DJ; RE:" WEBS "
There are these stox on the AMEX, DJ... one is called SPY for SPDR Standard & Poor's Depository Receipts - this is the S&P-500 index (futures, actually) in stock form. You can buy or sell it just like a stock. Also DIA Diamonds is the DJIA-30 in stock form.
In addition to "spider", there are WEBS. Each of these is essentially the index for some country. Symbol EWG is the DAX. There are 17 WEBS, mostly the EU countries, EWL is Switzerland and EWU is the UK; and EWJ is Japan, EWH Hong Kong. It's an east way to trade/invest (in US dollars) in non-US stock markets with an el-cheapo discount internet broker. You can look them up on amex.com where they came from.
You can use TRF Russia to play that market. Though there is an EWI Italy WEB, and an EWP Spain WEB, there isn't one for GREECE or for PORTUGAL or IRELAND, all of which have been ballistic this year. You can use PT Portugal Telecom as a proxy for that country, but so far, I haven't found anything but mutual funds as dollar-denominated vehicles for Ireland and Greece.
Put DIA, SPY and the 17 WEBS and TRF Russia into one of the on-line portfolio thingys, DJ (like MyYahoo or something similar) and you can monitor the entire world's markets. EWG may be especially useful to you, as it is essentially the DAX converted to USD which reflects American investor sentiment.
-Steve |
