Owner: Building Equity in Toronto URL:http://beit07.blogspot.com/ Join Date: Sat, 15 Dec 2007 01:20:48 -0600 Rating:0 Site Description: This blog tracks the equity-building progress of an amateur investor from Ontario, Canada. Among the topics discussed are comments on the U.S. and Canadian economy, stock markets, dividend-growth investing, stock trading, and money-saving tips.
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Questrade allows direct U.S. dollar trades in RRSP accounts 2008-02-12 21:04:39 My current brokerage, Questrade Inc., became the first Canadian discount brokerage which would allow U.S. dollar holdings and direct trades in RRSP accounts. You can read about it here or here. It means that from now on you do not have to convert your account funds from Canadian dollars to U.S. dollars and back when you buy and sell U.S. stocks.
The traditional round-trip FX premium for
DJIA-to-Gold Ratio: Is Gold the King? 2008-02-10 16:47:47 Chart junkies love plotting and analyzing relationships between different variables over time. Since I keep track of some of the market indicators, I do plotting too sometimes and think the following diagram looks pretty interesting in the light of recent market trends:
The diagram above depicts the historic time series of the year-closing Dow-to-Gold (DG) ratio, which is calculated as the Read more:Ratio
Tips on credit card use, Part 3: Canceling your credit cards 2008-02-10 14:00:59 The third part of the credit
card series shares a couple of tips on how to properly close your credit card account.
Do not cancel your old credit cards with a large credit limit which you have owned for more than five-ten years – doing so causes the deterioration of your overall credit score which partly depends on the average age of your credit account balances. The oldest credit accounts
Stop flushing your dollars down the toilet: The economics of a high-efficiency toilet set 2008-02-10 13:49:50 There are so many ways to save money around your own house. One of such ways is cutting on water consumption and thus reducing your water and wastewater bill. One may argue that it is not much money, but let's look at some simple math before making such conclusions. I will use my family as an example.
I own a house and have three persons in my household, the two of whom are (honestly) not true Read more:dollars
Tips on optimizing and simplifying your credit card use experience 2008-02-10 13:29:16 This post continues the topic of credit
cards started in my previous post, 20 valid reasons why you can and should use credit cards. It is not enough to know that the use of credit cards is beneficial to you. You should also know how to use them in the most effective and efficient way, so that your relevant experience
is pleasant and trouble-free. In this post, partly based on my experience, I
Tips on credit card use, Part 1: Credit card applications and credit history 2008-02-10 13:27:09 This is the first part of the Credit Card Tips series, which is related to your credit card applications and your credit history.
Credit card applications:
To build up your credit history, if you do not have one because you are too young or just settled in a new country, first try applying for a local retailer shopping card with a small credit limit. Most major retailers, like Sears or HBC, have
Tips on credit card use, Part 2: Optimized use and safe shopping experience 2008-02-10 13:25:41 This post continues the three-part series on tips related to opening, using, and closing credit
card accounts. The second part deals with optimization of credit card use and relevant safety considerations.
