Information on anything, yes almost anything is available at our fingertips. We investors are blessed to witness this jet age of information technology. And interestingly, to add further icing to the cake, all this information is available absolutely free. In the domain of providing financial services and advisory too, the situation is no different. There are host of website hogging to provide information. While many of you may consider that as a valuable service, have you ever wondered whether that's helping you to add wisdom or it's just pure "information overload"? In our opinion, it is vital that you investors' recognise that wisdom stands at the pinnacle, whereas information is positioned much below (see chart above). And for you to make wise decisions what matters is wisdom. While investing, all of you have relevant questions to ask such as - Where to invest? How much to invest? What should be the investment horizon? etc.; ... Read More

World stocks were underpinned by on Monday by surprisingly strong China manufacturing data as European shares pared losses after the German central bank denied it would stop accepting the bonds of several euro zone countries as collateral. European shares had eked out modest gains at the start of the second quarter after data on Sunday showed China's official Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI), which covers large factories, jumped to an 11-month high of 53.1 in March, beating forecasts. The pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 index fell, with traders citing media reports that the Bundesbank would not accept bonds of several countries, including Portugal, as collateral. The Bundesbank said it continued to accept all euro zone sovereign bonds, after which the index pared losses to around 0.2% from around 0.4%. MSCI's all-country world equity index was little changed on the day, having inched up 0.1% earlier. Emerging stocks added 0.3% after the Chinese data, though continuing signs the ... Read More

After the best first quarter in 14 years, the S&P 500 may be poised for a pullback as investors look to a slew of economic data for insight on the strength of the domestic economy. The Dow and the S&P 500 closed out their best first quarter since 1998 and the Nasdaq had its best first-quarter performance since 1991, largely on the back of improving domestic economic data. Economic indicators next week include data on manufacturing and services from the Institute for Supply Management, construction spending, factory orders and domestic car sales as well as several reports on the labor market, culminating in Friday's payrolls number. The benchmark S&P 500 index could be vulnerable to a retreat if the data shows a softening of the economy, a possibility many investors have been cautiously eyeing with the index up nearly 30 percent from its October low. "The remarkable part of the first quarter is you ... Read More

World equity markets advanced on Friday, on track to end the quarter with double-digit gains, as reports showing the U.S. economy and consumer sentiment still on the road to recovery helped buoy prices. The data also lifted safe-haven assets like bonds, while equity, currency and government debt prices hovered fairly close break-even as the U.S. economic data and developments in Europe were not enough to break out of recent range-bound levels. Spain presented a budget projected to save more than 27 billion euros in 2012 through spending cuts and revenue increases, while euro zone finance ministers agreed to raise their financial firewall to contain the region's debt crisis. Spain's budget and the rescue fund move were largely expected by markets, and a spike in the euro against the dollar faded to a more modest rise. The euro edged higher against the dollar and the yen in choppy trading. The single currency was on track ... Read More