The Winterflood Tax

Marketmakers are the curse of the smallcap market
As a retail investor, there are lots of institutions in the stockmarket that wind me up: mealy-mouthed investor relations departments, spivvy investment banks, and lazy retail brokers who just type your order into a computer.
But the most irritating of all are the marketmakers who set bid and offer […]

The rules of Sharemark

Why auctions should not have a fixed cut-off time
Emma Vigus, who runs Sharemark, has kindly posted a comment on the site which is worth reading in full.
She wants to clarify a few points: first, that the frequency of Sharemark auctions differs between companies and can easily be adjusted; second, that the number of brokers […]

New LSE index trackers

Just say no to overpaid and underperforming investment managers
I got a message today about the launch of a new set of exchange-traded funds (ETFs) by Deutsche Bank. These include:

Index tracked by db x-trackers

TER*

LSE Code

FTSE/XINHUA CHINA 25

0.60%

XX25

S&P CNX NIFTY (India)

0.85%

XNIF

MSCI KOREA

0.65%

XKS2

MSCI TAIWAN

0.65%**

XMTW

MSCI BRAZIL

0.65%**

XMBR

MSCI EMERGING MARKETS

0.65%**

XMEM

MSCI EM ASIA

0.65%**

XMAS

MSCI EM LATAM (Latin […]