South Africa FTSE/JSE All Share Index: Historical Total Returns Chart

The chart below shows the year total return of the South Africa FTSE/JSE All Share Index from 1926 to 2009: Source: Alpha Asset Management, South Africa In 2008, the index was down over 30% but up over 40% last year. Since 2000, the index made gains in all years except 2002 and 2008. Riding the …

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America’s Growing Debt is Worse Than Europe’s Debt Levels

When the global financial crisis began much of the world’s attention was directed towards the U.S. since the country was the main source of triggering the worldwide crisis in financial markets. However recently Europe has been attracting the focus of investors worldwide due to the Euro debt crisis. First it was the tiny economy of …

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One Disadvantage of Investing in the SPDR Gold Shares ETF

Individual small investors have traditionally avoided investing in commodities since they are extremely volatile. However in recent years Wall Street has made investing them pretty easy via ETFs and other products. Heavy marketing and the crash of equities in the past few years have only attracted more ordinary investors into this sector.One of the commodities …

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Top 4 Industrial Gas Stocks To Consider

One of the sectors that is often overlooked by investors is the industrial gases sector. Industrial gases are a group of gases that are used in many industries such as metal, polymer, food, medical, oil refining industries. Like utilities and consumer staples, this sector can be considered as a stable and relatively safe industry to …

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U.S. Corporate Profits Rising With No Job Growth

U.S. companies earned profits at an annual rate of $1.659 trillion in the third quarter, according to a Commerce Department report released Tuesday. In non-inflation adjusted terms, this is the highest figure since the government started keeping track over 60 years ago. Since the credit crisis ended, many businesses have resumed growing profits but not …

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