Every fall, especially in opportunity rich markets like this, I encourage investors to think about some year-end strategies that make the final calendar quarter a special time in all markets. Several forces are at work, all of which have links to conventional Wall Street wisdom; none of which promote good long-term investment decision-making.

This year, we have the added excitement of anticipating a new, perhaps economically too liberal, administration taking over with an already implanted, and demonstatably inept, congress. The markets are in a truly unprecedented state of “uncertainty overload”. What’s an investor to do— or not to do?

Typically, the November syndrome has features that impact in both directions. It causes weak prices to fall even further and strong prices to climb higher. This year, the strong category requires a microscope for candidate viewing, while the weak seem to …

There’s a bright light at the end of the tunnel— finally. Most of the really well respected, long term investors are advising their audiences to hang in there, to stop the panic selling, and to look for the great companies that have withstood the economic downturns of the past.

Buffet, Bogle, Gross, Schwab, and company offer sound advice— don’t run and hide, it’s time to hit the Wall Street Mall and go shopping! They’ve seen the indicators; they’ve been there before. So have many of you. Clearly, it’s time for action.

With IGV stock prices down 50% or more, and income securities as low or lower, Chuck Jaffe points out in MarketWatch that the case for loading up on managed Closed End Funds (CEFs) is a strong one. The great companies are in garage sale mode, and managed CEFs are selling at …

Many investors think that the perfect stock is one that sells for a low price and pays a high yield. It may be hard to believe but there are actually several stocks, including closed end funds or CEF's, that sell for less than $5 a share and pay a dividend, with five of the stocks with yields in excess of 6%. All of the following stocks pay quarterly unless otherwise specified. Also, all of the following have market caps above $265 million. Just remember that the yields are based on historical payments, and the dividends can be adjusted or terminated at any time. Zweig Fund ( ZF ) is a CEF with an objective of capital appreciation primarily through investment in equity securities. The stock has a PE of 12. The stock has a yield of 10.4 %. Zweig Total Return Fund ( ZTR ) is a CEF with an objective of capital ...

At the end of April I informed you about new ETF focused on emerging stock markets in Central and Eastern Europe. iShares released MSCI Eastern Europe (IEER.L). ETF is listed on London Stock Exchange, Borsa Italiana, Euronext Amsterdam, Euronext Paris, Xetra Frankfurt and SWX Swiss exchange.After SPDR S&P Emerging Europe (GUR) and Central Europe & Russia Fund CEF (CEE) it's third fund with exposure on CEE markets.As you can energy sector dominates followed by financial. Both make up more that half of ETF structure.ETF constituents: Lukoil (LUKOY) 9,8%, Gazprom (OGZPY) 9,3%, Surgutneftegaz (SGTZY) 5,6%, Unified Energy System (USERY) 5%, MMC Norilsk Nickel (NILSY) 4,9%, OTP Bank (OTPGF) 4,5%, CEZ 4,2 %.http://stockweb.blogspot.com/atom.xml

Hello Friends!  Thanks so much for stopping by and visiting my blog, Stock Picks Bob’s Advice!  As always, please remember that I am an amateur investor, so please remember to consult with your professional investment advisers prior to making any investment decisions based on information on this website.

A few moments ago I sold all of my shares of ResMed (RMD), which amounted to 150 shares, at $38.46.  These shares were purchased 2/4/05 at a cost basis of $29.87 giving me a long-term gain of $8.59 or  28.8% on these shares.

This sale brings me down to my ‘minimum’ portfolio size of 5 positions.  I have set my maximum at 20 positions and my minimum at 5.  What this means is that with this sale, as before, since it is on ‘bad news’, which means selling on a defensive …

Exchange traded funds (ETF) and Exchange traded notes (ETN) are derivatives underlying investment assets (stocks, indexes, commodities etc.). Issuer are big investment banks.ETF represents in fact ownership for underlying assets. Therefore especially big institutional holders could and also do asking to redeem their ETF position for underlying stocks. This makes ETF price staying closely along underlying stocks. For example this is not the case for Closed end funds - CEF.Contrary ETN is kind of structured product issued as a debt note. And that's why credit risk is here. Of course nobody really expect Barclays' goes bankrupt. ETN are lack of tracking risk. It means that price exactly reflects underlying index. ETF can differ from NAV.http://stockweb.blogspot.com/atom.xml