Stock Brokers - Your Online Investment Manager

Stock investing is one of the intelligent determinations in the present context. Stock marketplace with more than flexibleness and options is attracting many new investors who are looking for some good investing plan. So, if you have got made up your head to put in these, you should always look for the right direction. In the trading system, you must be aware of one of import term i.e., stock agents - those who purchase and sell them in the market.

Almost all bargainers take the aid of brokerage firm service for handling trades. In the stock investing world, a broad scope of brokerage firm services is available. You will happen two sorts of agents in the stock market. Type 1 agents are those who offer services, which include direction of shares i.e., when to purchase and sell stock, and analysis of marketplace tendencies and predictions.

These people often called as 'full-service brokers' complaint high committee rates for their services. Hiring such as as agents depends upon a figure of factors such as your cognition and experience of the market, your investing amount and your trading frequency. However, for 2nd type of brokers, we utilize a term, 'discount stock broker'. As the name suggests, these people complaint a very low committee charge per unit and offering almost all services needed for investing and online trading stocks.

The most economical manner to merchandise pillory is via online brokerage. With the promotion in the IT industry, online trading system came into image and brought a radical alteration in the trading system. Online agents complaint very less amount of committee and you as a bargainer can maintain you abreast of all marketplace updates with just a few clicks. Of late, most of the bargainers prefer online trading system. In online trading, you necessitate not to ran into the agents - simply unfastened an business relationship online with any stock company website and execute all trading operations online. From purchasing and merchandising of pillory to marketplace updates - everything is possible.

Before gap an business relationship with a peculiar broker, you must read the footing and statuses and how much they bear down as a commission. There are two different types of brokerage firm account: hard cash account, and border account. The first one, i.e., hard cash business relationship makes not offer recognition installation - you will have got to pay full amount for purchasing stocks. On the other hand, in lawsuit of border account, you can purchase pillory on border - agent transports some of the costs of the them you are interested in buying. But, the border value differs from one agent to another and must also depend on the traders' portfolio. Margin business relationships aid investors purchase more than than pillory in fewer finances and therefore, can gain more.

So, before choosing a broker, you as an investor must see your needs. Whether you are new or you are experienced trader, price reduction agents are always there to assist you. After deciding the stockbrokers, you should also compare some of the most companies services. Also see the yearly fee, brokerage firm committee rate, frequence of transaction, etc. These minute determinations will definitely convey more than gross and prosperity in your life.

Doubling Stocks With A Small Bankroll

People are always asking me why they can't interrupt even in the stock marketplace while I draw off to consistently pull net income almost at will. If your end is doubling stocks, and therefore your money, on a regular footing then it is absolutely important that your trading scheme suits your bankroll. Successful bargainers cognize that you should never hazard more than a little fraction, like maybe 5%, of your bankroll at any given time. When Iodine state hazard only 5% I'm not suggesting you only pass 5% of your bankroll on shares, but rather that, for a losing trade, you go out the trade when your loss would only stand for 5% of your bankroll.

If your bankroll is under funded then you're almost certainly over trading. Over trading is when you are taking a place that is too big for your bankroll. Let's say you have got a bankroll of $1000 and you're trying to merchandise a stock that's worth $10. Let's also presume that, based on your trading system rules, you could possibly see the stock autumn by 10% before you go out the trade (it's naive to believe all trades are winners). If you desire to remain within your 5% hazard regulation for your bankroll then you can't lose more than than $50. With a possible a 10% driblet we can only afford to pass $500 on shares because a 10% driblet on $500 stands for $50, which is 5% of our bankroll.

Now if doubling pillory is your scheme then you're trying to pick pillory that may increase by 100%. No substance what system you're using there is always one changeless and that is that hazard is the other side of the coin to reward. You don't acquire one without the other. So doubling stock value intends your hazard will also lift significantly. Let's now conceive of your share value could drop by much more than because you're hoping for much greater reward. With a possible 80% driblet you can only afford to pass $62.50 on shares because an 80% driblet on $62.50 worth of shares is a $50 loss which is 5% of our bankroll. And let's confront it, we all cognize that a $10 stock doubling quickly doesn't go on too often. What is more than than likely is that you'll purchase many more shares than you should and lose your whole bankroll, or you'll purchase the right figure of shares and acquire hammered by committees and slippage. As you can see, if you're playing the doubling pillory game you necessitate to have got got the right size bankroll for the terms of stock you're trying to trade.

