I’m not much of what one would call a trader. Many investors are drawn to more regular trading. For those seeking guidance or simply looking for an additional perspective, I highly recommend reading Smart Money’s 7 Habits of Highly Effective Traders.
I highly recommend reading this brief piece, if you’re trying to get some sense of your bearings in this turbulent market.
What you will find inside…
Do yourself a favor and give it a read today.
Brett Arends of Market Watch has an interesting article about the potential demise of Netflix. I find the piece interesting because it discusses what I see as the commoditization of online content. If Netflix ceases to hold a substantial amount of exclusive video content, then why should an investor expect to see continued growth from the company? Switching costs are very low in the arena Netflix finds itself. What can it do to prevent from being toppled from it’s current peak? What will keep Netflix the clear online video choice rather than Hulu, Amazon, Vudu, Cinema Now, Blockbuster or the other video online content video providers?
In the decade that ended Dec. 31, 2010, the Standard & Poor’s 500 dropped 4.7 percent. Yet if dividends are included, the stock index returned a positive 15 percent. If this reason enough to have at least a slight interest in crafting part of your investment strategy around dividend paying companies, then I don’t know what else to say.
Take a moment to learn some dividend stock tips from a BlackRock expert.
If you’ve ever had a difficult time wrapping your head around the unemployment figures, below is a straight-forward chart that shows the severity of change that has occurred in the labor market in the last 3 or so years.
On Thursday, May 14, 2010 the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped by almost 10%, then quickly recovered. By analyzing the past 80 years of Dow Jones data we see that these sort of drops are occurring more frequently and may signal an increasing trend in market volatility.
