Tag Archives: Market

Market Analysis

Yiwu Agent Market — Products in Stock

Yiwu agent market is in Yiwu, China, which can easily be accessed from direct flights or bus. It located about 3 hours northwest of Shanghai by car. I went to the yiwu agent market last month and was pleasantly surprised by the range of products they offer and ease of doing business there. My expectations were to find a bunch of Chinese junk for sale.

The junk is there, but it is surrounded by lots of quality goods that just need a sharp eye to find them. The market is bigger than the canton fair and it is divided up into product categories including: hardware, plumbing, home decor, table ware, Christmas, jewelry, florals, electronics, apparel, fashion accessories, sporting goods, and so much more.

Yiwu is best suited to smaller retail and wholesale operations because you can buy goods by the case. The low minimum quantity means there is no need to buy thousands or even a hundred. All you have to do is fill out a PO and pay for your goods up front. Prices are in line with what you expect to pay for stock goods, generally about 10% higher than dealing with a factory directly. Goods are generally ready to ship from a manufacturers stock and can be in transit within 15 days. You’ll need a consolidating company to work with to bring your goods together for shipment, the cost here depends on the amount of service you require.

It is definitely an untapped product source for the US market. From what I gathered Yiwu is currently used most by customers from the Middle East and South America. The good thing is most products reflect western and European tastes.

The wait goes on. The free-agent market, once a bustling example of baseball prosperity, has done surprisingly little business in the two weeks since the bidding was supposed to begin.

There have been some scattered signings. Darryl Strawberry got a five-year deal from the Los Angeles Dodgers. Catcher Darren Daulton re-signed with the Philadelphia Phillies. Pitcher Bud Black got $10 million over four years from the San Francisco Giants. Yesterday, Tim Leary became only the fourth free agent to sign a multi-year contract when he got $5.95 million for three years to return to the New York Yankees.

That’s it. There are more than 80 free agents still unaccounted for, including Mickey Tettleton and at least a couple of dozen other front-line players. Though there were indications that business might pick up this week — and the Leary signing could be a sign of things to come — the market remains soft.

“I think there are a number of things going on,” said Tony Attanasio, who represents Tettleton and several other free agents. “Right now, you’ve got a lot of teams concentrating on re-signing their own players and wondering what’s going to happen with the new-look guys. Two general managers told me today that they have a strong interest in Mickey and Charlie Hough and Kevin Gross, but they have to wait and see what happens with their own guys.”

If that is the case, then Tettleton is caught in the middle, since the Orioles have made no attempt to improve on the one-year contract (believed to be worth about $1.3 million) they offered him in October. There has been no contact between Attanasio and the Orioles since the free-agent filing period ended Nov. 4.

In the meantime, the club’s interest in other free agents appeared to increase, and there was speculation that offers would be made to at least one starting pitcher and one run-producing outfielder. But as of late yesterday, the Orioles had not gotten back in touch with the agent for first baseman/outfielder Franklin Stubbs or made their intentions clear concerning several other players on their shopping list.

General manager Roland Hemond said yesterday that the team had put the free-agent situation on hold temporarily to work on the 40-man roster, which must be finalized by midnight.

The Orioles promoted pitcher Mike Linsky to the major-league roster yesterday, leaving two spots open. Hemond indicated that the club would fill the roster by this afternoon, but these are not decisions that the front office takes lightly. Players left unprotected can be claimed by other clubs in the Rule V draft in December.

The roster situation provides still another excuse for the tepid free yiwu agent activity, but the Orioles already have laid the groundwork for more serious free agent negotiations. The question is whether they will take the next step and spend the necessary millions to restructure the club for 1991.

Market Analysis

The Best Annuities For Your Profile Using The Open Market Option

When approaching retirement you will be thinking about the options you need to consider for your retirement income and finding the best annuities will be one of them. The open market option was introduced in the UK to allow everyone at retirement the chance to shop around to find the best annuities from the entire market and not just those offered by the pension company you saved with.

Those retiring will be well advised to seek the services of an independent financial adviser (IFA) so that you have access to the entire market, this is also because many of the annuity providers only sell through their products via financial advisers, so you could miss out on the best annuity rates because you as an individual would not be able to get a quote.

Once you have found a financial adviser then you need to let them know your ambitions for retirement so they can choose the best annuities from the many different types on the market. There is a vast range of different annuity products on the market from, guaranteed annuities to income drawdown and understanding each of these different products would take you weeks of research, this is why you should seek the services of an IFA.

An IFA will ask you questions about the income you will need in retirement and also ask about your lifestyle habits and medical conditions present and past. These questions are asked because there is a possibility that you might qualify for enhanced annuities which give much higher annuity rates than standard, of course depending on the severity of lifestyle habits or medical conditions. It is said there are over 5000 different medical conditions that on their own or in combination could qualify for enhanced annuity rates and give your retirement income a huge boost.

Using the open market option you can be sure to find the best annuities and using an IFA will ensure that the entire market can be research for your exact profile. Retirement income may have to last as much as 30 years so it is vital that you get the best possible rates you can.

