Blog Posts

Goodwill in accounting is an intangible asset that represents the value of a company’s reputation, customer relationships, and other non-physical assets. It is commonly referred to as an “accounting plug” as it fills a gap between identifiable asset value and aggregate measured value. It is often recorded on a company’s balance sheet as a result […]

What Is Institutional Ownership? Institutional ownership refers to the percentage of a company’s outstanding shares that are owned by institutional investors such as mutual funds, pension funds, and insurance companies.   Impact of Institutional Ownership The amount of institutional ownership can have a significant impact on financial markets for several reasons. Impact on Market Prices […]

The ECB capital key is a weighting system used by the European Central Bank (ECB) to determine the distribution of capital among the central banks of the European Union (EU) countries. It is based on the relative size of each country’s economy, as measured by its gross domestic product (GDP) and population.  The capital key […]

Deferred Retirement Option Plans (DROPs) are retirement plans that allow employees to continue working while also accumulating their retirement benefits in a separate account. The monthly pension benefit that the employee would have started receiving if they had formally retired is deposited into the DROP account, while the employee continues to work and receives their […]

The following is a fairly well complete list of factors that influence oil prices.  Many things influence prices and many things are dependent on other things.  Let’s take a look.  Factors Affecting Oil Prices Global supply and demand for oil Political instability in oil-producing countries Geopolitical tensions and conflicts Production cuts or increases by OPEC […]

The crack spread is a measure of the profitability of refining crude oil into various petroleum products, such as gasoline, diesel, and heating oil. It is calculated by subtracting the cost of crude oil from the combined sales price of the refined products. The crack spread is commonly expressed in dollars per barrel.   Key […]

What Is an Urban Wealth Fund? An urban wealth fund is a type of investment vehicle that is designed to finance the development and revitalization of urban areas. It typically consists of a pool of capital that is managed by a professional investment team, and it is funded through a variety of sources, including government […]

There are two major permanent funds in the United States, which are established and maintained by state and local governments. These funds are typically funded by revenues from natural resources, such as oil and minerals, and their primary goal is to generate long-term returns on the investment of these surplus funds in order to support […]

Day traders, particularly retail/individual day traders, tend to focus predominantly on technical analysis and don’t typically pay that much attention to central banks. These institutions are directly responsible for determining monetary policies that help achieve results in line with their statutory mandates, such as stable inflation, maximum employment, and financial stability. Central banks have the […]

A 130/30 fund is an investment strategy that involves a hedge fund or mutual fund maintaining a long position in 130% of its portfolio, while also maintaining a short position in 30% of its portfolio. The long positions are invested in securities that the fund expects to appreciate in value, while the short positions are […]