Unless you have a six figure bankroll you will necessitate to merchandise much littler pillory for the doubling pillory program to work. Penny pillory is the terms scope you necessitate to be trading. If you make the mathematics as we've done above you'll see that you can remain in the right hazard scope much more than easily if your stock terms are only selling in the penny range.

Royal Consultants Provides Many New York Mortgage Options

Syosset, New York (FV Newswire) - Royal Consultants () is proud to offer consumers up to 95% funding on a 2nd mortgage. The company specialises in New House Of York mortgage services including place equity, debt consolidation, first clip buyers, and more. Now the company is excited to offer 2nd mortgages for those that are qualified. The mortgages can be obtained relatively easily, with a full income bank check or declared income for the ego employed borrower.

Many householders happen that a 2nd mortgage is a great manner to update their place or do major repairs. A 2nd mortgage is also something that volition let for households to pay for unplanned medical expenses, consolidate debt, and more. These loans can be structured as a fixed payment 2nd New House Of York mortgage in many situations, or could also be structured as an equity line of credit. Royal Consultants is proud to offer competitory rates for both types of loans.

Royal Consultants have got helped many householders who have variable charge per unit first mortgages. The company can convert the mortgage to a low fixed rate, even allowing the householder to take hard cash out at the same time, so it all plant out really well for the homeowner. Not only can the company supply a whole host of services to consumers they also understand the necessity in certain lawsuits to hasten the processes. Royal Consultants says, "All mortgage applications are processed quickly and easily," many of these loans have got been said to fold in as small as 10 days.

For more than than information visit:

About Royal Consultants:Royal Consultants () have been in the concern for more than 24 years. During this time, the company have developed a repute for being able to happen a mortgage loan for just about every borrower. Services include purchase programs, refinancing, place equity and debt consolidation.

(An Press Release)

Contact Info:Name: Lisa MargulefskyAddress: 575 Underhill Blvd Suite 200City: SyossetState: CaliforniaCountry: United StatesZip: 11791

Web Address: Business Blog: Phone: 1-800-227-4327

###

Bonuses on Wall Street Threatened for First Time in Five Years

The credit-market freezing that's paralyzing leveraged buyouts, amalgamations and countless computer-driven trading schemes may cut Wall Street bonuses for the first clip in five years.

``There's a batch of pessimism out there,'' said Gary Goldstein, main executive director military officer of executive-search house Eli Whitney Group in New York. ``Looking at the human race today as we see it and the impact the crunch is likely to have, it looks like fillip pools will decline.''

Bonuses, the fiscal industry's yearly religious rite of compensation that typically is a multiple of salary, probably will worsen as much as 5 percentage from 2006, according to Options Group, the New York-based house that have tracked wage and hiring tendencies for more than than a decade. While the payouts often far exceeded the norm of $220,650 at the greatest U.S. securities houses last twelvemonth and increased as much as 20 percentage from 2005, the subprime-mortgage collapse already have drained the poke bowl.

Hardest hit will be employees who make and sell securities backed by mortgages or pools of debt, Options Group said. One out of every three people in those functions may lose their occupations unless concern choices up by the end of the year, the house estimates. Bonuses may fall as much as 40 percent.

Hedge Funds

Hedge-fund investing managers, whose norm payout climbed as much as 15 percentage last year, may see a driblet of 5 percentage to 10 percentage in 2007. Bonuses for employees in fixed- income units of measurement may fall as much as 10 percent, compared with a 10 percentage addition last year, Options Group estimates.

