I In Invest Should Stock

CRANBERRY — Mike Berman got the bug about 15 years ago and since then, he's spent a lot of time helping others catch the fever: organizing and/or joining an investment club."I've started four clubs, been involved with six, just helped form one a couple weeks ago," said Berman, 48, of Cranberry. "Sometimes you can lose money in a club, but this also helps you learn about stocks, about investing."Berman's latest venture, the Absolut Club (named after the vodka maker) has three members, including Berman, his neighbor John Bowers and former fellow worker Dennis Pichette. The name was selected after the trio saw an Absolut poster in an Applebee's restaurant while discussing club formation and figured Absolut's a premium vodka; this, hopefully, will be a premium investment club.In late 1999, six friends from Ross and nearby decided they should be investing in what at the time was a booming, high-tech-driven market.

TASE, shekel charge ahead despite scandals

Even rumors floating through the Internet during yesterday's trade, that one member of the Winograd Committee believes the government should have resigned following the war in Lebanon, failed to prevent stock market investors from buying goods. The graph of leading indexes yesterday shows a slow and steady rise throughout the day. A graph that covered, over a short session, a rise of no less than 2.4 percent for the Tel Aviv 25 − slightly more than 24 points − to an all-time high of 1,028.5 points.

One would think that in a country where the finance minister is under investigation for corruption, the government is faltering and the smell of elections is in the air, a country where the stock market is already at record levels following four consecutive years of unprecedented gains, one would expect to find some sign of concern.

Six Ways to Limit Uncle Sam's Take

Why are mutual funds such a potential tax headache? By law, mutual funds are required to pass all income and realized profits on investments along to shareholders through income and capital gains distributions. If you're investing through a taxable account, you'll have to pay taxes on those distributions. Short-term gains are taxed at the higher ordinary-income rate, as is income from taxable bonds, commodities, and real estate investment trusts. Meanwhile, long-term gains and stock dividends are generally taxed at the 15% rate. Thus, funds that trade a lot, and thus generate heavy short-term gains, generally aren't tax efficient. The same is true for income-heavy offerings, such as bond or REIT funds.

That's not to say you shouldn't have fast-trading funds in your portfolio or that you should avoid bonds and REITs.

Trico Marine Services Adopts Stockholder Rights Plan

HOUSTON, TX -- (MARKET WIRE) -- 04/09/07 -- The Board of Directors of Trico Marine Services, Inc. (NASDAQ: TRMA) today adopted a three year stockholder rights plan designed to ensure that all Trico stockholders realize the fair value of their investment. The plan is designed to guard against any abusive actions that may be attempted in order to gain control of Trico without compensating all stockholders for that control. The rights plan will not prevent a takeover of the Company but should encourage anyone seeking to acquire the Company to negotiate with the Board of Directors prior to attempting a takeover. Trico will request that its stockholders ratify the rights plan at its 2008 Annual Meeting. Subject to an affirmative stockholder vote at that meeting, the rights plan will expire in 2010.

Analyse fundamentals before investing in stocks

The Indian stock markets are going through a correction phase from the last couple of months. Long-term equity investors should use these market falls as opportunities to enter into the market. Here are some fundamental factors that investors should analyse while identifying the stocks for their portfolio Macroeconomic analysis Global and country-specific macroeconomic conditions have a positive or negative impact on business. During economic upswings, broader markets move upward. Analysts say that 50 percent of the stock price return can be attributed to macroeconomic changes. These are some of the macroeconomic factors that influence the business of the companies. Outlook of economic growth: It is important to look for local as well as global macroeconomic forecasts.

Bought Deal Financing Should Be Good News For Crystallex

Ant & Sons submits: Crystallex International Corp. (KRY) announced on March 29 that it signed an agreement with a syndicate that will purchase 12.5 million shares of Crystallex common stock at a price of C$4.25 per shares for gross proceeds of C$53,125,000. At the time, Crystallex shares were trading for C$4.23 on the Toronto Stock Exchange. The company followed up Thursday evening and announced that it filed a preliminary short form prospectus with regulatory authorities in Canada relating to its proposed public offering of common stock. Crystallex intends to use the net proceeds not surprisingly in part for the development of, and pre-construction costs and post-permit expenses relating to, the Las Cristinas gold mine project.

While dilution can be a bad thing, this particular "bought deal" financing, when an underwriter, such as a syndicate or investment bank, purchases securities from an issuer before selling them to the public should be looked at as a positive.

/ CORRECTION - Wall Street News Alert: UCPI Is Tuesday's Stock to ...

WESTON, FL -- (MARKET WIRE) -- 04/03/07 -- In the news release, "Wall Street News Alert: UCPI Is Tuesday's Stock to Watch! April 3, 2007," issued earlier today by Wall Street News Alert, we are advised by the company that the hyperlink at the end the second paragraph should read "http://www.unicorpinc.net/investor.aspx" rather than "www.unicorpinc.net/report.com" as originally issued. Complete corrected text follows.

WESTON, FL -- April 03, 2007 -- Wall Street News Alert's "stocks to watch" this morning are: Unicorp Inc. (OTCBB: UCPI), El Paso Corp. (NYSE: EP), Schlumberger Limited (NYSE: SLB) and Transocean, Inc.

Avoid Indian stocks for now

India's stock market appears to be capitulating, a victim of an overheating economy. Stock-market returns have discounted an economy that some say can grow at near double-digit rates, but that appears unrealistic. Equity investors will continue to be punished in the near term for their optimism as Indian interest rates are raised to slow the economy and inflation.