Five long years have passed since the global financial crisis hit equity markets worldwide. One of the worst affected sectors was banking.Though the U.S. banking sector has stabilized in the past couple of years only some of the banking stocks have recovered. Many bank stocks are nowhere near the pre-crisis levels and some have totally …
Continue reading ‘Comparing the Performance of Three U.S. Super Banks’ »
The top 10 foreign companies listed on the New York Stock Exchange based on market capitalization are listed below: Among the foreign banks, HSBC Holdings plc (HBC) has the largest market cap. Colombia’s Ecopetrol (EC) has had an exponential growth since listing and its market cap is closer to that of established industry giants BP and Royal Dutch …
Continue reading ‘The Top 10 ADRs on the NYSE Based on Market Capitalization’ »
The growth of the ETF industry in the U.S. in recent years has been phenomenal. ETF providers have sliced and diced equities, fixed income instruments and other assets into every way possible. Yet still new ETFs continue to launched on a regular basis. As of October this year, a total of 1,240 Exchange-Traded Funds (ETFs) were …
The Periodic Table of Investment Returns for the nine S&P sectors is shown in the chart below: Click to enlarge Source: SPDR Here are a few observations: At the height of the global financial crisis in 2008, financials fell over 55% while consumer staples fell only about 15%. Utilities fell by 23% and …
Continue reading ‘US Sector Periodic Table of Returns 2001 To 2011’ »
The long-term capital gains tax rate is currently at 15%. This rate was implemented as part of the tax cuts package during the Bush administration and is set to expire on Dec 31, 2012. The long-term capital gains rate is applied on gains realized from stocks held for over one year 60 days. Though the …
Continue reading ‘Dividend Tax Rate and Long-Term Capital Gains Tax Rate: U.S vs.Other Countries’ »