Mutual funds today- you must know as a Investor -Money market funds- Bond funds-Stock funds-Hybrid funds- Other funds

 

A mutual fund is an open-end professionally managed investment fund that pools money from many investors to purchase securities. These investors may be retail or institutional in nature. The term is typically used in the United States, while similar structures across the globe include the SICAV in Europe ('investment company with variable capital') and open-ended investment company (OEIC) in the UK. 

Mutual funds have advantages and disadvantages compared to direct investing in individual securities. Advantages of mutual funds include economies of scale, diversification, liquidity, and professional management. However, these come with mutual fund fees and expenses. 

Not all investment funds are mutual funds; alternative structures include unit investment trusts, closed-end funds, and exchange-traded funds (ETFs). These alternative structures share similarities such as liquidity due to trading on exchanges and, in the United States, similar consumer protections under the Investment Company Act of 1940. 

Mutual funds are also classified by their principal investments as money market funds, bond or fixed income funds, stock or equity funds, hybrid funds or other. Funds may also be categorized as index funds, which are passively managed funds that match the performance of an index, or actively managed funds. Hedge funds are not mutual funds as hedge funds cannot be sold to the general public and lack various standard investor protections. 

United States

In the United States, the principal laws governing mutual funds are:

• The Securities Act of 1933 requires that all investments sold to the public, including mutual funds, be registered with the SEC and that they provide potential investors with a prospectus that discloses essential facts about the investment.
• The Securities and Exchange Act of 1934 requires that issuers of securities, including mutual funds, report regularly to their investors; this act also created the Securities and Exchange Commission, which is the principal regulator of mutual funds.

• The Revenue Act of 1936 established guidelines for the taxation of mutual funds. Mutual funds are not taxed on their income and profits if they comply with certain requirements under the U.S. Internal Revenue Code; instead, the taxable income is passed through to the investors in the fund. Funds are required by the IRS to diversify their investments, limit ownership of voting securities, distribute most of their income (dividends, interest, and capital gains net of losses) to their investors annually, and earn most of the income by investing in securities and currencies.The characterization of a fund's income is unchanged when it is paid to shareholders. For example, when a mutual fund distributes dividend income to its shareholders, fund investors will report the distribution as dividend income on their tax return. As a result, mutual funds are often called "pass-through" vehicles, because they simply pass on income and related tax liabilities to their investors.
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• The Investment Company Act of 1940 establishes rules specifically governing mutual funds. The focus of this Act is on disclosure to the investing public of information about the fund and its investment objectives, as well as on investment company structure and operations.
• The Investment Advisers Act of 1940 establishes rules governing the investment advisers. With certain exceptions, this Act requires that firms or sole practitioners compensated for advising others about securities investments must register with the SEC and conform to regulations designed to protect investors.
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• The National Securities Markets Improvement Act of 1996 gave rulemaking authority to the federal government, preempting state regulators. However, states continue to have authority to investigate and prosecute fraud involving mutual funds.

Open-end and closed-end funds are overseen by a board of directors, if organized as a corporation, or by a board of trustees, if organized as a trust. The Board must ensure that the fund is managed in the interests of the fund's investors. The board hires the fund manager and other service providers to the fund.

The sponsor or fund management company, often referred to as the fund manager, trades (buys and sells) the fund's investments in accordance with the fund's investment objective. Funds that are managed by the same company under the same brand are known as a fund family or fund complex. A fund manager must be a registered investment adviser. 

European Union

In the European Union, funds are governed by laws and regulations established by their home country. However, the European Union has established a mutual recognition regime that allows funds regulated in one country to be sold in all other countries in the European Union, but only if they comply with certain requirements. The directive establishing this regime is the Undertakings for Collective Investment in Transferable Securities Directive 2009, and funds that comply with its requirements are known as UCITS funds.

