“Cash is king,” as the old investment adage goes. Question is: How do you go about getting it - especially in a tough climate like this one? After all, cash is only king if you have it.

In today’s column, I’m going to show you how to squeeze cash from the stock market - without really having any to begin with.

Yes, you read that right - money from next-to-nothing.

But before you embark on this “free money” strategy, you have to have an implicit understanding of what you are doing, because there are no free lunches on Wall Street for those who don’t do their homework.

But for those who do, this is the freest lunch you’ll find…

A Moneymaking Strategy For All Markets

Let’s say you have an ordinary stock portfolio. Even if it’s full of stocks that aren’t doing much, it still has value. You might not think so as you watch it

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Tue Feb 24, 2009 4:01am GMT

By Nick Trevethan - Analysis

SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Gold is rapidly becoming the last haven in a sea of uncertainty as worries rise about the ability of not only commercial banks, but even governments, to repay debts.

With few signs that the world’s worst economic crisis since the 1930s is close to bottoming out, wrung-out investors will keep on pumping money into gold-backed securities as insurance against financial Armageddon.

But like most insurance policies, investors hope it won’t pay off.

“Gold is an investment you hope you never make money on. If you do, it means other markets have lost,” said Stephen White, director at Sydney-based treasury advisory firm Noah’s Rule.

He added: “Cash is king and gold is cash in any currency. In the short term, gold will continue to appreciate but once stability returns be ready for a quick fall, possibly similar

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When evaluating stocks in these tough times and complex financial metrics, stick to the basics and remember the saying ”Cash is King”.  I always look at the cash levels of each firm when... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]

by Alex Perry
Currency Exchange Market

Foreign Exchange Trading Market seems overwhelming and scary for ordinary people to enter and trade in. In truth, this is just the major opinion of ordinary people that do not have the basic idea about the FOREX Trading market and the FOREX trading strategies. There are in fact many strategies and platforms | systems accessible to different users, even newbies. | The Currency Exchange Market is something all people dream to trade in. It is after all, the largest financial market right now and the most liquid one. If a person would trade properly, he or she could earn profitably. However, ordinary people who are averagely unknowledgeable about the mechanics of the FOREX trading market are majorly afraid to realize this dream. They do not know that there are a lot of accessible strategies that everyone, …

There is no doubt that the recent aggressive interest rate cuts by the Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ) are positive. However, they carry less punch if banks keep some of the lower cost of funding for themselves, without passing the full benefit on to customers.

Banks in this country have a key role to play if New Zealand is to recover from the current recession but they don’t appear to be “playing ball” when it comes to the margins they are currently enjoying.

The table below shows the extent of the mortgage margin for the major banks over current bank bill rates. The average floating mortgage rate margin over bank bills for New Zealand banks is currently 3.40%. It used to be a rule of thumb that the major banks had a margin of about 1.5% over bank bills for floating rate mortgages.

Of course these are very unusual times but does

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Tuesday was the third day in a row that gold and silver got sold off as soon as trading began in the Far East…and as I write this, Wednesday morning in Asia is shaping up the same way. Gold was down about $15 when the Comex opened in New York on Tuesday…and a ferocious $25 rally (tech funds?) got stopped dead in its tracks at precisely 9:00 a.m. Eastern time…the second day in a row it didn’t get past $830 the ounce. Silver’s fate was similar. Both sold off from there and both finished basically unchanged from Monday. The HUI traded as low as 218…but managed to tack a 5% gain onto that number to close in slightly positive territory for the day.

Monday’s open interest numbers were interesting. Gold open interest fell 5,533 contracts to 282,978…another new low. One would think that it should have gone up with the gold

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Just stay away from this market, it is sick.  We are not even close to having anything of substance to grab any sort of huge winners.  More to come this weekend, but there is only so many ways I can say Cash is King.

Tread Carefully.

MS

The parade of advisors on financial television has a new and growing club.  These are people  recommending: "You should be in cash, since nothing is working." What they really mean is: "You should have been in cash, since nothing worked."  Where were they a month or so ago? In most market climates there are some sectors that perform well.  There's always a bull market somewhere....well, nearly always. Until the last month declines in some ETF's were matched by dramatic increases in others.  It was sector rotation, but the pace of the moves was accelerating.  Higher energy prices, for example, implied better profits for some sectors but increased costs for others.  When oil prices moved sharply lower and the dollar strengthened, all of the commodity-based ETF''s took a hit. That was the last "defensive" group.  Our TCA-DTF approach looks not only at Trend but ...

Best Buy Co., Inc. (NYSE: BBY), a multinational retailer of technology and entertainment products and services, and Napster Inc. (NASD: NAPS), one of the most recognized brands in digital music and a leading provider of online music for the consumer market, recently announced that the two companies have entered into a definitive merger agreement for Best Buy to commence a tender offer for all outstanding Napster shares at a price of $2.65 per share in cash.

With an aggregate purchase price of roughly $121 million (or $54 million net of approximately $67 million in cash and short-term investments of Napster as of June 30, 2008), the proposed acquisition includes Napster’s 700,000 digital entertainment subscribers, its Web-based customer service platform and mobile capabilities. The transaction is subject to customary closing conditions and is expected to be completed during the fourth calendar quarter.

Brian Dunn, the president and chief operating officer of Best

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The Financial Tsunami continues to flood the streets of lower Manhattan, Wall Street is completely under water.  LEH filed for chapter 11 protection last night, which in my humble opinion is what Bear Stearns (BSC) should have done.  BAC bought out MER for $50 Billion and AIG is seeking assistance from regulators.  What this has done is create the beginnings of a cataclimisic event, but we aren’t for sure if we are going to get it.  Futures this morning were down and down big:  NASDAQ -50pts, S&P500 -42pts, Dow -335pts.  Back in January we did see a drop of this magnitude but we were able zoom back well off the highs.  I’ll be looking at how we come off the lows and how the market will react after Monday’s trading session.

It will be rather tempting to hop into the market Monday at the open.  The absolute best thing to do

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