tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-287019432012-02-16T01:06:32.967-08:00How to get investment ideas from business newsAdventures In Money Makingnoreply@blogger.comBlogger571100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28701943.post-34965392230608463272010-02-23T14:17:00.000-08:002010-02-23T14:19:24.531-08:00

Editor's Note: This article, by Alec Young, International Equity Strategist at Standard & Poor's, was originally published in the February 2010 edition of Capital IQ's Monthly Market Observations, pp. 34-36.Japan is the largest overseas stock market in the world, recently weighing in at 14.6% of free float adjusted international equity market capitalization. Just when its long-term

Adventures In Money Makingnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28701943.post-10003135483148820452010-02-02T11:50:00.000-08:002010-02-02T11:56:08.998-08:00

If you feel like investing in real estate, you're better off buying cheap lots in Florida rather than REITs. Yes, it is possible to buy a waterfront lot for under $5,000 - a much better investment than the stock market right now. Check out this essay by Dan Amos:The commercial real estate crisis may be the most anticipated crisis in history. But just because it's widely anticipated doesn't mean

Adventures In Money Makingnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28701943.post-13930259366882708132009-08-02T14:32:00.000-07:002009-08-02T14:33:45.580-07:00

I think we've just witnessed the end of capitalism. The U.S. government (remember "We The People"?) has just taken money from Chrysler debtholders in the name of saving jobs for American union workers. Not only is this freely giving away money to the long-failing auto industry, but the government plans to pay for it with our tax dollars and the future tax dollars of our children… In case you

Adventures In Money Makingnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28701943.post-51376354803650066522009-07-20T00:34:00.001-07:002009-07-20T00:39:38.888-07:00

I came across an interesting article by Byron King. Here it is:The first thing I do when I sit down at my desk in the morning is check the price of gold. The second thing I do is check the price of oil.Sure, the price for gold and oil changes all the time. Prices go up and down, for good and bad reasons. Heck, sometimes prices fluctuate and the reasoning defies logic.Still, I watch the price

Adventures In Money Makingnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28701943.post-21954005676763198142009-02-24T18:39:00.000-08:002009-02-24T18:47:44.992-08:00

The Condensed Version: Serious dislocation has resulted in the following challenges:1. A huge capital gap has been created (most debt has vanished, and all the available equity is not enough to fill the hole).2. No one expects surviving financial institutions to ramp up lending once they finally stop their own mammoth balance sheet bleeding (even with gargantuan government bailouts).3. Persistent

Adventures In Money Makingnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28701943.post-87286920402296562602009-01-17T14:04:00.000-08:002009-01-17T14:06:18.781-08:00

Fancy the opportunity to invest with international investment gurus such as Warren Buffett, Mark Mobius or Bill Gross? Krung Thai Asset Management wants to give local Thais the chance.The KTAM Investment Legends Fund (KTIL), the first equity foreign investment fund launched this year, is a feeder fund investing in Warren Buffett's famed investment holding company Berkshire Hathaway, the Templeton

Adventures In Money Makingnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28701943.post-62781051048975148432008-11-11T11:33:00.000-08:002008-11-11T11:36:11.535-08:00

Continuing on our theme of bankrupt US Auto manufactureres, here's a report from MarketWatch:Deutsche Bank downgraded General Motors Corp. to sell from hold, with a price target of $0, saying the car maker may not be able to fund its U.S. operations beyond December without government intervention. Deutsche Bank said it believes the U.S. government will be

Adventures In Money Makingnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28701943.post-29385609689546978412008-10-28T16:53:00.000-07:002008-10-28T16:58:55.812-07:00

Kirk Kerkorian is still dumping Ford shares. Tracinda, Kerkorian's investment vehicle, pared its position to 4.89% from 6.09% on October 20. At its peak, Tracinda owned 6.43% of the company.The National Automobile Dealers Association estimates 700 new-car dealerships will close this year, and 37,100 jobs will go with them. The country's 20,700 dealerships accounted for $693 billion in sales last