Canada

Regulation of mutual funds in Canada is primarily governed by National Instrument 81-102 "Mutual Funds", which is implemented separately in each province or territory. The Canadian Securities Administrator works to harmonize regulation across Canada.

Money market funds

Money market funds invest in money market instruments, which are fixed income securities with a very short time to maturity and high credit quality. Investors often use money market funds as a substitute for bank savings accounts, though money market funds are not insured by the government, unlike bank savings accounts. 

In the United States, money market funds sold to retail investors and those investing in government securities may maintain a stable net asset value of $1 per share, when they comply with certain conditions. Money market funds sold to institutional investors that invest in non-government securities must compute a net asset value based on the value of the securities held in the funds. 

In the United States, at the end of 2018, assets in money market funds were $3.0 trillion, representing 14% of the industry.

Bond funds

Main article: Bond fund

Bond funds invest in fixed income or debt securities. Bond funds can be sub-classified according to:

• The specific types of bonds owned (such as high-yield or junk bonds, investment-grade corporate bonds, government bonds or municipal bonds)
• The maturity of the bonds held (i.e., short-, intermediate- or long-term)
• The country of issuance of the bonds (such as U.S., emerging market or global)
• The tax treatment of the interest received (taxable or tax-exempt)

In the United States, at the end of 2018, assets in bond funds (of all types) were $4.7 trillion, representing 22% of the industry.

Stock funds

Main article: Stock fund

Stock or equity funds invest in common stocks. Stock funds may focus on a particular area of the stock market, such as

• Stocks from only a certain industry
• Stocks from a specified country or region
• Stocks of companies experiencing strong growth
• Stocks that the portfolio managers deem to be a good value relative to the value of the company's business
• Stocks paying high dividends that provide income
• Stocks within a certain market capitalization range

In the United States, at the end of 2018, assets in stock funds (of all types) were $11.9 trillion, representing 56% of the industry.

Funds which invest in a relatively small number of stocks such as fewer than 50 are known as "focus funds"; these funds may also be activist investors and alternative investments.

Hybrid funds

Hybrid funds invest in both bonds and stocks or in convertible securities. Balanced funds, asset allocation funds, target date or target risk funds, and lifecycle or lifestyle funds are all types of hybrid funds. 

Hybrid funds may be structured as funds of funds, meaning that they invest by buying shares in other mutual funds that invest in securities. Many funds of funds invest in affiliated funds (meaning mutual funds managed by the same fund sponsor), although some invest in unaffiliated funds (i.e., managed by other fund sponsors) or some combination of the two. 

In the United States, at the end of 2018, assets in hybrid funds were $1.4 trillion, representing 7% of the industry.

Other funds

Funds may invest in commodities or other investments. 

Mutual funds today

At the end of 2018, mutual fund assets worldwide were $46.7 trillion, according to the Investment Company Institute. The countries with the largest mutual fund industries are:

1. United States: $21.0 trillion
2. Luxembourg: $4.7 trillion
3. Ireland: $2.8 trillion
4. Germany: $2.2 trillion
5. France: $2.1 trillion
6. Australia: $1.9 trillion
7. Japan: $1.8 trillion
8. China: $1.8 trillion
9. United Kingdom: $1.7 trillion
10. Brazil: $1.2 trillion

In the United States, mutual funds play an important role in U.S. household finances. At the end of 2018, 21% of household financial assets were held in mutual funds. Their role in retirement savings was even more significant, since mutual funds accounted for roughly half of the assets in individual retirement accounts, 401(k)s and other similar retirement plans.In total, mutual funds are large investors in stocks and bonds. 

Luxembourg and Ireland are the primary jurisdictions for the registration of UCITS funds. These funds may be sold throughout the European Union and in other countries that have adopted mutual recognition regimes.

