The global financial crisis of 2008-09 started in the U.S. and almost brought the world’s economies to its knees. With the downgrade of the U.S. by S&P and the crash in global markets today it appears that the U.S. might trigger another financial crisis soon if one has not started already. I came across this …
Mergent publishes the Dividend Achievers list of indices which constitute companies that have consistently increased dividend payments. For example, the United Kingdom Dividend Achievers™ Index has the following features: Companies in the index must be incorporated in the UK. Companies must have increased their annual dividend payments for the last five or more consecutive years. …
Continue reading ‘Download: Dividend Achievers Lists 2011’ »
When investing for income with dividend stocks one has to consider the impact of taxes since higher tax rates can significantly reduce the after-tax yield on the investment. In this post lets take a look at historical trend and current tax rates on dividends. The graphic below shows the U.S. individual dividends and capital gains …
Continue reading ‘U.S. Dividends and Capital Gains Tax Rate Since 1961’ »
Last month S&P launched a new index called the S&P Emerging Asia 40 Index to provide exposure to the 40 largest and most liquid securities from the emerging markets of China, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Thailand.The Index offers equal exposure to two distinctive regions: with 20 stocks from China and India and 20 …
Continue reading ‘Components of the S&P Emerging Asia 40 Index’ »
In 2010 China’s GDP increased by 10.1% from the previous year to reach $5.98 Trillion. However a large portion of this GDP is due to the country’s fixed investment in infrastructure, property and manufacturing and not consumption. Following the trend from last year, investment accounted for more than half of the economic growth in the …
Continue reading ‘China’s Investment as a Percentage of GDP Remains High’ »