Construction and transportation day workers in northern Erbil province in Iraq are trying Thursday to earn a living in temperatures of more than 45C (113F).
Residents do not usually go out because of the extreme heat but day workers line up on roads and try to earn wages for the day.
They get 20 - 50 dinars ($15 - $37) depending on the work while they generally handle construction or transportation.
Shivan Mohammed told Anadolu he has been taking care of his family this way for the last 15 years.
“We are waiting to get a job here lining up from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. every day,” he said. “The hot weather seriously threatens my health.”
“The number of jobs available for us also decreased as the dinar has lost value against the US dollar,” he said.
Mohammed noted he has six children, who are students, but said: “We are about 200 workers here. Only a few of us get a job every day.”
No precautions for extreme heat
Adil Mohammed told Anadolu that he has been working like this for 20 years between 11 a.m. and 4 p.m. every day.
He cited the reduction in the number of jobs. “This situation has caused more and more people to line up on the streets,” he said.
He lamented that there are not any kind of precautions for extreme heat and said some workers have fainted.
“Our skins have burned and become more sensitive due to waiting under the sun,” he said. “We do not have any other option, and we have to wait here as a job might be available for us at any minute.”
The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index is one of the most highly followed stock indexes in the world, and it contains hundreds of America’s top companies. The index has a strong track record of returns – averaging about 10 percent annually over long periods. Investors regularly keep an eye on the index and the top stocks within it as a bellwether for the market and economy as a whole.
A list of the top-performing stocks won’t indicate which will do well in the future, but many top stocks deliver solid returns year after year. Amazon and Apple, for instance, seem to have delivered attractive gains for what seems like forever, so following the best stocks may give you a clue as to which contenders will perform well in the years to come.
Below are the best-performing stocks in the S&P 500 in 2023.
Best S&P 500 stocks as of August 2023
Company and ticker symbol
Performance in 2023
NVIDIA (NVDA)
219.8%
Meta Platforms (META)
164.8%
Carnival Corporation (CCL)
133.8%
Royal Caribbean Cruises (RCL)
120.7%
Tesla (TSLA)
117.1%
PulteGroup (PHM)
85.4%
Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings (NCLH)
80.3%
Align Technology (ALGN)
79.2%
Palo Alto Networks (PANW)
79.1%
Advanced Micro Devices (AMD)
76.6%
Data as of July 31, 2023
Of course, not even the great stocks can do well all the time, so it can be useful to keep an eye on some of the stocks that have been underperforming. That’s because this year’s underperformers can become next year’s outperformers, and if you find a once-stellar stock among the dogs, it may be ripe for a bargain purchase.
Below are the worst-performing S&P 500 stocks in 2023.
Worst-performing S&P 500 stocks as of August 2023
Company and ticker symbol
Performance in 2023
Advance Auto Parts (AAP)
-49.4%
Enphase Energy (ENPH)
-42.7%
Moderna (MRNA)
-34.5%
Dollar General (DG)
-31.4%
Pfizer (PFE)
-29.6%
Data as of July 31, 2023
Widely held stocks
Here’s how some of the most widely held stocks in the S&P 500 have performed.
Company and ticker symbol
Performance in 2023
Apple (AAPL)
51.2%
Microsoft (MSFT)
40.1%
Alphabet (GOOGL)
50.4%
Amazon (AMZN)
59.1%
Tesla (TSLA)
117.1%
Data as of July 31, 2023
Should you invest in the hottest stocks?
Investing in individual stocks is difficult. You have to research and analyze the business and industry, as well as understand the dynamics that are driving it all. That’s fine for individuals who have the time, ability and desire to do what it takes to succeed here.
But what if you don’t want to do that amount of work yet enjoy the attractive return of stocks? Well, any investor can participate, even with very little knowledge. It’s easy for an investor of any skill level to purchase a fund based on the S&P 500 index. The fund owns stakes in all the companies in the index, meaning you own a tiny piece of hundreds of stocks.
