When it was launched in 1976, the Vanguard 500 index fund (VFINX) – the first of its kind to offer investors market returns at a low price – sparked a heated debate that still simmers in the mutual fund world: Which is better, active or passive management?Regardless of which camp you’re in, it's hard to argue with the Vanguard 500 fund's success. Since its inception, it has returned an average annual 9.8% while charging some of the lowest fees in the business. Indeed, depending on the share class, the annual expenses run as little at $9 a year for every $1,000 invested. The
Read More »
Discuss Bury
Discuss Bury
Applied Materials Post Mixed ResultsComputer chip maker Applied Materials (AMAT) swung to a loss for its latest quarter and lowered its outlook, but also said market conditions were improving and that the bottoming process was nearly complete. Shares lost around 4% during early trading Wednesday.The Santa Clara, Calif.-maker of semiconductors lost 10 cents a share for its fiscal second quarter, in line with Street estimates. (It earned 22 cents a share a year ago.) However, revenue dropped by more than half, to $1.02 billion from $2.2 billion a year ago. The company also said its fiscal third
Read More »
Discuss Bury
Discuss Bury
Imagine paying for a home in cash. Not just not taking out a mortgage, but buying a home with an amount of money small enough to fit in your wallet. That’s what Volonte Williams, a real-estate investor, just did in Detroit, where he scooped up a three-bedroom house in a nice neighborhood—for $5,500. It’s one of the stranger side effects of the real estate collapse: the pocket-change home purchase. Back in 2006 “distressed” property—xbank-owned or sold cheap by the homeowner to avoid foreclosure—accounted for less than 10 percent of the market. Now, ac
Read More »
Discuss Bury
Discuss Bury
Consider two stocks, identical in all respects save one: The first sells for $25 a share and the second for $3. Which should stock buyers prefer?Versed investors will likely say price alone means nothing, but new evidence suggests the lower-price stock is likely to outperform.Share price can be an arbitrary thing, since managers can adjust it anytime they like through stock splits and the opposite, called reverse stock splits. More telling is stock market value, or the share price times the number of shares outstanding. For example, Citigroup (C) sells for $3 and change per share and Capell
Read More »
Discuss Bury
Discuss Bury
Unless you're a repo man, it's tough to find uplifting news in the economy these days. Sure, the market's seen a few rallies this year, but unemployment is rising and house prices are falling. And most analysts' outlooks for corporate profits this year aren't exactly rosy. “There isn't a lot of faith in earnings right now,” says Alec Young, an equity market strategist for Standard & Poor's.But not every stock will limp out of this recession as Wall Street's walking wounded. Companies with strong, defensible businesses may actually be able to grow during these rough times, says
Read More »
Discuss Bury
Discuss Bury
IN THE DEPTHS OF THE Great Depression, Franklin Delano Roosevelt inspired confidence when he said, "The only thing we have to fear is fear itself." Today, our economy is definitely showing signs of coming out of a near-depression. Ironically, all our recovery has to fear is the recovery itself.What I mean is that there is the risk that recovery will get in its own way -- that it could stall itself out before it really gets going.We really are looking at the beginning of economic recovery here. The banking crisis is definitely over with the Treasury and its "stress tests" having finally b
Read More »
Discuss Bury
Discuss Bury
AMERICA'S FLING WITH BLING MAY BE OVER, but the shift to thrift -- brought on by a sagging economy and stock market, and heralded on the cover of Time -- also has gone too far. According to Gallup, the polling organization, Americans cut their daily expenditures by more than 40% in the past year. That's not just fewer lattes; it's muscle and bone.As savings rise and the market rallies, however, a new consumer is emerging, seeking a sensible middle ground between the gross excesses of the mid-2000s and the privations of the past year. He -- and more often, she -- is likely to find it in compan
Read More »
Discuss Bury
Discuss Bury
A PROLIFIC AUTHOR AND MEDIA STAR, NIALL FERGUSON has become one of the most prominent academics in the world. The Scottish-born Ferguson, 45, is a history and business-school professor at Harvard, and holds other high-profile posts at Stanford and at Oxford -- where he earned his doctorate.Ferguson is a provocative writer. His most recent books are The Ascent of Money (2008) and The War of the World, a study of World War II, published in 2006. He has also done several TV projects, including a multipart series based on The Ascent of Money that will air in July on PBS, the Public Broadcasting S
Read More »
Discuss Bury
Discuss Bury
Pick Your FavoritesAs a child growing up in the 1980s, I was utterly fascinated by the plasma globe, a novelty lamp first introduced by Sharper Image in 1987. A trip to the mall wouldn’t be complete without nagging my parents to let me stop by the store and play with it for a few minutes. I imagined having one of my very own.Now, with 20 years hindsight, I can see what a downright foolish impulse it was to covet such a useless toy. The plasma lamp was undoubtedly cool, but with limited utility, especially for a 12-year-old boy. It takes a certain level of maturity to realize that you ca
Read More »
Discuss Bury
Discuss Bury
Low price/earnings ratios are usually easy to find, even when the broad stock market seems expensive. For example, the S&P 500 index has climbed more than 30% in three months and now trades at 22 times trailing earnings, well above stocks’ 137-year average trailing P/E of 15. Still, one out of every eight index members has a P/E in single digits.The task for investors, of course, is culling companies that seem under-appreciated from ones that deserve their piddling valuations. Often, a single-digit P/E means a company’s earnings are expected to decline. Not all declines ar
Read More »
Discuss Bury
Discuss Bury
A small pay increase or cut for a worker can make an extreme difference in the amount of pocket money left each month after the bills are paid. For much the same reason, moderate changes in corporate sales can lead to huge swings in earnings. Last quarter, companies in the S&P 500 index reported a 16.5% decline in sales vs. a year earlier. Earnings plunged 39%.For stock investors, the relative stability of sales makes the measure more reliable than earnings for purposes of deciding which companies are cheap. Run a search for low price/sales ratios and you’ll uncover promising sto
Read More »
Discuss Bury
Discuss Bury
Companies don't seem interested in buying rivals at the moment, despite the comparatively low prices they could pay for them. That bodes poorly for stocks in general, but investors can still use the math of takeover pros to find bargains.U.S. shares are 27% cheaper than a year ago, even after climbing 15% in the second quarter. During the first half, though, the value of announced acquisitions in the U.S. fell 45% from a year earlier, according to data provider Dealogic. TrimTabs, an investment research group, calls the second quarter the most bearish it has seen since it started tracking d
Read More »
Discuss Bury
Discuss Bury
Sponsors
Subscribe
Money Central is a news management system that lets you easily create your own financial news agency and social network devoted to money.
Sell new and used sport shirt, team order sport shirt, jacket. All brand...
Hi That's great detail
Look for photographer forum ?
Pls see this...
Well... thats a lesson learned Princeton Pet Sitter...
Bastone Rosso, thriller chi prende posto per Patricia...
At an increased risk
with Patricia Cornwell
Quite short associated with a...
At stake
with Patricia Cornwell
Quite short of your arrange on this...
-
Affiliate Marketing
Business News
Business
Insurance
Debt Consolidation
Home Business
Financial News
Investing
Money
Casino
Gambling
Banking
Commodities
Charity
Internet Marketing
Online Business
Networking
Small Business
Mortgage
Personal Finance
World Economy
Market Overview
Luxury
Currencies
Loans
Real Estate
Retirement
Make Money
Credit Cards
Forex
Mutual Funds
Options & Futures
Stocks
Taxes
World Markets
Copyright © 2009 Money Central