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Matters Financial |
8 December 2003
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China's Trade Surplus Set to Halve, But Not America's Share
Officials in China's commerce ministry expect the People's Republic of China to run a trade surplus with the rest of the world amounting to $15 billion this year, about half of last year's surplus. That won't give much comfort to President Bush when he hosts Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao this week. China's surplus with the US won't budge a bit, mostly because of Chinese policies. Click here to read more.
SEC Proposes a Firm Close at 4PM
Wednesday of last week, the Securities and Exchange Commission voted 5-0 to end all trading for mutual funds at 4 pm every day. This is a fine move, and a wise one. It just should never have been any other way, and the SEC has done the market a huge disservice in ever having any other policy.Click here to read more.
NASD Gives Test to Investors -- 65% Fail
This is the time of year when business stories get a bit silly. With everyone focused on the holidays, there is very little serious business (save retail) to do. However, a slightly tongue-in-cheek and unscientific quiz on basic investment shows that about two-thirds American investors have no business in the market. Only 35% passed this test. Click here for our view.