Stock Trading - Stock Quotes - Stock Prices

Why Do Share Prices Rise and Fall?

Tue, 30 Oct 2007 17:28:38 -0500

The question in the title might be a little unfair. After all, if share prices are inherently unpredictable (and in one sense, they are - more on that later), there's no answer. Nevertheless, over a period of decades the stock market has had better returns than any other investment - 8-12% depending on various factors and it's one of the most widely studied markets on Earth. With that kind of historical data and brain power to lean on, one should be able to make a few valid observations. Well, here are some. You judge their validity.

What's Foreign Depends On Where You Stand

Sat, 27 Oct 2007 17:25:19 -0500

The New York Stock Exchange is not the oldest operating securities market. Though measured by total market capitalization, it's among the largest at $12 trillion - yes that's twelve trillion dollars. The Paris bourse goes back to 1724 and the Deutsche Boerse is even older: founded in 1585.

Tips on Buying and Selling Stocks

Wed, 24 Oct 2007 17:22:49 -0500

'SOFT' FACTORS

The first thing to consider about investing isn't technical at all. EPS, P/E, P/S, MA and EMA, RSI and dozens of other indicators are all important. But start at the beginning by looking not outside, but in.

What kind of investor are you? Young with a little capital to risk but a large earnings potential over several decades? Retired, or near it, with a healthy savings but living on limited income?

Securities Regulation

Sun, 21 Oct 2007 17:20:14 -0500

Necessary Evil or Valued Partner?

As with the equities markets themselves, complexity reigns in (and reins in) regulation. The history of regulation is almost as old as the securities markets. Stock exchanges, then called bourses, were born in the 15th century in Burgundy's northern trading centers.(Now Belgium. The term 'bourse' is from the Latin 'purse' and is still used for some exchanges.) The Royal Exchange, created in 1566 to compete with Amsterdam, evolved into the current London Stock Exchange.

Program Trading - Should You Care?

Wed, 17 Oct 2007 17:17:31 -0500

Probably you know by now that the big boys don't play nice. In the stock market, institutional and other investors with large sums have much more influence on events than the average trader. One way they do that is through the use of something called 'program trading', the purchase (or sale) of a group of stocks, usually by automated buy/sell orders.

How To Research Stocks

Sat, 13 Oct 2007 17:14:07 -0500

As with gamblers in Las Vegas so it is with stock investments, 'everybody's got a system'. The goal of research, however, is to make the activity a lot less like gambling and a lot more like investment.

For those without the time or temperament to carry out research themselves, there are full time research services available - for a fee, of course. Full-Service brokerages, such as Merrill Lynch and other large, well-established firms offer research as part of their value to clients.

How To Evaluate Stocks

Tue, 09 Oct 2007 16:39:48 -0500

Stock picking is akin to weather prediction - no one can predict with certainty five hours from now if the price will rise or fall, much less five years from now.

Nevertheless, there are indicators that help to reduce the risk and increase the odds of profiting over the long term. After all, historically stocks have returned over 10%, as measured by the growth of the S&P 500.

Government Influence on Share Prices

Sat, 06 Oct 2007 16:34:25 -0500

First, some statistics.

At the end of fiscal year 2005, the U.S. Federal debt was approximately $7.9 trillion. Yes, you read that correctly. That's almost eight trillion dollars. That's up from 930 billion in 1980, an increase of more than 849%. $4.5 trillion of that is owed to 'the public' - individual T-Bill and T-Bond (and other) holders, a third Japanese.

Equities Trading and the Internet

Wed, 03 Oct 2007 16:31:32 -0500

Once upon a time there was no Internet. OK, now take a deep breath. It's alright because there is one now. For several decades (roughly from 1960 to 1990), large companies such as Merrill Lynch and Morgan Stanley were able to trade among themselves electronically, but these trades took place over private networks.

Do You Need A Broker?

Mon, 01 Oct 2007 16:26:36 -0500

The question in the title is misleading. Most individuals have no choice whether to use a broker, since they're not members of an exchange. Those members (their employees, really) are the only ones who can actually execute a trade and they don't take calls from individual investors.

Wise Stock Investing

Sun, 23 Sep 2007 10:13:05 -0500

The title may sound strange to some investors or traders, especially to those that are new to the subject. Some people are convinced that this is the single most important thing for success in the stock market. But the truth is; when it comes to being a successful investor, how much money you make when you're right really isn't all that counts. The simple fact is you won't always be right. Oops. Bad news, right. It's not something you like to hear, but it's true. Isn't it? Even though it's possible that some of you may have met someone, at one time or another, that claimed to be right almost 100% of the time. And if you haven't met that person yet, you might run into him or her somewhere in the future. When you do, be careful. When someone tells you he or she is always right, in general, three scenario's are possible:

Stock Trading Signals

Sat, 24 Jun 2006 22:06:49 -0500

By following a trading system, market condition will at times be favourable to buy and at other times be favourable to sell. Clearly defined conditions give 'signals' that the educated investor can read and act on. Signals are not as crucial for the long term investor. For these people, market conditions and the value of particular companies can be watched on a daily basis. For day-traders, however, signals are crucial for acting quickly on stock market movements.

Trading Strategies

Fri, 23 Jun 2006 22:04:17 -0500

There are two basic ways to trade the stock market – shooting in the barrel or using strategies to determine which stocks to buy, when to sell, and how to protect your investment dollars. Needless to say, strategies outperform barrel shooting by a large margin. There are, however, hundreds of trading strategies to choose from. Of all of these there are a couple of tried and trued methods that have worked well for investors over many years. The beginning investor is advised to investigate some of these basic strategies and see for himself how they perform. New strategies can be explored once the basic ones are well-understood.

Hedging

Stock Splits

Thu, 22 Jun 2006 22:02:35 -0500

One of the alluring myths that surrounds the stock market is the prospect that a certain stock may split, giving stock holders twice as many shares as before. What is poorly understood by the outsider, though, is that although the investor has more stock after a split, the value of each share is reduced. For example, if a corporation decides to split its stock 2-for-1, it issues one new share for each outstanding one. At the same time, the value of each share is cut in half. So the stock holders now hold twice as many shares but the total value is the same as before the split. A stock split is like receiving 2 five-dollar bills for a single ten-dollar bill. Same value – twice as much paper.

Why would a company do this?

Bull Markets and Bear Markets

Wed, 21 Jun 2006 22:00:27 -0500

The stock market moves up and down every day, but when movements continue downwards for a period of time the market is referred to as a 'bear market'. Upward moving markets are 'bull markets'. If a particular stock is doing well, it is said to be bullish. If it is losing value it is bearish.