough and tumble 2009, but as 2010 grabs momentum dividend investors may be back in business. Yields on CDs, bonds and other fixed income investments have created a new desire to hold dividend yielding stocks, many of which produce as much, if not more, income than bonds and CDs. Read more…
In an effort to curb a growing deficit, members of the House of representatives are lining up to create a new tax on stocks and exchange-traded funds. Politicians contest the new taxes will price out high frequency trading and remove speculative investments. Myself…I think this is all wrong at all the wrong times. Read more…
It has long been accepted that January is a bellwether for the performance of the stock markets for the rest of the year. That is, if stocks rise in January, the market will rise for the rest of the year. If stocks fall, stocks will drop for the rest of the year. The bad news is that stocks have shed some 3% already in January 2010. Read more…
Stock lending fees are a crucial part of the business models for both exchange-traded funds (ETFs) and mutual funds, which derive extra returns on their equity positions by “lending” shares to short sellers for a fee. Some companies, however, are more fair than others in how they distribute these earnings. Read more…
This new fund from Wall Street is sure to shake up the regulators and traders alike. Ahead of its launch, one palladium producer rose nearly 16% due to the belief that these new funds will create huge amounts of artificial demand. Read more…
Exchange-traded funds are loved by investors for their tax advantages, especially when it comes to capital gains. Because most funds are indexes that track the returns of a subset of stocks/bonds/commodities and rarely buy or sell holdings, capital gains are almost never incurred on the operating end. Usually, a trader will only have to pay taxes when a capital gain is generated on his/her side after the position is sold. Unfortunately, this isn’t exactly true for bond funds, which had to move funds around in a very volatile 2009. Read more…
After November’s employment report, gold dove nearly 5% on better than expected employment numbers. With only 11,000 jobs lost and the unemployment rate dipping from 10.2% to 10%, investors figured that an improving economy would force the Federal Reserve to increase interest rates, fighting off inflation. Read more…
Just when you had thought you had seen it all with exchange-traded funds, Barclay’s ups the standard by announcing the release of a “Genocide-Free” ETF. The new fund will avoid companies that are directly or indirectly involved in profiting from regions and businesses that are so called benefactors of genocide. Read more…
Commodities have long been a difficult underlying index to track, but the proof is in the pudding. The spot price for oil has surged in value by more than 54% this year, so why are two exchange-traded funds lagging so far behind? Read more…
The CTFC has begun its crusade to regulate commodity ETFs. Hearings are being held throughout the week to determine “appropriate” sizes for exchange-traded funds which are now catching the blame for a global run up in commodity prices. The first victim was United States Natural Gas Fund (UNG) which is rumored to control up to 80% of all front month contracts on the exchange. Read more…
Commodity ETFs exploded during the 2007-2008 boom year for virtually every commodity. However, as the Federal government continues to poke its nose around the financial markets, its taking a hard look at exchange-traded funds. The CFTC contends that it is exchange-traded funds that are causing manipulation on the commodities markets. Read more…
