The Strategic Bond Investor : Strategies and Tools to Unlock the Power of the Bond Market

Book Description

A dynamic, equity-style approach to investing in today's bond market

"Tony Crescenzi knows bonds and his book proves it. From 'Fedspeak' to Treasury buybacks, The Strategic Bond Investor helps to explain the mysteries of the bond market and even offers tips on how to forecast interest rates. Sign me up—I can always learn something new!"—Bill Gross, Managing Director at Pacific Investment Management Company

Bond investing can be every bit as exciting and profitable as "playing the stock market." The Strategic Bond Investor is the first book to approach fixed-income investing from an equity-style perspective. This fast-paced book provides readers with helpful tips, tools, and strategies for tracking market sentiment, spotting market extremes, analyzing volume and liquidity, and dozens of other techniques that wereup until nowlimited primarily to the equity markets.

The Strategic Bond Investor reveals a dramatic new approach for using bonds to balance portfolios while grabbing profit opportunities as they present themselves. It represents a new style of bond investing, bold yet risk-conscious, that is long overdue for today's transformed market environment. Investors looking to diversify their portfolios will discover:

Key economic releases and how they influence bond prices
Popular fixed-income portfolio management strategies
Best-performing bonds in a variety of economic circumstances

Customer Reviews:

Boring, but useful.......2007-10-09

Reading this book was so boring it was like... Well it was like reading a book on strategic bond investing. That being said it had a wealth of information. The price I got it for used was well worth the Fed speak chapter, and the detailed explanation of the various monthly economic data (employment, housing starts etc). Also each chapter has a summary that is helpful if you are just scanning the book. For non bond investors it is quite good to have for reference.

The Strategic Bond Investor.......2006-11-03

This book is worth the money, it belongs on your bookshelf next to Malkiel's Random Walk down Wall Street. Anthony Crescenzi leading fixed income analyst at Miller Tabek and creator of Bondtalk does an excellent job with this work. I myself received my undergraduate degree in Finance and was honored to participate in my university's first two invitations to the Federal Reserves education challenges for undergraduate and high school students.

I found this book an extremely good reference, outline and compandium for the understanding of fixed income investment vehicles and the economic market environment in which they exist. This book would be ideal in combination with say the Princeton Professor Malkiels book Random Walk down wall street which explains equities, their analysis and the markets in which they trade.

I would suggest this book to the lay investor who maybe doesnt even manage the majority of his/her asset just to understand the fundamentals. Ofcourse, the world of finance and in my opinion especially fixed income can be the drabbest, greyest, quantitatively complicated and mind numbing topics. But I must say that Mr. Crescenzi breaths a light humor and a little youth into the subject matter.

And to the person with say a degree in business, finance or economics this book elaborates on topics probably already discussed into further detail. After reading the aprox. 300 pages and the appendix entitled a power tool for investors which describes the leading economic indicators and extrapolations one can take from them. The student can expect to be able to render even better analyses of the domestic economy with better understanding of stimuli that effect the price of fixed income securities.

All over this book is great should you be the least bit interested in fixed income it covers all the bases. I am almost positive that you will fail to find a better book on fixed income/bonds out there the man who wrote this is very highly respected in his field and also worth checking out is the website his pioneered bondtalk. Perfect for the financial scientist!!!

Insightful, smart, and relevant.......2006-03-28

The Strategic Bond Investor is much more thorough and relevant than most bond books. Others who commented discussed the lack of certain strategies, but those reviews miss the point. The book offers strategies and insights that are the most important ones to grasp: those which help investors to forecast what to expect next in the bond market. Sure, laddering, and other traditional strategies are important, but they do not represent the path to big money, understanding trends in the markets is far more important and this book is a major help in that regard. Other books are very weak in talking about the things that move markets. For example, there is an excellent section on the inverted yield curve, and insights into tools for tracking market sentiment and how to use futures to gather market intelligence. Mr. Crescenzi works on Wall Street, so his insights are better than anyone on the outside could deliver.

There is also an appendix in the back of the book that gives great insights into the major monthly economic news that is released each month.

The Strategic Bond Investor is far above other bond books and is easy to understand.