That setup also means that your performance will tend to track the performance of the index over time, about 10 percent annually over long periods, even if you’re not researching and analyzing the various stocks within it. By buying this kind of index fund, you’ll get the weighted average of all the holdings, and you’ll outperform most investors, even the pros, over time.
Index funds come in two major variants: exchange-traded funds (ETFs) and mutual funds. Each has some benefits and drawbacks. But either way, you get the ability to track an index and to do so at what is often a relatively low cost, often a few dollars a year for every $10,000 invested.
However, if you’re looking to earn the returns of the index, it’s vital that you hold the index fund through the ups and downs, giving the investment the time to ride out the volatility. Otherwise, you’ll probably end up selling low and buying high, as the index gyrates.
Bottom line
Following the hottest stocks helps you find out what the market likes, but if you’re investing in these individual stocks, you’ll need to research the business and understand what the opportunity is. But a more lucrative way might be to scour through the underperforming stocks and find the businesses that will eventually go back into favor, allowing you to buy low and sell high.
US Dollar Declines Against Iraqi Dinar in Baghdad and Erbil Markets
Shafaq News/ On Thursday, the US exchange rates decreased against the Iraqi dinar in the markets of Baghdad, and Erbil.
According to a report by Shafaq News agency, the central Al-Kifah and Al-Harithiya stock exchanges in Baghdad recorded this morning, an exchange rate of 149,900 dinars against 100 dollars, while yesterday, Wednesday, prices recorded 151,500 dinars.
As for the dollar prices in exchange shops in the local markets in Baghdad, the selling price reached 151,000 dinars, while the purchase price recorded 149,000 dinars for 100 dollars.
In Erbil, the capital of the Kurdistan Region, the stock market, the selling price reached 151,100 dinars, and the purchase price was 151,050 dinars for 100 dollars.
World Bank Expresses Concerns Over Decline of Iraqi Economy, Oil Dependence, and Shrinking Cash Reserves
Shafaq News/ The World Bank has voiced its apprehensions regarding the Iraqi economy, which relies heavily on oil exports, while cautioning about the declining cash reserves in the nation.
According to a report released by the World Bank, the Iraqi economy continues to recover, driven by the surge in oil prices, after being severely impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. However, the non-oil sectors are still grappling with recessionary pressures.
Despite achieving record oil revenues and obtaining the much-awaited approval of the new fiscal budget, Iraq is at risk of missing a critical opportunity to undertake urgent and long-awaited reforms essential for boosting private sector growth and generating millions of jobs over the next decade, the World Bank stated.
According to a report of the World Bank's Iraq Economic Monitor, for the spring and summer of 2023, the real GDP growth had surged significantly to 7% in 2022, driven by the booming oil sector. Subsequently, it declined to 2.6% annually in the first quarter of 2023. In early 2023, consumer price inflation also rose due to the depreciation of the Iraqi dinar in the parallel market.
The favorable oil market dynamics in the initial nine months of 2022 had elevated total reserves, excluding gold, to an unprecedented $89 billion. However, this trend slowed down in early 2023.
The report emphasized that Iraq's development model, primarily reliant on oil, would face severe challenges without the implementation of structural reforms. It predicted an overall GDP contraction of 1.1% in 2023, mainly driven by an expected 4.4% contraction in oil GDP, following the OPEC+ production quotas agreed for this year.
Jean-Christophe Carret, the World Bank Country Director for the Middle East Department (Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, and Syria), stated, "Iraq is witnessing a strong recovery after many years of turmoil. However, it cannot solely rely on oil windfalls for short-term recovery." He further emphasized that in the absence of high-level political commitment to the necessary reforms, Iraq faces the risk of depleting its reserves at an accelerated pace and regressing to square one in a short period.
He called for urgent measures to expedite the diversification of economic activity and address existing fragility factors while tackling pressing climate-related challenges to secure the long-term well-being of the Iraqi people.
This particular chapter of the report focuses on the Iraqi financial sector. It concludes that the lack of capital in dominant state-owned banks and the weakness of the private commercial banking sector are significant impediments to economic diversification.
