Why everyone loves penny dreadful stocks
Penny dreadfuls – stocks that sell for a handful of cents yet give big percentage gains – have a long history in Australia. Since the beginnings of the stock exchange, resources explorers have traditionally filled this role, often hitting paydirt with a drilling hole, resulting in a share price surge. More recently, technology stocks and…
Professional trader makes big bucks from home
After spending eight years in Asia as NAB’s head of trading Doug Goldsmith returned to Australia in 2005 to assist in re-building the bank’s local and global treasury operations following the institution’s $360 million illegal trading and foreign exchange debacle. Six months later Goldsmith put his extensive experience across all products to the test and…
Broker Recommendations – 6 to BUY, 6 to SELL and 6 to HOLD
Michael Heffernan AUSTOCK BUY RECOMMENDATIONS Origin Energy (ORG) An energy retailer, but also a power generator, gas producer and explorer. It’s been an excellent sharemarket performer since splitting from Boral in 1991. It offers a bright future after selling half its coal seam gas assets for US$5 billion to US based ConocoPhillips in a joint…
What futures contracts are the most popular and who buys them?
Futures traders normally fall into two groups with each having a typical ‘holding period’, based on the purpose of that futures position. The first group of traders, hedgers, have an interest in the underlying commodity and are seeking to minimise price risk in the physical market. Farmers are typically hedgers, and normally hold positions from…
Why do futures prices converge on spot prices during the delivery month?
Why do futures prices converge on spot prices during the delivery month? Prior to expiry, the price of futures contracts will most likely either be at a premium to the physical or a discount. As the contract approaches expiry these two prices will converge, or meet. Why does this happen? There are a number of…
Gerry Harvey reveals his personal investment portfolio
Billionaire Gerry Harvey is licking his financial wounds because of the sharemarket crash. He’s a big equity holder and quickly calculates that Harvey Norman’s retreating share price during the past 12 months has stripped more than a $1 billion from his immense wealth. But we’ll chat more about that later. Harvey is chairman of an…
