Consider trading foreign currencies, which just a couple of decades ago was an option mostly restricted to big money investors. Now, it’s widely available to the general public, and generating increasing interest.
Tag: Japan
Central banks join forces to ease financial strains
Some of the world’s biggest central banks have announced a programme of co-ordinated action designed to support the global financial system.
Another Recession is on the way!
WASHINGTON — Discouraging economic data from around the globe have heightened fears that another recession is on the way.
Fresh evidence emerged Thursday that U.S. home sales and manufacturing are weakening. Signs also surfaced that European banks are increasingly burdened by the region’s debt crisis and sputtering economy.
The rising anxiety ignited a huge sell-off in stocks that led many investors to seek the safety of U.S. Treasurys.
Dollar Falls Versus Yen
Monday’s large aftershock came exactly a month after an earthquake and tsunami flattened towns and damaged a nuclear plant in northern Japan. It’s the second strong aftershock to hit northern Japan in less than a week.
The dollar was worth 84.75 Japanese yen in late afternoon trading in New York, down from 84.89 Japanese yen late Friday.
The Japanese yen is considered a safe-haven currency and tends to get stronger during times of turmoil. Days after the March 11 earthquake and tsunami, the yen reached a new record high against the dollar.
Top Stocks of 2012 Aflac (AFL)
Aflac (NYSE: AFL) is best known in the U.S. for its ‘duck ads,’ but actually earns over 75% of its money from Japan. “In Japan, once people get AFL insurance they don’t drop it (which is very important in the life and health insurance industry) with a persistency rate of 95%.
AFL currently yields 2.4%, which is nice. It has however, increased that dividend in each of the last 27 years, and over the last 15 years it has done so at a compound annual rate of 20.7%.