Five Oh One And All’s Well with the World

February 19th, 2010

How are things in your corner of the world?

For those of us who have jobs, things seem to be okay – the market is up again, the company is back to working a an 8 hour day 5 days a week, there is even an occasional new face at the water cooler and people are making bookings for holidays. So there is a sense of normality.

New clouds

But apparently not all is well. There is still massive unemployment, massive debt and too many closed stores in the malls. Now there is a faint rumbling of thunder from far away and new clouds are gathering. ‘Beware!’ shout some of the stock exchange advisory services, ‘it’s going to crash again and you’ll lose everything!’ Do they know something that we don’t or is this some new kind of reverse public relations ploy – if the market does crash they will advertise, “We at ABC knew; we told you; you didn’t listen and now your money is all gone! Next time listen to us. We know the market! Send in you special low introductory registration fee today!”

Acropolis Now

There’s a problem in Greece – massive debt. And the fear around the world is that it may be contagious and spread along the Mediterranean countries and infect them with debt as well. Meanwhile the entire world and especially the markets, are watching to see what happens with Greece, and this is apparently what’s holding the market back at the moment.

The China syndrome

With the help of massive government stimulus action, China is now leading the world economy out of recession, according to a new OECD (Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development) report. Already the world’s second largest economy, China could well overtake the United States to become the leading producer of manufactured goods in the next five to seven years, it says. I find it difficult to think that the one day the US may no longer be the world’s leading economy. China is certainly putting the pressure on. Many forecasters are predicting that the only investment that will be positive in 2010 will be the ETF’s in China.

Exchange-Traded Funds

An ETF is a security that tracks an index, a commodity or a basket of assets like an index fund, but trades like a stock on an exchange. ETFs experience price changes throughout the day as they are bought and sold. By owning an ETF, you get the diversification of an index fund as well as the ability to sell short, buy on margin and purchase as little as one share. Another advantage is that the expense ratios for most ETFs are lower than those of the average mutual fund. When buying and selling ETFs, you have to pay the same commission to your broker that you’d pay on any regular order.

China ETF’s

For ETF investors, making the right choice of fund in China will be critical to success.

This entry was posted on Friday, February 19th, 2010 at 10:19 am and is filed under Personal / Internet. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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