by Janet Novack -
You don't want to go to jail. You don't want to pay penalties. But you also don't want to pay more tax than you have to-it's not the American way. And your sister-in-law, your golf buddy or your business partner is touting a "your CPA probably doesn't know this, but" way to pay less. How can you tell a legal tax dodge from an iffy or bad one?
RYE, N.Y.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 29, 2005--Gabelli Asset Management Inc., (NYSE:GBL) today announced the initial public offering of common shares of the Gabelli Global Gold, Natural Resources & Income Trust, a new closed-end fund investing primarily in equity securities of gold and natural resources companies. The Fund intends to earn income primarily through a strategy of writing (selling) covered call options on equity securities in its portfolio. The Fund will issue 16.6 million shares in the public offering at the initial price of $20 per share, generating gross proceeds of $332 million (exclusive of the underwriters' overallotment) and will trade on the American Stock Exchange under the symbol "GGN."
March 29 (Bloomberg) -- The surge in commodity prices may be close to peaking, ending a four-year rally that included a range of raw materials from oil to copper to gold, said Daniel Chesler, an independent analyst who studies market patterns.
The Goldman Sachs Commodity Index has failed to top the record it reached in October, gold is down from a 16-year high in December and the dollar has rebounded from a record low against the euro, Chesler, 38, said in a telephone interview yesterday from Wellington, Florida.
China has appointed a woman as the new director of the State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE), a government source said Monday.
Hu Xiaolian, a central banker and formerly the assistant governor of the People's Bank of China, will take over from Guo Shuqing, who became chairman of the China Construction Bank last week.
Guo replaced Zhang Enzhao, who resigned earlier this month.
By Palash Ghosh -
Investors have always been able to buy gold-mining stocks or the metal itself. Now exchange trade funds are reducing the risks and hassles
Gold has regained some of its luster over the past few years. Since hitting a low of about $256 per ounce in early April, 2001, the price of the yellow metal climbed steadily to more than $435 at the end of February, 2005 -- a sparkling 70% gain. By comparison, the S&P 500-stock index edged up just 10.7% cumulatively over that period.
By Tim Wood -
ST. LOUIS (ResourceInvestor.com) -- Goldcorp’s [GG] newly minted president and chief executive, Ian Telfer, is holding to his publicly announced playbook with the $70 million cash acquisition of the Bermejal gold deposit in Mexico.
Despite Telfer flagging his 'new' strategy repeatedly even before the Goldcorp-Wheaton deal, many investors thought the newly enlarged company would quickly go shopping for big ticket items. Not at all.
By John Spence -
Global trading volume up nearly 20% YTD - report
BOSTON (MarketWatch) -- There were 348 exchange-traded funds at the end February with assets of $313.6 billion trading on 31 global exchanges, according to new research released Tuesday by Morgan Stanley.
Year to date, worldwide ETF assets under management increased 1.7 percent, while average daily trading volumes in U.S. dollars have jumped 19.4 percent to $15 billion.
The following is the text of the speech by Prime Minister and Minister of Finance.
IT is always an honour and a privilege to speak before such an important audience as is gathered here today. As investors, fund managers and market analysts, you are all thought to be leaders and opinion-shapers who greatly influence investment decisions as well as fund inflows into Malaysia.
United Development Company (UDC), the promoter of the freehold West Porto Drive towers around Porto Arabia, the main marina of The Pearl-Qatar, has released the second wave of harbour-side homes in ten, 20-storey towers.
The towers overlook Porto Arabia, which will be an international yachting hub with berthing for 400 vessels, and the 2.5 kilometre La Croisette Boulevard which skirts the marina and will be a centreplace destination for diners and shoppers.
By Doug Casey -
I've spent a lot of time in Switzerland over the years, including two semesters of college. But not much in recent times, when most of my travel and living has been in less developed countries. I did, however, log a few days in Zurich before Christmas to renew some old acquaintances.
Some readers may remember when, during the monetary crises of the '70s and early '80s especially, Switzerland was viewed as a logical, even the premier, refuge for Americans. Numerous privacy and investment seminars were sponsored here for Americans.
Jane Hall, Western Mail -
PAYING taxes, like death, is one of life's more unpleasant certainties. No one likes to see their hard-earned cash lining the Treasury's coffers.
But while death is unavoidable, paying too much tax is something we can laugh in the face of.
Nationally, £5.66bn in wasted tax is set to wing its way into the Chancellor's treasure trove. No wonder Gordon Brown looks like the cat who got the cream.
OTTAWA - Canadian investment in offshore financial centres, including so-called "tax havens," shot up eight-fold between 1990 and 2003, Statistics Canada reported Monday.
Between 1990 and 2003, Canadian assets in those countries went from $11 billion to $88 billion. They accounted for more than one-fifth of all Canadian direct investment abroad in 2003, double the proportion 13 years earlier.
