August 01, 2003Mutual Funds Blog Archives |
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2003 Stock Market Holiday Schedule As you probably know, the U.S. stock market is closed on Monday, September 1st. So you can keep tabs on which days are holidays for the stock market, I created a U.S. Stock Market Holiday Schedule and the International Stock Market Holiday Schedule.
05:01 PM # Financial Companies Need to Know You BetterMutual fund companies, banks, brokers and other financial institutions would like to get to know you better. Unfortunately, they aren't aiming at increasing customer service or personalization, they are just trying to comply with Section 326 of the U.S. Patriot Act.04:00 PM # Morningstar Stepping on Advisors' Feet?The Wall Street Journal reports that Morningstar has stepped into the investment advisor arena, putting it in direct competition with its traditional client base. Now 100 of its 600 employees are dedicated to this new area.This is bad news for investment advisors because every time they use Morningstar data or refer people to Morningstar's site, they may be sending their clients or leads directly to their competition. Morningstar has definitely changed over the past year. Morningstar started off as a pure data machine, but lately that has been changing. Their Web site has featured more and more writing geared towards the general public, rather than advisors, and they've spent more time trying to promote new products not aimed at professionals. For example, Morningstar just published its first mutual fund investing book (I plan on reviewing the book soon). I applaud Morningstar for expanding the company, but I question whether they may be shooting themselves in the foot. Will advisors start looking for other data sources? Will writers stop referring people to their site? Will Web sites stop using their tools? Time will tell. 02:01 PM # 2003 RMD CalculatorI created this handy RMD calculator for those of you who are subject to Required Minimum Distributions (RMD) on your retirement holdings.11:15 AM # Black DaysThough much of the Midwest and East Coast are in the middle of a blackout, Wall Street exchanges were able to operate. The only problem that I've seen reported is that the American Stock Exchange had a trading delay due to the lack of air conditioning. Though the loss of power is catastrophic, many people experienced worse times in 1929. Take a look:
Black ThursdayBlack Monday Black Tuesday 01:21 PM # FED Wasn't Worried About Money Market FundsReuters reports that the smaller than expected June FED rate cut (0.25% instead of 0.5%) had nothing to do with worries that some money market fund managers would close down their money market fund.To this date, no money market fund has ever failed. Though the FED may say they didn't take that into account, I think they did. The news of money market funds failing or closing down would be devastating to investor confidence. The FED cut rates 11 times in 2001, once in 2002 and once in 2003. 05:41 PM # Potential Market Reaction to the Death of SaddamThere's no doubt that Americans are a bit disappointed that both Osama bin Laden and Saddam Hussein have escaped the clutches of the U.S. military force. If either of these leaders were captured or killed, how would the U.S. stock market react? Find out here.11:11 AM # NASD Launches 401(k) SiteOn August 5th, the NASD announced the launch of their new 401(k) education site. I'm glad to see this securities regulator increase their educational outreach, but I'm a bit dissapointed with the site. It has too much of a childish picturebook feel to it. Be sure to check out my 401(k) resources.12:51 PM # Understanding NAVsIn this morning's paper, the Wall Street Journal featured an article about using NAVs to track your mutual fund performance. Learn how NAVs are calculated and what they are good for.05:39 PM # |
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