I write plenty on the topic of mergers and acquisitions. While I tend to cover them as news stories, it’s also important to evaluate why mergers and acquisition activity is good for the stock market.
With all the talk of the Japanese Yen appreciating at what might best be described as an alarming rate, there’s plenty of interest in playing it against the dollar. But while the retail game may be new to ETFs, currency ETFs are an entirely different ballgame.
The Federal Reserve has agreed to allow banking companies to bring back their dividend policy, ending a provision that was intended to keep revenue in bank coffers until bailout money could be repaid.
In going forward, the nation’s largest banks, many of which were once some of the highest-yielding firms on Wall Street, may again become high-yielding.
You probably wouldn’t know that the reinsurance industry existed if you hadn’t gone looking for it. In fact, it is probably one of the few businesses with which so many rely but so few actually interface. You see, the reinsurance industry is made up of giant insurance companies that insure your insurance company.
Every day it seems I see a new headline about medical marijuana and the on-going political discussion going on in the United States. While last decade’s battleground was the West Coast, particularly California, the new battleground is right in the center of the country: Colorado. But I want to know how I can get in on this new goldmine with Medical Marijuana stocks.
There’s plenty of talk in investing circles about the attractive yields to be had in real estate investment trusts with what is a relatively low-risk (at least at these prices) investment. But while REITs may seem to be attractive at eye-level, you may be buying into one of the most toxic investment strategy ever.
Everyone seems to be baffled about how Twitter makes money; it seems a site with so few ads and virtually no space dedicated to anything other than tweets and profiles couldn’t be that profitable. And compare Twitter to its cousin, Facebook; they have very little in common, especially when we start dissecting how each company makes money.
It must be that time of the year again, my email box is loaded with people who think that they have found the next big Pink Sheets penny stocks, and they’re willing to share with me! While I appreciate their desire to help others, especially with a stock pick they think is going to the moon, I’m not so keen on taking advice from spammers.
While I’ve previously covered bond convexity and bond barbell’s on this blog, I think it is important to cover a very powerful savings strategy, the certificate of deposit (CD) ladder. At its core, the CD ladder is very much like the bond barbell; the number one goal is to reduce exposure to low interest rates and set your portfolio up for the best possible returns with the least amount of risk.
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Pre-paid tuition was set to become one of the most popular methods for “saving” for an eventual college education, but as state budgets turn red, new worries have emerged that those who have put so much into paying for a college education might not get everything they paid for. In fact, Illinois, admittedly a state with the worst budget crisis, sees a short-fall of 31% between paid-in capital and the total cost of tuition.
Yesterday we discussed counterparty risk, so it’s probably time to talk about credit default swaps, what they are, and how they work. During the financial crisis, credit default swaps were partially to blame, and you may have heard people refer to them as “CDS.”
Even though the financial crisis is long over—at least it appears to be!—counterparty risk isn’t yet gone. It’s still alive and well, and just as much part of the financial markets in 2011 as it was in 2007-2008. It’s probably about time we understand what it is.
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.
As the world exits from recession and the United States considers remedies to a growing Federal deficit, we’re sure to hear plenty of references to the yield curve for both monetary policy decisions, as well as fiscal policy from the US House and Senate. Now might be a good time to know what the yield curve is; we’ll explain below.
I get a laugh of all the coverage of Warren Buffett and his investing style. While he’s certainly a leader in investing thought, he’s also a staple in the ideas of value investing and many look toward Buffett as confirmation of their investing objective.
The hottest thing since sliced bread may soon be coming to a stock market near you: Groupon. The company, which is attributed with the title of the fastest-growing company in history, may be due for an IPO. As for how to value a future Groupon IPO, no one really knows.
The brokers are starting to look like a great, albeit temporary and speculative investment. In particular, I’m looking at ETFC, AMTD, and FXCM. That’s Etrade, Ameritrade, and FXCM (a forex broker).
Is it any surprise that gold and silver were rising as they were ignored, and have been falling when they become recommended? Not really.
In fact, the reasons for such a movement are generally pretty simple: institutions ride the wave up, and they exit by selling off to retail trend followers. We’ve seen this phenomenon happen time and time again, and commodities are no different than are any other investments.
Investors may have renewed their appreciation for risk appetite, but that doesn’t mean they’re valuing earnings. Instead, discretionary income plays are top dog, as are the recovering media and financial industries. But with those sectors flying high, it’s time to tap some low multiple value stocks.
Unfortunately, many investors haven’t yet figured how bonds work into their portfolio. They are, as an asset class, an interesting bunch and their movements can be confusing to many “hands-off” investors. Read more…
The Dogs of the Dow Theory proved it was worth its weight in gold in 2010, beating Wall Street and making a mockery of active fund managers with its simple elegance.
The strategy, which calls for buying and holding only ten stocks, has been for a long time the definition of simple market beating strategies. Read more…
The cost basis of an asset is calculated primarily for tax compliance. As part of the 2008 economic stimulus package, the cost basis accounting and reporting rules have changed. The new cost basis brokerage reporting rules go in effect January 1, 2011. Read more…
Charles Schwab may have been a laggard when it came to bringing out its own exchange-traded funds, and most mutual fund companies were, but its comprehensive list of commission-free ETFs provides quite the deal for Schwab account holders. Read more…
I love Tata Motors (TTM). I first loved it at $16, then $18, and I still love it at $29. (I’m still mad I didn’t love it more at $5.) Despite my own errors in failing to double down in 2008, I think this stock still has plenty of room to run on India’s public infrastructure investment. Read more…
You’ve probably heard by now that starting January 2011, the United States Postal Service (USPS, SnailMail) will stop printing a value on stamps. Instead, each new stamp will be just like a “forever stamp” entitling you not to a certain amount of postage, but instead the delivery of one piece of mail. Read more…