Except at the most junior levels, bargainers and bankers have most of their yearly wage in year-end bonuses that are determined in portion by the gross produced by the individual, their division and the house as a whole. The norm fillip per employee at Wall Street's five greatest houses rose 18 percentage in 2006, according to Bloomberg computations based on company reports.

Person bonuses vary, with some administrative staff receiving nil and executive directors such as as Harold Lloyd Blankfein, Emma Goldman Sachs Group Inc.'s CEO, getting more than than $50 million on top of his $600,000 salary. Even Blankfein's pay, which is based partly on the firm's operating consequences and stock performance, may be lower. Goldman's stock, after climbing 56 percentage last year, have dropped 12 percentage in 2007. Revenue, which gained 49 percentage in 2006, rose 11 percentage in the first one-half of 2007.

George Lucas avant garde Praag, a Emma Goldman spokesman, said Blankfein wouldn't be available for comment.

Time for Turnaround

Recruiters, who are seeing a pickup truck in sketches from hedgerow finances and leveraged buyout firms, cautioned that it's too soon to cognize what will go on by the clip Banks begin fillip discussions, typically in October. They also short letter that bargainers involved in equities, trade goodss and hard-pressed debt are having a good twelvemonth and are likely to harvest bumper payouts.

``This is the one-fourth that is going to find whether compensation is going to be less or not,'' said Michael Karp, chief executive officer of the Options Group, which establishes its estimations on interviews with senior industry executive directors and information gathered by the firm's web of consultants.

The crisis that started with the mortgage loans to the riskiest borrowers have sent equity and chemical bond terms worldwide on a rollercoaster ride. The marketplace for mortgage-backed securities have dried up, hurting those who trade the chemical bonds or sell them to investors. Investing Banks haven't been able to happen purchasers for leveraged-buyout loans. Prime agents may see fees driblet as some hedgerow finances stopping point and others cut down borrowing.

Funds that have got already close or failed this twelvemonth include two recognition pools managed by Bear Stearns Cos., UBS AG's Dillon Read Capital Management LLC and Sowood Capital Management L-P of Boston.

Resumes Arrive

``We're already seeing a batch of sketches from hedgerow funds, and we're seeing them at the more than than junior level, a batch of these children that defected to fudge finances for more money or a better lifestyle,'' said Deborah Rivera, laminitis of the Sequence Group, a New York-based executive-search and consulting firm. ``We're seeing sketches from private-equity finances that have got also allow some people go.''

Hedge-fund bargainers with at least 10 years' experience, who made an norm of $580,000 last year, probably will see wage rise 8 percentage to 9 percentage this year, according to Adam Zoia, laminitis of New York-based Glocap Search LLC and co-editor-in- main of the Hedge Fund Compensation Report. That's about one-half of the charge per unit he was expecting before the market's decline.

``We have got just sharply cut our compensation forecasts,'' Zoia said on Aug. 17.

Outsize Paydays

The hedge-fund industry, where assets almost tripled to $1.7 trillion since 2002, takes Wall Street when it come ups to oversize paydays. The 25 best-paid hedge-fund managers earned an norm of $570 million in 2006, an addition of 57 percentage from the former year, according to Institutional Investor's Alpha magazine. Hedge finances typically complaint fees of 1 percentage to 2 percentage of assets and 20 percentage of investing gains.

At the top of Alpha's listing was Jesse James Simons, laminitis of East Setauket, New York-based Renaissance Technologies Corp., World Health Organization was paid an estimated $1.7 billion. Chicago-based Citadel Investing Group LLC's Kenneth Gryphon placed 2nd with $1.4 billion. Officials at both houses declined to comment.

Simons's personal net income may drop from 2006 as his greatest monetary fund struggles. The $29 billion Renaissance Equity Opportunities Fund is small changed on the twelvemonth through last week, according to investors, while last twelvemonth it returned about 21 percent. Gryphon should again rank among the top-paid managers. Citadel, which supervises $15 billion, have returned about 15 percentage this year, investors say.

``The rippling personal effects of hedgerow finances are more than than widespread than they've ever been,'' said Henry Martin Robert Discolo, caput of hedge- monetary fund schemes at AIG Global Investing Group in New York, which pulls off more than $8 billion.

