HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: pub@riscee.pko.dec.com (Publius)
Subject: Re: Printing money
Organization: Digital Equipment Corporation, Maynard MA
Date: Thu, 3 Sep 1992 20:22:30 GMT

In article <1992Sep1.232142.12511@gumby.dsd.trw.com> suhre@meltami.dsd.trw.com (Maurice E. Suhre) writes:
>
>This is a good chance to ask something I've wondered about.  Where does
>the Fed get its money from?  Does it have an unlimited amount?

If you are a bank, you would have an account at the Fed.  When the
Fed buys government debt from you, it pays for the purchase by
adding the purchase price to the balance in your account.

Regards,
-- 
-- Publius
Disclaimer: These opinions are mine, all mine, mine alone.
Newsgroups: misc.invest
From: jhc@ivan.uucp (James H. Coombs)
Subject: Funds for developing markets??
Reply-To: jhc@iris.brown.edu.uucp (James H. Coombs)
Organization: IRIS - Brown University
Date: Thu, 27 Aug 1992 19:06:47 GMT

I am looking for an emerging markets fund.  Templeton's closed-end
Emerging Markets has been doing exceptionally well but is selling at an
unacceptably high premium.  Their open-end Developing Markets Trust has
an unacceptably high expense ratio (3.78% on top of 5.75% load!) and
has yet to establish itself in the markets.

I haven't seen anything else that looks good (from the reviews in
Money, BusinessWeek, Barron's, etc.).  I may be thinking about this
wrong:

	1. Templeton Emerging Markets (EMF) is doing well.
	2. But selling at an unacceptably high premium.
	3. If EMF is doing well, perhaps it is because there is
	   a lot of promise in developing countries.
	4. Let's look for other funds that focus on developing countries.

I am starting to think that EMF is doing well more because of its
management than because of any inherent superiority of investing in
developing countries.  I also see that funds such as Templeton Foreign
(with a low expense ration of 0.8% and 5.75% load) invest in many of
the same markets as Developing Markets, so perhaps I am already getting
those markets.

--Jim
From: mmokhtar@attmail.com (Mazen Mokhtar)
Newsgroups: misc.invest
Subject: Economic effects of election results
Date: 25 Aug 92 20:16:47 GMT
Organization: AT&T
Originator: mmdh@cbnewsf.cb.att.com


  What would be the economic effect of a Bush win in November? How about
a Clinton victory? I am not asking about the changes in the economy due
to the policies they enact, I am asking about the changes due to their
victory in and of itself. For example, a Clinton victory is likely to
decrease the value of the dollar and improve the stock prices of medical
complanies. A Bush victory might help car maker stocks.

  Any ideas?


Regards,

Mazen Mokhtar
From: coop@sybase.com (John Cooper)
Newsgroups: misc.invest
Subject: Re: Chinese Currency (Was: Re: Long-term direction of the dollar)
Date: 3 Sep 92 00:59:41 GMT
Organization: Sybase, Inc.

In article <1992Aug29.121249.12917@athena.mit.edu> joe@athena.mit.edu (Joseph C Wang) writes:
>In article <1992Aug27.152331.11593@unocal.com> stgprao@st.unocal.COM (Richard Ottolini) writes:
>>The XSSR, Israel, the mideast
>>OPEC countries to name a few are dollar based economies because there is no
>>confidence in their own currencies.  China would be too if the influx of
>>dollars was not tightly controlled. 
>
>I doubt that, for two reasons.
>
>First of all, there doesn't seem to be a major lack of confidence in
>the Renminbi.  The exchange rate on the black market is only slightly
>higher than the official exchange rate.  (Black market rate is
>6-7RMB=$1 and official rate is about 5.5RMB=$1).  Also the exchange
>rate for RMB in commerical transactions is set by "swap center"
>exchanges instead of by the government, and these "gray market"
>exchange rates match the "black market" exchange rates closely.


While the Chinese economy is probably not in trouble, I don't know that the
above figures prove confidence in it.  First of all, the fact that a black
market exists at all seems to me to be a poor sign of confidence.  It doesn't
simply mean that the economy is weaker than someone else, otherwise we'd see
a black market between, say, Spanish pesetas and French francs.  It's a sign
of general feeling that the money is worth so little that extra premiums have
to be paid just to get people to buy it.