The Stategic Bond Investor - Disappointing.......2005-03-07

Although this book contains good information on types of bonds, yield curves and things that affect the bond market and interest rates, I found it disappointing. To me, it was overly wordy and sometimes repetitive. At times, I felt that I was slogging through molasses. My biggest disappointment was that it did not get into the specific bond investing actions that an individual like myself would take using the information presented. There was nothing about things that I was interested in i.e., bond laddering, bond mutual funds, convertible bonds, when to buy or sell short, intermediate and long term bonds, etc.

complements Thau.......2005-02-18

By far the best introduction to bonds is Annette Thau's The Bond Book. But Thau makes no attempt to explain why the price of a given bond fluctuates over time. Crescenzi, one of the most frequently cited of the legion of professional Fed watchers, tries to make up this deficiency, describing the impact of Fed moves, market perceptions of the state of the economy, the supply of new issues, etc. on bond prices.
But Crescenzi has a much more ambitious agenda. He explains how the yield curve can be used to forecast developments in the economy. Other chapters summarize how to predict trends within the bond market, from analyzing the put/call ratio to interpreting the economic data that a dozen or more agencies spew out every week. He makes the case that knowing the bond market will be useful to anyone with a credit card in his or her wallet.
Crescenzi also wants the book to serve as a general introduction to bonds. There are chapters on "bond basics," types of bonds, risks facing the investor, and then inexplicably late in the book, chapters on credit ratings and using the internet. The latter is particularly weak chapter (Thau's isn't much better.) For whatever reasons, Crescenzi doesn't explain clearly how to use the internet to research individual bonds and check recent trades, and doesn't give the URLs of the sites that let you do this and purchase bonds.
If it sounds like the book is a bit of a hodge-podge, that's because it is. The book's organization leaves a lot to be desired, apart from the scope being too broad. Not only is the sequence of chapters mysterious, but there's a fair amount of repetition. While the writing itself is pretty lively, or at least conversational, I'm not sure Crescenzi has figured out his intended audience. Even though this is an introduction, some readers are bound to feel he's assuming too little and being condescending at times.
The best chapters are probably 7,8, and 9 on the yield curve, real yields, and rate forecasting. Crescenzi apparently wasn't trained as an economist or historian, and when he tries to describe the effect of interest rates on politics, he goes awry. A big fan of Clinton, he imagines Hoover believed in and practiced "laissez faire" and that budget deficits inevitably result in high interest rates. A chart of deficits as a percent of GDP vs. the yield on the 10 year note would reveal the wrongheadness of this claim. In general, there are far too few charts and graphs thoughout the book. Many more important points ought to be represented graphically--like changes in yield spreads in Ch. 12.
Still another gripe--munis get slighted throughout the book.
Despite these negatives, The Strategic Bond Investor fills an important niche and is definitely worth reading. Crescenzi is an ethusiastic teacher and he makes a fairly complex subject accessible. Though there are certainly books introducing readers to the economic indicators and explaining the Federal Reserve System, I don't know of another book that tries to make the bond market as a whole intelligible to outsiders. Hope he gets a chance to revise this in a second edition.

Legendary Brands: Unleashing the Power of Storytelling to Create a Winning Market Strategy

Average customer rating:

Larry knows how to build a brand narrative
Find Your Brand's Story
The 80/20 rule is alive and well!
GREAT BRAND SELECTION, DECENT NARRATIVE, WEAK DISCUSSION
Packed with Knowledge!

Legendary Brands: Unleashing the Power of Storytelling to Create a Winning Market Strategy
Laurence Vincent
Manufacturer: Kaplan Business
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

Advertising | Marketing & Sales | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

The Hero and the Outlaw: Building Extraordinary Brands Through the Power of Archetypes
Building Brands and Believers: How to Connect with Consumers Using Archetypes
Storytelling: Branding in Practice
How Brands Become Icons: The Principles of Cultural Branding
Brand Failures: The Truth about the 100 Biggest Branding Mistakes of All Time

ASIN: 0793155606
Release Date: 2002-09-18

Book Description

Why do Coke, Nike, and Apple inspire so much loyalty among consumers? Laurence Vincent explains how smart marketing professionals can emulate these companies to build lasting brand allegiance.

Coke, Martha Stewart, Ralph Lauren, and Hallmark engender tremendous devotion, sometimes almost a cult following, among consumers. To create this kind of loyalty, these brands express consistent values and "stories" and, in the process, claim a unique niche in the marketplace. These most successful brands have fine-tuned their stories, building a legacy that attracts steadfast fans, creates tremendous visibility, and underscores enormous profit potential.

