by Bill Barnhart -
Stock market researcher Michael Painchaud calls it "the Bermuda Triangle" for investors--also known as September.
Company insiders know their companies better than arm's-length investors, said Painchaud, research director of Seattle-based Market Profile Theorems. But insiders also are well aware of market trends, and they are growing more cautious.
''This is not a small correction to the existing regulations,'' says one international tax lawyer.
by Craig Schneider of CFO.com -
Federal regulators are proposing new rules aimed at curbing efforts by multinational businesses to shift income to low-tax jurisdictions overseas, according to reports.
The proposal focuses on how high-tech, pharmaceutical, and other companies value intangible assets such as research and development, marketing, and patents, according to the Financial Times, citing a Treasury Department official. Regulators in Washington have alleged that some companies have improperly used transfer pricing to increase their profits in countries where corporate taxes are low and reduce them in the United States.
By Bruce Cameron -
Two new funds will be listed at the JSE Securities Exchange on October 6.
Two new Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) based on international indices are to be listed on the JSE Securities Exchange in October, opening up cheaper access to foreign markets for individuals and retirement funds.
NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - Mutual fund timing -- the controversial hedge fund strategy which plagued mutual funds and was stamped out by U.S. regulators -- lives on offshore and could eventually come back to the U.S., according to a new report.
In a study titled "Hedge Fund Demand and Capacity," Van Hedge Fund Advisors, a Nashville, Tenn.-based hedge fund advisory firm, found that a small number of non-U.S. funds are still running mutual fund timing strategies. The study's authors also believe it could return to the U.S. once the regulatory drama over the 2003 scandal completely dies down.
TOKYO (BUSINESS WIRE), Aug 24, 2005 - Barclays Global Investors (BGI), a worldwide leader in exchange traded funds (ETFs) and one of the largest global asset managers, announced today that Japan's Financial Service Agency has received notification of the following ETFs to be sold as offshore investment funds through brokers in Japan:
By Jeffrey McKinney -
The growing use of employer-sponsored retirement plans is prompting more African Americans to invest in stocks, according to the 2005 Ariel/Schwab Black Investors Survey. In addition, 401(k) plans are helping black investors build wealth for the future and a solid nest egg for retirement.
The findings are significant because they come at a time when many Americans, particularly baby boomers, question whether such programs as Social Security and Medicare will still be around and help provide them with sufficient benefits once they retire.
by Al Thomas -
Ever jumped out of an airplane? It's OK if you have on a parachute. Pretty dumb if you don't. Every buy any stocks, mutual funds or Exchange Traded Funds? It's OK if you know how much you are willing to risk. Pretty dumb if you don't.
Parachute investing is buying an equity with a parachute so you won't risk all your money or, better yet, give back the profit you have made as the stock or fund went up and then goes down. If you bought that hummer at $12 per share and during the past couple of years seen it go up to $52 you don't want to give back that nice profit, do you? With a parachute you can save most of it. How?
by Paul Oranika -
WEST PALM BEACH, FL (www.hedgeco.net) - A record number of new hedge funds were created during the first half of 2005, according to Busnesswire reports. Despite the global slowdown in hedge fund returns during the first half of 2005, there was a 13 percent increase in the number of new hedge fund launches compared to the number launched in the first half of 2004.
The Cayman Islands continue to attract significant number of hedge fund firms. According to published reports, about 80 percent of the global hedge funds are registered with the Cayman Islands Monetary Authority. During the first half of 2005, the number of Cayman Island’s registered hedge fund operators rose from 5,932 to 6,527.
by Mark Bendeich and Liau Y-Sing -
Speculators thought Malaysia's currency was a tiger. It turned out to be a kitten.
A month after Malaysia unleashed the ringgit from the United States dollar, it has yet to live up to expectations for a sharp rise against the greenback and fat profits for foreign speculators.
By Jennifer Hill -
UK AUTHORITIES have stepped up their campaign targeting tax avoidance via offshore arrangements, as firms that have used aggressive tax-avoidance schemes to pay benefits and shares to employees are also now facing a crackdown.
Experts have claimed a "heavy handed" approach adopted by Her Majesty's Customs and Revenue (HMCR) on offshore accounts could alarm many people.
And a recent House of Lords ruling has been branded the "latest blow" in a long line of government attacks on employee benefit trusts (EBTs) used for tax avoidance.
