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    The level of implied credit volatility

    Sunday, October 25th, 2009

    The level of implied volatility is a widely used indicator for risk appetite, and, on the individual company level, for the uncertainty related to future earnings. It is also considered a good measure of equity-market risk, because the higher the implied volatility the higher the price of equity options, and thus the higher the cost of insuring against equity-market downturns. Corporate bond spreads reflect the compensation that the investors demand for taking on credit risk. While the debt and equity markets’ estimates of risk, as explained by the Merton model, tend to move together, temporary disconnections do occur. The combination of low levels of implied equity volatility and wide credit spreads suggests the potential for the credit spreads to tighten, as the divergence in the equity and credit market eventually gets corrected. Conversely, when implied equity volatility appears high relative to credit spreads, credit markets are more optimistic about business risks in the corporate sector. The decoupling in the second half of 2003, however, was not an indication that credit spreads were rich relative to implied equity volatility. Rather credit markets were faster to cash in on the reduced risks in the corporate sector because of the massive balance sheet deleveraging, especially in the telecom sector.

    Corporate managers were selling off assets, issuing equity and keeping cash for the debtholders, as opposed to using the cash to buy back stock for the first time in 10 years. By the end of the year, equity volatility came down significantly, closing the gap in the assessment of risk.

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    Posted in payments, profitability, real estate, research, stocks, strategy elements, taxes | Comments Off

    Place stop-loss orders on your account.

    Monday, September 7th, 2009

    Cautious investors often place stop-loss orders on their account. These orders sell out your shares should they decline by the amount of pain you anticipate you are willing to endure. Stop-loss orders are supposed to make an unmanageable situation manageable. Brokers encourage this as stock fluctuations inevitably trigger sales creating more commissions and spreads.

    In a market break, the sell point may be much lower than the level you specify. For example, on a surprising corporate announcement, it is common for prices to gap down by $10 or more. Your stop loss may have only been down $2, but you will be sold out at the next trade, $10 lower. Of course, you always have the opportunity to buy back in again for more commissions and increasingly wide spreads. Stop-loss orders often lead to anger and frustration as an attempt to bring order to an unmanageable situation fails for you, yet enriches your broker.

    Brokerage accounts also offer you a “parking place” for your cash. These are sweep accounts: money market funds that collect dividends and the change leftover from trades. In the old days, dividend checks and change were sent to your home and you had the onerous task of depositing them in your checking account. The sweep accounts are marketed as a great convenience to you. In fact, they are a great convenience to your broker as they gather your funds within short distance of the trading desk. Again, particularly optimistic types should have the dividends sent home. Maybe there is only $1,000 at stake, but would you rather have a new couch to lie on during the bear market or would you prefer to whittle it away in commissions, spreads, and poor stock picks?

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    Posted in banking, budget analysis, business goals | Comments Off

    What Is Value Added?

    Friday, April 17th, 2009

    The easiest way to think of value added by a firm is to subtract the value (cost) of what it buys from other firms from its total revenues. For example, the value added by a car manufacturer is its selling price of a car minus what it pays to the companies that make the axles, sold the paint, transported the cars to the dealers, etc.

    Another way to think of value added is as what a company pays out to anyone other than its suppliers. That is the sum of: (1) compensation of its employees and (2) payments to providers of capital including interest and the components of profits or return on equity which are retained earnings and dividends.

    Firms differ greatly in the in the percentage of their revenues associated with value added. A huge percentage of the revenues of grocery stores, for example, goes into paying producers of cereal, meats, frozen goods, and its other suppliers. Only a tiny percentage of the revenues of accounting firms goes to pay suppliers of office space and paper clips; most goes to employee salaries.

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    Introduction to Innovative Finances Blog

    Saturday, September 6th, 2008

    Welcome to the innovative finances blog! This site was prepared by a group of specialists who are eager to share their knowledge on finances, mortgage, loans and real estates with online visitors. We intend to publish only comprehensible information with no unnecessary numbers and make it accessible to even inexperienced people. If you feel like joining the innovative finances team do not hesitate and send us an email.

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