Continuing Education Class Reviews

Growth and Value: What’s the Difference?

While the majority of American investors understand the importance of diversifying across growth and value investments, few are able to achieve a passing grade on a test of their knowledge of the differences between the two , according to a new American Century Investments survey.

Test your knowledge with the Growth & Value IQ quiz below:

1. Which best describes a growth stock?

a) Stock that offers guaranteed rate of growth tied to consumer price index.

b) Stock in a company specializing in agriculture, lumber, landscaping, and other organic products.

c) A stock in a company demonstrating better than average profit and earnings gains.

d) All of the above.

2. Which best describes a value stock?

a) Stock in fast-growing company specializing in high-value, low-cost products, like a discount retailer.

b) Stock in a company specializing in valuable goods, like precious metals and jewelry.

c) Stock that has a low price-to-book ratio.

d) All of the above.

3. Which statement is true?

a) Value stocks outperformed growth stocks between 1927 and 2001.

b) Smaller company value stocks outperformed larger company value stocks between 1927 and 2001.

c) Maintaining a portfolio with a combination of growth and value stocks generally is considered a prudent investment approach.

d) All of the above.

4. During periods of strong economic expansion, which fund generally performs better?

a) Growth.

b) Value.

c) Neither.

d) Both.

5. Generally speaking, value funds outpaced growth funds in 2000 and 2001.

a) True.

b) False.

6. Generally speaking, growth funds outpaced value funds during the 1990s.

a) True.

b) False.

7. Which type of fund is more likely to invest in stocks paying a significant dividend?

a) Growth.

b) Value.

c) Neither.

d) Both.

8. Higher price-to-earnings ratios normally would be associated with stocks in which type of mutual fund?

a) Growth.

b) Value.

c) Neither.

d) Both.

9. What kind of stock is described in this example: “Established baked-goods company with strong balance sheet and good cash flow experiencing temporary drop in reaction to changes in senior management.”

a) Growth.

b) Value.

c) Neither.

10. What kind of stock is described in this example: “Software company, enjoying steady sales increases, is in the process of rolling out an eagerly anticipated update to a popular software application.”

a) Growth.

b) Value.

c) Neither.

Key: 1(c); 2(c); 3(d); 4(a); 5(a); 6(a); 7(b); 8(a); 9(b); 10(a). – NU

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commodity trading training

Beating the S&P 500 with Stock Market Timing

Copyright 2006 Equitrend, Inc.

Approximately 75% of fund managers do not beat the S&P 500 year in and year out. How can a basket of 500 hundred stocks beat the majority of actively managed mutual funds? The people who manage these funds are, for the most part, brilliant people. They are highly educated and have access to the most advanced information and decision support systems in the world. So why is it that they do not outperform the S&P 500?

A Quick Test:

Here’s a very crude test of management performance: Let’s compare the domestic-equity mutual fund performance supplied by Morningstar against the S&P 500 index for one, three, five and ten-year periods, looking back from April 30, 1995. The S&P 500 index is a fair comparison for large, domestic companies.

Our results:

Of the 1,097 funds Morningstar covered for the one-year period, 110 beat the S&P 500, while 987 fell short. Results ranged from 46.84% to -32.26%, while the S&P 500 attained a 17.44% return.

During the three-year period, the S&P 500 returned 10.54%, while results in the funds varied from 29.28% to -15.02% compounded annually. Of the total 609 funds, only 266 beat the S&P 500.

Shifting to the five-year period, of 470 funds, 204 beat the S&P 500. Results ranged from 27.35% to -8.51%, while the index racked up 12.62%.

At ten years, only 56 of 262 funds managed to beat the index, and results varied from 24.77% to -4.06% compounded annually against 14.78% for the S&P 500.

The fact that most funds do not beat the overall stock market should not be surprising. Since the majority of money invested in the stock market comes from mutual funds, it would be mathematically impossible for the majority all of these funds to out perform the market.

The implied promise held out to investors in actively managed mutual funds is that in exchange for higher fees (relative to index funds), the actively managed fund will deliver superior market performance. There are a host of barriers to fulfilling this implied promise.

Some of the problems are:

The larger a mutual fund gets, the more difficult it becomes to deliver exceptional performance.

