High Return Investments

Speculation

Speculation is the buying, holding, and selling of stocks, commodities,
collectibles, real estate, or any valuable thing to profit from fluctuations
in its price as opposed to buying it to use.

Sometimes speculative purchasing can cause particular prices to rise above
their "true worth" simply because the speculative purchasing is artificially
increasing the demand. Speculative selling can also cause prices to fall
below "true value" in a similar fashion. In some situations price rises due
to speculative purchasing cause further speculative purchasing in the hope
that the price will continue to rise. This creates a positive feedback loop
in which prices rise dramatically above the underlying "value" or "worth" of
the items. This is known as an economic bubble (or sometimes a speculative
bubble). Such a period of increasing speculative purchasing is very often
followed by one of speculative selling in which the price falls in a crash. This 
is often even more dramatic than the period of rising prices.

Speculators are comically pictured as speculating in pork bellies and such
and often losing their shirts or making a fortune upon small market changes.
Speculation exists especially in futures which involve leverage that can
transform a small market movement into a huge gain or loss.

Most non-professional traders lose money on speculation. Occasionally some
dramatic event will occur such as the effort of the Hunts to corner the
silver market or the currency speculations of George Soros.

Speculation can be economically useful as it can transfer risk from one
party to another. For example, a pork bellies future effectively transfers
risk from a farmer who is guaranteed a price for his pork bellies to a
speculator who has the financial resources to withstand a lose should the
price of pork bellies drop.

Speculation is the main approach to stock purchases now, with people betting
on a gain in price "buy low sell high" and many companies now not even
issueing dividends. Increasing of the stock price is the generally the main
goal of CEO's, and making and sustaining a profit is only an indirect part
of that process.

Investment FreshNews:

Gallatin finance director resigns after sending nude photos on city computer (The Tennessean)
Thu, 24 Jul 2008 19:28:07 GMT
An investigation by Sumner County Sheriff's department uncovered explicit pictures and messages sent from former Gallatin Finance Director Matt Stewart's city-issued computer. Stewart resigned July 14 after being confronted by City Attorney Joe Thompson and Police Chief John Tisdale with the evidence, said Gallatin Mayor Jo Ann Graves. Evidence included explicit instant messages and nude photos ...

Stifel Nicolaus' Public Finance Group Opens New Office in East Lansing, Michigan (Centre Daily Times)
Thu, 24 Jul 2008 17:41:09 GMT
Stifel, Nicolaus & Company, Incorporated is pleased to announce that it has expanded its resources in Public Finance with the opening of a new office in East Lansing, Michigan. The new office will be staffed by four professionals formerly associated with Wachovia Securities. This team was the number one underwriter for negotiated bonds in Michigan for the calendar year 2007 and the number one ...

Fitch: U.S. Public Finance Rating Actions In Second Quarter 2008 (Centre Daily Times)
Thu, 24 Jul 2008 16:26:51 GMT
In the second quarter of 2008, the Fitch Ratings U.S. Public Finance group upgraded 35 credits totaling $17.4 billion in par value while downgrading 25 credits totaling $10.7 billion. This resulted in an upgrade-to-downgrade ratio of 1.4:1 in terms of rating changes and a ratio of 1.6:1 on a par value basis. The ratio of the number of upgrades to the number of downgrades declined, for the ...

PSS Finance is without air conditioning (Saipan Tribune)
Thu, 24 Jul 2008 14:12:15 GMT
Some Public School System employees are feeling the heat. Since July 17, the eight staff members and three students in the PSS Finance Department have been working without an air conditioner, acting PSS Commissioner Craig Garrison said.

Benguela: Finance Minister Addresses Talk On Economic Progress (AngolaPress)
Thu, 24 Jul 2008 16:51:05 GMT
Benguela, 07/24 - The recent evolution and perspective of Angolan economy is the theme of a talk that will be lectured on Saturday in Benguela province, by the Finance Minister, José Pedro Morais, in a promotion of the Committee of Bankers of MPLA.

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