Author Laurence Vincent has been a keen observer and frontline player in developing the brand stories of many outstanding companies. In Legendary Brands: Unleashing the Power of Storytelling to Create a Winning Marketing Strategy, he explores:

• The four essential elements that support a successful branding effort

• Ways consumers bond with a particular brand and create a unique culture around a product

• How the best brands tell their stories in ways beyond television spots or space ads-through product placements and sponsorships, among other tactics

• Special problems and anomalies in building a legacy, including a discussion of public and charitable causes, political brands, and public personalities

• Innovative research tools that reveal attitudes and feelings about products that traditional research methods (focus groups, for example) overlook

• What leading marketers do when a brand becomes irrelevant or damaged-how they revive and position their brands in fresh and exciting ways

More than a discussion of theory, Legendary Brands is also a prescriptive guide that outlines how to apply the theory to specific brand issues. This book presents readers with plenty of no-nonsense interviews with leading brand managers, creative directors, and other experts. From their frank comments, readers will learn new ways to approach specific marketing problems, as well as innovative solutions to untangle an assortment of thorny branding issues.

Customer Reviews:

Larry knows how to build a brand narrative.......2005-06-01

This is one of the few books (of the many I have read about storytelling in marketing) that provides a good explanation of "Why" storytelling is a powerful tool and "How" is works. I like that Vincent evidently has carried out a sound piece of research before writing this book.

I particularly like that he makes the point that not only do customers tell each other stories, they also live trough story themselves and build and support their own life-story through their consumption: "consumers in the post-modern world seek a narrative (or narratives) upon which to base their identity" (p. 9), "We define ourselves, our lives, and our well being by what we consume." (p. 11). Essentially this makes it clear that consumers exhibit what I would call sense making through consumption, and Vincent recognises that.

I highly commend this book for anyone who considers exploring the powers of using storytelling in their marketing strategy, since it describes well how to create a brand narrative. I do however personally believe that building a brand narrative is just one way of using storytelling in marketing, there are other approaches to explore too.

Find Your Brand's Story.......2005-06-01

Laurence Vincent skillfully sets the stage on the amazing power of brand stories, how storytelling can be done with brands and how to mine stories from your own brands.

The first half of the book is an excellent "history lesson" in brands like Apple, Nike and others and how they proficiently leverage their brand equity and story. The second half of the book is a "tutorial" in how to discover, mine and bring to light your brand's story.

Truly an amazing and interesting book. Very insightful. The author is intelligent, articulate and easy to grasp. He makes a very strong case for realizing the power of brand stories and engaging consumers in new, compelling and oftentimes utterly unique ways.

The 80/20 rule is alive and well!.......2005-02-01

Maybe you can't explain the creation and management of legendary brands--but if you can, Mr. Vincent didn't. Or, if he did, he used a LOT of extra words to make his explanation fit into a book. "The objective of every advertiser is to implicitly prescribe acts of consumer behavior (e.g., "But the product!"). Legendary Brands, however dole out the prescription through story. These brands do not yell at the consumer to buy, buy, buy. They instead engage them in a narrative that makes the consumer want to buy because they identify with narrative components." -from page 35.
That sounds good to me. But that was about it.
He continues throughout the book to equate a person's Faith with branding. Again, I can see some similarities, but his attempt to "explain" the transcendent by use of the eminent is incongruent unless you believe that there is nothing but the eminent. He would have you believe that your deepest beliefs are simply responses to someone's effective branding attempts.
This book should set better with cynics and agnostics. I'm not reselling my copy-I don't want to spread his gospel.

GREAT BRAND SELECTION, DECENT NARRATIVE, WEAK DISCUSSION.......2003-06-12

Harley, Kodak, Nike, Apple, Linux. The secret to the phenomenal success of these brands is the "narrative" that communicates the underlying brand philosophy, one that engages and inspires consumers to use and stay loyal to these "legendary brands".

A slew of pages is devoted to theorizing about these brands' narrative structure and occasionally the pseudo-scientific verbiage is a little distracting (e.g., "Brand mythology acts upon the cognitive orientation centers of the brain in much the same way that religion and other deeply held philosophical beliefs do").

Yet, all this could have been easily overlooked by the fastidious reader, but without a more organized analysis of how these seemingly facile narratives were conceived, attained, and then maintained by our "legendary" brands, the book falls short of its expectations. Some discussion of the evidence, even anecdotal, would have made this 5 star material although it may still be an interesting collectible for the insightful magazine style discussions of successful branding endeavours.