Competition for Endowment

Big wage bundles at hedgerow finances and leveraged buyout houses have got driven compensation higher at Wall Street firms, as they seek to vie for the best bargainers and bankers. Last year, the five greatest U.S. securities houses paid about $36.5 billion in bonuses, up 32 percentage from a twelvemonth earlier as the figure of employees rose 7 percent.

Since last falling in 2002, entire fillip payouts at the five houses rose 6 percentage in 2003, 19 percentage in 2004, and 18 percentage in 2005. Securities houses typically put aside about one-half of their gross to pay compensation and benefits. Of that, about 60 percentage is paid in bonuses at twelvemonth end.

Recruiters don't anticipate decreases to be as drastic as they were in the bear marketplace of 2001 and 2002, when the norm payout for New York-based securities-industry workers declined 26 percentage and 18 percent, according to the state deputy sheriff comptroller's office.

Positive Sign

The fiscal crisis have been profitable for bargainers who wager mortgage chemical bonds would fall or whose schemes addition amid swings in the markets. One index proposes the image isn't as desperate as it was in 2002: Analysts are estimating yearly net income will lift at least 11 percentage at the top four Wall Street firms. Bear Stearns, the fifth, is expected to describe a driblet of about 6 percent.

``The sentiment right now is pretty rough because in the past two hebdomads it wasn't difficult to see people who lost a batch of money,'' said John, 29, an equity-options bargainer at a Wall Street bank, who declined to give his last name because he's not authorized to talk to the media. ``But on bonuses, it's too early to say. It was a good marketplace before this, and I don't believe people believe yet that this volition endanger pay.''

The bankers who counsel LBO houses and the underwriters, salespeople and bargainers who assist make and sell the loans and chemical bonds to finance them are likely to see their charge per unit of wage additions slow, recruiters said.

Bankers Squeezed

Last year, investing bankers saw bonuses leap 20 to 25 percent, the Options Group said. This twelvemonth the charge per unit of additions for bankers who function buyout houses will probably slow to 5 percentage to 10 percentage and could worsen further, Options Group said. That's because the Banks are having trouble merchandising the loans they've already made to finance coup d'etats and the gait of trades is likely to decelerate amid higher funding costs.

``The leveraged finance countries are likely to be impacted,'' said Eli Whitney Group's Goldstein.

The success of hedgerow finances in former old age helped bring forth demand for premier brokerage, the sections at investing Banks that impart to fudge finances and supply them with services such as as trading software. Last year, bonuses surged 20 percentage to 25 percentage in premier brokerage, Options Group estimated. This twelvemonth they may lift 5 percentage to 10 percent, said the Options Group's Karp.

To reach the newsmen on this story: William Le Baron Jenny Strasburg in New House Of House Of York at
; Christine Harpist in New York at
.

Surviving The Commodity Markets, PART 2 - Trading Guidelines For Different Account Sizes - Reduce Fe

Of all the of import accomplishments in trading, endurance is figure one. For unless we do it through the inevitable bad times, we won't be around to capitalise on the good. I've laid out some trading business relationship guidelines that stipulate the business relationship size required to carry on assorted trade goods hereafters and option trading activities. Stick within these guidelines and you will have got an border on most of the trade goods trading public.

When purchasing trade goods options, I usually believe in footing of them expiring worthless. This is the worst-case situation and will maintain us honorable about the existent risk. With a $10,000 business relationship purchasing a $500 option, this would allow us to do 20 losing trades in a row. The opportunities of trading this poorly are remote, but it's calm possible.

Just believe of how much better our opportunities for endurance and success are compared to person risking everything - like the whole $10,000 on two trades. Many bargainers make just that, believe me. Astatine 5% hazard a trade we are trading more within our agency and essentially have got much deeper pockets to last than the other guy. Who's going to be around after the trade goods marketplace Acts badly? And who's going to be gone in a heartbeat?