Credit card use:
Always remember that credit card is not the same thing as cash. It is not money, it is just a convenient short-term credit tool that allows you to consolidate your payments Read more:experience
20 valid reasons why you can and should use credit cards 2008-02-10 03:45:04 Credit cards are viewed by many people as something evil, which lures people into bankruptcy, causes them to make impulsive and excessive purchases, and is at odds with sound principles of frugal and financially responsible living. Well, knives serve different purposes as well - one can argue that they can be used to cause property and body damage, as well as to rob and kill people. At the same Read more:credit
, valid
January blog stats 2008-02-09 20:06:02 The late January
and early February were busy months for me at work, with more and more new projects lining up ahead. That is the key reason why I can't do regular posting lately during workdays. I usually get back home by 8 or 9 pm, then before going to bed around 2-3 am I usually spend 2-3 hours checking daily market news, looking at stocks and indexes, and reading something from my investing/
Trading notes: Feb 4-8, 2008 2008-02-09 17:33:04 I sold my small National Bank of Canada (NA.TO) holding last week for a small 7% gross profit (bought it in November 2007), after having read the 2007 annual report. It is true that the dividend yield was high, and it is true that in the long run the stock will do just fine. I just think that the markets will take this and other banking stocks further lower down, maybe for another 15-25%, before Read more:Trading
Next week: Another rally attempt or the next round of free falling? 2008-02-09 17:20:56 It was a volatile ride for the markets during the last week. A follow-up of the rally from the previous week never materiliazed as several noticeable pieces of negative news reiterated the story of recession skillfully narrated and promoted by the Bears and their talking heads. On the statistical front, we had poor auto and truck sales in January, a very recessionary number for the January ISM Read more:attempt
, round
, falling
The annual forecasting powers of the January performance indicator 2008-02-09 15:02:51 Some traders believe that by looking at stock market performance at the beginning of a year, during the month of January
, one can get an idea of how the markets will perform over the remaining eleven months. While I am somewhat sceptical about the predictive power of this January Performance Indicator, we can nonetheless look at the charts and see what the magical candlesticks are telling us
The 2008 Super Bowl Indicator tells us the markets may have a positive year 2008-02-03 23:06:19 Well, according to the most recent Super
Bowl Indicator
, we are to have a high probability of markets finishing higher in 2008. With NY Giants upsetting NE Patriots during the last minutes of the thrilling 17-14 game on February 3, 2008, all Bulls around the world for surely felt somewhat relieved and supercharged, with revived hopes for another "up" year.
On a more serious note, while the Read more:tells
, Super Bowl
Next week: Indexes at resistance levels and testing of a bear rally 2008-02-03 13:13:43 It's been quite a week in the markets. We witnessed the first bear rally since the stock markets officially entered into the Bear territory not so long ago. All major indexes finished te week with positive weekly performance figures. Of course, the major factor behind these moves has a two-part series of interest rate cuts by the Fed, with latest 50 bps cut announced during the regular meeting Read more:Indexes
, levels
Last week: wild five days for the markets and still more action ahead 2008-01-27 18:57:21 It was quite a week. The market players could not believe their eyes when they saw the wild 75 bp rate cut, thrown in by the Fed on Tuesday. Well, people expected 25 bp or 50 bp at most, but 75... That was a bit too much. Any way, the short-term surprise-driven effect was good and worked as expected, with the stock markets rallying for three straight days, before profit taking brought them down a Read more:ahead
Down we go again... 2008-01-22 00:09:25 The last week was quite something. Although the statistical data reported during the last week were not that bad (of course, they would not - we have wizard economists and econometricians working for the U.S. government!) and although there were some good spots in reported earnings (like IBM and GE), the markets rushed down in a big-time selloff. A piece of poop news here, a panic-inducing
What will the Super Bowl Indicator tell us this year? 2008-01-21 23:06:02 As we have been watching the stock markets sinking deeper and deeper lately, many investors and traders are desperately looking for market indicators and other magic signs that will tell them about the future market performance. As I was going through the news, I found a pretty funny article about the so called Super
Bowl Indicator
. The idea behind it is simple enough: if the Super Bowl game
Markets: Quiet before the storm? 2008-01-14 21:53:03 Aside from a healthy opening jump on IBM's earnings beating analysts' estimates, the markets on Monday traded relatively flat and reminded me a nervous school of curious fish in anticipation of one of the two options. What shall it be, a hungry shark (completely disastrous bank earnings numbers and bad government stats) or some nice food (government stats and banks earnings which are not that bad Read more:Markets
, Quiet
The earnings season kicks off next week 2008-01-13 00:56:23 The U.S. markets closed on the sour note on Friday, weighted down by growing worries about the U.S. economy and uncertainty about the upcoming earnings season results. Meanwhile, the S&P/TSX index is kept afloat lately by gold mining and oil stocks.