Market Analysis

Solar Market Keeps Shining in 2011

According to the market research firm iSuppli Corp., despite extreme shifts in pricing, demand and governmental subsidies, the global photovoltaic market in 2011 will experience robust growth, with installations rising by 42.3 percent for the year.

iSuppli forecasts that worldwide solar installations will reach 20.2 Gigawatts (GW) next year, up from 14.2GW at the end of 2010. Germany, the world’s leading Photovoltaic (PV) market, will continue to play a key role and account for half of the total installations, at 9.5GW.

While an impressive growth total for the year, the expansion will be down significantly from the 97.9 percent increase in 2009.

“The strong results projected for 2011 come despite softening demand anticipated during the first quarter of next year,” said Stefan de Haan, Senior Analyst (Photovoltaic Materials & Systems) at iSuppli. “As a result, prices will weaken at the end of the first quarter. However, the feebleness of the pricing will be responsible for demand momentum building up in the second quarter. From then on, a significant demand rally can be expected, leading to a price rebound in the second half.”

Speculation is also rife about the possibility of a PV installation cap being imposed in Germany for 2011.

However, iSuppli believes that the German government will not dare to cut down PV subsidies, especially in the wake of a recent decision to extend the operation of nuclear power plants. With the nuclear extension passing despite popular opposition, the government is not likely to risk further alienating public opinion by implementing limits on photovoltaic solar energy.

“A severe action such as an installation cap on solar technology conceivably could cause a mutiny among regional German politicians who count PV companies as electoral constituencies, in the process drawing loud protestations from the industry, where precious jobs are at stake,” de Haan said. “And unlike in France—where an ad hoc action imposing PV caps succeeded—the solar industry in Germany has real influence on governmental decisions.”

In the near term, the nuclear reprieve in Germany will have no effect on the PV markets, even if passage might have sent the wrong signal to PV global markets for the time being, iSuppli maintains. And with German polls suggesting overwhelming support—80 percent by one count—among voters in favor of renewable energy generation, the forecasts for a strong German PV market in 2011 continue to hold and remain unchanged.

Forex Trading Articles

Forex Market Orders

The Forex market order is an order to buy and sell currencies at the current market prices. The order execution is immediate. Forex orders can be placed through phones or online.

Process of placing Forex orders-

The trader states the chosen currency pair and the size of deal to the trading dealer.

The dealer states the put and call price of the selected currency pair.

The trader selects one of the two prices and sometimes, traders may ask for re-quotes.

The dealer verifies the deal and conveys the confirmation message to the trader.

Note – Always confirm for two-way quotes before making the deals. If the traders do not ask for the bid and ask quotes, the firms will take advantage of the traders’ unawareness.

There are three types of orders limit order, stop orders and order cancels other.

Limit Order –

The limit order is an order put to buy or sell the currencies at a specific price. This order has two variables one is price and other one is duration.

The investor states the price that is suitable for him to trade the currency pair and defines the duration up to which the order will remain active.

Good Till Cancelled –

A GTC is an order that remains live in the trading market until the investors do not want to cancel the order.

The dealer cannot cancel the order at any instance of time so investors have to remember that they are having the order or deal to trade.

Good for the Day –

A GFD remains live in the trading market until the trading day ends. As the FX is a continuous trading market, so the end of the day is the set time hour.

Stop Orders-

It is an order that is put to trade currency at a specified price. This order has the same two variables.

The difference lies between the limit and stop order is that the stop order is placed to bound loss possibilities on the trading deal and the limit order enters in to the pre-existing positioning of the FX market and fetch good returns.

The same GFD and GTC variables are used to specify the duration of the orders.

Order Cancels Other –

This order is an amalgamation of the two limit orders or two stop orders, the two orders are placed with the specified prices and duration variables mentioned above and below the current prices. When the one order executes the other, one is cancelled.

General Forex

Forex Market – Advantages

The Forex market is a global market where you trade by buying and selling of currencies. This business operates 24 hours per day, 5 days per week and 2.5 trillion dollars are turned over on every single day. The Forex market is been operating since seventies of the XX century – from the moment when biggest countries decided to switch from fixed exchange rates to floating rates. The Daily forex trading volume exceeds 4 trillion US dollar and it is growing rapidly fast.

Several institutions can be found related to Forex such as banks, commercial companies and forex brokers. The largest Forex trading centers are located in New York, London, and Moscow etc.

Forex Trading has a boom in the Forex market now. As you can trade with Forex online, even small investors can take benefit of the Forex market. Forex market is more stable than stock exchanges as it is not subject to huge surges, even if one currency is declining, another one is improving.

Some of the advantages to Forex include:

  • Traders can make profits both on declining and developing economies;
  • Traders can make very short-term orders – with some other markets there are certain regulations;
  • It is much easier to join Forex market – virtually no minimum investement, quick registration, etc;
  • There are no broker commissions or they are very low;
  • Much higher leverages are provided;
  • Market works non-stop 24 hours.
  • 100 financial instruments
  • Different options to add/withdraw funds
  • Spreads from 2 pips

100 financial instruments