Packed with Knowledge!.......2003-02-26

What makes a brand become the stuff of legend? Author and consultant Laurence Vincent says it's the power of a good story. Vincent, whose specialty is forging alliances between consumer brands and entertainment properties, presents an interesting parallel between marketing and storytelling that makes sense in today's increasingly cluttered media environment. Vincent introduces you to the basics of myth and storytelling. He explains how these concepts apply to marketing strategy and offers plenty of real-world examples and case studies to illustrate his points. Except for predicting the coming integration of advertising and content (it's been around for decades), Vincent's book is full of fresh insight. We from getAbstract recommend this book to brand managers and marketing executives who want to learn how to turn their brands into powerful icons. Legendary Brands takes the reader step by step through the process - just like any good story.

Average customer rating:

Must have if you are a Marketing Student

Media Planning Workbook
William B. Goodrich , and Jack Z. Sissors
Manufacturer: McGraw-Hill Humanities/Social Sciences/Languages
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Strategy & Competition | Management & Leadership | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

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Advertising Media Planning
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The Media Handbook: A Complete Guide to Advertising Media Selection, Planning, Research, and Buying (Lea's Communication)
Advertising Campaign Strategy: A Guide to Marketing Communication Plans

ASIN: 0844235024

Book Description

Help your students master the skills and techniques needed to research, plan, and buy advertising media. By working through carefully constructed exercises, they'll learn how to apply their knowledge of how media are selected and make well-informed media buying decisions.

Over 30 assignments, complete with in-depth discussions, cover the entire range of media problems including market analysis, media analysis, and media strategy.

Customer Reviews:

Must have if you are a Marketing Student.......2007-01-05

Is an excellent book for marketing students,

The Power of Strategic Thinking: Lock In Markets, Lock Out Competitors

Average customer rating:

Good ideas but too much hype
A Good Read!
Used the process - very pleased
Easy to understand strategy
Setting the rules for your own sand-box....

The Power of Strategic Thinking: Lock In Markets, Lock Out Competitors
Michel Robert
Manufacturer: McGraw-Hill
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Strategy & Competition | Management & Leadership | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

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Strategy Pure & Simple II: How Winning Companies Dominate Their Competitors
The New Strategic Thinking
Product Innovation Strategy, Pure and Simple: How Winning Companies Outpace Their Competitors
Strategy Pure and Simple
The Motivating Team Leader

ASIN: 0071357777

Book Description

Here's a startling concept for anyone who knows anything about business:
"For successful companies, competition is irrelevant." Flying in the face of the conventional wisdom of most senior management today, the internationally noted business consultant Michel Robert explains why gigantically successful businesses ignore their competitors...and reap huge profits! How does it work? A number of CEOs who have used Robert's unique strategic thinking process--and are now true believers--recall in these pages how he enabled them to choose the right strategy for success in today's changing business environment.

Unlike most other consultants, Robert and his staff go to corporate "war rooms"--not the business school library--to develop and hone the strategic thinking process. In more than 400 frank, intensive working sessions with CEOs and their management teams, Robert has tested and validated his methods.

THE POWER OF STRATEGIC THINKING sums up his original and effective strategy of making anyone's competitors irrelevant: Obsession with your competitors leads to "imitation strategy," the common and disastrous mistake of letting the other side set the rules. Result: The house always wins! Imitators lose. The answer: Learn from major companies like Intel, Wal-Mart, Microsoft, and Goldman Sachs--corporate success stories that Robert explains in fascinating detail--how to develop your own "distinctive strategy" and race ahead of the competition.

Learn from the mistakes of copycat companies like Chrysler, Officemax, and all three original TV networks: Robert shows you how imitation strategies will put companies in virtually any field on a suicidal path. From military history, as Robert points out, comes the idea of "ultimate strategy," a proactive, offensive strategy that continually keeps the competition off-balance even as they become more and more irrelevant. Ultimate strategy is achieved when a company controls and/or influences the terms of play for an industry.

Learn from THE POWER OF STRATEGIC THINKING how to set the rules for your own sandbox...or how to find another sandbox where you can! In THE POWER OF STRATEGIC THINKING you can learn how to become a winning company by formulating and implementing a proactive, offensive strategy that will have your own company signature. You will also find out how to widen your competitive advantages. Best of all, your ultimate strategy for success will develop from the power of your own strategic thinking!

