Archive for Financial
Short Selling Without Knowing Short Interest Ratios Can Be Dangerous!
Posted by: | CommentsShort selling is a way to make money when a security price starts falling. When you expect a stock to fall in price, you borrow it from your broker and sell it. After sometimes buy it back in order to return it to your broker. The difference between the selling price and the buying price in this case is your capital gain.
Now for short selling to work, the stock price should go down otherwize, you will make a hefty loss in case the stock price starts to go up. Since, you are trading with a borrowed stock, you have to return that stock to your broker. In case the stock price goes up, you will have to buy it back at a much higher price with a loss. Now, when you go short and the market suddenly turns against you in the sense that it goes in the wrong direction, you are in trouble. You want to buy back the stock but the price is continously going up. The harder it becomes to buy back the required number of shares, the more desperate you will become and the higher the prices can go before you are able to buy back the required number of shares and return them to your broker. So in a way, short selling is tricky and must only be practiced by the experienced traders.
Now, in other markets like the currencies, futures or the options market, you don\’t have to borrow the security in order to go short. You can straight away go short by selling that security or currency in the market. Now, short selling in stocks is done by investors with the expectation of a making a capital gain when they expect that stock price to go down in the near future. Short selling is also done by the fund managers to hedge their stock portfolios.
There is something very important that you need to keep an eye on when you go short selling. It is known as Short Interest Ratios. New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) and NASDAQ, both report the short interest in stocks listed on them,however, this is done on a monthly basis as brokers need sometime to collect the data of shares that they have lended to their clients for shorting. This will help you monitor the rate of short selling in the market. If the rate is too high, it means that too many investors are taking short positions and you need to avoid it.
Now this number is known as the Short Interest Ratio. Short Interest Ratio is a very important number for short sellers as it can give important clues about the investor expectation to the short sellers.
So what is the Short Interest Ratio? Short Interest Ratio is the number of shares of a particular stock that has been shorted in the market. It also reports the percentage change in the short positions from the previous month. Plus the average daily volume for that stock in the same month and also the number of days of trading at the average volume that it would require the market to cover the short positions in that stock.
An increase in the short interest ratio means that the investors are becoming nervous about the stock. Now, this number is not calculated frequently. What this means is that the trader cannot get a lot of information out of it. But still a high short interest ratio means that the stock prices will go high soon as the investors with short positions become desperate to buy it back. High Short Interest Ratios along with bullish indicators is an indication that prices are going to go up soon rather than down.
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Please take a moment and buy us lunch or a java!Small Utilities Face Real Financial Challenges
Posted by: | CommentsA major concern for water utilities nationwide is the intensifying need to replace old and aging infrastructure. However, utility managers that delay replacement of older plant and equipment can be setting their customers up for shocking rate increases. The subsequent conflict between payer and provider is unpleasant at best – even for communities with larger water systems. For smaller water utilities, though, infrastructure replacement problems can be – if not catastrophic – financially painful for the community.
The US Government\’s EPA recently reported that water utilities providing service to fewer than 3,300 users dominate the water service industry in the US. In fact, small utilities serving fewer than this number of customers constitute almost 85% of all the water systems nationwide. On a per customer basis, the cost of replacing infrastructure for small utilities then can be astronomical. The small town of Lebannon OR, when faced with replacing its very old water treatment plant, determined that rate payers would be subject to a huge, 60% increase in fees to cover the costs.
Major capital replacement projects are unavoidable. As infrastructure nears the end of its useful life, the facility almost always requires upgrade or replacement. So what is the best way for small providers to handle aging infrastructure? Dollars previously coming from grant funding have disappeared, and the possibility for rate hikes in the 60% range to cover replacement costs are a real possibility for water providers that have not planned for the expenditure. Returning to Lebannon, OR, the water treatment plant in need of replacement was originally constructed in 1946. After 64 years in operation, the plant was rapidly nearing the end of its service-life and clearly required substantial improvements and upgrades or even complete replacement.
Costs for upgrades and replacement can be estimated by professional engineers. Small communities with some foresight can initiate smaller scale rate increases to build up a cash fund as well as to establish debt capacity to finance replacement costs. This type of \’forward planning\’ is essential for small utilities and communities that may not enjoy reserve cash funds or ready access to credit markets.
Avoiding massive increases to service rates can be done with solid financial planning. Water utility consultants are available to help in the process, but many utilities can begin without extra help. However, utility managers must first recognize the need to plan. Understanding the fixed assets and accurately estimating their remaining useful service lives is critical. Acquiring estimates for replacement is also possible without too much external assistance. With this information in hand, the water service provider can project a reasonable expectation of what the future holds for its existing facilities and what it would cost to replace them.
Armed with this information, the utility has a reasonable and reliable expectation for what the future holds and informed decisions can then be made. Will the provider need to increase rates and fees? Chances are, the answer is \’yes.\’ By preparing in advance to replace aging assets and facilities, the utility can expand its options in handling the situation. Waiting until a facility becomes inoperable though will severely limit available options.
