Daily Investment Tips

I was asking why a broker would offer a no fee ETF and I found the answer from Investopedia,

A no-fee ETF is used as an incentive to get an investor to move his or her account to a particular broker, with the broker forgoing a transaction fee in order to gain access to the investor’s assets. This in turn allows the broker to provide other financial product and services to the investor.

List of No Fee ETFs

No fee ETF or commission-free ETFs are offered by brokers such as

Fidelity – have a selection of 30  Ishares no fee ETFs

Firsttrade – 10 No fees etf

Schwab -13 schwab commission free etf

Scotrade – 15 no fees etf

TD Ameritrade – a selection of over 100 no fee etfs

Vanguard – 64 vanguard no fee etfs

Source of data, No Load Fund

As we wrote above there is nothing like “No Fee” it is all a marketing ploy. In exchange for allowing investors to trade ETF for no fee, the brokers expect you to sign up and purchase additional services.

written by Constantine Njeru \\ tags: etf brokers, Etfs, Fidelity, Firsttrade, Investors, Schwab, Td Ameritrade, Transaction Fee, Vanguard

Australian ETFs and New Zealand Dollar ETFs are a good fit for investors who are interested in commodity-tied currencies of Australia, New Zealand.

There is a direct correlation between commodities and currency, the higher commodity prices rise the higher a currency rises. This ahs been the case with Australian and New Zealand dollar: The currency have been rising on the global rise in commodities.

There are Australian ETFs and New Zealand Dollar ETFs that have been created to take advantage of this currency trends.

FXA – CurrencyShares Australian Dollar Trust

BNZ – WisdomTree Dreyfus New Zealand Dollar ETF

ADE – ELEMENTS Australian Dollar / USD Exchange Rate ETN

Australian and New Zealand Dollar ETFs

written by Constantine Njeru \\ tags: Australia, Australian Currency, Australian Dollar, Commodities, Commodity Prices, Currencies, Currency Trends, Etfs, Exchange Rate, Investors, New Zealand Dollar

Google plus, Googles answer to facebook has already roped in 20 million users and some analyst are already predicting, google + will be a big success.

Investors are already betting big : the launch and hyper growth of Google’s ambitious Google+ social site has helped fuel a meteoric rise in the company’s stock. Google stock (GOOG) is up nearly 30%,since Google + was announced.

Signing them up is one thing, stickyness is another thing. Usage is ultimately what will determine whether Google+ wins or not.

The latest Google + usage stats are not encouraging, Average time on Google+ fell 10% in the last week, which might mean the service has peaked in usage, according to numbers from web analytics Experian Hitwise.

written by Constantine Njeru \\ tags: Goog, Google, Googles, Hitwise, Hyper Growth, Investors, Launch, Meteoric Rise, Stock, Usage Statistics, Usage Stats, Web Analytics, Wins

George Soros is retiring from hedge funding business. The billionaire hedge fund manager is returning money to outside investors in his $25.5 billion firm, ending a career as hedge-fund manager that spanned more than four decades.

Soros, will hand back the money, less than $1 billion, by the end of the year. His firm will focus on managing assets solely for Soros and his family, according to a letter to investors.

George Soros Reason for Retiring

George Soros’s sons said they took the decision because new financial regulations would have made it necessary for the firm to register with the Securities and Exchange Commission by March 2012 if it continued to manage money for outsiders.

George Soros legacy

Soro’s will forever be remembered a speculator, who in 1992 made $1 billion betting that the Bank of England would be forced to devalue the pound.

In the last 30 years, he’s given away more than $8 billion to promote democracy, foster free speech, improve education and fight poverty around the world.

written by Constantine Njeru \\ tags: 1 Billion, Assets, Bank Of England, Billionaire, Education, Fight Poverty, Free Speech, George Soros, Hedge Fund Manager, Investors, Legacy, Money, More Than Four Decades, Outsiders, Poverty Around The World, Reason, Retirement, Securities And Exchange, Securities And Exchange Commission, Speculator

It was a day to remember for lucky investors who bought into Zillow IPO. Zillow, a Seattle-based real estate listings website, tripled in value as it began its first day of trading on Wednesday, continuing a series of successes for dotcom companies this year in an echo of the 1990s boom.

Zillow sold IPO shares for $20, then on the opening date on Wednesday on Nasdaq, the shares skyrocketed to $60. By the close, the shares had settled at $35.77, for a valuation of $965m, a gain of 79 per cent.

Money To Be Made In Tech IPOs

Zillow was just repeating a pattern that has been set by other Tech companies: Shares skyrocketing on the first day of trading. A word of caution. although this tech stock have shot up on the first day of trading, they have thereafter struggled to stay at their peak levels.

written by Constantine Njeru \\ tags: 1990s, Boom, Caution, Dotcom Companies, Investors, Ipo Shares, Ipos, Lucky, Money, Nasdaq, Peak Levels, Real Estate Listings, Seattle, Stock, Successes

These days it is hard to find a currency analyst who is long US dollar, but thanks to Euro Crisis and natural calamities in Asia, the US Dollar is still able to hold its own against major currencies.

US Dollar ETF

For currency investors who still believe in the dollar they can purchase a dollar ETF that is long US Dollar.

