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STOCKS & THE MARKETS |
FEATURED
SELECTION
Fire Your Stock Analyst: Analyzing Stocks On Your Own
by Harry Domash
 Pick
your own stocks -- and outperform the experts! San Francisco
Chronicle investment columnist Harry Domash has crafted a
start-to-finish approach to stock selection that draws on
winning techniques from the world's best money managers, uses
readily available information, and is easy to learn if you're
willing to invest the time. Whether you're a growth or value
style investor, this book will show you exactly how to identify
the best stocks for your portfolio. You'll learn to assess
everything that affects a company's stock price --
profitability, underlying financial strength, competitive
position, industry, business plans, management competence,
upside/downside potential, and more. Like no other book, Fire
Your Stock Analyst! cuts to the chase, capturing the essence of
today's most successful stock-picking strategies. It's all you
need to liberate yourself from the "experts" and become a more
successful investor.
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One Up On Wall Street: How to Use What You Already Know To Make Money in the Market by Peter Lynch
Written by perhaps the greatest fund
manager ever, this book is easy to follow for the novice investor, yet
offers deep insights for those more knowledgeable. Lynch shows how
average investors can beat Wall Street professionals
by using the information that they encounter in their everyday lives.
His book is well written and entertaining, and is widely
recognized as a modern classic. |
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The
The Great Crash 1929 by John Kenneth
Galbraith
Of Galbraith's classic examination of the 1929
financial collapse, the Atlantic Monthly said: "Economic writings are
seldom notable for their entertainment value, but this book is.
Galbraith's prose has grace and wit, and he distills a good deal of
sardonic fun from the whopping errors of the nation's oracles and the
wondrous antics of the financial community." Widely and admiringly
reviewed as a bestseller in 1955, John Galbraith's skilled chronicle and
analysis of the causes of that most memorable year in our economic
history, 1929, put the past in perspective. Now with a new introduction,
it has become even more timely in the aftermath of the recent stock
market crash. |
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The Great Game: The Emergence of Wall Street as a World Power: 1653-2000
by John Gordon
Here's a highly entertaining look at the history of
Wall Street and its transition from a backwater trading post to the core
of global financial power. The book includes marvelous anecdotes about
the activities and actions of a broad range of characters, from
Alexander Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson to J.P. Morgan and Ferdinand
Pecora. An excellent CNBC documentary was adapted from this book. |
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Why Stock Markets Crash: Critical Events in Complex Financial Systems
by Didier Sornette
The scientific study of complex systems has transformed a wide range
of disciplines in recent years, enabling researchers in both the natural
and social sciences to model and predict phenomena as diverse as
earthquakes, global warming, demographic patterns, financial crises, and
the failure of materials. Sornette boldly applies his varied experience
in these areas to propose a simple, powerful, and general theory of how,
why, and when stock markets crash. Anchoring his sophisticated,
step-by-step analysis in leading-edge physical and statistical modeling
techniques, he unearths remarkable insights and some astonishing
predictions. Sornette probes major historical precedents, from the
decades-long "tulip mania" in the Netherlands that wilted suddenly in
1637 to the South Sea Bubble that ended with the first huge market crash
in England in 1720, to the Great Crash of October 1929 and Black Monday
in 1987, to cite just a few. Any investor or investment professional who
seeks a genuine understanding of looming financial disasters should read
this book |
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Stan Weinstein's Secrets For Profiting in Bull and Bear Markets by Stan Weinstein
Certainly one of the best books on the technical side of the market,
this book is a must have for any investor. Whether you're just
beginning, or can't seem to find the direction to profits in the market,
this book will help you. The author spells out why most investors lose
in the market, and how easy it is to make money if you eliminate your
emotions, and follow his investing techniques and guidelines. His
strategies will keep you out of losers and help you become a
confident investor. The author's investment philosophy is based on the
view that nearly all stocks experience four price stages: accumulation
(stage 1), uptrending (stage 2), top area (stage 3), and downtrending
(stage 4). An investor, he says, has a high probability of success if he
or she enters the cycle just before the stock moves to stage 2. He
explains how to select a stock by simply studying its price/volume chart
and how to time your entry. Don't let the publication date influence
you. Start reading, and you will think he published it this year |
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Financial Fineprint: Uncovering a Company's True Value by Michelle Leder
"Too many companies would prefer that you not read the footnotes," observes
former SEC chairman Arthur Levitt. "That should be incentive enough to
delve into them." In fact, not only do companies prefer you ignore
the details they are required to report – the pesky particulars on
exactly how they account for those whopping earnings – they take
calculated steps to make this information as hard as possible to
understand. But for those who know how to look, the facts that predict a
company’s true prospects are usually hidden in plain sight. Financial
Fine Print gives you the tools you need to break down annual
reports and SEC filings, make sense of the deliberately cryptic language
of footnotes, and get the real goods on a potential investment. |
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The Four Pillars of Investing: Lessons for Building a Winning Portfolio
by William J. Bernstein
William Bernstein's The Four Pillars of Investing gives investors
the tools they need to construct top-returning portfolioswithout the
help of a financial adviser. In a relaxed, nonthreatening style, Dr.