The report emphasizes the importance of banking sector reforms and the promotion of digital financial services to enhance financial intermediation activities and foster financial inclusion, transforming the financial sector into a catalyst for economic diversification.
The generation of investors getting started today has some big advantages over those of us who began our journey decades ago. They can buy and sell without incurring fees that equate to a big percentage of their investable cash, for one thing, and they also have ready access to a wealth of information, from raw data to advice and opinions. That, however, is a bit of a double edged sword.
Back in the day, investing at least had the advantage of simplicity. With such large fees and no practical way of tracking performance other than looking at closing prices in the next day’s newspaper, buy and hold was really the only option available to almost all retail investors. Now, if anything, there is pressure to go the other way, to trade actively, even when “set it and forget it” would probably be a better option. Everything on the major financial TV networks and social media is geared to the short-term, with traders rather than long-term investors being the day-to-day stars.
That leads to a lot of people trying to time the market, and a lot of exaggerated expectations. They think that if something is in profit, they have to sell before the market drops, and that the only time to buy is after a twenty percent or so decline. They look back and realize that doing that would have netted profits of fifty percent or whatever over the last year and believe that that is what they should be aiming for. Of course, logically, hitting the exact tops and bottoms of moves in order to achieve that is just about impossible, and trying to do it usually leads to the frustration of missed opportunity, or actual losses.
So, which is it? Should investors take advantage of all the available information and take an active approach to managing their portfolio, or should they trust the buy and hold method that has proven more effective over time? It is something that is particularly relevant now, with stocks posting significant gains in the first half of the year, despite some well-publicized risks and headlines.
Unfortunately, there is no one simple answer to that question, but the best, most practical approach is usually a bit of both. If you feel the need or desire to be active in some way, then understand that and have a separate, small account for trading, but keep the bulk of your funds invested in stocks or funds with a long-term bias. In your short-term trading account, set parameters for every trade and stick to them, taking a profit or loss when they are hit, regardless of what you may feel at that time. In that longer-term account, though, even if the aim is to buy and hold, it is possible to use the availability of information and ease of trading to your advantage.
I call this strategy a “rolling reassessment,” whereby you set levels, both above and below a stock’s current price, at which you re-evaluate your holdings. That re-evaluation involves looking at the fundamentals and prospects of the stock again. Has the company been performing as you expected? Is the investment thesis that led you to buy in the first place still valid? In short, if you didn’t own it already, would you buy it now? If the answer is yes, sit tight. If not, consider taking a profit -- or loss if that is the case -- on at least a portion of your position. Then invest that money in something with better prospects over the next year or so. Your bias, however, should always be towards holding, and selling should only be done when something looks seriously overvalued.
Having a plan to do that enables you to do the most important thing in the modern, media-driven world of investing: cut out the noise. You will get in the habit of evaluating a stock on what truly matters, the fundamentals of a company, and will be less tempted to buy the latest hot thing just before it cools down. On the other hand, it makes it less likely that you will just sit and watch when a stock with big gains goes out of favor, or the conditions that pushed it higher change and it retreats sharply.
The main point here is to invest and manage your investments intentionally. Make sure you understand that trading and investing are two different things and that positions taken with a view to trading must be managed differently to your investments. Understand too that you have an advantage over previous generations that makes it possible to make informed decisions about long-term holdings, and don’t be afraid to trust your analysis and sometimes take at least a partial profit or loss when the situation calls for it. Even if you do those two things, there is no guarantee that you will be successful but, if you do, you will increase the chances of success considerably.
PDK Note: I will only transcribe RV Related or Intel with Financial relevance. If any certain podcast is only about politics and social opinions I will not do any notes. So if there are no notes transcribed…there usually was little to no RV news at all included in that particular podcast. Thank you for understanding.
Thursday News with MarkZ
Some highlights by PDK-Not verbatim
MarkZ Disclaimer: Please consider everything on this call as my opinion. People who take notes do not catch everything and its best to watch the video so that you get everything in context. Be sure to consult a professional for any financial decisions
Member: Good Morning….Hope and pray that it is our day.