A bargainer with a $50,000 trade goods trading business relationship have much more than flexibility. He can put on the line 5% ($2500) on each hereafters or options trade to have got the staying powerfulness to take 20 also-rans in a row. A more than conservative bargainer might even hazard only $1250 per trade (2.5%) and be able to take 40 also-rans in a row before being wiped out. Now there is a survivor!

See the point? We are focusing on the worst-case scenario to give us every border possible for survival. When the large profitable trade goods trades come up along that spell a long manner in our favor, we desire to be ready and able to take full advantage. Normally, we only desire to take "high probability" trades in the first place. A few good trades that are handled well can do up for the losings and do your whole twelvemonth profitable! You must be present and liquid when they come up along.

The trade goods marketplace will not always suit our sentiment of a low risk, high chance trade. So by splitting the business relationship into many parts we allow chance favour us by permitting us to merchandise longer than the norm cat before being wiped out by a long twine of losers.

Most trade goods bargainers take on places that are much too big for their business relationship equity. This is a cosmopolitan job with the public. This causes emotional determinations and early issues when the marketplace should have got been given more than clip and space to fluctuate. Some business relationships are simply wiped out after a few bad trades. Certainly there are modern times to acquire out of a trade that makes not work out early in the game. Every merchandise goods trade is different and must be handled as such.

Once we understand these conceptions we will happen it hard to trade any other way. I've observed many bargainers who had enormous natural trading accomplishments that set them apart from the crowd. These people made serious money for a short clip period of time. But making money consistently over a long clip period time is the difficult part.

Every 1 I've known who's pushed the trade goods marketplace too difficult have failed in the end. They do money until they begin breaking the 5-10% rule. It's easy to state you volition follow this rule, but it's another thing to lodge to it when you are making serious money and desire to rage it up.

The guidelines I'm about to put out will use to purchasing trade goods options, buying trade goods hereafters on border and merchandising trade goods options. In my examples, the hazard of purchasing options mentions to the options expiring worthless.

The hazard of a hereafters contract is usually where the halt loss order is placed, but not always. It could intend a larger loss if the halt loss acquires triggered by an nightlong spread through it. Commodity option authorship is similar in hazard to trade goods futures, since they are sold on the same border demands and can travel in-the-money lock-step with the hereafters contract.

Bear in head these guidelines are for YOUR endurance and success. You will be committing yourself to proper money management. If used, your agent will do fewer committees and at a slower gait as a result. But over clip he will have got a happier client with better opportunities of success for a longer-term trading relationship. He should happy to have got got informed trade goods clients who do an attempt to maintain their emotions and hazard in check.

There is nil incorrect with losing money if you have followed your regulations and given yourself the best opportunity possible. The torment is in losing after you correctly predicted the marketplace manner and took the right position, only to destroy it by over-leveraging yourself.

Taking on a little place that travels a long way is the key. You cognize it's the right size when you don't really care if THIS peculiar trade goods trade plant out or not. It's all about being around for a long series of trades to allow chance favour you.

Enough said. Now let's look at specific business relationship sizes and recommended trading for each.

Part Three of Six Parts - Next!

There is significant hazard of loss trading hereafters and options and may not be suitable for all types of investors. Only hazard working capital should be used.

Japan Current Account Surplus Widens to Record (Update4)

Japan's current account surplus widened to a record in March, as exports to Asia and Europe helped counter slower growth in shipments to the U.S.

The surplus expanded 36.9 percent to 3.32 trillion yen ($28 billion) from a year earlier, the Ministry of Finance said in Tokyo today, more than the 2.95 trillion yen median estimate of 28 economists surveyed by Bloomberg News.

Today's report supports comments made this month by Asian finance ministers that growth in India and China will help the region withstand a slowdown in the U.S. and Europe. Japan's exports to China, which overtook the U.S. as its largest trade partner last year, surged 15 percent to a record in March.

``Strong growth in Asia proves Japan's economy can withstand a U.S. slowdown,'' said Mamoru Yamazaki, chief Japan economist at RBS Securities Japan Ltd. in Tokyo. ``The current account surplus will keep expanding as exports and overseas investments remain solid.''

