CNBC 24/7 Trading : Around the Clock, Around the World [Hardcover]

CNBC (Author)

Book Description

Series: Cnbc Profit from It Series | Publication Date: November 3, 2000

"Marshall McLuhan said, 'We have become a global village,' CNBC has helped lead the way in creating a global village for the financial markets. Readers will finish CNBC 24/7 Trading feeling smarter about the markets and really understanding how important it is to be in the information flow." -Mary Meeker, Managing Director, Morgan Stanley Dean Witter
"CNBC 24/7 Trading unlocks the mystery of how individual investors can invest and trade everywhere all the time. This book will become the investment bible that levels the playing field between Wall Street and Main Street." -Robert J. Froehlich, Vice Chairman, Kemper Funds Group Managing Director, Scudder Kemper Investments
"TD Waterhouse has operations in eight countries, so we see that growth in international investing is accelerating. To be successful investing around the globe, investors need both information and insight. CNBC 24/7 Trading covers what individual investors need to know in a thorough, easy to understand way." -Steve McDonald, CEO, TD Waterhouse
From the Foreword
"CNBC 24/7 Trading . . . embraces the reality that the markets never stand still . . . this book is a guide to the emerging 24/7 marketplace, a road map to the potential rewards for investors who can grasp that marketplace's opportunities and understand its risks."-Sue Herera
"This definitive book on investing in the 24/7 markets provides the comprehensive tools for active investors and market pros alike. Offering information and advice on trading, obtaining research, measuring market volatility, and assessing local market risk, no smart investor should venture without it." -Linda R. Killian, CFA, Principal, Renaissance Capital

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Nothing has so altered the investment landscape in the past five years as the Internet and the CNBC network. The availability of real-time financial news, data and analysis, and instant order entry and execution have empowered investors and democratized financial markets. Barbara Rockefeller's CNBC 24/7 Trading is a primer for what's fast approaching--a trading day that never ends, where at least 500 international stocks can be bought or sold electronically anytime, anywhere.

The book's main theme is the importance of including foreign stocks in a portfolio to lower risk and increase returns. Current portfolio-management theory, or "modern portfolio theory," holds that foreign stocks have historically outperformed American stocks and tend to move up and down at different times, as well. Thus, a portfolio that includes both is not only less risky but also likely to perform better over time. The point of optimum diversification, the "efficient frontier," is where the greatest returns are achieved with the least risk. They make the case that to not diversify is to actually take a bigger risk. In fact, today more money is invested and managed according to the tenets of modern portfolio theory than by any other method. Yet, missing in this book is any discussion about the impact of an increasingly wired world on stock volatility everywhere, and especially on the "noncorrelation" between U.S. and foreign stocks, on which modern portfolio theory is predicated. Recall how quickly the Asian financial crisis spread to Brazil and then to Russia just a couple of years ago. In the near future, events may well impact all stocks globally in the same way at the same time.

The book explains well the many risks in buying foreign securities. There's currency risk; country-specific economic and political risks; foreign-market, liquidity, broker, and back-office risk; foreign-company operational risk; and accounting standards that are anything but standard. What's more, it's harder, at least for now, to get timely and accurate news and financial data from overseas. The book does cover several theoretically safer methods of investing abroad, including American Depositary Receipts, iShares (foreign index shares), and open- and closed-end funds. And there are sections on the basics of foreign exchange and even charting for beginners.

Investors interested in taking a financial worldview will find here all the reasons they should--and plenty of things to worry about if they do. --Scott Harrison

Review

The first responsible book about a new area of economic activity ...provides balanced information about alternative sources of around-the-clock financial information." -- The Journal of Investment Consulting

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 320 pages
• Publisher: Wiley; 1 edition (November 3, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0471393142
• ISBN-13: 978-0471393146
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.3 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,402,126 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Barbara Rockefeller is the founder of Rockefeller Treasury Services, an independent research firm specializing in international financial market consulting with an emphasis on foreign exchange forecasting and currency management.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent resource for serious market watchers, November 23, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: CNBC 24/7 Trading : Around the Clock, Around the World (Hardcover)

The last couple of trading books I've picked up (and decided not to purchase)were too fluffy, celebrity driven. This book is different. No theory for theory's sake -- lot's of thoughtful strategies that seriously improved my ability to analyze market trends as well as individual stock offerings. I'm not a professional trader, but I do take investing very seriously and have been doing more of it myself (without a broker) and have begun exploring trading 24x7. I definitely recommend this book to anyone who is a serious investor and is already familiar with the consistent and reliable financial reporting of CNBC.

8 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Thrill-o-minute romp it isn't..., February 2, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: CNBC 24/7 Trading : Around the Clock, Around the World (Hardcover)

Although Barbara Rockefeller's attention to detail and obvious knowledge of the inside world of the life of a stock trader are quite phenomenal, I found the story lacking direction, and the climax weak. The characters of George Soros and Abby Joseph Cohen, for example, are minimally developed at best, and unnecessarily verbose at times. But Rockefeller has most certainly done her homework in terms of setting the stage for her story, an example that more contemporary writers should heed. All in all, however, this was a quite satisfying read!

8 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An EXCELLENT RESOURCE for do-it-yourself investors, December 19, 2000

By 

DanielG (Philadelphia, PA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: CNBC 24/7 Trading : Around the Clock, Around the World (Hardcover)

I found this book to be very informative, providing helpful hints on how to manage your portfolio and bringing together information which would otherwise take a lot of time to research. This book greatly reinforced my belief that you do not have to pay "professionals" to invest your money for you. Finally, unlike other books on investing which tend to be confusing if not boring, Ms. Rockefeller's writing style allows for an easy read.