| Schwab Launches Fundamental Index(TM) Mutual Funds
SAN FRANCISCO, April 2 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- With the introduction today of three Fundamental Index(TM) mutual funds from Schwab Funds(R), investors have a new alternative to traditional index funds. The Schwab Fundamental US Large Company Index Fund, the Schwab Fundamental US Small-Mid Company Index Fund, and the Schwab Fundamental International Large Company Index Fund are based on the FTSE RAFI(TM) Index Series(1). The new funds leverage the groundbreaking research of Robert D. Arnott and his company, Research Affiliates, as well as FTSE Group's global indexing expertise. The Fundamental Index approach attempts to offset the risks of overexposure to inflated or understated valuations of individual equities that may occur in market capitalization-weighted indexing, subjecting an investor to the extremes of market cycles.
How high can you go?
I AM old enough to remember the collapse of Estate Mortgage. Thousands of retirees lost their nest eggs through a mortgage trust that paid above-average income returns, invested in dodgy property developments and collapsed when the property market slowed. Sound familiar? While not a mortgage trust, the parallels with Fincorp are all there. The lure of high returns can be irresistible for self-funded retirees wanting to earn every dollar they can to pay for their retirement. But sometimes chasing the very top returns just isn't worth it. Also, it is imperative you understand where your money is going to earn that high return for you. A "term deposit" sounds safe but if your money is lent to property developers (who can't raise funds from traditional financiers) prepared to pay a higher interest rate, then the risk levels rise dramatically.
DJ Dow Jones AIG Commodity Index & AIG Daily Commentary
The rebound in Brent crude on Tuesday gave a lift to NYMEX crude prices, lending credence to recent suggestions that ample supplies in Cushing, Oklahoma have been weighing on nearby WTI futures. May crude settled slightly higher, gaining $0.38 to settle at $61.89. Skepticism about the significance of Iran's claim on Monday that it had begun industrial-scale uranium enrichment increased. US, French, and British officials have all expressed doubts that work on Iran's controversial has reached that stage, emphasizing that the country's quest to master centrifuge-based uranium enrichment has bogged down in recent months. Tomorrow's DOE/EIA data is expected to show a +1.6 million barrel increase in crude inventories and -1.2 million and -900K barrel declines in gasoline and distillates, respectively.
The Government of Canada Invests $3.2 Million in Agricultural ...
SHERBROOKE, Québec, April 10, 2007 The Honourable Christian Paradis, Secretary of State for Agriculture and Member of Parliament for MéganticL'Érable, on behalf of the Honourable Chuck Strahl, Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food and Minister for the Canadian Wheat Board, today announced that the Government of Canada will invest $3.2 million in 50 research projects in Quebec in 2007-08. "The Government of Canada proudly supports agricultural research here in Quebec and is happy to announce the implementation of new projects that will generate wealth and assure prosperity for Canadian farmers," said Secretary of State Paradis. "By conducting this Peer Review process, we are ensuring that scientists conduct research that is innovative and relevant to the agriculture sector while ensuring a focus on new priorities in the areas of health, the environment and the bioeconomy." The announcement was made at the Dairy and Swine Research and Development Centre in Sherbrooke, Québec.
IMF Warns on US Subprime Lending, While Praising Its Global Spread
UNITED NATIONS, April 10 -- The International Monetary Fund, while singing the praises of financial globalization in a report issued today, notes dryly that "the subprime sector of the U.S. mortgage market has deteriorated more rapidly than had been expected." What the IMF misses is that the same subprime lending scheme which began in the U.S. and is now embroiled in bankruptcies and criminal charges, is being expanded worldwide by the Large, Complex Financial Institutions which the IMF loves and serves. Citigroup, for example, brags of aggressively expanding its subprime CitiFinancial business to more emerging markets countries. General Electric's GE Money unit doesn't brag, it just expands, offering high-rate lending in every continent.
TheStreet.com Ratings: Top 10 All-Around Value Stocks
Each weekday, TheStreet.com Ratings compiles a list of the top 10 stocks in five categories -- fast-growth, all-around value, large-cap, mid-cap and small-cap -- and publishes these lists in the Ratings section of our Web site. This list, updated daily, is based on data from the close of the previous trading session. Today, we look at all-around value stocks. These are stocks of companies that meet a number of criteria, including annual revenue of over $500 million, lower-than-average valuations such as a price-to-sales ratio of less than 2, and leverage that is less than 49% of total capital. In addition, they must rank near the top of all stocks rated by our proprietary quantitative model, which looks at more than 62 factors. The stocks must also be followed by at least one financial analyst who posts estimates on the Institutional Brokers' Estimate System.
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