The yen traded at 120.19 per dollar at 1:37 p.m. in Tokyo compared with 120.11 before the report. The Nikkei 225 Stock Average rose 1 percent, led by exporters such as Sony Corp.

The trade surplus surged 62.1 percent, the fastest pace in three years, to a record, the Finance Ministry said.

Exports rose 9.6 percent, as a weaker yen increased the value of shipments. Japan's currency has fallen 8.5 percent against the dollar and 13 percent per euro in the past 12 months.

Weaker Yen

``Yen depreciation has been a major support for Japanese corporations and, together with gradually strengthening domestic demand, is helping to underpin Japan's economic expansion,'' said Takuji Aida, chief Japan economist at Barclays Capital in Tokyo.

Imports fell 1 percent, the first drop in three years, as oil prices were lower than a year earlier and Japan received fewer shipments from countries that observe the Lunar New Year.

The current account tracks the flow of goods, services and investment income between Japan and its trading partners. It includes trade not shown in the customs-cleared trade balance, which the Finance Ministry also compiles.

Exports to China and Europe rose to a record in March on a customs-cleared basis, the ministry said last month. Shipments to Europe climbed 14 percent, while those to the U.S., Japan's largest export market, rose 2.4 percent, the slowest pace in two years.

The U.S. slowdown will probably begin to bite more later this year. Toyota Motor Corp. last week forecast the smallest profit gain in a decade because of waning demand in the U.S.

Income Surplus

The income surplus, or the difference between money earned abroad and payments made to foreign workers and investors in Japan, increased 13.2 percent to a record in March, today's report showed.

Revenue from direct investment rose to a record as Japanese companies' overseas units distributed dividends at home at the end of the fiscal year, Masami Oka, special officer for balance of payments, said at a press briefing today.

``Companies are investing overseas because of a low interest rate in Japan,'' said Noriaki Haseyama, an economist at Dai-Ichi Life Research in Tokyo. Revenue from foreign equities, bonds and debt securities accounts for about 80 percent of the income gap.

The Bank of Japan will keep the overnight lending rate at 0.5 percent at a two-day meeting ending on May 17, according to the median estimate of all 48 economists surveyed by Bloomberg News. The key rate is the lowest among major economies.

Japan's wholesale inflation accelerated in April as the cost of oil and other commodities rose, the Bank of Japan said today. An index of energy and raw materials prices paid by companies climbed 2.2 percent in April from a year earlier after increasing 2 percent in March, the Bank of Japan said.

Bank of Japan

``We are starting to see signs that price pressures are slowly emerging,'' said Seiji Adachi, a senior economist at Deutsche Securities Inc. in Tokyo. ``There aren't any major hurdles for the Bank of Japan to raise rates. They will probably move in August or September.''

The current account surplus rose to a record in the 12 months ended March 31, a fifth straight year of gains, the Finance Ministry said. The income surplus exceeded the trade surplus for a second year.

``Japan's economy depends more on revenues from overseas investment than earnings from exports,'' RBS's Yamazaki said.

To contact the reporter on this story Toru Fujioka in Tokyo at

Japan's Notes Halt Two-Week Rally on Concern Rates to Increase

Japan's five-year notes fell this week
on speculation the central bank will increase interest rates again
this year to prevent excessive investment and asset bubbles.

Notes halted a two-week rally after Bank of Japan Governor
Toshihiko Fukui yesterday said borrowing costs are ``very low''
given the economy's strength. Next week, BOJ board members will
vote on rates at a two-day policy meeting and the government will
announce figures for first-quarter economic growth.

``Fukui's comments this week made it clear that the bank
hasn't weakened its determination to increase rates,'' said
Akitsugu Bandou, a senior strategist at Okasan Securities Co. in
Tokyo, one of the 25 primary dealers that are required to bid at
government auctions. ``Selling pressure is hitting the short-dated
debt hardest and people can't get bullish about bonds.''