Although fund size runs counter to performance, fund managers have a strong motivation to let the fund grow as big as possible because the bigger the fund gets, the more money the fund managers make.

Most skillful mutual fund managers are hired away by hedge funds, where their financial rewards are greater and there are few restrictions on investment techniques.

By law mutual funds are supposed to be conservative, which in theory limits their potential losses. This conservative stance generally limits their ability to use arbitrage, options, or shorting stocks.

Can You Do Better?

Because of the general inflexibility and restrictions of most mutual funds, your investment capital is not properly hedged against market fluctuations. In most cases, if you compared the beta of the equity exposure held in actively managed mutual funds to an equal equity exposure to the S&P 500 index, your reward/risk ratio would be less rewarding than purchasing an identical equity exposure to the S&P 500 index. So, the answer is, you can do better and beat the S & P 500 by using an effective stock market timing system.

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futures trading software

Crush the Stock Market Without Trading Stocks

Do you look at the stock market and wish you’d bought some Google stock back when it was first offered for $104? You’d have gained nearly 300% on that investment in the first year – that’s roughly 9.2% each month! That’s a Wall Street level of success!

Imagine if I could show you an investment opportunity that could easily give you over 14% monthly? What if 21.5% per month was within reach? These yearly returns of anywhere from 500% to 1000% are possible for anyone who has the initiative to go out and get them. That’s 2-4X MORE than GOOGLE, one of the fastest growing stocks IN HISTORY! We’re talking about an investment opportunity where your returns will crush even the top gainers of the stock market. Are you starting to get curious about how these numbers are attainable?

You can beat the stock game by playing a different game, the Foreign Exchange trading game. Also referred to as Forex, the Foreign Exchange market is where one country’s currency is traded for another’s. You can buy 1100 Euros for $1000 US Dollars while the exchange rate is at 1.1 Euros/Dollar. Then you can sell the Euros back to dollars for $1100 (and a nice $100 profit) if the exchange rate moves to 1 Euro/Dollar.

$100 may be nice, but that 1% return on the $1000 doesn’t sound like the path to your 500% returns, does it? Here’s how that 1% gets its power: Leverage. With Forex, if you have $300 in your account, you can control a $10,000 trade. That makes your money a lot more powerful than the $1-$1 control you get in the stock market! If you’re thinking that you can lose more money this way too, just read on, you’ll learn why that won’t happen.

Consider this: The Foreign Exchange market has a DAILY trading volume of around $1.5 trillion dollars. That’s 30 times larger than the combined volume of all U.S. equity markets (that includes the NASDAQ and NYSE). This is an untapped resource, and you’re about to learn five simple steps towards taking your share out of that market and into your pocket.

1. Get Educated!
As with all things, the more you know about trading, the more likely you are to success. A little effort spent learning up front can save you hundreds and thousands of dollars of mistakes later.

2. Have a Strategy!
A simple repeatable system can turn trading into a low-risk mechanical system. Know when you should trade, how often you should trade, how much money to spend per trade, when to cut your losses, and when to take your profits. Push the right buttons at the right times, and you’ll make money.

3. Practice Makes Perfect!
Most Forex brokers will allow you to sign up for a practice account, where you can trade imaginary money until you’ve solidified your winning strategy. Don’t risk your hard-earned cash until you’ve proven that you’ll succeed

4. Scrape Together $300
That’s 2 months of brown-bagging lunch instead of buying it; or a few months of cutting down on the daily coffee-shop visits. If you start now, by the time you’ve learned a strategy and perfected it on your practice account, you’ll be ready with your $300 to start earning real money. More money is always better, but $300 is the minimum you’ll need to get started.

5. Go Out and Succeed!
By the time you get to Step 5, you KNOW you will succeed, and you’ll spring out of bed every day ready to make your profit. Some days you’ll lose a little money, but you won’t worry. Your strategy allows you to lose a little money from time to time; you proved that losing money periodically wasn’t the end of the world when you practiced; you’ll get up tomorrow and make it back by following your proven strategy.

Starting with your $300, if you made “Google Gains”, you’d have $862 in a year. That’s not bad. With Forex gains, though, you could easily turn your $300 into $1500-$3000 in a year! Who need the stock market?!?