Adventures In Money Makingnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28701943.post-52322180545664050862008-10-27T05:18:00.000-07:002008-10-27T05:22:15.221-07:00

“I believe the gold juniors offer the best value for your paper dollar going forward,” says Ed Bugos of the violently beaten-down junior mining sector. The Canadian Venture Index, the bellwether of juniors, is down a nauseating 70% from its 2007 high.Ed sent over a lists of what gold bugs should NOT do: * Don't be overly short the stock market at this stage of the collapse. * Don’t

Adventures In Money Makingnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28701943.post-61546112531001608922008-10-12T10:18:00.000-07:002008-10-12T10:22:53.438-07:00

The US ban on short-selling financial stocks just expired last week. And during most of the 2-week duration stocks plummeted anyway. The WSJ had an article on it where several large financial bigwigs admitted it was a farce and a bit like "having a big glass of orange juice only to have a sugar crash a few hours later".But while the rest of the world is scrambling to shore up its financial

Adventures In Money Makingnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28701943.post-52709683175531589232008-08-09T11:37:00.000-07:002008-08-09T11:38:45.191-07:00

In 1998, Moscow was in crisis. More than 100,000 Russians took to the streets as a slew of banks – and the life savings of millions of citizens – went bust.But just a decade later, the global commodities boom has made Russia flush with cash, and Moscow has become a pricey place to live.That's the finding in Mercer's 2008 Worldwide Cost of Living Survey. Moscow tops the list with a score of 142.4,

Adventures In Money Makingnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28701943.post-71752820803979849472008-08-05T08:21:00.000-07:002008-08-28T17:33:44.142-07:00

I've been an avid real estate investor in the past and I still keep abreast of the market and good places to invest. Here's an interesting email I received recently.The Cheapest "Nice" Country in the World Right NowBy Doug Casey, editor, The Casey ReportI've been to about 175 countries, and lived in 12. All the while, I've felt the U.S. and Western Europe in particular (but also Canada, to a

Adventures In Money Makingnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28701943.post-12614894514259756212008-08-03T11:39:00.000-07:002008-08-09T11:40:14.994-07:00

The Arctic holds as many as 90bn barrels of undiscovered oil and has as much undiscovered gas as all the reserves known to exist in Russia, US government scientists have said in the first state assessment of the region.The estimates could fuel the race among polar nations, such as Russia, the US, Denmark, Norway and Canada, vying for control of the region, though the study said Russia and the

Adventures In Money Makingnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28701943.post-5706298559946549962008-07-15T01:58:00.000-07:002008-12-10T12:26:56.289-08:00

Even though its been feeling like a recession for 6 months, economics keep telling us that it isn't so. I guess they must be right!

Adventures In Money Makingnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28701943.post-30970797450005458572008-07-14T13:31:00.000-07:002008-07-14T13:36:12.016-07:00

Today, the Financial stocks were in complete meltdown. Stocks like Washing Mutual(WM) were down 35% along with Freddie Mac (FRE) and Fannie Mae (FNM). The one sector that did pretty well today was Coal. And why wouldn't it?According to newsletter editor Byron King, the future for coal is promising;“The U.S. Air Force is putting together a program to develop a domestic synthetic jet fuel. Just as

Adventures In Money Makingnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28701943.post-89970006333524557012008-07-01T11:52:00.000-07:002008-07-01T11:55:26.067-07:00

“Ultra high-strength and super-light steels are the plastics of the 21st century,” says Chris Mayer, editor of a popular investment newsletter. “There is high demand for these steels for use in everything from jet engines to rail components. In turn, there is a big push for the quirky metals so critical in making them. And in those quirky metals are good opportunities for investors.”“Vanadium’s

Adventures In Money Makingnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28701943.post-58595161648772805522008-06-30T01:48:00.000-07:002008-12-10T12:26:56.552-08:00

