Mark Mobius, executive chairman of Templeton Asset Management Ltd., believes that the global stock market will fall by up to 30%. The strong rebound following last year's calamity is likely to be impeded by profit-taking on the upswing. Basically, an increase of 70%, he says, will lead to a decrease of 20 to 30%.

The greatest risk in a recovering stock market comes from the increase in new stock and bond issuances, Mobius says. To participate in these new deals, investors would have to liquidate existing positions, which can put downward pressure on the market as a whole. Money doesn't come from nowhere, and new capital will come on the backs of the previous investments.

Continue reading Mobius says stocks will drop by a third

Mobius says stocks will drop by a third originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 10 Aug 2009 09:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

I recently attended the Warrillow Conference, which focuses on how to sell to the small business market. And, yes, it's a big opportunity -- with more than 27 million small businesses in the U.S. Some of the big players in the space include MasterCard (NYSE: MA), FedEx (NYSE: FDX), Intuit (NASDAQ: INTU) and so on.

Well, one of the panels at Warrillow had a group of small business owners -- and they talked about what works when trying to sell to them.

Let's take a look:

Wearing many hats: The small business owner does just about everything. In other words, time is a precious commodity. So, when pitching, make sure things are clear and concise. What are the main benefits? The costs?

More importantly, small business owners want something that is plug-and-play and doesn't require a big learning curve.

The assistant: Many small business owners have one. And, an assistant is often a gatekeeper.

In other words, it's actually a good idea to make your pitch to the assistant -- since he or she will likely relay the information to the owner.

Continue reading Entrepreneur's Journal: Selling to small businesses

Entrepreneur's Journal: Selling to small businesses originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Sat, 24 May 2008 11:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Dow down 400 -- don't worry, you can be aggressive or defensive! originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 26 Jul 2007 15:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Will Yahoo!, Inc. (NASDAQ: YHOO) seek to acquire something or will Yahoo! look for a buyer for itself? Those are the two questions flying around . For me the answer is simple. At this time Yahoo! shouldn't be considering either move. Who needs to hear that Microsoft has purchased Yahoo!?

What Yahoo! needs right now is something new. Yahoo! needs a new direction. Yahoo! needs a new focus. Yahoo! needs new talent. Yahoo! needs to do new things. Did I mention Yahoo! needs something new?

Here's one of my ideas: Yahoo should align with ESPN and reawaken the "First Person Sport Cam". Do you remember the failed helmet cam concept they tried in the NFL? It was an excellent idea but unless you're completely immune to motion sickness you can't stand to watch the action from that perspective for more than a couple minutes. There is a way to make it work however. If a GPS sensor was put on a player's helmet which then sent directional cues to camera arrays around the perimeter of the field of play, then the helmet would relay the players field of view and the static cameras could provide clear, stable pictures of exactly what that player is looking at. The Yahoo! Helmet Cam Sport Arena could be born. The concept could work on baseball caps and batting helmets. Sensors could be put in soccer players head bands. Tiger Woods could have one in his golf hat.

The simple point to this blog post is that it's my opinion that now with Terry Semel moved aside it's the time for Yahoo! to do something drastically new. They should continue to work the boring old search realm as long as the revenue justifies that, but indications are that the search advertising game is bracing for upheaval from video sharing interests. Web users are becoming more and more entrenched in where they like to go and what they like to do. The dynamics of Internet advertising are changing and it's time for something Yah-new!

Yahoo! to buy or Yahoo! to sell, that is the NEW question. originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 21 Jun 2007 19:28:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Stocks aren't the only way to invest some money to make some money. There's a very interesting way I found to invest small amounts of money to make some nice returns. Buying second hand goods for resale can be very lucrative. Here are just a couple examples.

As a (temporarily abstinent) eBay Inc. (NASDAQ: EBAY) user, I learned a dynamic approach to buying and selling that earned me a fair amount of cash. For instance, Buffy the Vampire Slayer collector cards can be purchased regularly on eBay at below market prices. A savvy business person can buy individual cards in pursuit of creating sets. Completed sets can then bring as much as 300% more than the cost of the individual cards. It's a game of patience, but it works.

Continue reading Investing in second-hand goods: Buy used, buy American

Investing in second-hand goods: Buy used, buy American originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 29 Dec 2006 10:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.