• Aberdeen Asset Management
• AIM (Invesco)
• AllianceBernstein
• Allianz
• Amana Mutual Funds Trust
• American Beacon
• American Century
• American Funds (The Capital Group Companies)
• Ariel Investments
• Ave Maria Mutual Funds
• Barclays Global Investors
• Baron Funds
• BlackRock
• BNY Mellon (The Bank of New York Mellon)
• Calamos
• Calvert Investments
• Columbia (Ameriprise Financial)
• Credit Suisse
• Dimensional Fund Advisors
• Delaware Investments
• Dodge & Cox
• Dreyfus
• Eaton Vance
• Federated
• Fidelity
• First Eagle Funds
• Franklin Templeton
• Gabelli & GAMCO Funds
• Goldman Sachs
• Invesco (AMVESCAP)
• Janus
• JPMorgan
• Legg Mason
• MainStay Investments
• Mellon Funds
• MetLife
• MFS
• Morgan Stanley
• Natixis Global Asset Management
• Northern
• Old Mutual
• PIMCO (Pacific Investment Management)
• Pax World
• Pioneer Investments
• Putnam
• Schwab
• State Farm
• State Street
• Thrivent Financial for Lutherans
• TIAA-CREF
• T. Rowe Price
• Truist Financial
• Tweedy, Browne
• USAA
• Value Line
• Vanguard
• Van Kampen
• Virtus Investment Partners
• Waddell and Reed
• Wells Fargo Funds
• Wilshire Associates

NASDAQ futures-NASDAQ derived futures-Quotes-Trading strategies-US tax advantages

NASDAQ futures are financial futures that allow an investor to hedge with or speculate on the future value of various components of the NASDAQ market index. 

Several futures instruments are derived from the Nasdaq composite index, these include the E-mini NASDAQ composite futures, the E-mini NASDAQ biology futures, the NASDAQ-100 futures, and the E-mini NASDAQ-100 futures.

NASDAQ derived futures

All of the NASDAQ derived future contracts are a product of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME).

  They expire quarterly (March, June, September, and December), and are traded on the CME Globex exchange nearly 24 hours a day, from Sunday afternoon to Friday afternoon.

• E-mini NASDAQ futures (ticker: QCN) contract's minimum tick is .50 index points = $10.00 While the performance bond requirements vary from broker to broker, the CME requires $4,000, and continuing equity of $3,200 to maintain the position.

• E-mini NASDAQ biotechnology futures (ticker: BIO) contract's minimum tick is .10 index points = $5.00 While the performance bond requirements vary from broker to broker, the CME requires $3,750, and continuing equity of $3000 to maintain the position.

 NASDAQ-100 futures (ticker: ND) contract's minimum tick is .25 index points = $25.00 While the performance bond requirements vary from broker to broker, the CME requires $17,500, and continuing equity of $14,000 to maintain the position.

• E-mini NASDAQ-100 futures (ticker: NQ) contract's minimum tick is .25 index points = $5.00 While the performance bond requirements vary from broker to broker, the CME requires $3,500, and continuing equity of $2,800 to maintain the position.

Quotes

CME Group provides live feeds for Nasdaq Futures and these are published on various websites like Bloomberg.com, Money.CNN.com,NasdaqFutures.org.

Trading strategies

Futures contracts are commonly used for hedge or speculative financial goals. Futures contracts are used to hedge, or offset investment risk by commodity owners (i.e., farmers), or portfolios with undesirable risk exposure offset by the futures position.

Futures are also widely used to speculate trading profits. Futures trading is skyrocketing – CME's E-mini contracts averaged 3.5 million contracts a day in 2008, a 37 percent yearly increase in volume, while equity volume increased only 2 percent for the same period of time. However studies reveal that hedging strategies still dominate speculation trade activity in every futures market studied.

 

Investment in trading algorithms research (a mathematical rule set for futures trading entry, exit, and stop loss points often calculated and executed by computer) is phenomenal. Investment banking firm Goldman Sachs devotes more of its resources, tens of millions annually, to developing trading algorithms than it does on trade desk staffing. Trading algorithms may be as exotic as biology theorems like neural network applied to financial market trading by Gang Dong of Rutgers University, or completely based on current market time/price analysis.