The U.S. has been lagging in infrastructure spending for decades. At present, America spends less than 2.4% of its GDP on infrastructure, compared to 5% in Europe and 9% in China. At the same time, the U.S. population is expected to grow 50% by 2050.According to an estimate from the American Society of Civil Engineers, its suggested that the U.S. government will need to spend $1.6 trillion over

Adventures In Money Makingnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28701943.post-8721383727801337952008-06-28T15:22:00.000-07:002008-12-10T12:26:56.931-08:00

According to Steve Sjuggerud, Japanese stocks are cheaper than they've been at any time in the last quarter-century. I started buying Japanese small cap stocks via the ETF last year, but I was early to the party. You have to go back to the beginning of 1983 to find price-to-earnings ratios and price-to-book values this low... and dividend yields this high.If you were bold enough to buy Japanese

Adventures In Money Makingnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28701943.post-34715139473277859812008-06-23T10:57:00.000-07:002008-06-23T11:00:18.380-07:00

According to the Des Moines Register, it seems that Pork prices are next on the list of inflationary increases. Even though there's still no inflation, isn't it funny how everything is increasing in price!For consumers feeling the pinch of higher food prices, the flooding of prime Midwest farmland will bring more bad news in supermarkets through next year.By wiping out corn and soybean crops

Adventures In Money Makingnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28701943.post-27405737655237836202008-06-14T19:19:00.000-07:002008-06-14T19:20:57.877-07:00

One of my favorite investors and long-time commodities bull, Jim Rogers, gave an interview to Bloomberg this week, and his story's largely unchanged... Jim is still short all investment banks through an ETF. He's specifically short Citibank and Fannie Mae.Rogers also announced he purchased airlines. His reason... "Everybody's very bearish." He said flights are full, fares are increasing, and if

Adventures In Money Makingnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28701943.post-80481443502223846542008-06-02T07:29:00.000-07:002008-06-02T07:31:30.688-07:00

According to the International Herald Tribune:As U.S. exporters scramble to meet the increased demand for their products created by the weak dollar, they are running into an unexpected snag: Space on ships leaving American ports has suddenly become scarce.So the country's farmers, chemical companies, machinery makers and other exporters are facing delays at the docks that erode the currency

Adventures In Money Makingnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28701943.post-47196922000687201652008-05-30T20:11:00.000-07:002008-05-30T20:12:54.539-07:00

Global chemical producer Dow Chemical Co. (DOW) announced Wednesday that it would raise prices on all 3,200 of its products – some by as much as 20% – beginning at the start of the third quarter. Bloomberg News said it's the single-biggest price increase in the Michigan-based company's 111-year history. But Dow Chief Executive Officer Andrew Liveris said the price hike was made necessary by "

Adventures In Money Makingnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28701943.post-18465759846394534862008-05-29T21:48:00.000-07:002008-05-29T21:49:56.864-07:00

According to USA Today, Food inflation is the highest in almost two decades, driven by record prices for oil, gas and mounting global demand for staples such as wheat and corn, and for proteins such as chicken. And that's reaching into Americans' backyards.Basic economics account for most of the increase: Bad weather has hurt crops, economic prosperity has driven up demand in developing countries

Adventures In Money Makingnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28701943.post-7103080278214030622008-05-18T10:53:00.000-07:002008-05-18T10:57:00.207-07:00

According to Martin Hutchinson, there are more than 30 Brazilian companies with full American Depository Receipt (ADR) listings on the New York Stock Exchange, plus 40-50 more that are traded in the over-the-counter market. Here are a few attractive examples to consider: * Banco Itau Holding Financeira SA, referred to usually as Banco Itau (ADR: ITU), has a Price/Earnings ratio of 14 and

Adventures In Money Makingnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28701943.post-75421294133627919632008-05-08T09:32:00.001-07:002008-05-08T09:37:20.826-07:00