Saving the best for last, here’s the shocking truth: The 500-1000% yearly returns are possible, but with a smarter strategy you could turn your $300 into over $10,000 in less than a year without increasing your risks! Best of all, you can do all of this over the Internet without leaving home. That’s 3000% while wearing pajamas. With these kinds of returns, you could realistically quit your job and trade full-time!

If you could use more money if your life (and lets face it, we all can), you owe it to yourself to learn more about Foreign Exchange trading.

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commodity trading brokerage

Dow Turns Moderately Bearish

In trading yesterday, only the tech-laden NASDAQ avoided the selling, edging up 3.04 points to hold at above 2300 and its five-year high. As I have said, breadth in the NASDAQ has improved.

The DOW was the big loser on the day giving up 65 points or 0.58% to fall to 11,150.70, which is just below its key short-term 20-day moving average, a warning. The S&P 500 lost 2.64 points. The near-tech technical signals for these two indices are the weakest of the four indices.

Small-cap stocks continue to hold after breaking to a new historical high on Wednesday. The Russell 2000 fell 1.58 points or 0.21%, which is positive given the extreme overbought condition. The barometer of small-cap performance is up a healthy 13.28% this year. While impressive, I question whether the index can maintain this rate of appreciation.

In commodities news, the May light crude futures on the NYMEX broke above $67 a barrel on Thursday. The near-term signals look relatively bullish and the minor trend is positive. The breakout materialized after a Rectangle formation at between $61 and $65.50. Oil could move towards the $70 level, last encountered in February, if it can hold at $65.50-$66. But watch for some selling pressure as the contract is overbought. High oil prices will pressure stocks.

Trading in the NASDAQ has come in at over 2 billion shares in the last three straight sessions. Trading volume on the NASDAQ came in at about 2.22 billion shares yesterday, above its 5-day and 10-day moving averages of 2.11 billion and 2.18 billion shares, respectively. The strong volume in yesterdays marginal up day is encouraging following a strong volume breakout on Wednesday.

On the NYSE, daily trading picked up yesterday. Trading on Thursday was 1.61 billion shares, above the 5-day and 10-day moving averages of 1.55 billion and 1.55 billion shares, respectively.

The near-term technical picture for the NASDAQ is bullish but is showing some potential weakening. The Relative Strength remains relatively strong, suggesting more gains if it can hold. The index is holding at above its previous pivot point of 2332.95 and its five-year high of 2333, a bullish sign. The index is trading at above its 20-day and 50-day moving averages of 2297 and 22854, respectively.

The MACD continues to flash a moderate buy signal. The MACD trend is negative but has reversed course. The upside break was bullish after largely trading in an intermediate term sideways channel. Now we will see if the NASDAQ can hold and edge higher towards 2366 and 2387. The index is now marginally overbought so watch for some potential selling pressure.

On the blue chip side, the near-term signs for the DOW weakened further and are now moderately bearish. The intermediate trend is bullish but yesterdays break below its 20-day moving average of 11,156 is a warning and could signal further deterioration if it cannot hold. The Relative Strength also fell to below neutral, showing a potential lost of momentum. The MACD turned bearish yesterday and is flashing a moderate sell.

The key for the DOW is whether it can hold at around its 20-day moving average. Indications suggest further weakness, albeit the selling has created a near oversold condition. Failure to hold could drive the DOW down to 11,092, 11,077 and 50-day moving average at 11,016. A rebound could see the DOW move back to above its 20-day moving average and a pivot point at 11,234.

The Bollinger Bands on the DOW are trending upwards and widening, indicating increased volatility in the near-term. Watch this.

On the S&P 500, the near-term picture is neutral to moderately bullish. The Relative Strength weakened yesterday and is marginally above neutral. The index is trading at above its 20-day and 50-day moving averages of 1,294 and 1,283, respectively. The MACD is neutral.

Near-term targets are 1,310 and 1,333. The index needs to hold at its 20-day moving average or we could see weakness.

On the small-cap side, the Russell 2000 is bullish. The Relative Strength is relatively strong but watch if it can hold. The recent break above the previous pivot point of 745.18 was positive. The trend is positive with higher highs and lower lows.

Watch if the Russell 2000 can trend higher but given the buying, the index is extremely overbought. The MACD is positive and appears to have reversed the downtrend.