By John Shaw -
"If lawyers are disbarred and clergymen are defrocked, shouldn't it follow that cowboys should be deranged?"The world for financial advisers and their clients has changed drastically over the last 10 years. Ten years ago in the United Kingdom, the newly formed Personal Investment Authority, which then became the Financial Services Authority, introduced minimum standards for people working in financial services.
Names like Paul Krugman, Kenneth Rogoff, John Hull, Philippe Jorion, and Emanuel Derman, among other important professionals from the areas of economics, finance and risk analysis, have confirmed their presence at the II International Derivatives and Financial Market Conference, which will be held between the 24th and 27th of August 2005 in Campos do Jordão, Brazil.
By Robert Peston and Sylvia Pfeifer -
Investors set to make a colossal profit on their investments in Qinetiq, the former research arm of the Ministry of Defence, have registered their shareholdings in Guernsey, the offshore tax haven.
According to filings by Qinetiq - which is still 56 per cent owned by the MoD - shares controlled by Carlyle, the US private equity firm, are held in Guernsey-domiciled investment vehicles, as are shares in an employee share plan for the benefit of Qinetiq's staff.
These international stocks have an edge over U.S. rivals
By Barbara Kollmeyer -
LOS ANGELES (MarketWatch) -- Just like that old Irving Berlin tune, what the savvy investor may find these days is that anything a U.S company can do, an international rival can do -- sometimes better.
Investing in European stocks year-to-date would have certainly brought gains to many investors. The Dow Jones Industrial Average ($INDU) is down 2.2% so far this year, while the EuroStoxx 50 is up 12%, though those markets have been helped in part by a rally for the euro versus the U.S. dollar.
By Dorothy Kosich -
RENO--(Mineweb.com) The "2005 Gold Survey" unveiled Tuesday by the New York-based CPM Group has concluded that several significant developments "have come together over the past year and a half to radically alter the gold landscape."
CPM found that gold mine production and average cash costs will continue to increase, the price of gold will probably average $434/oz this year, and investor demand is the main engine driving gold markets.
By Deborah Brewster -
A growing number of US hedge funds are setting up offshore, especially in Asia, as the maturing industry becomes increasingly global and funds look beyond US borders in a bid to boost waning returns.
Bear Stearns plans to launch a $450m fund investing in hedge funds that specialise in Asian markets, according to several industry members. The fund will allocate more than half the money to Japan, and also target China and India. And last week Tremont Capital, a big fund of funds with $10bn under management, became the latest to say it would open an office in Hong Kong to service its growing market in the Pacific Rim.
Foreign exchange is where politics, economics and business are quantified every second of every day
By Tavia Grant -
Toronto — It's 6:15 a.m. on the first Friday of the month. In a few hours, U.S. non-farm payrolls will be released, the single most influential event in global currency markets each month.
On Canada's largest trading floor, George Davis, Royal Bank of Canada's chief foreign exchange technical analyst, is one of the first to arrive. At his desk, facing a row of toy racing cars, he studies news out of Asia and Europe and begins a morning note to clients.
By Federica Bianchi -
BEIJING (Dow Jones)--Beijing Tianhong Real Estate Development and Management Corp., a subsidiary of Tianhong Group, Beijing's largest real estate developer, is starting to cooperate with foreign investors on individual residential housing projects after the government tightened credit resources for construction.
"We are teaming up with several investors that don't necessarily have real estate as their core business," Chai Zhikun, Beijing Tianhong Real Estate Development and Management Chairman told Dow Jones Newswires in a recent interview.
By Florian Gimbel and Mure Dickie -
When Beijing announced the 2.1 per cent revaluation of the renminbi late on July 21, traders at Deutsche Bank in Singapore had to rejig their plans for the evening.
"It was chaotic because everyone had already left the office," says Mirza Baig, currency strategist at Deutsche. "Traders had to rush back to their desks to look at their exposure, particularly in terms of short positions."
COLORADO SPRINGS, COLO. - While serving on the executive board of the Asian Development Bank under the first President George Bush, I consistently called for China to “bite the bullet” and privatize its state-owned companies as soon as possible. Representatives from European and other Asian countries would just shake their heads and mutter about impatient Americans while counseling that China adopt a slow, incremental approach to privatization.
By Dorothy Thomas -
WORLDWIDE THERE are over 70 tiny tax haven destinations that offer no-tax or low-tax status. Among these destinations different jurisdictions tend to be havens for different types of taxes, and for different categories of people or companies. India and Mauritius executed the Double Taxation Avoidance Agreement (DTAA) in 1982 with the sole purpose of mutually strengthening their economies.