US tax advantages

In the United States broad-based index futures receive special tax treatment under the IRS 60/40 rule. Stocks held longer than one year qualify for favorable capital gains tax treatment, while stocks held one year or less are taxed at ordinary income. However, proceeds from index futures contracts traded in the short term are taxed 60 percent at the favorable capital gains rate, and only 40 percent as ordinary income. Also, losses on NASDAQ futures can be carried back up to 3 years, and tax reporting is significantly simpler, as they qualify as Section 1256 Contracts.

PENNY STOCKS-Microcap stock fraud

Microcap stock fraud is a form of securities fraud involving stocks of "microcap" companies, generally defined in the United States as those with a market capitalization of under $250 million. Its prevalence has been estimated to run into the billions of dollars a year. Many microcap stocks are penny stocks, which the SEC defines as a security that trades at less than $5 per share, is not listed on a national exchange, and fails to meet other specific criteria.

Microcap stock fraud generally takes place among stocks traded on the OTC Bulletin Board and the Pink Sheets Electronic Quotation Service, stocks which usually do not meet the requirements to be listed on the stock exchanges. Some fraud occurs among stocks traded on the NASDAQ Small Cap Market, now called the NASDAQ Capital Market.

Microcap fraud encompasses several types of investor fraud:

• Pump and dump schemes, involving use of false or misleading statements to hype stocks, which are "dumped" on the public at inflated prices. Such schemes involve telemarketing and Internet fraud.
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• Chop stocks, which are stocks purchased for pennies and sold for dollars, providing both brokers and stock promoters massive profits. Brokers are often paid "under the table" undisclosed payoffs to sell such stocks.
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• Dump and dilute schemes, where companies repeatedly issue shares for no reason other than taking investors' money away. Companies using this kind of scheme tend to periodically reverse-split the stock.
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• Other unscrupulous brokerage practices, including "bait-and-switch", unauthorized trading, and "no net sales" policies in which customers are prohibited or discouraged from selling stocks.
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• Pump and dump
• Many penny stocks, particularly those that trade for fractions of a cent, are thinly traded. They can become the target of stock promoters and manipulators. These manipulators first purchase large quantities of stock, then drive up the share price through false and misleading positive statements, and then sell their shares at a large profit. This is referred to as a "pump and dump" scheme. The pump and dump is a form of microcap stock fraud. In more sophisticated versions of the fraud, individuals or organizations buy millions of shares, then use newsletter websites, chat rooms, stock message boards, press releases, or e-mail blasts to drive up interest in the stock. Very often, the perpetrator will claim to have inside information about impending news to persuade the unwitting investor to quickly buy the shares. When buying pressure pushes the share price up, the rise in price entices more people to believe the hype and to buy shares as well. Eventually the manipulators doing the "pumping" end up "dumping" when they sell their holdings.
  
  The expanding use of the Internet and personal communication devices has made penny stock scams easier to perpetrate. Though not a scam per se, one notable example is rapper 50 Cent's use of Twitter to cause the price of a penny stock (HNHI) to increase dramatically. 50 Cent had previously bought 30 million shares of the company, and as a result made $8.7 million in profit. Another example of an activity that skirts the borderline between legitimate promotion and hype is the case of LEXG. Described (but perhaps overstated) as "the biggest stock promotion of all time", Lithium Exploration Group's market capitalization soared to over $350 million after an extensive direct mail campaign. The promotion drew upon the legitimate growth in production and use of lithium, while touting Lithium Exploration Groups position within that sector. According to the company's December 31, 2010 form 10-Q (filed within months of the direct mail promotion), LEXG was a lithium company without assets. Its revenues and assets at that time were zero.Subsequently, the company did acquire lithium production/exploration properties, and addressed concerns raised in the press.
  