Download Description

Famed business consultant Michel Robert explains exactly how his unique strategic thinking has made major companies hugely successful.

Customer Reviews:

Good ideas but too much hype.......2002-01-10

Michel Robert does a very good job of structuring and focusing the process of strategy development. At the very root is simplicity, focus and integrity. The most valuable concepts of the book are: (1) the driving force - what makes your business move forward and what with an `invisible hand' structures your organization, (2) business concept and (3) zones of excellence. All these concepts are clearly and well explained. They are also thought provoking, insightful and energizing.

But going further through the book becomes more and more exasperating. There too much annoying hype almost on every page and especially in business cases. Often they sound all alike. "We had problems and didn't know what to do. Then we called Robert and guys from DPI opened our eyes. And we started to use DPI Strategic Process and DPI Decision Making and DPI Keep It Simple Stupid and made a lot of money. And we also lost 20 pounds in three weeks. Just call 1-800-Robert..." The author definitely has all rights to promote his company any way he likes but if he believes that his books are read not only by neurotic losers then he should cool down a bit. There is definitely a conflict between content and realization.

Probably as a result of all that hype the book is often repetitive. I believe it is based on a standard promotion presentation. This belief is supported by many silly pictures definitely copied and pasted from PowerPoint. The book is also structured as a presentation: "Tell them what we want to tell. Tell them. Tell them what you told them." All the promotion presentation tricks are also there, namely: (1) Leave many important things behind, just mention them, (2) Give them an impression that without you they wouldn't really make it, (3) Position yourself as a unique consultant - don't forget to mention that other consultants (incl. BSG, McKinsey, etc.) are not good.

To put it short, "The Power of Strategic Thinking" is a book based on DPI promotion presentation. Some really good ideas about business strategy are thickly dressed with hype.

A Good Read!.......2001-06-01

This book makes several excellent points about strategy. To find them, the reader must slog through pages of unremitting, self-promotional hard-sell, snide digs at business guru Michael Porter and contemptuous asides about consulting firms that base their strategic recommendations on research. Readers will miss little if they skip the CEO interviews, which might have provided interesting and informative insights had the author not chosen to focus on compliments to himself and his firm. But the bullet-point outlines of the strategic thinking process will be an eye-opener for many managers unaccustomed to thinking in this manner, and the section is illustrated robustly with real-life examples. Robert’s analysis of the driving forces of various businesses makes the entire effort worthwhile. ...get this book for executives and entrepreneurs in any industry.

Used the process - very pleased.......2001-04-13

As Vice-President, Sales & Marketing for a Berkshire Hathaway company, we engaged Mike Robert to lead our company through both the Strategy and Product Innovation modules his company offers.

The results have been very satisfying as the company has launch two entirely new products, in new industries, that we never touched before.

The power and simplicity of the process is incredible. In fact, if I had a complaint, it would be that the thinking can be so radical that some executives might have a hard time grasping the long term impact of decisions made during a single engagement. It is heady stuff!

This process is not for everyone. I wonder how many companies are really ready to examine their position in their marketplace and actually do something about it.

Overall, I was very pleased with the process and the result.

Easy to understand strategy.......2000-09-12

This is an easy to understand book about strategic thinking. Robert doesn't use complicated terminology or hard to understand concepts. His method for formulating and implementing strategy is straightforward and consise. Anyone wishing to improve their company's strategy should read this book.

Although by itself the book was good and I recommend it, I was disappointed that Robert didn't provide much new information over his previous book Strategy Pure and Simple II. In fact, Robert used many of the same case studies (already three years old in some cases) and the chapters were very similar to his previous book. I also got the sense that the complete methodology he proposes was missing, and his real intention was to have readers call his company for the missing links. For instance, one case study mentions their use of a decision analysis, and potential problem analysis taught by Robert. These seem to be valuable tools that anyone using his method would want to know. He also suggests taking a survey to test your strategic IQ but recommends you send the results to his company for an objective assessment. Great way to generate new business, but he could have been more complete.

I still think it's a good book because it gets you going in the right direction, and helps you organize your thoughts using a proven process. Unfortunately, you will only truly benefit from his process by hiring his firm.