But more than that, speaking from personal experience, I don't think the above
black market rates are that low.  In 1986 I was in the former Yugoslavia, and
a couple of times I traded my money on the black market there (one of them at
an official state bank!).  The premium offered to me was about 10-15% over the
official exchange rate if I remember correctly -- at any rate, it wasn't so
much that I was reaping in the profits.  This really wasn't any better than
what's posted above for China.  While Yugoslavia was at the time doing better
than any of the Warsaw Pact nations, it was hardly an economic powerhouse;
I doubt that people would have had even as much confidence in it as in China,
let alone more.  Now, maybe I was ripped off.  Afterall, I was just a naive
Western tourist.  But if the need for dollars was really that strong, I would
expect to have had competing offers constantly approach me.  That was not the
case.


--
John Cooper                               | My opinions, may not be employer's.
Sybase, Inc.                              |
                                          | "If you don't like the news go out
sybase!coop@sun.com                       | and make some of your own."
From: chedley@carthago.intel.com (CHEDLEY_AOURIRI)
Newsgroups: misc.invest
Subject: Re: Printing money
Keywords: short-term vs long-term borrowing
Date: 3 Sep 92 02:40:15 GMT
Reply-To: chedley@carthago.intel.com (CHEDLEY_AOURIRI)
Organization: Intel-Corp,_Hillsboro,_Oregon

In article <1992Sep2.221954.1390@news.eng.convex.com>, dodson@convex.COM (Dave Dodson) writes:
|> In article <2306@gandalf.intel.com> chedley@carthago.intel.com (CHEDLEY_AOURIRI) writes:
...
|> >Currently, the high long term interest rates (about 7.4%) compared to
|> >short term interest rates (about 3.5%) indicate that bond investors
|> >do not believe that these abnormally low short term rates are
|> >going to stick!!
|> 
|> But if the federal government started issuing more short term debt and
|> less long term debt, wouldn't long term rates come down.  It really is

NO, not necessarily! Of course, long term rates reflect the supply and demand
of long term govt bonds. But they are also determined by bond investors's 
long term expectations on inflation, credit risk,...etc.. 
So, they refuse to be locked in low interest rate bonds maturing in 20+ years, 
if they have the slightest doubt that inflation for example may be coming 
back sometime over the next 30 years!!! And I do'nt blame them.

|> sort of silly for the government to be borrowing money at 7.4% when
|> it could be borrowing at 3.5%, isn't it?
|> 
To some extent, the govt is borrowing short term. But they can't substitute
all their long term borrowing needs with short term notes. Because they will 
have to flood the market with T-bills every quarter just to stay afloat. 

The FED will not agree to that, and most important, that will spark 
inflation rates similar to those in some South American countries
(you know, triple digit inflation rates per year).
Actually, the Dept of Treasury has aired the idea of extending the maturity 
of the public debt by issuing 40 years bonds instead of 30.

-- 
..CHEDLEY..
..!{uunet|tektronix|ogicse}!littlei!chedley    chedley@carthago.intel.com     
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Standard Disclaim: The above statements and opinions are strictly mine,
and do not represent any company or organization's position.
......................................................................
From: bd670@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (Russell I. Dyreng)
Newsgroups: misc.invest
Subject: CFP's...what's the deal?
Date: 3 Sep 1992 19:03:18 GMT
Organization: Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio (USA)
NNTP-Posting-Host: slc5.ins.cwru.edu


Does anybody out there knwo what is entailed in becoming a 
Certified Financial Planner?  Is this a certification given by 
one's state, or is it a title that some company gives you for 
selling $X.XX worth of high commission financial products?

If it is something controlled by the state, I realize that there
will be 50 slightly different sets of requirements in this 
country, but can someone shed some light on the requirements 
in their particular state.  Does it require testing, some sort
of apprenticeship, or merely paying a fee?
-- 
Russ
bd670@cleveland.freenet.edu
Remember-any advice that I give you may be worth exactly what
you paid for it.
Newsgroups: misc.invest,misc.consumers.house
From: sbrenner@cbnewsb.cb.att.com (scott.d.brenner)
Subject: Anyone Have a Program (UNIX/C) to Help with Refinancing Decision?
Followup-To: poster
Keywords: mortgage refinancing software
Organization: AT&T
Distribution: usa
Date: Wed, 26 Aug 1992 12:19:01 GMT

I've been so busy with other things, I've barely noticed that mortgage
rates are low and seem to be staying low.  I'm currently about 4.5 years
into a 30-year adjustable rate mortgage.  It's a wierd kind of 
adjustable; the rate changes at 3, 6, and 9 years and I have the choice
of accepting whatever the rate changes to or bailing out to the lender's
fixed rate for the remainder of the loan period.  The first 'window'
opened a year and a half ago and I accepted the new adjustable rate
of 10.125%.

