What are the business cycles and how do they affect economy and our life? Business cycles are the fluctuations in economic activity that occur over time. They are characterised by alternating periods of expansion and contraction, which affect various aspects … Continue reading What are the business cycles?
Financial Options: A Guide to Puts and Calls If you are interested in trading financial options, you need to understand the basics of puts and calls. These are the two types of derivative contracts that give you the right, but … Continue reading What are financial options?
How the 2008 Financial Crisis Shook the World The 2008 financial crisis was a global economic disaster that had far-reaching consequences for millions of people. It was triggered by a collapse of the US housing market, which exposed the fragility … Continue reading Financial crisis in 2008
A hedge fund is an investment vehicle that pools together money from a group of investors and uses a variety of investment strategies in an attempt to generate high return, which is very similar to what we have discussed under … Continue reading What are Hedge Funds?
In the intricate world of financial markets, efficiency and transparency are paramount and the SEC (US regulatory body) has adopted the rule to shorten the settlement cycle and yet another step to improve the financial markets. The new settlement cycle … Continue reading Moving to T+1 Settlement: Streamlining the Financial Markets
Commodities trading refers to the buying and selling of raw materials that are either grown (agricultural commodities) or mined (metallic and non-metallic minerals). These materials are traded on specialized markets called commodities exchanges. Some examples of commodities include metals such … Continue reading Commodities
Fund accounting is one of the most typical services the custodians alongside the safekeeping function. This type of accounting is used by the financial funds on money entrusted to them by donors, grantors, or other external sources. In fund accounting, … Continue reading Fund accounting
The asset management industry is a financial services sector that includes companies and organizations that manage investments on behalf of clients. Asset management firms offer a range of investment products and services, including various funds covering wide range of both … Continue reading What is asset management industry?
Short selling is a trading strategy that involves selling securities that the trader does not own, with the intention of buying them back at a lower price in the future. The trader borrows the securities from someone else, typically a … Continue reading Short selling (shorting)
When we speak about the financial services we can frequently come across a term ‘custodian’. This typically refers to a custodian bank, which serves a very different purpose when compared to commercial or merchant banks. The main goal of a … Continue reading Who is a custodian?
All financial institutions are subject to various laws and regulations that are designed to protect consumers and ensure that they are treated fairly. If these laws or regulations are violated, an institution could potentially face fines or other penalties. This … Continue reading What is compliance?
We hear this term in the news a lot. The economic downturn supported by the de-globalization triggered by the Russia-Ukrainian war as well as the increase in energy costs caused this term to appear in the news on the daily … Continue reading What is Inflation?
Market updates This week’s market updates will focus on the bond markets and yield curves. Overall the equities markets have rebounded displaying the high level of confidence, but the yield curves and hikes tell us an opposite story with the … Continue reading Weekly Market Update – 01-07 August 2022
Introduction to yield curve The definition of a yield curve states that it is a line that plots interest rates of bonds that have an equal credit quality across differing maturity dates. The slope of the yield curve gives an … Continue reading What is a yield curve?
While the main blog is going to be focused on education, I would like to start new series with the weekly news having the largest impact of the world markets. I will start with the markets overview and then follow … Continue reading Weekly Market Update – 25-31 July 2022
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