market-economics

Many traders and investors do not pay attention to cycles in stock prices. After reading this book, they will change their tune. Cycles should play a major role in your stock market arsenal and this book clearly lays out the case in excrutiating detail.

This book is Volume I of a 5-part series on " The Ultimate Book on Stock Market Timing" by Raymond Merriman:

Volume I. Cycles and Patterns in Indexes
Volume II. Geocosmic Correlations to Investment Cycles
Volume III. Geocosmic Correlations to Trading Cycles
Volume IV. Geocosmic Correlations to Short-Term Trading (not yet completed)
Volume V. Technical Tools and Trading Cycles (not yet completed)

This 227-page 16 chapter book provides solid evidence that cycles exist in stock prices. The book documents the cycles and patterns with 5 graphs and charts, 18 figures and diagrams, and 25 tables.

Merriman begins by explaining cycle characteristics -- definition of a cycle, troughs and crests, time band, and distortions. Then he covers the three basic categories of cycles (primary, long-term, and short-term) followed by their subcycles known as phases. Next, Merriman covers trends and teh criteria for identifying bull and bear markets.

Long-term cycles (80-year, 54-year Kondratieff) and their subcycles are then reviewed with examples. One chapter is devoted solely to the 18-year cycle in stock prices because that time interval occurs frequently. Multiples of the this cycle -- 36-year, 54-year, 72-year and 90-year -- are covered as they also appear over time in the past 200 years or so. Merriman provides a table of 18-year cycles from 1797 to 1990 showing the cycle highs and lows, accompanied by 12 charts illustrating the cycle high and low points.

Merriman then delves into the subcycles of the 18-year cycle with a detailed discussion of the eleven cycle periods from 1797 to 1990. He then moves into the well-known 4-year cycle pinpointing all of these cycles since 1896 with the month and year of the cycle troughs. This is further supported with a table indicating every 4-year cycle trough, crest, and trough; months up and down; low, high, and low of cycle; % up and % down. All the cycles in the table were grouped in terms of the larger 18-year cycle. The structure of the cycle is reviewed using 27 graphs of each 4-year cycle pinpointing the high and low poits. Additional information is provided on the two- and three- phase 4-year cycles and subcycles, and a table showing the 4-year cycle from 1895 and the proximity to the U.S. Presidential Election. Details on the 22.5 months cycle are also included.

There is a 33-page chapter on all the cycles evident in the Japan Nikkei Stock Index. Technical analysis is the title of a chapter that deals with investing vs. trading, and market timing vs. buy-and-hold. Included is a table showing the 4-year cycle crests in U.S. stock prices and the length ot time needed to get back to the crest.

In summary, Merriman provides a truly enlightening and useful guide to identifying and using cycles to time the market with increased precision. Students of the market will find that this book offers another important tool to conquering the market. Cycle review should be part of every trader's and investor's methodology, otherwise optimal results may not be obtained.

It is an excellent book, a little pricy, but of high quality. It is not for someone that has not studied or worked in real estate, planning or land economics before though; it is a graduate level course book.

Johnes has done it once again. His dedication and passion to economics is unsurpassed in the field. What Einstein did for Physics, Geraint has done for Labour Economics. From competetive inputs to price discrimating monopolists Johnes shows us the light. The Adam Smith of our time.... Boomer

...another of the great Life 101 Series Peter McWilliams (this is with John-Roger) is over 500 pages of solid gold advice and affirmations. The authors define wealth (40 pages of ways of looking at life), then money--and how important it is in the overall scheme of things. They show you how to enjoy what you already have...the section "You Can Have Anything You Want, but you Can't have Everything You Want" is kind of a summary statement for the entire journey presented here, but then the authors tell you, "Obtaining Is Easy; Maintaining is Hard"...they suggest that it is all an Inside Job. One which requires a bit of maintenance. They then tell you how to get more of anything you want. Money. Popularity. How to win the Powerball. (Just kidding on that last item.) Well, if they don't have the "How to" on winning the Powerball, they have the "How to" on how to enjoy the winnings. Every other page is an appropriate quote to suit the
writers' text and one can find enjoyment out of reading these alone if one is so inclined. Oprah Winfrey gives the gist of the
authors' major intention. She says "Before I had money I was really quite happy. And, I will tell you this...I never would have gotten the money If I wasn't happy to begin with". Again, it is written with those who are Brain Numb (like I am) in mind. Even if you don't become wealthy overnight, you would have taken a step in the right direction to achieve wealth and financial stability by getting this great book.