Now that rates are around 8%, I'm thinking that I should at least look
into refinancing.  I believe the rule of thumb used to be that you
needed a 2 point drop in rates and an intention to stay in the house for
a few years in order for the lower rate to make up for the up-front
refinancing costs.  I'm not sure if this is still valid.

What I'm looking for is a program that someone's written that will
show me the 'break-even' point for various input parameters.  That is,
if I input my current rate, the new rate, and an estimate of the 
closing costs, the program should be able to tell me that I will
recover the up-front costs in 14 months or 27 months or whatever it is.
My wife and I have been talking about moving to a bigger house, so 
we're not sure how long we're going to stay in our current one.  But
if we end up staying longer than we think, I don't want to have missed
this opportunity to save money.

If anyone knows of such a program, I'd appreciate hearing about it.
I'm a UNIX/C programmer and could write one myself, but I don't want
to re-invent the wheel.  If someone lets me know of such a program
(or sends me one), I'll post a follow-up message.

a T d H v A a N n K c S e

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Scott D. Brenner
AT&T Consumer Communications Services
Basking Ridge, NJ
scott@cimu03.att.com  -or-  sbrenner@attmail.com
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Newsgroups: misc.invest
Subject: Re: list of mutual funds?
From: gary@cdthq.UUCP (Gary Heston)
Date: Thu, 03 Sep 92 20:15:59 CDT
Organization: Garys' Home for Obsolete Computers

df2tg2n@ties.bell-atl.com (Steve Rosen) writes:

> In article <14472@gazette.bcm.tmc.edu>, mparsons@fleming.csc.bcm.tmc.edu (Mar
> |> Money has a complete listing of all(?) mutual funds every year
> |> which includes info on loads and their performance over the
> |> last 1,3,5 and 10 years.
> 
> I am pretty sure it just came out in the last issue or so.  Same thing for
> Forbes and Kipplinger's Personal Finance.
> 
> Surely somebody has a scanner and OCR and would be willing to post this item.

Only if they also have the bucks to defend themselves from a lawsuit
for violating the copyright. (There's a big fuss about this in 
news.admin.policy at the moment, about scanned pictures.)

Gary Heston, at home...
gary@cdthq.uucp
Newsgroups: misc.invest
From: RKSHUKLA@SUVM.SYR.EDU (Ravi Shukla)
Subject: Re: Options Question....
Organization: Syracuse University
Date: Mon, 31 Aug 92 18:39:23 EDT

In article <vahe.715096303@yorku.ca>
vahe@nexus.yorku.ca (Vahe Ohan) writes:
 
>
>  I was wondering when is the best time to exercise your option ?? Could
> some one give me an example with numbers indicating which one is better,
> exercising the option that you own or disposing it as a contract before
> the expiration date....
>
>   Thanks in advance
>
>   vahe@nexus.yorku.ca
>
>
This is one of the most well known (and accepted) results in finance. There
are so few, one has to make a big deal about it. :-). You can find a discussion
of it in any decent college textbook on options. A practitioner oriented book
is by Gastineau (?). I think it is called The Options Manual. Anyway, there
are two possible cases:
 
    1. If the underlying stock is not expected to pay dividends, exercising
       it before maturity would fetch less than selling it because the option
       premium also includes a time value for the possibility that the option
       may go more deep into money. For example, consider an OCT XYZ 45 call.
       Furthermore, suppose that the stock is selling at 50. The option would
       be worth at least 5, most probably something like 5-1/4. The 1/4 is
       the time value. If you sell the option, you will get 5-1/4 (minus
       the commissions). If you exercise the option, you will receive the
       stock worth 50 for only 45, a gain of only 5. To cash in the gain,
       you'll have to sell the stock and pay big time commission on the 50
       dollar stock, making your net profit even less. Similar example can
       be constructed for a put.
 