PowerShares DB USD Index Bullish Fund

PowerShares DB USD Index Bullish Fund, The fund tracks the Deutsche Bank Long US Dollar Index (USDX) Futures benchmark which is a ruled-based index composed solely of long USDX futures contracts. The USDX futures contract is designed to replicate the performance of being long the US Dollar against the following currencies: Euro, Japanese Yen, British Pound, Canadian Dollar, Swedish Krona and Swiss Franc.

The PowerShare Bullish ETF makes money when the dollar rises against global currencies.

written by Constantine Njeru \\ tags: Benchmark, British Pound, Calamities In Asia, Canadian Dollar, Currencies, Currency, Deutsche Bank, Dollar Rises Against, Futures Contract, Futures Contracts, Global Currencies, Index Futures, Investors, Japanese Yen, Money, Natural Calamities, Swedish Krona, Swiss Franc, Us Dollar Index, Usd Index, Usdx

The surprise news of the week was Hedge  Fund manager, David Einhorn is purchasing a non-controlling stake in the Mets for $200 million. The decision has some investors wondering whether he sees an angle no one else discovered.

Some smart people on Wall Street have already looked at the Mets’ books and walked away. Even The Mets, principal owners have said the mets as a business are lousy, snakebitten and bleeding cash, having lost $50 million last year alone.

Yet Mr. Einhorn is forking out $200m! This is not the first time Einhorn has thought outside the box. He Famously made money when he bet against Lehman Brothers’ stock several months before the famed brokerage collapsed.

His he right? Only time will tell.

written by Constantine Njeru \\ tags: 50 Million, Books, Brokerage, David Einhorn, Hedge Fund Manager, Investors, Lehman Brothers, Mets, Money, News Of The Week, News Week, Principal Owners, Purchasing, Stake, Stock, Surprise, Wall Street

Renren, the Chinese Facebook,  made a big start on it’s IPO debut. Renren IPO price was $15, the shares rose near 40% on the first day to settle at $19.

Despite critics arguing the company was overvalued, investors seemed to be very thirsty for new tech stocks. Renren, China’s answer to Facebook, raised $743m.

Renren valuation was 67X revenue, versus 25X revenue for Facebook’s private markets valuation.

Investors seems to have thrown caution to the wind. Currently ‘Chinese Facebook’ Renren has about 5 million users a month and the company continues to make a loss. The only way to justify this IPO is to say investors are betting on the company’s potential to rope 1 billion Chinese.

written by Constantine Njeru \\ tags: 1 Billion, 5 Million, Bonanza, Caution To The Wind, China, Debut, Facebook, Investors, Ipo Price, Private Markets, Rope 1, Tech Stocks

Australian Dollar hit a 29 years high against the US dollar in April 2011. The financial times of London is reporting: -

Short-term speculators have built up record bets on further gains in the Australian dollar, pushing the currency to fresh highs, as optimism over global growth and elevated commodity prices boost its appeal.

Factors driving Australian Dollar up

1. Currency speculators are buying Australian dollar contracts in record numbers. Data from the Chicago Mercantile Exchange,showed investors increased their bets on further gains in the Australian dollar to 90,938 contracts in the week to April 5.
2. Australia dollar is the highest yielding major currency. Investors are borrowing in US dollars, Yen and other major currencies and investing the money in Ausi dollars that is paying up to 4.75% annually.
3. Rising demand for Australian raw materials from China and India is also having an upward effect on Australian dollar.

Australian Dollar Forecast / Australian Dollar Prediction / Australian Dollar Outlook

With these factors all currency bets are the Australian dollar will continue to rise, at least in the short term.

written by Constantine Njeru \\ tags: Australia Dollar, Australian Currency, Australian Dollar, Australian Raw Materials, Bets, Chicago Mercantile Exchange, Commodity Prices, Currencies, Currency Speculators, Dollar Contracts, Dollar Outlook, Financial Times, Financial Times Of London, Global Growth, India, Investors, Optimism, Record Numbers, Times Of London, Yen

Forecaster Harry Dent has made a big splash after he came out with a bold prediction that a Major Crash is around the corner.

Harry Dent Dow Forecast : Harry Dent Stock Market Forecast

Harry Dent has looked at his charts and predicts the Dow will trade as high as 13,200 by mid-summer 2011 and the S&P 500 as high as 1430, or more-than 7% above current levels.

“Then we could see another major crash,” Dent says, forecasting the Dow could trade as low as 3300 in a worst-case scenario. “Bubbles go back to where they started or a little lower,” he says. “The stock market bubble started at (Dow) 3800 in late 1994.”

Harry Dent Gold Forecast : Commodities Forecast : Oil Forecast

Dent predicts the Dow’s crash will play out over several years, he foresees present danger in gold, silver, oil and other commodities. “All investors should lighten up on or sell oil, silver, and gold as the U.S. dollar looks like it has bottomed and should rise ahead,” he writes in the March issue of HS Dent Forecast.

written by Constantine Njeru \\ tags: Amp, Bold Prediction, Bubbles, Crash, Dow, Forecast Forecaster, Gold Commodities, Harry Dent, Investment, Investors, Present Danger, Silver And Gold, Stock Forecast, Stock Market Bubble, Worst Case Scenario