Bernstein provides a distinctive blend of market history, investing
theory, and behavioral finance, one designed to help every investor
become more self-sufficient and make betterinformed investment
decisions. The 4 Pillars of Investing explains how any investor can
build a solid foundation for investing by focusing on four essential
lessons, each building upon the other. Containing all of the tools
needed to achieve investing success, without the help of a financial
advisor. |
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Conquer the Crash: You Can Survive and Prosper in a Deflationary Depression
by Robert R. Prechter, Jr.
Based on his interpretation of the Elliott Wave principle (an idea
premised on the notion that mass investor psychology is what really
drives markets), Prechter believes that the U.S. economy is about to
enter into a deflationary depression that few investors are prepared to
deal with. In making his case, Prechter assembles an impressive array of
data that in essence suggests that the bill for the last 10 years of
market excess is about to come due. The second half of the book shows
how to avoid becoming "a zombie-eyed victim of the depression" and
offers advice on protecting one's assets in a deflationary environment
(cash is king). If there's any good news in the future that Prechter
sees coming (other than how to avoid it), it's that all-out depressions
don't last very long. Conquer the Crash should appeal to
gloom-and-doom investors and to those desperately looking for a safe
haven from the uncertainties of today's markets. |
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Stocks for the Long Run: The Definitive Guide to Financial Market Returns and Long-Term Investment Strategies by Jeremy J. Siegel
Stocks for the Long Run is a comprehensive and highly
readable history of the stock market that dramatically makes the case
for long-term investing in stocks. Siegel considers subjects as diverse
as the history of the various market indices and what makes for a
business cycle to contrarian indicators and the utility of 200-day
moving averages. If you've just come into investing in the last few
years and feel the need for a solid and comprehensive text about the
market, Stocks for the Long Run is probably the best primer
available. It also works as an excellent reference for seasoned
investors and anyone else interested in how the market works. |
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Winning On Wall Street Revised Edition by Martin Zweig
Renowned financier Martin Zweig guides readers to smart investing in
the stock market with proven strategies on how to make informed buy and
sell decisions, pick winners, spot major bull and bear trends early, and
more. Zweig's "proven methods for market forecasting and stock
selection" are presented in a simplified version of the approach he uses
in his Zweig Forecast newsletter. Tables show how well an investor would
have done by following the buy or sell signals for his Super Model,
which is constructed of various monetary, momentum, sentiment and
seasonal indicators. Scan earnings reports, he advises, be flexible,
have patience and discipline, set stop orders, and "don't fight the
tape." |
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It's Earnings That Count: Finding Stocks with Earnings Power for Long-term Profits by
Hewitt Heiserman
Recent market history has shown that semi-fictitious profit numbers,
while looking good on paper, can spell disaster for investors. It's
Earnings That Count provides investors with an easy-to-follow,
step-by-step process for identifying companies that, based on their
earnings record, are more attractive investments than their
counterparts. The author's trademarked Earnings Power Box uses a
two-step approach to determine whether a company can finance its growth
internally as well as how successful it is at creating value. Giving
investors the tools they need to turn the tables in their favor, it also
covers: techniques to determine the quality of a company's earnings; six
ratios any investor can use to make or support decisions; and strategies
for seeing through self-serving financial reports. |
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A Mathematician Plays the Stock Market by John Allen Paulos
Paulos employs his trademark stories, vignettes, paradoxes, and puzzles to
address every curiosity about the market -- Is it efficient? Is it
random? Is there anything to technical analysis, fundamental analysis,
and other supposedly time-tested methods of picking stocks? How can one
