Interesting table showing the Major U.S. and Foreign Futures Exchanges:
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Source: Derivatives and Risk Management in the Petroleum, Natural Gas, and Electricity Industries, Energy Information Administration, Oct 2002
The Top Ten U.S. Health Insurance Companies
The healthcare industry in the U.S. is dominated by a few large companies.Private health insurance firms’ direct written premium totaled $395 billion in 2010. With additional health premiums written by life and other insurers, the total health premiums amounted to $560 billion according to SNL Financial. The number of people with no health insurance increased from 46.3 million in 2008 to 50.7 million in 2009 according to U.S. Census Bureau.
In 2010, about 16.3% of the total U.S. populated lacked any form of coverage for health care.With the passage of Obama’s The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), these uninsured people will be required to buy health insurance starting in 2014. As a result, health insurers should see their business grow in the coming years and accordingly generate higher profits. In anticipation of the law, many health insurers have already increased premiums to compensate for insuring a larger risk pool.As in the past, healthcare costs is projected to soar more than the inflation rate each year. From an investment standpoint,larger health insurers are a better option than smaller ones since they can maximize the economies of scale and have stronger financial reserves to grow and pay claims.
The Top Ten U.S. Health Insurance Companies are shown in the table below:
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Source: 2012 Financial Services Fact Book 2012 by Insurance Information Institute and Financial Services Roundtable.
The two largest health insurers by market share are WellPoint(WLP) and UnitedHealth Group(UNH).
Some of the ETFs related to the health insurance industry are Health Care Select Sector SPDR (XLV), Vanguard Health Care ETF (VHT), iShares Dow Jones US Healthcare (IYH) and iShares Dow Jones U.S. Medical Devices Index ETF (IHI).
Disclosure: No Positions
Knowledge is Power: Cars, Bond King, Student Loans Edition
Note to Bond King: Check Your Math
Investors Prepare for Euro Collapse
Why U.S. student loans are not the next financial bubble
Best Bank 2012: Santander storms through the Spanish crisis
North against South in Europe?
Car use declining in North America
China: least of our worries, greatest of our hopes
Is lending by state banks more stable over the business cycle?
Who Wants To Break Up The Big Banks?
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Climber Kate Rutherford, Yosemite, USA
Photo Courtesy: The daredevils of Yosemite, BBC Travel
Historical Performance Charts of Select Asian Equity Indices
The long-term return charts of many equity markets is not easy to find online. This is especially true in the case of frontier and emerging markets. The following charts show the long-term performance of major equity indices in Asia. The risks with investing in emerging markets is confirmed by dramatic rise and falls of stock indices in China, India, Vietnam, etc.
1. Shanghai Composite Index
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2. Sensex
3 Kuala Lumpur Composite Index
4. Hang Seng Index
5. Jakarta Composite Index
6. Straits Times Index
7. TWSE Index
8. VN Index
Source: MoneyWeek, UK
Some Related ETFs:
iShares MSCI Malaysia Index Fund (EWM)
iShares MSCI Singapore Index Fund (EWS)
iShares FTSE/Xinhua China 25 Index Fund (FXI)
iShares S&P India Nifty 50 (INDY)
iShares MSCI Hong Kong Index Fund (EWH)
Market Vectors Vietnam ETF (VNM)
iShares MSCI Taiwan Index Fund (EWT)
Disclosure: No Positions
External Debt of the G7 Countries
The graph below shows the external debt of the G7 countries:
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Source: Finance and Development, June 2012, IMF
From the G7 Borrowing from Abroad article in the IMF magazine:
The United States has the most external debt of the world’s richest countries (the Group of Seven major industrial countries, or G7), but as a share of GDP, the United Kingdom tops the list. The gross external debt (that held by foreigners) of the United Kingdom exceeded four times its GDP in 2011, mainly because of its role as an active financial center.France, Germany, and Italy all had ratios over 100 percent.The U.S. external debt—$15 trillion in 2011—was equal to its GDP. That number has risen significantly over the past five years (from $11 trillion in 2006), in part to finance a high fiscal deficit.
U.S. debt as of 8/9/2012 is $15,915,814,457,919.46 according to U.S. Department of Treasury, Bureau of Public Debt. The Gross External Debt was 5264.0 millions (or) $5.2 Trillion at the end of April this year. Out of this amount, China and Japan are the largest foreign holders of US debt of over $1.0 Trillion each.