The next-week announcements that may have an impact on the markets include:
Jan 15, Tuesday: Retail sales for December. The number should be
U.S. mortgage lenders are sued by cities: Is it the legitimate way? 2008-01-12 23:37:00 One of the things that I was quite surprised to see last week was lawsuits by cities of Baltimore and Cleveland brought about against WFC and other big mortgage lenders on the ground that these banks discriminated against low-income black borrowers by charging them with excessive mortgage premiums and incorporating prohibitively high penalties into mortgage contracts. While the underlying motives
Welcome to the Bear Market? 2008-01-09 23:16:24 The last 7 trading days were definitely interesting to observe. We saw a very healthy selloff sequence. Speculators are becoming increasingly nervious and sell massively at any hint of negative news. I bought shares of Wells Fargo & Co. (WFC) and D.R. Horton Inc. (DHI) on Friday and Monday, respectively. Anticipated a rebound this week because both stocks were oversold and their market sectors ( Read more:Market
, Welcome
Trading notes: a short swing trade in TDG.UN.TO 2008-01-04 02:12:09 In my Wednesday post, I mentioned that I could not resist buying an occasional stock for a short-term swing
trade. Yesterday, I sold it for a quick 28% profit. The traded stock was Trinidad Energy Services Income Trust (TDG.UN.TO), which has been lately hit pretty hard by several market-related and company-specific factors. Despite its name, the trust has nothing to do with Trinidad and Tobago, a Read more:Trading
December blog stats 2008-01-04 01:11:54 Just to keep track of some numbers (otherwise, they will get lost), I am posting the blogging stats for December
2007, the first month of this brand-new blog:
Total posts = 17;
Total visitors = 320 (90% are new visitors);
Top incoming traffic sites (visits): (120) and (21) - many thanks to both for carnival links;
Search-based
Back from holidays 2008-01-02 23:43:53 It was a very nice break from work. Several vacation days from the last year that had to be taken + several public holiday days + a pair of working-from-home days = a relaxing getaway. We generally stayed within the budget with Christmas presents for friends and family - the prior negotiation with my wife on the per capita gift-spending limits really helped, and she did a great job shopping for
My blogging challenge for the next year 2007-12-23 00:03:36 Since I am very new to the community of financial blogging (and blogging in general), I am still trying to learn the rules of the game. Hopefully, within the next year, I will know a thing or two about the relevant routine, networking specifics, blogging techniques, and technology.
The key challenge for me will definitely be to stay an active blogger and to continue posting on a more or less
Back to posting 2008-03-15 01:04:28 It's been quite a break for me from posting on this blog. I mentioned before that staying involved and consistent in something for an extended period of time is a big challenge. One needs to be very disciplined and determined to stay in business. They say that in pretty much everything new that you start doing, there are several distinct stages. I guess the last month was my first-stage crisis in
Looks like the Canadian economy is heading towards a recession 2008-03-16 23:21:29 I went to do some shopping here in the Greater Toronto Area a couple of times during the last month and noticed several new things that I did not quite like. I view them as alarming signs that many things in the Canadianeconomy
are not as robust and steady as Canadian politicians are painting them for the general public. What are these signs?
First, a number of people in shopping malls went Read more:Looks
Markets this week: A feast in time of plague 2008-03-18 22:09:31 It was quite an action today in the markets, which all started yesterday and continued in the morning in anticipation of the upcoming rate cut by the U.S. Fed. The Fed did not dissappoint most of the more rational market players, cutting its Fed Funds rate by a healthy 75 bps, which brought down the rate to a meager 2.25%. Another contributor to the crazy rally was news on better than expected Read more:Markets
, plague
Quick review: Update on the Questrade account 2008-03-20 00:53:07 It's been almost five months since I opened my RRSP account at Questrade Inc. I guess it is time to provide a brief first update on my usage experience. During the five months since the account was opened, I did approximately two dozens of trades with US and Canadian stocks. What are my impressions of Questrade so far?
Positives/neutrals:
- The market orders are executed instantly;
- The limit Read more:Quick
, review
, Update
Troubles with derivatives in the financial sector 2008-03-23 13:29:34 I am still convinced that the credit derivatives bomb is slowly ticking in the financial services market, ready to explode and hit all other sector
s of the US and global economies. For some extra recent info on the CDS topic, read Swaps Backers Rush to Prevent 'Credit Event' from the Financial Week publication about the recent developments in credit default swap ("CDS") markets, or read The Read more:Troubles
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