The U.S. economy is officially considered a free-market economy. However in reality, many sectors of the economy are dominated by a handful of monopolies and oligopolies. For example, the tax preparation industry is dominated major players like TurboTax (owned by Intuit), H&R Block and TaxAct. The U.S. is one of the few countries in the world that …
Continue reading ‘Monopoly Madness in the U.S. Cable TV Industry’ »
Frontier markets are markets that are considered less developed than emerging markets. These markets include countries such as Sri Lanka, Ghana, Ukraine, etc. Of the 33 countries that MSCI classifies as frontier markets 24 are included in the MSCI Frontier Markets Index. The major index provider classifies the following markets as Frontier markets: Click to enlarge …
Apple Inc(AAPL) became the most valuable company in the world this Monday when its market cap exceed $710.0 billion. The next largest firms have market caps of less than $400 billion as the graphic shows below: Click to enlarge Source: Apple: $710 Billion and Counting, Feb 10, 2015, The Wall Street Journal I was curious about …
Continue reading ‘NYSE-listed Foreign Firms with Large Market Capitalizations’ »
When it comes to investing in foreign stocks there are hundreds of companies that trade on the US markets.Some of them are popular and widely followed. For example, companies such as oil giant Total (TOT), banking group Barclays(BCS), Vodafone (VOD), Siemens(SIEGY), Nestle(NSRGY), etc. are widely followed with thousands of shares changing hands everyday. However there …
Continue reading ‘Ten Under-the-Radar Foreign Stocks Worth Investing In’ »
The Greek debt drama is taking center stage again in recent weeks. A few years ago it appeared that the Greek story was dead once and for all. Alas. That did not happen.Every few years the tiny poorest country in developed Europe appears to rear its ugly head again on the international arena. It is …