Author: AdmaD

AdmaD is a seasoned professional in Forex trading with a background in financial services and investments. Previously associated with Dukascopy Bank SA Switzerland, studied forex trading, insurance, real estate, and mortgage banking and extends to alternative investment strategies, particularly in Gold and Silver Investments, IRA Rollover services, and Commodity Online Trading.

10 Stocks off to a Good Year

Neither the multifaceted disaster in Japan nor the domino-like progression of political unrest in the Middle East and North Africa has prevented the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index ($INX) from climbing 13.4% in the first quarter of 2011. And some stocks performed as if we were living in the best of times.
Among the index’s top 10 performers was CB Richard Ellis Group (CBG), a commercial real estate company that offers services to tenants, owners, lenders and investors.

The Los Angeles company’s stock climbed 30.4% in the first quarter, helped by better-than-expected fourth-quarter financial results and an improving outlook for commercial properties.
CB Richard Ellis recently raised $800 million through term loans to purchase the real estate investment unit of ING (ING).
Some analysts think the share price has limited upside potential after soaring 68.5% in the past 12 months. Yet the commercial real estate market, considered by some “the next shoe to drop,” is turning around faster than many observers expected.

CFTC Rules-U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission

Washington, D.C. – The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) today announced the publication in the Federal Register of final regulations concerning off-exchange retail foreign currency transactions. The rules implement provisions of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act and the Food, Conservation, and Energy Act of 2008, which, together, provide the CFTC with broad authority to register and regulate entities wishing to serve as counterparties to, or to intermediate, retail foreign exchange (forex) transactions.

Investing in India

As investments go, India has really great long-term prospects. No doubt about it. Indeed, India has enjoyed very decent growth rates for the last decade, pulling many of its people out of poverty in the process. But investing in India…

Home Prices Near a Double Dip!

With the latest data pointing to a double-dip in home prices, it has become increasingly clear that the wobbly economic recovery won’t be getting any help from the housing sector.

Existing home sales in February sank 9.6% from the previous month, while prices fell 5.2% to a median of $156,000, the lowest since April 2002. Existing homes comprise 90% of the housing market.
Meanwhile, new homes sales in February plummeted to an annual rate of 250,000, far below the norm of 700,000 and a level half that of 1963, when the United States had 120 million fewer residents than its current population of 310 million. The median sales price plunged 8.9% year-over-year.

But the worst news came with last Tuesday’s release of Standard and Poor’s Case-Shiller Home Price Index. The index average of 20 major housing markets in the United States fell 3.1% in January, putting it within 1.1% of its April 2009 low. A drop below that level would establish a new post-peak low – the dreaded “double-dip.”

Stock exchange mergers will do nothing to help us invest internationally

The NYSE Euronext Group (NYSE: NYX) and Deutsche Boerse AG are attempting to merge and the London Stock Exchange Group PLC and TMX Group Inc. are also getting together.

The deals are the latest in a consolidation cycle among exchange operators that has accelerated over the past decade. In 2010, Singapore Exchange Ltd. (PINK: SPXCY) agreed to an $8.3 billion takeover of Australia’s ASX Ltd (PINK: ASXF) to create Asia’s fourth-largest stock exchange. And IntercontinentalExchange Inc. (NYSE: ICE) purchased the Britain-based Climate Exchange PLC (PINK: CXCHY) that same year for $597 million…