Market News

There's one savings vehicle that few consider for college. Here's how to use it.

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Dividend investing sounds straightforward, but there are dangers lurking in the pursuit of higher income payments.

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While it’s become even cheaper to ship goods to the US since 10 March 2016, UK and EU retailers - from online marketplace traders to major multi-channel stores - should be investing in new US sites and focussing more of their logistics and marketing budgets on this lucrative market to take advantage of the new $800 (c.£560) US duty threshold - up from $200 (c.£140) previously.

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Over 10 and 20 years various asset classes tend to have similar rates of return.

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The signs of pressure on the Saudi economy are building up by the day, as the country struggles to cope with low oil prices, waning confidence and nervous investors.

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Many large, well-established companies in the food and beverage and broader consumer goods industries are struggling to deliver compelling shareholder returns. Their core businesses generate healthy gross margins, but top-line growth has been anemic, margins are under pressure, and cost structures remain stubbornly high.

In the past, shareholders might have given management time to make course corrections. But today, capital markets are less patient, and investors are acutely focused on enhancing shareholder returns. Specialized private equity firms have devised models for driving cost reduction and margin expansion far in excess of what leading companies have been able to do on their own — by about 800 to 1,000 basis points in two to three years. And shareholder activists are following suit.

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Recently, Amazon‘s House Services segment completed its first year of existence and, according to the company, the business has now expanded to more than 90% of the U.S. Customer orders have grown by 20% per month on an average since last year, despite competition from players such as TaskRabbit and Angie’s List. Several products sold on Amazon’s e-commerce platform require additional services, such as installation or assembly, and providing these services under the house services segment is a natural extension of its e-commerce business. The company provides the option to customers of adding professional services at the time of checkout from its platform. We believe the convenience of buying the product and related services at the same time gives Amazon a competitive edge over stand-alone house services companies.


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In afternoon trading on Monday, Healthcare stocks are the best performing sector, up 1.3%. Within that group, Edwards Lifesciences Corp (NYSE: EW) and Vertex Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASD: VRTX) are two of the day's stand-outs, showing a gain of 16.9% and 5.8%, respectively. Among healthcare ETFs, one ETF following the sector is the Health Care Select Sector SPDR ETF (AMEX: XLV), which is up 1.3% on the day, and down 3.23% year-to-date. Edwards Lifesciences Corp, meanwhile, is up 33.14% year-to-date, and Vertex Pharmaceuticals, Inc., is down 33.47% year-to-date. Combined, EW and VRTX make up approximately 1.6% of the underlying holdings of XLV.

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The worst performing sector as of midday Monday is the Materials sector, showing a 1.4% loss. Within that group, Mosaic Co (NYSE: MOS) and FMC Corp. (NYSE: FMC) are two large stocks that are lagging, showing a loss of 4.1% and 3.2%, respectively. Among the high volume ETFs, one ETF closely following materials stocks is the Materials Select Sector SPDR ETF (AMEX: XLB), which is down 1.3% on the day, and up 3.19% year-to-date. Mosaic Co , meanwhile, is down 5.67% year-to-date, and FMC Corp. is up 0.12% year-to-date. Combined, MOS and FMC make up approximately 3.2% of the underlying holdings of XLB.

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Looking for an easy way to boost your portfolio's long-term returns? Here's one: buy and hold top-quality dividend stocks - especially those that raise their payouts every single year.

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