Yields on five-year notes, which move inversely to prices,
rose 4 basis points this week, according to Japan Bond Trading Co.,
the nation's largest interdealer debt broker.

The yield on the 1.2 percent note due in March 2012 today
declined 2 basis points to 1.225 percent. It yesterday touched
1.25 percent, the highest since April 23. Ten-year bond yields
increased 2 basis points this week to 1.645 percent. A basis point
is 0.01 percentage point.

Central Banks

``If we neglect to implement needed rate adjustments, that
may accentuate risks to the economy that may not be so prominent
otherwise,'' Fukui said at meeting of business executives in Tokyo
yesterday. The BOJ raised its target for overnight lending rates
by a quarter percentage point to 0.5 percent in February.

The Bank of Japan bank may lift rates again between July and
September, Okasan's Bandou said.

Five-year notes yesterday fell for a fifth day, the longest
decline since December, on speculation a Federal Reserve decision
this week to keep borrowing costs at a six-year high will make it
easier for the Bank of Japan to raise rates.

The spread between 10-year government bonds in Japan and the
U.S. was 296 basis points, near the average for the past year. The
gap in yields is likely to stay near 300 basis points next week as
Japan's bonds track U.S. Treasuries, said Akio Kato, an investor
in Tokyo at Kokusai Asset Management Co., which runs the world's
second-largest bond mutual fund.

Japanese benchmark bond yields had a correlation of 0.88 with
U.S. 10-year note yields in the past year, according to Bloomberg
data. A value of 1 means the two moved in lock step.

Spread Narrows

Five-year notes fell at a faster pace than did longer debt as
traders priced in the probability that rates will rise this year,
said Akio Kato, an investor in Tokyo at Kokusai Asset Management
Co., which runs the world's second-largest bond mutual fund.

The spread between five- and 10-year debt narrowed to 41.8
basis points earlier today, the tightest gap since Dec. 27,
flattening the so-called yield curve.

An index of Merrill Lynch & Co. showed bonds maturing in 10
years or longer returned 0.33 percent in the past month, while
shorter tenors returned 0.04 percent.

Ten-year yields near 1.7 percent may attract buyers, said Jun
Fukashiro, a bond fund manager in Tokyo at Toyota Asset Management
Co., which holds the equivalent of $10 billion in assets. The
yield hasn't risen above 1.7 percent since April 18.

A sale of 10-year debt on May 8 drew the highest demand since
February 2005 and a Ministry of Finance report yesterday showed
overseas investors purchased more Japanese bonds than they sold
for a third week.

Five-Year Auction

Traders may try to push up five-year yields before an auction
of the securities next week, according to Akihiko Inoue, a market
analyst in Tokyo at Mizuho Investors Securities Co.

The Ministry of Finance will sell 2 trillion yen ($16.6
billion) of the notes on May 15. Yields in pre-auction trading
yesterday suggested the ministry may set a 1.3 percent coupon, the
highest since January.

``Investors may demand higher yields before buying as the
economic figures in the coming weeks may show signs of a
recovery,'' said Inoue, whose company is one of the 25 primary
dealers that are required to bid at government auctions.

To contact the reporter on this story:
Issei Morita in Tokyo at .

Softbank Default Swaps May Drop, Morgan Stanley Says (Update2)

Investors may make more bets on the
improving finances of Softbank Corp., Japan's third-largest
mobile-phone company, by selling credit-default swaps, Morgan
Stanley Japan Securities Co. said.

Sellers of the derivatives, which provide buyers with
protection from a firm's inability to repay debt, are attracted
by a price that overstates the chance Softbank will fail to meet
its obligations, said Hidetoshi Ohashi, a Morgan Stanley credit
analyst in Tokyo. The extra yield investors demand to hold
Softbank bonds over Japanese swap rates has halved in the past
year. Spreads on Softbank credit-default swaps fell by a quarter.

Softbank said on May 8 its fourth-quarter operating profit
more than doubled, helping allay concern that it would be unable
to repay loans that funded its 1.66 trillion yen ($13.8 billion)
acquisition of Vodafone Group Plc's Japanese mobile-phone unit.
The purchase in April last year extended billionaire Masayoshi
Son's challenge to market leaders NTT DoCoMo Inc. and KDDI Corp.