    2. The other case is when you expect the underlying stock to pay dividends.
       Since the option is not protected for the stock price drop on the ex-
       dividend data, a dividend would hurt a call option and help a put
       option. So, it may be advisable to exercise a call option just before
       the stock goes ex-dividend. Whether it should be done or not depends
       on the dividend amount and the inherent time-value. For
       example, if the time-value is 1/4 and the stock is going to pay
       a dividend of only 1/10, it wouldn't make sense, but if the dividend
       is large enough, it will. The exact mathematical inequality to determine
       whether to exercise is (or should be) given in Gastineau's book.
 
Hope this helps.
 
Ravi
=========================================================================
Ravi Shukla                                           RKSHUKLA@SUVM
Department of Finance
School of Management
Syracuse University
Newsgroups: misc.invest
From: slansky_doug@macmail1.rtsg.mot.com
Subject: Re: Financial Planning
Organization: Motorola,Inc
Distribution: na
Date: Sat, 29 Aug 1992 16:19:46 GMT

In article <Btr2FC.7H0@news.cso.uiuc.edu> acheng@ncsa.uiuc.edu (Albert Cheng)
writes:
>
>>I am a representative for Primerica Financial Services. We offer
>>advice and information on insurance, investing, and equity lines
>>of credit.  The information is free - free consultation etc - the
>>only money we make is the commissions off of the products you end 
>>up utilizing.  ...
>>
>>Don't know of any no-load funds that are REALLY great.  They are all
>>a bit of a gamble, and as such, our company tends to shun them.  You see,
>>the load of the fund not only pays a portion as commission to the 
>>advisor, but also to the management of the fund.  If you'd like an
>>explanation of how loads work, etc., let me know.
>
>Could you please define what is "great"?  Do you know that a typical
>no-load fund (like Vanguard index) perform better than many, many
>loaded funds?  The performance is measured by 1, 5, or 10 years return
>rates.  If you don't know about Vanguard funds, I really doubt your
>knowledge as a financial advisor.  If you are aware of them but making
>the above statement, care to explain?
>
I agree.  In my research, the loaded funds tend to have HIGHER management and
12b-1 fees than the no-load funds.  In addition, there have been several
studies reported in the financial press (Forbes, Money, etc) that show NO
CORRELATION between a loads and performance. The sole reason loaded funds exist
is because "Financial Consultants" count on 95% of their customers not doing
any homework and thus not being aware that loads even exist.  After studying
the prospectus from one loaded fund family (Quest for Value), I found that the
broker can get part or all of the load that YOU PAY back from the mutual fund
family if he/she brings in enough business to the family.  This is in addition,
of course, to the $$ you spend to let them mis-manage your $$ for you.

Doug.

Newsgroups: misc.invest
From: jhc@m2lll.uucp (James H. Coombs)
Subject: Re: German Fund
Reply-To: jhc@iris.brown.edu.UUCP (James H. Coombs)
Organization: IRIS - Brown University
Date: Sat, 29 Aug 1992 17:42:21 GMT

In article <1426500249@igc.apc.org> McAldon International Inc. <mcaldon@igc.apc.org> writes:

>|I wondered if anybody know some mutual funds which invested
>|exclusively or largely in German stocks.

>According to a recent (April 1992) chart of American no-load funds
>investing internationally, only five of 25 invested more than 10%

Can you give us the source on this?  Sounds very useful.  Thanks.  --Jim
Newsgroups: misc.invest
From: jhc@m2lll.uucp (James H. Coombs)
Subject: Re: Any good intro to Economics Book?
Reply-To: jhc@iris.brown.edu.UUCP (James H. Coombs)
Organization: IRIS - Brown University
Date: Wed, 26 Aug 1992 22:45:23 GMT

>>>book on Economics which can introduce the concepts clearly to a laymen.

>>>I'd prefer a Canadian economics book, but I'm sure that economic theories

I have held off because of the Canadian preference.  But, consider *How
the Economy Works*, published by the New York Institute of Finance.
The book covers the topics that you are interested in, with a focus on
the US.  --Jim
From: mincy@think.com (Jeffrey Mincy)
Newsgroups: misc.invest
Subject: Re: German Fund
Date: 31 Aug 1992 15:44:48 GMT
Organization: Thinking Machines Corporation, Cambridge MA, USA
NNTP-Posting-Host: mjolnir.think.com

In article <BtpL20.B7A@usenet.ucs.indiana.edu> Xiaodong Shao <shao@umdnj.edu> writes:
>I wondered if anybody know some mutual funds which invested
>exclusively or largely in German stocks.

