Deciphering Earnings Reports
For many investors checking out full year financial results is akin to a return to the days spent as the “kids in the candy store” with some money in their pockets. The question for the kids was the same as the question for adult investors – what should I buy and what should I reject?…
The Weighing Machine
Advocates of the “Buy and Hold” school of investing have long clung to the reported quotation from Benjamin Graham, the acknowledged rather of value investing: “In the short run, the market is a voting machine but in the long run, it is a weighing machine.” Taken as written, the quote seems to imply a dichotomy…
Keating is right the RBA should do more
Former prime minister Paul Keating isn’t alone in wanting the Reserve Bank to do much more to ensure economic recovery. In an opinion piece for major newspapers he has said it ought to be directly funding government spending rather than indirectly by buying government bonds from third parties. But we think there’s something else the…
The RBNZ prepares to kick-off a lengthy tightening cycle
By Chris Tedder, Research Analyst, Forex.com The Reserve Bank of New Zealand is expected to kick-off a prolonged tightening cycle this week by increasing the official cash rate by 25bps to 2.75% (the announcement is due at 2000GMT tomorrow). This represents a significant turning point in monetary policy in NZ. The RBNZ has kept the…
Cashing in on Cloud Computing
Cloud computing was declared the ‘next big thing’ almost a decade ago – and the following revenue chart from IT market research firm the Yankee Group suggests the pundits were on the money. A “cloud” relies on an outside source to undertake computing tasks. A good example is Google Maps and Google Earth; these software…
How To Set Up A Portfolio From Scratch
Truth be told most of us want double-digit returns on our investments each year, and we don’t ever want to lose money. And in our naive way we try to achieve this aim by randomly choosing fast-moving stocks, blindly following trends and generally taking on too much risk. When we don’t earn double digit returns…
How To Analyse Company Financials
For many investors financial analysis forms the foundation of their investment decision. In their minds, it is the essential component in the process of evaluating a company as a potential share market investment. By digging into the crown jewels of a company’s annual report -the income statement; the statement of comprehensive income; the balance sheet;…
Sonray Collapse Gives CFDs An Unfair Rap
The collapse of Sonray Capital Markets has put the spotlight on the fastest growing trading instrument in Australia, contracts for difference (CFDs). Since 2002, when CFDs were first launched in Australia, tens of thousands of Aussie speculators have been successfully trading them – taking long and short positions over domestic and international equities, indices, foreign…
Market crash signals
Before the tech crash of 2000, some keenly attuned investors spotted something unusual. Although the major US indices – the Dow and the S&P 500 – continued to climb, the gains were made by a declining number of stocks, mainly Internet stocks. A shift in investor behaviour was clearly in the making as stock movements…
