Articles

The most important financial center in the world? A fabled place of silver spoons and golden parachutes? A hub of cut-throat capitalism? Or all of the above. Wall Street is many things to many people, and the perception of what it really is depends on who you ask. Although people’s views of Wall Street may differ widely, what is beyond dispute is its enduring impact not just on the American economy, but on the global one. What Is Wall Street Anyway? Wall Street physically takes up only a few blocks that amount to less than a mile in the borough of Manhattan in New York City; however, its clout extends worldwide. The term “Wall Street” was initially used to refer to the select group of large independent brokerage firms that dominated...

The emerging market meltdown that occurred between May 12 and June 13, 2006, had an impact on currencies, the carry trade and incredible growth in derivatives over the last decade, as described in Part 1. In summary, here are the issues we will be examining in part 2. An index that has been uncannily accurate in providing advance warning of emerging market trouble and what it is saying now. What the yield curve inversion for the third time in the last six months means. How accurate has it been in the past in warning of a pending slow down? Based on the importance that real estate and related construction activities play in economies around the globe, what impact will a real estate correction have? Real wage growth, a principal...

What effect does conflict and war have on the stockmarket? In this article we look at past wars/conflicts and examine what the future might be with the current conflict in the Middle East. Maybe I should stop taking my two-week Nantucket trip each summer. Last year during our stay we were glued to the news over the London terrorist bombing, and this year it was Hezbollah's kidnapping of two Israeli soldiers, prompting the current fighting in the Middle East. There's a thought on Wall Street that investors should be "buying when the cannons sound and selling when the trumpets sound." When thinking about this view I harkened back to mid-March of 2003, when on the eve of the current Iraq war, Schwab's Investment Strategy Council (which I...

A look a the current market correction - the 'canary correction' and what may have caused it. When the Morgan Stanley Emerging Markets Index Exchange Traded Fund (EEM) hit an all-time high of $111.10 on May 9, 2006, it marked a meteoric rise from its humble launch price of $33.37 a little more than three years before. Volume had also grown exponentially from a mere 36,300 shares on April 11, 2003, to an average daily exchange of more than 3.5 million shares by early May 2006. caption: Figure 1 - The Morgan Stanley MSCI Emerging Market ETF (EEM) dropped sharply between May 9 and June 13, 2006. May registered the biggest monthly decline in the history of the index, and the drop was only half over. Chart provided by www.Genesisft.com...