There are four closed end mutual funds that are buy german stocks:
Future Germany Fund, Germany Fund, New Germany Fund, and Emerging 
Germany Fund.  These may be bought at various discounts to NAV (1%
for germany fund ~15% for the others).

In addition, most european mutual funds will have a portion of
their money in german stocks.  

>Is it a good time to invest in German market? Since their interest
>rate is as high as 10%, any interest rate cut could boost the stock
>market. Do you think the present German stock is a kind of similer
>to Wall street in 1980, where the interest rate was high and Dow
>stayed around 700? 

I thought it was reasonable a few months ago.  According to the 
fish or cut bait theory I should either sell or buy more.

>Any advice would be appreciated.

Get information on the various funds and on the various german companies
being held.  Spend at least as much time investigating the companies
as you would spend buying a new refrigerator.

-- 

-- jeff
mincy@think.com
Organization: Penn State University
Date: Sat, 29 Aug 1992 10:52:47 EDT
From: <WJT101@psuvm.psu.edu>
Newsgroups: misc.invest
Subject: Stock brokerage house - J.G. & Co.

Hello.   I was wondering if anybody has dealt with or knows anything
         about the brokerage firm of "J. Gregory & Co." in Manhattan.
Are they a reputable stock firm??  Any info would be appreciated.

Thanks!
Newsgroups: misc.invest
From: acheng@ncsa.uiuc.edu (Albert Cheng)
Subject: Re: sales tax rebate?
Originator: acheng@shalom.ncsa.uiuc.edu
Organization: Nat'l Ctr for Supercomp App (NCSA) @ University of Illinois
Date: Thu, 27 Aug 1992 18:32:08 GMT


In article <4870@balrog.ctron.com>, smith@ctron.com (Larry Smith) writes:
>The law is a _sales_tax_.  That means it applies to _any_ sale.  According to
>the law, your sale of the car for $6600 makes _you_ (not the purchaser) liable
>for $396 dollars.  You see, they get you coming and going.  That's the law.
>For private sales, it may not be enforced, or the state might take it out of
>the purchaser on registration, but any used-car dealer could explain the full
>workings of the law in detail, I'm sure.

I don't know about your state but in Illinois, it is actually called
"consumer buying tax" which should be paid by the buyer.  The merchants
are required to collect the tax for the state government.  If it is a
private transaction, the buyer should report that on his/her State tax
return and pay the equivalent amount.  That is why Illinois residents
buying something out of states (like Indiana) supposedly should report
it on the state tax return, but only to pay the difference of the
rates if the other states charges lower.  Nop, no refund if the other
states charge more.  Life is never fair.
From: howardb@hpcvra.cv.hp.com (Howard Barrar)
Newsgroups: misc.invest
Subject: refinancing rental in Oregon
Date: 3 Sep 92 16:12:58 GMT
Article-I.D.: hpcvra.26850004
Organization: Hewlett-Packard Co., Corvallis, OR, USA

I'm wanting to refinance a house in Portland, Oregon.
We lived there until a few months ago when we moved,
so now it is a rental. We can't seem to get as good deals
on a rental as a owner occupied. The best we can get is
7.75% for a 15 year fixed plus about $2500 in fees/closing
costs/points for a 50k load.

Does anyone know of a better deal in the Portland, Oregon area.

Thanks a lot,

Howard Barrar at Hewlett-Packard in Corvallis
Newsgroups: misc.invest
From: dbehr@dos-lan.cs.up.ac.za (Danie Behr)
Subject: stock market server on Internet?
Date: Fri, 28 Aug 1992 14:17:16 GMT
Organization: Computer Science Department, University of Pretoria
Keywords: Wall Street, stock market, investors daily

Can anyone tell me about sources on the Internet that provide  
info on stock markets and/or access to relevant journals like Wall Street 
Journal, Investors Dialy.  I am not only interested in the USA.

Thanx
dbehr@cs.up.ac.za