Category
Market Update
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Investing in Cotton: Profit From the New "King" of the Commodities Sector
Cotton could soon become one of the world’s hottest commodity plays. That’s because soaring demand, coupled with damaged crops throughout Asia, is pushing cotton prices through the roof. Read this free report now to find out exactly how to profit from cotton.
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Warren Buffett Emphasizes Investment Risk Management With Successor Pick Todd Combs
Warren Buffett's announcement Monday that a little-known hedge fund manager, Todd Combs, will help oversee his $100 billion investment portfolio at Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (NYSE: BRK.A, BRK.B) surprised investors and highlighted Buffett's emphasis on risk management for investment success.
Adding 39-year-old Combs to the Berkshire team makes him a top contender to take over Buffett's investment management duties whenever the Oracle of Omaha leaves his company.
"He is a 100% fit for our culture," said Buffett. "I can define the culture while I am here, but we want a culture that is so embedded that it doesn't get tested when the founder of it isn't around. Todd is perfect in that respect."
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Question of the Week: Mortgagegate Makes Investors Wary of U.S. Banking Industry
A potentially crippling crisis is flashing through the banking industry and threatening to derail the already struggling housing market and U.S. economic recovery.
But Gilani said the headlines aren't telling the full story.
Dubbed "Mortgagegate" – a nod to the earlier scandal-ridden crisis touched off by Watergate – this latest crisis involves such big lenders as Bank of America Corp. (NYSE: BAC), Citigroup Inc. (NYSE: C) and GMAC LLC (NYSE: GMA), which are alleged to have conducted negligent foreclosure practices.
Money Morning Contributing Editor Shah Gilani warned about the allegedly fraudulent business practices employed by lenders and their hired "robo-signers" that led to thousands of questionably reviewed foreclosure documents.
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Stock Market's Rally A Salute to Slow Growth
The markets staged a relief rally last week that reflects Wall Street's attitude about the overall economy. Simply put, investors are saying they can live with slow growth, so long as the U.S. can avoid a double-dip recession.
Stocks leapt around the world last week like jets of water shooting out of a fountain that had been closed down for weeks. The major U.S. indexes rose 3%, the NASDAQ rose 4%, non-U.S. foreign big-caps rose 3.6% and small-caps rose 4.6%.
Many of our plays on growth overseas rose even more: iShares MSCI Thailand Index Fund (NYSE: THD) jumped 4.9% and iShares MSCI Chile Investable Market Index Fund (NYSE: ECH) rose 4.4%, while iShares MSCI Singapore Index Fund (NYSE: EWS) rose 3.2% and iShares MSCI Turkey Index Fund (NYSE: TUR) rose 3.5%. Once again, as we have seen all year, the response in iShares FTSE/Xinhua China 25 Index ETF (NYSE: FXI) was more muted, up 2.4%.
Read on to see where the next turning point for the market will come…
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Global Airline Industry Rebounds, Will See Profit in 2010 From Recovering Economy
The International Air Transport Association (IATA) yesterday (Monday) raised its airline industry outlook and now expects airlines to post a $2.5 billion profit in 2010, recovering from two years of ailing business.
The IATA said increasing passenger travel, a climb in cargo trade, and effective cost cutting measures will contribute to accelerating the industry's rebound.
"The global economy is recovering from the depths of the financial crisis much more quickly than could have been anticipated. Airlines are benefiting from a strong traffic rebound that is pushing the industry into the black," IATA Director General Giovanni Bisignani said.
Previous industry predictions forecast a $2.8 billion loss. However the IATA revised its expectations for passenger traffic and cargo volume. Passenger traffic will grow 7.1% this year, up from the IATA's original prediction of 5.6%, and cargo volume will grow by 18.5%, up from the earlier estimate of 12%. Total revenue for the industry will be about $545 billion, up 13% from $483 billion in 2009, the group said.
Moody's Investors Service upgraded the industry's outlook Monday to stable from negative, saying they "expect profitability in the global airline sector to improve as we gain distance from the 2009 trough of the recession."
Bisignani cautioned that the recovery is fragile and that labor unions must prepare for more budget reductions.
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Stock Market Strategies for the Post-Financial-Crisis 'New World Order'
For many investors, the recent thousand-point plunge by the U.S. stock market was probably the proverbial last straw.
So let me be perfectly clear about the point that I want to make here: Sitting on the sidelines could be the investment mistake of a lifetime. The post-financial-crisis "new world order" that's emerged from the speculative excesses, recessionary realities and regulatory breakdowns of recent years has created a world of lucrative new profit opportunities – governed by a new set of profit rules.
Let me explain…
To discover the next generation of global-stock-market winners, read on…
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Dramatic Drops and Short-Covering Rallies Illustrate How Capital Waves Lead to Profits
The Greece rescue package is signed and sealed, but is still far from being delivered. It took three tries, but this time global investors believe the EU got it right. Investors celebrated yesterday (Monday) with a relief rally that touched virtually all of the world's key financial markets – and that served as a strident counterpoint to the near-freefall that gripped the U.S. stock market on Thursday.
So is it finally time to shelve our fears of financial contagion, meaning the financial shocks that start with one nation or market and spark a conflagration that spreads through interdependent entities in plague-like fashion?
Definitely not. In fact, hang onto your hats: We have just entered the brave new world where a butterfly flapping its wings in China can fan a market fire on the other side of the world. There are more contagions to come. But because of forces known as "capital waves," the same heat that burns some investors can also generate substantial profits for those who understand how to position themselves.
To understand how capital waves bring profits, please read on…
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The Real Story Behind Last Week's Stock-Market Panic
Thursday's U.S. stock market trading session qualified as a genuine stock-market "panic." They're rare, fortunately, so they're memorable.
You can say you were there.
According to the volume analysts at Lowry Research Corp., this stock market panic was on par with the mini crash of October 1989, when the Dow Jones Industrial Average plunged 6.9% in a single day. But it wasn't on par with the famed session of October 1987, when the Dow plunged 22.6% in a day.
For an in-depth analysis of last week's U.S. stock market panic, please read on…
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With a Record Amount of Cash on Hand These Companies Are Delivering Dividends
Dividends are one of the most overlooked ways for investors to notch big gains in their portfolio. And with earnings for companies in the S&P 500 surging 176% in the fourth quarter of 2009, more and more companies are using this as an opportunity to reward their investors. Read this report to find out what stocks could bring much needed income to your portfolio.