Member: GM Happy Thursday a.k.a. Fri-Yay Eve. Hope all have a great day. Enjoy lots!
Member: any news Mark??
Member: I wonder is there any truth on the rumor of the 800# coming out today?
Member: Great new video and great work by MM and his team! Can’t wait to hear your comments today about this one Mark! Sounds exciting what MM and team found in this article! August 7?!!?
MZ: There was a good MlitiaMan and /Nader overnight ..be sure to go watch them….and like and share them
MZ: I am still hearing the rumor that we will see the new rate when they issue and publish the instructions for the budget…which has already been passed. They have done a great job of keeping this under wraps and secret.
MZ: Getting mixed reports as to whether this will be Saturday or Monday/Tuesday. Personally I think this is going to be “IT”
Member: I read the dinar rate has been set. But, not out yet.
MZ: Don’t quit your day jobs yet- Not until we get across the finish line.
Member: Guru Frank26 There are no issues with Kurdistan . There are no issues with the monetary reform. Both of them are being attacked by...Iranian politicians that want to steal. Everyday they're being caught...busted... arrested. Every day they're being kicked out of Iraq . Every day they're loosing their merchants and losing their banks. Good. Because that is what's stopping you from having the new exchange rate of the Iraqi dinar. That is what's stopping them from releasing the new lower denoms and coins...
MZ: I have heard similar. Spot on there.
Member: Dinar investor says the budget goes to the court of appeals on Monday. No RV until after that.
MZ: Usually if they give a date – it’s all prepared and may be going before then. We have seen that in the past. We just do not know.
Member: can someone toss out the latest guesses on what rates will be?
Member: This was what was posted in the past….but, no one knows the official rates until we are at the bank….Dinar $3+, Dong $2+, Indonisia $1.47 or so, Zim=$30M to 50M per 100T note, and Bolivar-unknown yet…all this is rumors for now.
Member: TD Bank sending me promos for currency exchange; also say their ATM getting Huge Upgrade soon (new currency, qfs?)
MZ: “Fitch Downgrades US credit rating-Citing erosion of confidence in fiscal management” They have downgraded it for the next 2 years because they do not hink there will be any sanity in spending over the next 3 years.
Member: Many years of congress laundering money to themselves……sickening.
Member: What picture will you post on the video thumbnail when the RV happens?
MZ: I am thinking of a picture of a golden chicken about to lay a golden egg.
Member: I so confused on what we are looking for exactly before getting an email to make appointments.
Member:I have heard If you are in private groups you may get an email. Most of us will see the notifications posted on Recaps, Chronicles, Mark, Bruce, Frank, TNT ect….just follow the insstructions……no need to worry.
Member: We keep hearing this is a movie……ugh
Member: If I would have paid to see this movie, I would have already got up and walked out.
Member: This whole movie just sucks. I'm tired of waiting for the good parts.
Member: They can only tell us it,s a movie for so long. If it doesn,t end soon, we the people will end it ….we will have to end it to survive.
Member: "Everything you've ever wanted is on the other side of fear." George Addair
Member: Thanks Mark and Mods….hoping we see good news by tonight
“THE INFORMATION IN THIS PODCAST IS FOR GENERAL & EDUCATIONAL PURPOSES ONLY. NOT INTENDED TO PROVIDE ANY PROFESSIONAL & LEGAL ADVICE.” PLEASE CONSIDER EVERYTHING DISCUSSED IS IN MARKZ’S OPINION ONLY.
The differences between an index fund and an ETF boil down to four main areas -- fees, minimums, taxes, and liquidity -- all of which can help you to determine which one is your best option.
1. Fees and expenses
The primary difference between ETFs and index funds is how they're bought and sold. ETFs trade on an exchange just like stocks, and you buy or sell them through a broker. Index funds are bought directly from the fund manager.
Because ETFs are bought and sold on an exchange, you will pay a commission to your broker each time you make a trade. That said, some brokers offer commission-free trading.