  Penny stock companies often have low liquidity. Investors may encounter difficulty selling their positions after the buying pressure has abated, and the manipulators have fled.
   

• Chop stocks

  A chop stock is an equity, usually trading on the Nasdaq Stock Market, OTC Bulletin Board or Pink Sheets listing services, that is purchased at pennies per share and sold by unscrupulous stock brokers to unsuspecting retail customers at several dollars per share.
  
  
  This practice differs from a pump and dump in that the brokerages make money, in addition to hyping the stock, by marketing a security they purchase at a deep discount. In this practice, the brokerage firm generally acquires the block of stock by purchasing a large block of the securities (usually from a large shareholder who is not affiliated with the underlying company) at a negotiated price that is well below the current market price (generally 40% to 50% below the then-current quoted offer/ask price) or it acquires the stock as payment for a consulting agreement.
  
  
  The subject stocks usually have little or no liquidity prior to the block purchase. After the block is purchased, the firm's participating brokers will sell the stock to their brokerage customers at the then-current quoted offer/ask price, to the often victimized investors who are generally unaware of this practice. This large difference, or "spread" between the then-current quoted offer/ask price and the deeply discounted price the block of stock was purchased is almost always shared with the stockbroker at the firm who solicited the trade. For this reason, there is a large benefit and an inherent conflict of interest for the firm and the broker to sell these "proprietary products". 
  
  
  Because the firm is technically "at risk" on the block of stock (if the price of the stock drops below the price at which the block was purchased, the firm will be at a loss on the stock) and stock is usually sold at or even slightly below the then-current prevailing market price offer/ask, the practice is still legal in the United States. In fact, it is not required that this profit spread be disclosed to the client, since it is not technically a "commission". 
  
  
  When a securities dealer sells such instruments from its own inventory, a client will receive a trade confirmation stating the transaction was done as "Riskless Principal" or "Markup", which in fact, just like commissions, is also revenue to the firm, and such a practice is often subject to abuse. Only the amount of fees charged over and above the offer/ask are commissions, and must be disclosed. But even though it is still legal, it is frowned upon by the Securities Exchange Commission, and they are using other laws and methods of attack to indirectly thwart the practice. (Information courtesy from wikipedia )
  
  
  
  

Hong Kong Stock Exchange-HANG SENG TOP GAINERS

MTR Corporation Limited

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China Mobile Ltd.

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NIKKEI 225 - TOP GIANERS

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Odakyu Electric Railway Co., Ltd.

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Toshiba Corp

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STOCK MARKET- NASDAQ 100- TOP GAINERS- TODAY

Ctrip.Com International Ltd

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JD.Com Inc

29.22 USD +0.41 (1.42%)

United Continental Holdings Inc

78.47 USD +0.98 (1.26%)

American Airlines Group Inc

30.72 USD +0.51 (1.69%)

Tesla Inc

269.10 USD +1.33 (0.50%)

Apple Inc.

188.45 USD +1.63 (0.87%)

  

NASDAQ STOCK TOP GAINERS TODAY

Visa Inc 140.06 USD +6.33 (4.73%)

Walgreens Boots Alliance 73.50 USD +2.60 (3.67%)

Cisco 45.71 USD +1.59 (3.60%)

Ctripcom  38.65 USD +3.50 (9.96%)

Netflix, Inc. 339.56 USD +18.46 (5.75%)

 Autodesk 138.18 USD +7.29 (5.57%)

TAKE-TWO INTERACTIVE SOFTWARE, INC Common Stock 129.05 USD +6.79 (5.55%)

Intuit Inc. 211.82 USD +11.13 (5.55%)

Activision Blizzard, Inc. 77.92 USD +4.07 (5.51%)

 

NVIDIA Corporation 246.54 USD +11.41 (4.85%)

Adobe Systems Incorporated 248.87 USD +10.28 (4.31%)

Paypal Holdings Inc 79.03 USD +3.13 (4.12%)