quantify risk? What are the most common scams? Are there any approaches
to investing that truly outperform the major indexes? He explains why
"data mining" often leads to self-fulfilling beliefs, why "momentum
investing" is nothing more than herd behavior with a lot of mathematical
jargon added, why the ever-popular Elliot Wave Theory cannot be correct,
and why you should take Warren Buffet's "fundamental analysis" with a
grain of salt. Throughout this wide-ranging survey, the writing is
spirited, funny and clear. |
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Liar's Poker: Rising Through the Wreckage of Wall Street
by Michael Lewis
Liar's Poker is a tragicomic look at life on Wall Street; especially
the life of lower-level employees getting their start in the financial
world. Michael Lewis draws on his personal experience at Salomon
Brothers to tell the larger story of the rise and fall of the entire
firm during the 1980s. Along the way he tells some hilarious stories and
gives the reader an interesting, inside look at the fast-paced life on
Wall Street. Lewis also describes for all investors the conflicts of
interest and lack of governance on Wall Street long before Eliot Spitzer
and Arthur Levitt became the champions of the little guy. Anyone who
wants to know what a trader's life is like inside a major Wall Street
firm will find this an interesting, humorous read that has become
perennial bestseller. |
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The Predators' Ball: The Inside Story of Drexel Burnham and the Rise of the Junk Bond Raiders by Connie Bruck
This book, Barbarians at the Gate by Burrough and
Helvar, and Den of Thieves by Stewart fully depict the
defining events of Wall Street in the 1980's. Of this triumvirate, this
book is the only one that is more read than reported (both Barbarians
and Thieves were written by WSJ reporters), and
it really delves into the personal lives and backgrounds of the major
players at Drexel. In reading this text you are provided with a full
description and understanding of Milken and the driving forces behind
the firm; above all, you understand the trap he worked himself into
through his own success and how he wound up victimized by the financial
system he worked within. The book explains Milken's brilliance, the
market that he created and nurtured, and the catch-22 that led to his
criminilization. |
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Den of Thieves by James B. Stewart
Another perennial bestseller, Den of Thieves tells, in
masterfully reported detail, the full story of the insider-trading
scandal that nearly destroyed Wall Street, the men who pulled it off,
and the chase that finally brought them to justice. Pulitzer Prize
winner James B. Stewart shows how four of the biggest names on Wall
Street -- Michael Milken, Ivan Boesky, Martin Siegel, and Dennis Levine
-- created the greatest insider-trading ring in financial history and
almost walked away with billions, until a team of downtrodden detectives
triumphed over some of America's most expensive lawyers to bring this
powerful quartet to justice. Based on secret grand jury transcripts,
interviews, and actual trading records, and containing explosive new
revelations about Michael Milken and Ivan Boesky written especially for
this paperback edition, Den of Thieves weaves all the facts
into an unforgettable narrative -- a portrait of human nature, big
business, and crime of unparalleled proportions. |
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Barbarians at the Gate: The Fall of RJR Nabisco by Bryan Burrough & John Helyar
The definitive account of the largest takeover in Wall Street history.
The fight to control RJR Nabisco, with $25 billion at stakem will be
remembered as the ultimate story of greed and glory. Barbarians at
the Gate has been called one of the most influential business
books of all time -- the definitive, gripping account of the frenzy that
overtook Wall Street in October and November of 1988 is the story of
deal makers and publicity flaks, of strategy meetings and society
dinners, of boardrooms and bedrooms -- giving us not only a detailed
look at how financial operations at the highest levels are conducted but
also a richly textured social history of wealth at the twilight of the
Reagan era. "All the suspense of a first-rate thriller . . . one of the
finest, most compelling accounts of what happened to corporate America
and Wall Street in the 1980s." --New York Times Book Review. |
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