Dividend distributions compound the issue of the differences between how ETFs and index funds are bought and sold. Dividends paid byindex mutual fundscan be automatically reinvested (fee-free!) into more shares of the fund.
However, when an ETF pays a dividend, you'll need to use the proceeds to buy more shares, incurring additional commissions and spending time logging into your account to make a quick trade. Some brokers may offer an automatic dividend reinvestment plan on a limited set of ETFs.
ETFs generally have a slight advantage when it comes to annual expense ratios -- which is the percentage of assets you'll pay for managing the fund. But the difference between expense ratios for widely traded ETFs and index funds has narrowed in recent years and almost disappeared. For more niche indexes, though, expense ratios could differ widely, usually favoring the ETF.
2. Minimum investments
You can invest in an ETF by buying as little as one share, which used to be the easiest way to start investing with very little capital. Several fund managers have lowered their minimum investments for their
most popular index funds, so these days you can get started with a relatively small amount of money. The following table shows the minimum investments for S&P 500 mutual funds from three leading asset managers.
Data source: Company websites.
INDEX FUND MANAGER
INITIAL MINIMUM
MINIMUM ADDITIONAL INVESTMENT
FIDELITY
$0
$0
VANGUARD
$3,000
$1
CHARLES SCHWAB
$0
$0
3. Tax differences
Long-term investors who are saving for retirement should use tax-advantaged retirement accounts such as 401(k)s and IRAs. I say this not just because it's smart -- because we all know minimizing taxes means more money left in your pocket -- but also because it means you can completely ignore the complicated details of the tax consequences of investing in different types of funds.
Index funds and ETFs are both extremely tax-efficient -- certainly more so than actively managed mutual funds. Because index funds buy and sell stocks so infrequently, they rarely trigger capital gains taxes for investors.
When it comes to tax efficiency, ETFs have the edge. Unlike index funds, ETFs rarely buy or sell stock for cash. When an investor wants to redeem shares, they simply sell them on the stock market, generally to another investor.
When an index fund investor wants to redeem an investment, the index fund may have to sell stocks it owns for cash to pay the investor for the shares. This means
mutual funds have to realize capital gains by selling stocks, which results in capital gains (and taxes) for everyone who continues to hold the fund, even if they are currently losing money on their investment.
4. Liquidity
Liquidity, or the ease with which an investment can be bought or sold for cash, is an important differentiator between ETFs and index funds. As previously mentioned, ETFs are bought and sold like stocks, meaning you can buy or sell them anytime the stock market is open.
On the other hand, index fund transactions (like those of all mutual funds) are cleared in bulk after the market closes. So if you put in an order to sell shares of an index fund at noon, the transaction will actually take place hours later at a price equal to the value of the fund at market close. Typically, the cutoff time is 4 p.m. ET. Orders entered after the cutoff are pushed into the next day and completed at the fund's net asset value a day later.
If you consider yourself a trader, this matters. If you consider yourself a long-term investor, it really doesn't matter much at all.
Index Funds vs. ETFs
An ETF is best if you're an active trader or simply like to use more advanced strategies in your purchases. Since ETFs are bought and sold on exchanges like stocks, you can buy them using limit orders, stop-loss orders, or even margins. You can't use those kinds of strategies with mutual funds.
If you're investing in a taxable brokerage account, you may be able to squeeze out a bit more tax efficiency from an ETF than an index fund. However, index funds are still very tax-efficient, so the difference is negligible. Don't sell an index fund just to buy the equivalent ETF. That's just asking for all sorts of tax headaches.
Buy an index fund if your broker charges high commissions on your purchases and you want to be fully invested at all times. In some cases, you may be able to start investing in index funds with a lower minimum than for its equivalent ETF.
Index funds are also a great option when the equivalent ETF is thinly traded, creating a large spread in the difference between the ETF price on the exchange and the value of the underlying assets held by the ETF. An index fund will always price at the net asset value.
Always compare fees to make sure you're not paying too much of a premium for your choice. If you're on the fence between an ETF and an index fund, the expense ratio could be a good tiebreaker.