Here' a few good reasons why Japanese real estate is a great place for our money:• Japanese real estate investment trusts (REITs) are a great bargain, down 29% since June 1.• Dividend yields are the highest income plays in Japan, in the 4% range.• There's a huge incentive to borrow and buy real estate, as "cap rates" (essentially the rent minus the costs of upkeep) are 4%-6%, while the cost of

Adventures In Money Makingnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28701943.post-82522700843385759612008-05-08T08:53:00.001-07:002008-05-08T08:53:59.906-07:00

Petroleo Brasileiro SA, Brazil's state- controlled oil company, plans to add 14,000 engineers, geologists and drillers within three years as it develops the biggest crude discovery in the Western Hemisphere since 1976.Petrobras, as the company is known, plans to expand its workforce 23 percent to about 74,000, surpassing Chevron Corp., the second-largest U.S. oil producer. The hiring binge is

Adventures In Money Makingnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28701943.post-84223423640376297332008-05-08T08:51:00.000-07:002008-05-08T08:52:59.572-07:00

Transocean Inc., the world's largest offshore oil driller, said first-quarter profit more than doubled as record crude prices increased exploration for new reserves.Net income rose to $1.19 billion, or $3.71 a share, from $553 million, or $2.62, a year earlier, the Houston-based company said today in a statement.Oil producers are expanding the search for untouched oil reserves from India to the

Adventures In Money Makingnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28701943.post-6947562947182929722008-05-06T21:05:00.000-07:002008-05-06T21:06:42.190-07:00

“We like businesses that drown in cash,” Charlie Munger said at the Berkshire Hathaway shareholder meeting over the weekend, uttering the Munger-Buffett Mantra. When asked what kind of business they would buy during this “credit crisis,” Munger said businesses with tangible assets that “sweat” cash.“We like ideas where you don’t have to carry to three decimal places,” Buffett chimed in, “simple

Adventures In Money Makingnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28701943.post-24377264603638424302008-05-06T11:26:00.001-07:002008-05-06T11:28:25.297-07:00

According the Wall Street Journal,Anticipation that a wave of cash from mainland China will eventually reach Taiwan is helping to turn its real estate into a hot property.Markets in Taiwan, one of Asia's worst laggards as an investment destination in recent years, were livened up by the Nationalist Party's victory in the March 22 presidential election. On May 20, winner Ma Ying-jeou will be

Adventures In Money Makingnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28701943.post-61986414813841325772008-03-26T23:13:00.000-07:002008-03-26T23:17:05.674-07:00

According to Bloomberg:Wall Street banks hit by mortgage losses and writedowns have cut more than 34,000 jobs in the past nine months, the most since the dot-com boom fizzled in 2001.Citigroup Inc., Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. and Morgan Stanley are among the firms that have disclosed headcount reductions so far.After the Internet bubble burst, 39,800 jobs were eliminated during the same period

Adventures In Money Makingnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28701943.post-76496448016611945242008-03-18T13:50:00.001-07:002008-03-18T13:51:08.719-07:00

Joseph Lewis, the billionaire investor who bought 9.4 percent of Bear Stearns Cos. last year, lost $1.16 billion on his stake after the firm agreed to sell itself to JPMorgan Chase & Co. yesterday for $2 a share.Lewis, the New York-based firm's second-largest holder, paid an average of about $107 apiece for 11 million shares, according to a filing submitted last year to the U.S. Securities and

Adventures In Money Makingnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28701943.post-54012289165862800912008-03-17T14:04:00.000-07:002008-03-18T14:05:38.345-07:00

NYT reports that government figures, released Friday, showed that grocery costs had jumped 5.1 percent in 12 months, the latest in a string of increases. In fact, the nation is undergoing its worst grocery inflation since the early 1990s.With a few exceptions, nearly every grocery category measured by the Labor Department, which compiles the official inflation numbers, has increased in the last