In "Wealth by Association" John Edmunds and John Marthinsen show how the world can move forward to a single global currency. Not only will such a world save on the hundreds of billions of dollars annually wasted today on foreign exchange trading transaction costs, and on avoided currency crises and on avoided currency inflation; the assets of the world will grow because of the elimination of currency risk.
If the decision makers of the world could read this book, they would push much more rapidly toward a single global currency. The concepts in "Wealth by Association" are not rocket science, as the authors show how the U.S. Dollar and the old German Mark are/were "common currencies", as is now the euro.
Bravo for "Wealth by Association"
morrison bonpasse
President
Single Global Currency Association
Newcastle, Maine
www.singleglobalcurrency.org

The book, Wealth Forever, is a landmark achievement that will greatly benefit all investors who read and apply its lessons. If you only read one book about stock market investing in your life, make it this one.

Wealth Forever is a one volume encyclopedia of historical data, equity market theories, and common sense about investing that will teach you about any fact or idea you need to know while giving you the framework to apply the learning to your own investments. The book is rigorous while remaining accessible. If you can understand simple algebraic equations, you can comprehend everything within its pages. The book's many detailed footnotes will also lead you to other books and articles that display more on the same subject.

While each subject has to be highly condensed to get the essential points across, the authors did a marvelous job of being sure that important material was included. For instance, the discussions of the Capital Asset Pricing Model are preceded by stating the assumptions behind the model. Most people simply apply the model without realizing that its assumptions differ from the real world by a large degree.

In my consulting, I often work with the chief financial officers and treasurers for major companies. If you read this book, your understanding of the equity markets will exceed all but the most knowledgeable of those professionals. The reason I make that point is that there is a constant outpouring of new research testing theories about the equity markets. Most people simply apply what they learned in graduate school, and much of that information has now been disproved by more recent studies of the financial markets. Yet most people do not take the time to keep up-to-date.

I hope that this book will be universally adopted by corporate executives, professional and individual investors and by corporate finance students at both the undergraduate and graduate levels.

I only found two aspects of the book to be less than outstanding. First, a lot of the material in the first few chapters could probably have been better placed after chapter 10. It seems to be placing the cart before the horse to talk about opening brokerage accounts and how to read technical charts before describing the approach one should take with investing. Second, the book needed a little better proofreading. The obvious errors that remain undercut the book's credibility. Although I did not check out all of the equations in detail, those did seem correct. Some of them, however, are annoyingly chopped up in the printing. It's as though the equations were typed in one software format, and that format didn't work well for the typesetting. In the text, Peter Lynch is described as Peter Finch in one place, and Procter & Gamble is consistently spelled as "Proctor & Gamble." The time focus of the book's narrative about the markets veers back and forth between 1999 and 2003 in the text. Some of the material about 1999 is written as though the book ended there.

One of my favorite aspects of the book is that one set of evidence is used to help the reader understand all of the evidence. For example, there's a lengthy section looking at the apparent undervaluation of United Technologies that shows how one can assess such a subject, as well as the limitations of various stock valuation methods. Similarly, stock-trading strategies and their results are compared to index fund results so that readers can get a sense of the cost of information and trading compared to the benefits that can be achieved.

I came away, once again, confirmed in my view that index funds are a wonderful solution for almost all investors.

I was also reminded that we need to remain vigilant in being sure that our knowledge of important subjects is up-to-date. I hope the authors will bring out new editions of this book every five years or so.

The book consists of a series of informative papers analyzing the current forest regulatory scheme in British Columbia. The authors include academics from the University of British Columbia and the University of Victoria as well as lawyers and business people. Their discussion is very analytical and comprehensive.

This book is useful for anyone wanting to conduct an indepth study of forest regulation in British Columbia.

If you like investing or curious...check this one out. The text in the book broke down simple definitions and helped me comprehend more. It was enlightening experience to find out about the bond, money market industry. If you are an investor, add this to your library. I did! it's worth it.

Have you ever asked why economists and investment analysts wait eagerly for and devote their attention to new economic indicators published by various agencies in the U.S. every month? Furthermore, how do you interpret these interrelated economic and psychological signals and what are their impacts on financial assets? The author has managed to address these questions in a very comprehensive, sensible and easily accessible way, making "What drives Financial Markets" a great book for all who are interested in the link between economics and the financial world.

Collaboratively compiled and edited by Ethan B. Kapstein (Paul Dubrule Professor of Sustainable Development, Insead Business School, Fontainebleau, France, and Stassen Professor of International Peace, University of Minnesota) and Branko Milanovic (an economist for the World Bank's Development Research Group), When Markets Fail: Social Policy And Economic Reform is an informed and informative anthology of scholarly, up-to-date, and painfully relevant essays concerning economic and market difficulties in Latin America, East Asia, Eastern Europe, North Africa, and elsewhere. Ranging from the persistence of welfare states to looming market crises around the world, When Markets Fail is a sharply analytical, highly recommended survey and analysis of the dangers threatening an increasingly globalized economy.