Setting the rules for your own sand-box...........2000-05-19

How do you develop distinctive strategies that will distinguish your company in the market-place? Over the last 25 years, Robert developed his process of strategic thinking through working with CEOs of major and emerging corporations in various industries. His approach comes from working alongside and observing top executives of major organizations in an attempt to identify the concepts of management that they practice, in his case, by osmosis. In this book, he provides invaluable insight of his experiences with CEOs of Companies who have used their process of strategic thinking, and unlike other approaches, why their process has stood the test of time. There are clear explainations of the concept, examples and case studies from a wide range of industry sectors and organizations that readers can relate to. These are used to contextualize and demonstrate the applications of the concept discussed. Overall,Robert presents everything in a clear, compact and accesible manner. You will never look at your competitors the same way again!

The Electronic Day Trader: Successful Strategies for On-line Trading

Average customer rating:

Another book with old strategies, however....
What became of Broadway Trading, LLC??
Obsolete
good
essentially obsolete

The Electronic Day Trader: Successful Strategies for On-line Trading
George West
Manufacturer: McGraw-Hill
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0071364285

Amazon.com

Most of us have been conditioned to approach the stock market as a long-term proposition. Many of the bestselling investment books coach readers to seek value in the best companies for long periods of time. Day trading, a recent phenomenon brought on by the reform of the financial markets and by the growth of online trading, goes in just the opposite direction. Instead of buying and holding stocks for years, successful day traders make money by dipping in and out of the market in a matter of minutes, finding profit in the tiny fractions between the bid and asking price of a stock or by catching the ups and downs of stock prices, which are driven by everything including the latest news from CNBC or speculation on what Alan Greenspan ate for breakfast.

In The Electronic Day Trader, authors Marc Friedfertig and George West explain the rationale behind day trading and offer strategies that can help you become successful at this fast game of speculation and timing. The authors write, "Day trading appears so deceptively easy, yet in reality it is a never-ending challenge. It is a game, an opportunity to match wits against the majority and thereby prosper. Day trading the stock market is the ultimate opportunity to speculate and the ultimate game."

The book goes into great detail about how the various stock exchanges work and shows how to get direct access to the NASDAQ through various electronic trading systems. If you're looking for an investment book that will help you build a retirement portfolio, look elsewhere. But if the daily fluctuations in the price of a stock make your heart beat faster and if you're seriously interested in honing your skill as day trader or want to become one, The Electronic Day Trader is definitely worth a look. --Harry C. Edwards

Book Description

In 1998, McGraw-Hill’s The Electronic Day Trader became a worldwide phenomenon—and spent months on the Wall Street Journal, BusinessWeek, and New York Times bestseller lists. Now, this new paperback edition revisits the hardcover edition’s electronic day trading techniques and mechanics, and adds a new introduction discussing today’s evolving electronic day trading environment.

The Electronic Day Trader continues to give the reader a firsthand, no-holds-barred introduction to the world of electronic trading. The authors—accomplished veterans in this hot field—share trading philosophies and strategies that include:
• Workings of the various electronic order entry systems
• Effective trading techniques based on technical analysis
• All-important psychological aspects of day trading

Marc Friedfertig and George West (New York, NY) wrote Electronic Day Traders’ Secrets, and offer seminars on electronic day trading. Friedfertig is a registered principal for Broadway Trading. He formerly traded index futures with the New York Futures Exchange. West is the president of Broadway Consulting Group.

Customer Reviews:

Another book with old strategies, however...........2005-02-06

There are some good ideas that you can rescue from this book. Therefore I think you should buy it since you can make much more money and certainly recoup your small investment if you employ 2 o 3 good tips.

Any way, from my point of view a trader must always read as much as he can. There is simply no other way to prepare one self for this difficult yet incredibly rewarding activity, but to learn and put into practice as much ideas as you can, at least by paper trading first.

The are a lot of books on the subject, however many of them where written 2 o 4 years ago and that kind of makes them obsolete in this constantly changing field.

The internet offers great places where you can learn more specialized trading techniques. One of those places that I have found to be worthy is ProfitableStockmarket dotcom.

They focus mainly on momentum trading and employ a rather simple yet effective strategy. I think that for a trader to survive and be profitable, its neccessary to keep their trading as simple as possible. To much confussion and technical indicators will most of the time make you slow in your decisions and froze you up when a good opportunity is right in front of you.

In the end it's all about buying or selling with out hesitation, and doing it over an over again according to your set ups.

What became of Broadway Trading, LLC??.......2004-01-27

They went bankrupt, which is where you would be if you followed West and Friedfertig's methods. The book was a copy of Jack Schwager's Market Wizards series, due to the interviews conducted with "traders". You would be amazed if you saw some of these people and didnt read their words in print. Somehow they would not come off so sharp. Trust me!