Adventures In Money Makingnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28701943.post-24091137611446993782007-07-20T14:42:00.000-07:002007-07-20T14:43:34.372-07:00

Concerns about the U.S. economy couldn't keep many commodities down in the second quarter.Lead jumped 37% to $2,645 a ton on the London Metal Exchange. One factor is continued strong demand in Asia for lead-acid batteries for cars and industrial equipment. Prices also jumped in the wake of shipment delays from a major Australian port and a change in China's tax policy that could decrease its lead

Adventures In Money Makingnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28701943.post-53368461458540216772007-07-03T13:47:00.000-07:002007-07-03T13:51:01.998-07:00

According to Bloomberg, Copper rose in New York to the highest in six weeks on speculation a decline in the value of the dollar will boost demand for the metal used in wiring and plumbing as inventories dwindle.Copper stockpiles monitored by the London Metal Exchange fell 1.8 percent to an eight-month low of 112,600 metric tons. Copper has risen 22 percent this year as inventories fell 38

Adventures In Money Makingnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28701943.post-52632262641503266572007-07-01T03:24:00.000-07:002007-06-29T03:26:45.985-07:00

All trends point to massive investments in Saudi Arabia's construction sector, with billions of dollars of investment still to come in real estate, industry and the hydrocarbons sector.Oil revenue surpluses are boosting the government budget and overall spending. In 2007, the Saudi government allocated more than $42 billion for various projects and programs in its 2007 budget.In the private

Adventures In Money Makingnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28701943.post-70462197458942753652007-06-30T02:32:00.000-07:002007-06-29T02:37:34.572-07:00

According to the U.S. Commerce Department, 40% of American households believe they could accumulate $500,000 more easily through the lottery than by savings.If only you could save $12,000 per year and invested it at 12% in a tax-defferred account, you'd get there about 14 years! Sounds like a more fool-proof way than playing the lottery!

Adventures In Money Makingnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28701943.post-15198862715706458342007-06-29T02:14:00.000-07:002007-06-29T02:18:23.165-07:00

RadioShack Corp. and Amazon.com Inc. have defied short sellers and Wall Street analysts this year by posting the top gains in the Standard & Poor's 500 Index.Shares of RadioShack, the third-largest U.S. electronics chain, and Amazon, the world's biggest online retailer, were among the 10 most-shorted in the S&P 500 as of June 15, according to data from the New York Stock Exchange and the Nasdaq

Adventures In Money Makingnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28701943.post-17496828308937937352007-06-28T11:18:00.000-07:002007-06-29T02:20:26.156-07:00

Holders of investment-grade portions of collateralized debt obligations may lose all of their money in the securities, which have been dressed up in "six-inch hooker heels," according to Bill Gross, manager of the world's biggest bond fund.Subprime mortgage bonds made up about $100 billion of the $375 billion of CDOs sold in the U.S. in 2006, Moody's Investors Service and Morgan Stanley data

Adventures In Money Makingnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28701943.post-29623935222952681722007-06-27T04:20:00.000-07:002007-06-29T02:29:13.976-07:00

There will soon be derivatives based on diamonds. A few outfits are coming out soon with some kind of diamond futures. This is only my personal opinion, but I believe we're going to see a major bull market in larger diamonds (three carets and up). Any diamond over ten carets is now considered rare.A few years ago the Sotheby's and Christie auction catalogues were filled with larger size diamonds

Adventures In Money Makingnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28701943.post-29485423609374688772007-06-24T14:24:00.000-07:002007-06-29T02:27:07.947-07:00

Losses in the U.S. mortgage market may be the `tip of the iceberg` as borrowers fail to keep up with rising payments on billions worth of adjustable-rate loans in coming months, Bank of America Corp. analysts said.Homeowners with about $515 billion on adjustable-rate home loans will pay more this year, and another $680 billion worth of mortgages will reset next year, analysts led by Robert

Adventures In Money Makingnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28701943.post-66304099134199648532007-06-22T02:29:00.000-07:002007-06-29T02:31:07.129-07:00

Morgan Stanley raised $8 billion to create the world's largest global property fund and tap increased demand for real estate in Asia and emerging markets.Morgan Stanley will invest almost half of the money in Japan and about 25 percent in countries including China and India.-BloombergAnyone know how to buy Asian REITs?