The next area of resistance for the Russell 2000 is 772 and 803.

The advance-decline line on the NYSE (0.77:1) continues to be mixed, coming in at below 1.0 yesterday. The NASDAQ (1.004:1) managed to hold at above 1.0. The daily A/D reading on the NASDAQ has been above 1.0 in 7 of the last 10 sessions. The 5-day moving average for both the NYSE (1.27:1) and NASDAQ (1.42:1) remains above 1.0.

The market is continuing to show bullish sentiment. The new high new low ratio (NHNL) for the NASDAQ came in at above the bullish 70% level for the 14th straight day, coming in at 89.35%. The NHNL ratio on the NYSE (82.69%) has been above 70% for the last 15 straight sessions.

The current technical picture for the four key indexes is as follows:

NASDAQ: Bullish; Relative Strength: Above Neutral; Marginally Overbought

DOW: Moderately Bearish; Relative Strength: Below Neutral; Near Oversold

S&P 500: Neutral to Moderately Bullish; Relative Strength: Neutral

RUSSELL 2000: Bullish; Relative Strength: Relatively Strong; Extremely Overbought

Here is what to watch for on Friday.

The DOW faces more selling pressure as its near-term technical picture is moderately bearish and the weakest of the four indices. Watch for potential support as the index is nearly oversold.

Tech and small-cap stocks continue to show the strongest technical strength but watch the extremely overbought condition in the Russell 2000 and marginally oversold condition on the NASDAQ.

Note: you are welcome to post this article on your site if it is financial related. You must cut and paste the bio and make sure the web site link is live. Also please e-mail me to let me know.

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commodity future

Entities in the trading system in Indian Stock Markets

There are four entities in the trading system. Trading members, clearing members, professional
clearing members and participants.

1. Trading members: Trading members are members of NSE. They can trade either on their own
account or on behalf of their clients including participants. The exchange assigns a Trading member
ID to each trading member. Each trading member can have more than one user. The number of
users allowed for each trading member is notify ed by the exchange from time to time. Each user
of a trading member must be registered with the exchange and is assigned an unique user ID. The
unique trading member ID functions as a reference for all orders/trades of different users. This ID is
common for all users of a particular trading member. It is the responsibility of the trading member
to maintain adequate control over persons having access to the firms User IDs.

2. Clearing members: Clearing members are members of NSCCL. They carry out risk management
activities and confirmation/inquiry of trades through the trading system.

3. Professional clearing members: A professional clearing members is a clearing member who is not
a trading member. Typically, banks and custodians become professional clearing members and clear and settle for their trading members.

4. Participants: A participant is a client of trading members like financial institutions. These clients
may trade through multiple trading members but settle through a single clearing member

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commodity trading companies

Desperately Seeking Diversity, Simplicity

If you think choosing the right investments is complicated, you’re not alone. Investors looking for simplicity and portfolio diversification are driving demand for all-in-one investment options.

According to Strategic Insights, a market research firm serving the mutual fund industry, more than two-thirds of the $150 billion that investors added to mutual funds in 2004 landed in asset allocation products.

So what exactly are these all-in-one investments? In a nutshell, they are broadly diversified, professionally managed funds that can serve as a complete portfolio. They come in primarily two flavors.

* Lifestyle or life-cycle funds focus on a particular level of risk. These can be an appropriate choice for investors who want a diversified core investment solution that offers a specific level of risk and potential reward.

* Age- or target-year-based funds target a specific investment time frame or goal. As each fund’s target year approaches, its exposure to stocks (and corresponding risk) will decrease and its exposure to bonds and money market investments will increase to reduce risk and preserve capital. These funds can be suitable choices for investors seeking a core investment strategy for retirement planning or who have a set number of years to invest.

American Century currently offers both types. My Retirement Portfolios is a series of five age- or target-year-based funds, while One Choice Portfolios is a separate series of five risk-based funds.

Both portfolios are made up of American Century stock funds, bond funds and money market funds. The portfolios’ managers adjust asset classes and weightings to emphasize investments they believe provide the most favorable outlook for achieving results.

Doug Lockwood is a certified financial planner for American Century Investments.

Ask for a prospectus that contains investment objectives, risks, charges and expenses, and other information that should be carefully read and considered before investing.

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commodity trading broker