Also do you think our authors would be able to spot "managerial talent" over a few aspiring proprietory traders? No they hire guys who have previously filed bankruptcy in their past and pipe up their accomplishments, which are a joke when you realized they bailed on creditors!!

Save yourself a dime and avoid it-if someone gives it to you, and you can't return it, use to start the BBQ grill. I could go on and on about SEC/NASD violation, getting short on a downtick, etc but I wont!

Obsolete.......2003-06-28

This book completely fails to realistically convey the relative risks and profit potential for the average wannabe day trader. Im talking about someone with less than a few thousand to play the market. Unless you have big bucks and Level II quotes forget day trading unless you are very lucky. In the trading parlance, I wish I had a short position on this book at its current price, and could cover my short at the current used price! Save your money.

good.......2001-07-11

good book , nice condition

essentially obsolete.......2001-05-07

This book is essentially obsolete just three years after its publication. Stocks are now traded in decimals, and the spreads on heavily traded stocks are now almost nonexistent, sometimes being less than one cent a share. Consequently, you can forget about any of the strategies or information regarding "pocketing the spread", "getting between the spread", etc. With the proliferation of ECN trading, the influence of the market makers in a stock has been markedly reduced. In a stock that trades 80 million shares per day, a market maker with a 100,000 share block is not going to be able to move the stock significantly, and ECN trading can overwhelm his influence. Likewise, information gleaned from the Level II screen, while still useful if one knows what to look for, is no longer the Holy Grail. Also, day trading firms, like the authors' "Broadway Trading" are on the way to extinction, now that some big online brokers offer direct-access trades for less than a quarter of what day trading firms charge, as well as offering free Level II quotes and other information not available to the day trading firms.

While the book contains a few nuggets of trading info, it was not written in a logical, easy to follow manner. As has always been the case, aspiring traders need to study the markets intensely and develop their own trading techniques; they cannot expect that any book will teach them how to be successful in a field where very few people ever succeed.

Energy Risk Management: Hedging Strategies and Instruments for the International Energy Markets
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The 'bible' of energy risk management

Energy Risk Simplied

Disappointing

Energy Derivatives: Trading Emerging Markets

Energy Risk Management is Risk Free

Energy Risk Management: Hedging Strategies and Instruments for the International Energy Markets
Peter C. Fusaro
Manufacturer: McGraw-Hill
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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Fundamentals of Trading Energy Futures and Options

Energy and Power Risk Management: New Developments in Modeling, Pricing and Hedging

Energy Risk: Valuing and Managing Energy Derivatives

Managing Energy Price Risk: The New Challenges and Solutions, Third Edition

Managing Energy Risk: A Nontechnical Guide to Markets and Trading

ASIN: 0786311843

Book Description

Energy deregulation, privatization and competition are a hot international topic. Professionals in this field understand the importance of hedging their financial risk, but are often unclear how to do so. The result is that either they take undue and unwarranted risk or they shy away from futures and derivatives investments that could improve their financial position while preventing substantial losses. Energy Risk Management is the first book to address the important issues of worldwide energy price risk management. Peter C. Fusaro has assembled the leading industry figures to explain general theories and practices for hedging risk, and specific methods to effectively manage risk in markets such as coal, natural gas, electricity, hydropower and others. Topics include: The ABCs of energy financial instruments - How to use hedging tools like futures and options, forwards and spreads; Energy securitization - Ways to securitize oil and gas production, and project finance implications; The future of energy price risk management - Globalization of energy markets, and an integrated approach to managing all risks. Energy professionals and investors worldwide require information to clarify risk management concepts and applications that are new to them. Energy Risk Management steps into that void, providing proven hedging strategies in non-technical language that simplifies this intimidating topic.

Customer Reviews:

The 'bible' of energy risk management.......2005-12-28

Peter Fusaro edits and contributes to what has become one of the standards for those wishing to learn about energy risk management. Certainly there are more complex books on energy risk management written by quants for quants but Fusaro's book is squarely targeted at those wishing to get a broader handle on energy risk management. In that regard, it more than meets its mark.

Energy Risk Simplied.......2001-12-08

This book provides an excellent background and review in easy to understand language about energy trading and energy risk management. I highly recommend it for understanding the basics of this complex subject. It also provides a global overview of market developments. It is not, however, a quantative treatise on energy and financial derivatives. This is a primer that should be viewed as such.Fusaro's second, Energy Derivatives: Trading Emerging Markets, is the companion piece to this book and adds the newer commodities of weather, emissions, bandwidth and coal derivatives. I recommend it as well.