``The company's earnings showed the mobile phone businesses
are doing better than anticipated,'' said Ohashi, the third-
highest-ranked credit analyst in Japan, according to a survey by
Nikkei Bonds and Financial Weekly. ``Investors are selling
Softbank CDS to earn income because cash bonds are expensive
relative to the CDS premium.''

Narrowing Spreads

Credit-default swaps based on 1 billion yen of Softbank debt
closed in Japan at 25.8 million yen from 26.3 million yen
yesterday, according to prices from JPMorgan Chase & Co. Trading
volume today between dealers was about 8 billion yen, more than
five times the normal daily amount, said Mana Nakazora, chief
credit analyst at JPMorgan Securities Japan in Tokyo.

The cost of the contracts was as much as 39.6 million yen
in March 2006, the highest since Bloomberg began tracking the
contracts in February 2005. Sellers of the five-year contracts
receive quarterly payments because they agree to pay buyers the
face value of the notes in a default in exchange for the
underlying securities.

The cost of the five-year contracts is equivalent to 258
basis points, or 2.58 percent of the amount protected. The cost
may fall below 200 basis points in the next six to 12 months,
Morgan Stanley's Ohashi said.

The yield spread between the company's 40 billion yen in
1.98 percent bonds due in September 2010 and similar-maturity
swap rates narrowed to 166 basis points yesterday, from 333 basis
points a year earlier, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

Operating profit rose to 73.8 billion yen in the three
months ended March 31 from 34.4 billion yen, and sales more than
doubled to 721.9 billion yen, Tokyo-based Softbank said on May 8.

BBB Rating

Softbank's debt carries a BBB ranking from Japan Credit
Rating Agency, the second-lowest investment grade. Moody's
Investors Service and Standard & Poor's assign the company high-
risk, high-yield ratings of Ba2 and BB-, respectively.

``The earnings showed that Softbank's risk is equivalent to
a BBB rating,'' Ohashi said. ``People paid too much of a premium
to compensate for Softbank's risk.''

Shares of Softbank yesterday fell the most in almost two
months as UBS Securities Japan Ltd. recommended selling the stock
after fourth-quarter net income slid 83 percent. The shares,
which declined 3.2 percent yesterday, dropped another 0.8 percent
today to 2,595 yen.

Excluding gains from the former Vodafone subsidiary,
operating profit would have declined, UBS analysts Makio Inui and
Kei Takahashi wrote in the May 8 report. The focus on the mobile-
phone unit ``led to some stagnation'' in other businesses such as
fixed lines, the analysts said.

Softbank has the worst financial health in Japan among 129
companies tracked by Morgan Stanley, credit-default swaps show.
The company said it booked taxes of 60.4 billion yen, partly
because of goodwill relating to the Vodafone purchase.

`Good Overall'

The telecommunications group is betting it can add to its 17
percent share of Japan's $75 billion mobile-phone market by
offering lower subscription fees than rivals. Growth in the
number of subscribers, which rose a net 163,600 to 16.1 million
in April, may help the company offset declines in per-user
revenue.

The chance of Softbank failing to meet its debt obligations
within the next five years has declined to 21 percent from 28
percent last year, based on a JPMorgan Chase & Co. valuation
model that takes into account swap prices.

``Softbank's earnings looked good overall,'' said Kiyotoshi
Yasuda, chief risk manager of the credit trading department at
JPMorgan Securities Japan Co. in Tokyo. ``Softbank credit-default
swaps showed little reaction to the announcement because the
market has already priced in an increase in sales.''

Credit-default swaps are the fastest-growing part of the
$370 trillion global derivatives market. They allow investors to
speculate on shifts in a company's credit quality without paying
money up front, as would be required when buying bonds.

To contact the reporters on this story:
Keiko Ujikane in Tokyo at

Oliver Biggadike in Tokyo at
.