Adventures In Money Makingnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28701943.post-34388057017139591162007-06-15T03:18:00.000-07:002007-06-29T03:21:27.105-07:00

In its monthly crop report released Monday, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said escalating prices have crimped the profitability of some biodiesel plants. At many plants, soybean oil accounts for as much as 80 percent of the operating cost.Industry experts say biodiesel plants make a profit if soybean oil prices are 34 cents per pound or less.On Monday, soybean oil for July delivery was

Adventures In Money Makingnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28701943.post-14789250391551414832007-06-14T03:22:00.000-07:002007-06-29T03:23:51.215-07:00

Six Persian Gulf states now have almost $1,600 [billion] in foreign assets, dwarfing even China's mammoth $1,100 Billion of foreign reserves, according to a new report from the Institute of International Finance.The IIF report attempted to assess how the countries of the Gulf Co-operation Council had deployed their "oil windfall" in recent years. But it noted an "extraordinary deficiency" of

Adventures In Money Makingnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28701943.post-19704430452880221252007-03-21T14:54:00.001-07:002007-03-21T14:55:52.765-07:00

When beliefs arise from observations, it’s science. When observations arise from beliefs, it’s religion.

Adventures In Money Makingnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28701943.post-68426324925794466102007-03-16T10:48:00.000-07:002007-03-16T10:49:57.236-07:00

In Hollywood the motto is "Nobody knows anything." The wisdom of that motto was confirmed over last weekend when the new film, 300 was shown.The film was razzed by critics as a comic book movie drowning in catsup-blood. But 300 (which cost about $7 million to make) took in an astounding $70 million over the weekend.The movie is about 300 Spartans who held off 27,000 Persians (Iranians) in the

Adventures In Money Makingnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28701943.post-13765668084930475412007-03-16T10:46:00.000-07:002007-03-16T10:47:40.625-07:00

Oil services company Halliburton Co., which plans to move its chief executive to Dubai, said it will add more than 13,000 new employees in 2007.In a memo sent to workers on Tuesday, Chief Operating Officer Andrew Lane wrote, "It is our expectation that our planned growth for 2007 to 2009 will mean that we will hire more than 13,000 new employees in 2007. This will include growth in our Houston

Adventures In Money Makingnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28701943.post-12685095667032252692007-03-15T13:28:00.000-07:002007-03-15T13:30:10.455-07:00

Former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan said he expects the fallout from subprime-mortgage defaults to spread to other parts of the economy, especially if home prices decline.``If prices go down, we will have problems -- problems in the sense of spillover to other areas,'' Greenspan said in remarks to the Futures Industry Association meeting in Boca Raton, Florida today. While he hasn't

Adventures In Money Makingnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28701943.post-85103058410549012122007-03-15T01:59:00.000-07:002007-03-15T02:02:29.576-07:00

Unmentioned in the furor over global warming and declining oil production in the United States: Tariffs that prevent importing ethanol. Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) is even working on a new tariff that would block ethanol imports from Trinidad (currently exempt) because entrepreneurs are building sugar-based ethanol refineries there. Even though it's far more energy efficient (and thus cheaper)

Adventures In Money Makingnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28701943.post-67368281986854186302007-03-13T01:14:00.000-07:002007-03-13T01:15:40.927-07:00

Last week www.lenderimplode.com listed 28 subprime mortgage firms that were shut down or taken over. The count is now 34. Yesterday the third largest lender of subprime mortgages, New Century, stopped accepting new loan applications. The shares were once at $50. Now they are under $4 and falling. The Financial Times reports that they cannot meet their margin calls from their lenders.Essentially,

Adventures In Money Makingnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28701943.post-22299230026923685492007-03-11T12:31:00.000-07:002007-03-11T12:36:46.587-07:00

Mexican telecom Mogul Carlos Slim Helu added $19 billion to his fortune in 2006. His gain, placing him at No. 3 on the billionaire's list with $49 billion, was the largest one-year gain in a decade.Thats a 38% annual increase in his networth in one year!