Disappointing.......2001-11-03

This book is definitely not worth its price. Basic option theory and knowledge on VAR is wrongly interpreted. The book gives no insight on what energy risk management realy stands for. Utterly disappointed !

Energy Derivatives: Trading Emerging Markets.......2000-12-08

Until Peter Fusaro's book "Energy Risk Management" hit the bookstores in 1998, anyone needing a clear explanation of how risk is managed in the energy markets had to sift through numerous trade publications and journals.

This was genergally the reaction of any industry participant I spoke to, independently of whether they were clients, students or collegues of mine both from the Energy community or from academia. Therefore, with this feedback, I would strongly encourage my collegues to read Peter Fusaro's new book "Energy Derivatives: Trading Emerging Markets" which he edited with Jeremy Wilcox and was published in October of this year. In this book Peter Fusaro and his team of energy professionals take the reader deeper into the secondary markets (energy derivatives, etc.) which have emerged as a result of the deregulation process of the Energy Industry and, most importantly, the book explains how to use these markets to manage energy risk. Further, in chapter 3, 4, 5 and 6 the reader is introduced to the concept of interdependency among energy markets and other related markets. These include weather and weather derivatives, emission trading and bandwidth - the most recently emerging market converging with Power to become the backbone of the new global economy. This is the first book to address the complex topic of convergence of power and the rapidly growing bandwidth market. For this reason alone this book becomes a must for everyone who is interested in becoming a part of the evolving energy market.

Energy Risk Management is Risk Free.......2000-11-27

Energy Risk Management is great primer for those interested in limiting their risk exposure to volatile International energy markets which are in the process of deregulating. Fusaro and his cast of contributing authors examine a wide variety of energy sectors and give practical examples of risk management techniques in easy to understand terminology.

I was so pleased with the content of this book I even recommended it to a friend who has been trading International financial instruments for the past 12 years and is looking to get into the energy risk management field. When I asked him for his reaction to the book, he said it was "excellent".

For greater detail, I also plan to read the author's follow-up work, "Energy Derivatives: Trading Emerging Markets" which looks at new energy related markets such as weather, emissions and bandwidth trading.

Estimating Market Power and Strategies
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Estimating Market Power and Strategies
Jeffrey M. Perloff , Larry S. Karp , and Amos Golan
Manufacturer: Cambridge University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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The book shows economists how to estimate the ability of firms to raise their prices above their costs and how to estimate firms' strategies. It is designed for graduate students, researchers, and practitioners. It can be used as a textbook or as a guide to conducting research. No close substitutes exist.

Retail Pricing Strategies & Market Power

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Retail Pricing Strategies & Market Power
Gordon Mills
Manufacturer: Melbourne University Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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An Analysis of Market Power Mitigation Strategies in Colorado's Electricity Industry.: An article from: The Energy Journal

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An Analysis of Market Power Mitigation Strategies in Colorado's Electricity Industry.: An article from: The Energy Journal
David M. Quick , and Janis M. Carey
Manufacturer: International Association for Energy Economics
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Digital

General | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

Book Description

This digital document is an article from The Energy Journal, published by International Association for Energy Economics on June 1, 2001. The length of the article is 8559 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: An Analysis of Market Power Mitigation Strategies in Colorado's Electricity Industry.
Author: David M. Quick
Publication: The Energy Journal (Refereed)
Date: June 1, 2001
Publisher: International Association for Energy Economics
Volume: 22 Issue: 3 Page: 55

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China Oil Demand Rockets & But Govt. Still Lacks Energy Strategy.: An article from: APS Review Oil Market Trends

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China Oil Demand Rockets & But Govt. Still Lacks Energy Strategy.: An article from: APS Review Oil Market Trends

Manufacturer: Pam Stein/Input Solutions
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Digital

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This digital document is an article from APS Review Oil Market Trends, published by Pam Stein/Input Solutions on November 8, 2004. The length of the article is 2418 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: China Oil Demand Rockets & But Govt. Still Lacks Energy Strategy.
Publication: APS Review Oil Market Trends (Newsletter)
Date: November 8, 2004
Publisher: Pam Stein/Input Solutions
Volume: 63 Issue: 19

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