The largest growth in Canadian direct investment during the time was in Barbados, Ireland, Bermuda, the Cayman Islands and the Bahamas.
By Mukul Munish -
Hong Kong needs clear legislation and firm stock exchange commitment for the development of the Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT), according to analysts.
They warned Hong Kong would be left behind by other regional financial centers like Singapore and Taiwan if local regulators do not encourage the launch of such an investment product soon.
A surge in interest from Asian investors has contributed to a 100% increase in the number of hedge funds registered in the Cayman Islands during 2004, as more than 1,100 new funds were established in the jurisdiction last year, according to a new analysis released by global offshore law firm Walkers.
It means that over 80% of the world's hedge funds, which number more than 8,000, are now registered with the Cayman Islands Monetary Authority (CIMA), the Cayman-based law firm, which has also has offices in the British Virgin Islands, Hong Kong and London.
By Gavin Farrell -
Europe’s role in the global investment fund market has become increasingly prominent. The introduction of alternative investment strategies has created a more competitive arena. As a result, jurisdictions closer to the European market are becoming a more attractive platform for offshore investments.
The Guernsey regulator — the Guernsey Financial Services Commission (GFSC) — has always adopted a flexible approach to the authorisation of investment funds on the island. Recent regulatory changes are further easing the requirements for establishing hedge funds in Guernsey, by allowing certain funds that qualify to benefit from a quasi ‘self-certificated’ process.
By Dan Culloton -
In a sense, San Francisco-based Barclays is the McDonald's (MCD) of the ETF world. McDonald's didn't invent hamburgers and Barclays didn't create ETFs, but the companies each exploited and popularized their industry niches to a greater degree than anyone else. Barclays' family of 99 iShares is the undisputed 800-pound gorilla of the growing ETF market. IShares has grown from a few funds and $2 billion in assets in 2000 to a complex of 99 domestically available ETFs that cover virtually every major asset class and have about $115 billion in assets. It's now difficult to assemble an ETF portfolio without an iShare. The firm claimed more than 80% of all ETF flows in 2004.
AccountingWEB.com - The Internal Revenue Service is targeting wealthy executives and entrepreneurs to ferret out would-be tax dodgers.
The IRS has not focused on individual tax returns of the well-to-do for years, the Wall Street Journal reported, but is becoming more aggressive after studying the results of a 2003 pilot program covering 24 big companies, which were not identified.
SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Joe Feshbach, who with brothers Matthew and Kurt ran one of the most high-profile short-selling hedge funds of the 1980s, is back.
This time, instead of betting against companies, a new hedge fund he's starting -- Joe Feshbach Partners LP -- will buy securities of troubled firms.
Using a strategy called "crisis investing," Feshbach, 51, will sniff out stocks and other securities that he thinks have dropped too far on negative news such as government investigations, accounting errors and profit warnings.
Tax is the driving force behind 'offshore', but for the great majority of well-off individuals considering offshore investment, tax is not directly an issue. They reside in high-tax areas such as the EU, the US, Canada or Japan, they pay their taxes, and if they make 'offshore' investments, it is in pursuit of higher returns, and without any intention to evade taxes in their home countries.
Some investors are outside the jurisdiction of high-tax areas, either because they live elsewhere, or because they are temporarily non-resident for work reasons. Such investors can often avoid having to pay taxes on their investments, whether on or offshore, but that is due to the investor's circumstances, not the location of the investment.
The healthy bilateral relations between the UK and Tunisia were reinforced by the recent visit of Michael Savory, the lord mayor of the City of London. The three-day work trip from February 17-20 aimed to promote British interests already in Tunisia and encourage further investment. With the UK still a major investor in Tunisia, both countries were keen to build upon existing ties and look towards the future.
This latest Tunisian-British meeting comes less than a month after Baroness Symons, the British Secretary of State for North Africa and the Middle East, spent two days in Tunis during a tour of the region. It also reflects the mounting interest which western European investors are showing in the Tunisian market.
By Juan Forero -
Latin America is becoming a rich destination in China's global quest for energy, with the Chinese signing accords with Venezuela, investing in largely untapped markets like Peru and exploring possibilities in Bolivia and Colombia.
China's sights are focused mostly on Venezuela, which ships more than 60 percent of its crude oil to the United States. With huge oil reserves and a president who says that his country needs to diversify its energy business, Venezuela has emerged as an obvious contender for Beijing's attention.
By John Spence -
BOSTON (MarketWatch) -- Exchange-traded funds that invest in widely-held S&P 500 companies can look markedly different, depending on how much they allocate to individual stocks.
The Rydex S&P Equal Weight ETF (RSP) invests the same amount -- 0.20 percent -- in every stock in the S&P 500 index (SPX), rebalancing quarterly to maintain the portfolio.