Adventures In Money Makingnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28701943.post-45247033021232544082007-03-06T10:55:00.000-08:002007-03-06T10:56:55.581-08:00

There was no place to hide last week, save for the U.S. Treasury-bond market, which rallied on expectations of a weakening economy and lower short-term rates. Not so global equity markets, which have become increasingly linked. The S&P 500 has a higher correlation than ever before with major overseas stock markets, including emerging markets, according to Morgan Stanley investment strategist

Adventures In Money Makingnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28701943.post-50666121715693512452007-03-06T10:53:00.000-08:002007-03-06T10:54:53.355-08:00

The yen surged to the highest level in almost three months against the dollar as Asian and European stocks extended a slump, prompting investors to unwind riskier investments funded by borrowing in Japan.The yen reached its strongest since October against the pound and the most against the euro since November.-BloombergAs the winding of the of carry trade continues, the Yen is the best place to

Adventures In Money Makingnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28701943.post-33718720642664536252007-03-06T10:51:00.000-08:002007-03-06T10:52:46.159-08:00

Iceland has joined a growing list of nations that have sharply cut their corporate tax rates and adopted flat-rate individual income taxes. With the expiration of a surtax last year, individuals now pay a flat rate of 22.75 percent of their taxable income to the central government.Iceland's most dramatic reforms are in corporate taxation. The corporate income tax rate is 18 percent, which is

Adventures In Money Makingnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28701943.post-26336781938974897592007-03-02T11:43:00.000-08:002007-03-02T11:44:14.090-08:00

Matt White, a journeyman pitcher trying to make the Los Angeles Dodgers, could become baseball's first billionaire player.It has nothing to do with his arm. He owns a rock quarry in western Massachusetts. White, who has appeared in seven big league games in nine professional seasons, paid $50,000 three years ago to buy 50 acres of land from an elderly aunt who needed the money to pay for a

Adventures In Money Makingnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28701943.post-3869692469004662972007-02-28T12:22:00.000-08:002007-03-02T12:22:35.227-08:00

Singapore cut corporate taxes for the first time in three years, narrowing the gap with Hong Kong as the city-state seeks to lure more international financial services and technology companies.The government will reduce the maximum tax rate payable by companies to 18 percent from 20 percent from the 2008 year of assessment, Second Minister for Finance Tharman Shanmugaratnam said today.Singapore

Adventures In Money Makingnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28701943.post-64567269584642548162007-02-18T12:20:00.000-08:002007-03-02T12:21:33.109-08:00

Gold sales hit a record $65.3bn last year in spite of a 10 per cent fall in demand in tonnage terms, according to the World Gold Council, which released its fourth-quarter report on the market on Thursday.Rapid growth in the popularity of gold exchange traded funds means that ETFs have become the main driver of investment demand growth. The launch of several new gold exchange traded funds helped

Adventures In Money Makingnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28701943.post-57798865737576760012007-02-08T12:23:00.000-08:002007-03-02T12:24:00.157-08:00

BHP Billiton Ltd., the world's biggest mining company, will buy back $10 billion of shares after higher metal prices drove profit to a record.The company's shares rose 5.9 percent in Australia, the biggest gain in more than four years. Net income jumped 41 percent to $6.2 billion in the first half ended Dec. 31, from $4.36 billion a year ago, the Melbourne-based company said in a statement. Sales

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