StepWise Water Utility Consultants assist water service providers across the country improve operations and improve cash flow management in challenging economic times. Contact the Water Utility Consultants and Wastewater Consulting Experts at StepWise today! Get a totally unique version of this article from our article submission service
Please take a moment and buy us lunch or a java!IRS Placed a Levy Against Our Bank Accounts, But Preferred Tax Relief Handled It For Us
Posted by: | CommentsI was overwhelmed to find out that I could not pay the taxes that I owed last year. Because I felt so overwhelmed, I did what I later found out is one of the worst things people in this situation do – I did nothing. I turned matter worse by avoiding my responsibilities. Instead of doing my best to reach an agreement with the IRS, my way of thinking at that time was \”I don\’t have this money so I can\’t do anything at all\”.
Someone suggested to me that I should just save some money from each paycheck with the intention of getting caught up on what I owed, plus the penalties and interest. I took the suggested idea and started stashing money each week since this was a trusted friend with a good head for business on her shoulders. When IRS put a levy against my bank account, this plan soon backfired.
It didn\’t imagine that the Internal Revenue Service actually had the power to take control of my savings and checking accounts I had been with for more than 20 years. The fact that I own that account would mean that no one had the power to get into the account besides me was an assumption as a loyal customer. I was wrong.
You know that feeling, like the wind was knocked out of your lungs? Like getting sucker-punched in the gut by someone. When I found out about the bank levy, that was exactly how I felt. I sunk into a state of panic and soon felt hopeless.
When I was able to crawl out from under the covers and face the music, I sat down at the computer with the intention of learning all that I could about IRS tax levies, back taxes, and what kinds of rights I had as a tax payer and citizen. Imagine how overwhelmed I was when I received thousands of results on Google. I don\’t know how to look on all the information online. It would take months. Being left alone educating myself on this huge problem I created, I could not deal with the pressure of the actual problem. Then, Preferred Tax Relief showed up on the first page when I narrowed my search on Google and get more targeted results.
I took about a half-hour to read through their web site and knew that this was where I belonged. I was speaking with someone who not only knew what I am encountering but as well as been on the other side of the table – he was a former IRS agent after dialing the phone and took a breath to calm myself within seconds.
I do not know how to start sharing to you how it felt to come across Preferred Tax Relief. It was like the proverbial weight had been lifted from my shoulders.
When I entrusted Preferred Tax Relief to handle my tax debt, It was then that I was able to rest my mind and focus on my business, making more income for myself and my family. They were able to lift the tax levy on my bank account and made arrangements for us to make monthly payments that fit within out budget.
We were able to feel at ease again. We did not realize how stressed out we were during this ordeal until Preferred Tax Relief amazingly took over. Rather than letting the stress and worry take over every walking hour of the day and awaken us at night, we suddenly had more time to enjoy ourselves and our family.
Are you encountering an overwhelming situation with the IRS? Your rights as a taxpayer are known to Preferred Tax Relief and our tax specialists can support in enforcing them. Don\’t reprint this exact article. Instead, reprint a free unique content version of this same article.
Please take a moment and buy us lunch or a java!Tempting Fate With Futures
Posted by: | CommentsInvestments can be a problematic prospect, especially for the average investor whose only aim in to grow his or her nest egg. Indeed, in some regards these investors are the backbone of the industry. That being said, they can also be some of its most dramatic victims. One mismanaged trade can be the ruin of any fortune — and often is.
Many go-it-alone investors, in an effort to thwart cruel fate, prefer to add a new dimension to their investment strategy: time. To the uninitiated, this means they prefer to trade in futures. This means investors can utilize traditional commodities or E-mini index funds to leverage the projected value of commodities at some point in the future — hence the name.
Futures are not shackled to the whims and wishes of Wall Street — not directly, in any case. To that end, an investor can enjoy the privilege of round-the-clock trading via any global exchange. To be sure, the futures trader does not look to New York as much as he or she looks to the Second City, Chicago. The Chicago Mercantile Exchange is the mecca future traders turn to seek their fortunes.
It should be noted that although futures allow for greater investment flexibility, they require ready access to significant amounts of liquid capital. That is, they require access to cash — and lots of it. This is so because should your E-minis drop below the CME margin call, you will be required to ante-up, as it were. You can\’t take your place at the roulette wheel unless you can afford to buy the placards, you see.
What futures promise — and often deliver to the savvy strategist — is the potential for dramatic gains. With a handful of E-minis, some commodities traders can reap a veritable financial whirlwind. Of course, this is subject to training and it would be in the best interests of the would-be futures traders to enroll in a futures trading course before embarking on too rigorous a trading regiment.
Heed the better part of your good sense and enroll in a well regarded futures trading course prior to frittering away your hard-earned capital.
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