Your Questions About Direct Marketing News

Jere answers:

This is a good one. First of all let’s define a “market order”. A market order is an order to buy or sell a security immediately at the best available market price. Market orders take top priority on an exchange. The two markets are distinctly differentiated in the sense that the NYSE is a physical exchange with a floor vs. The NASDAQ which is a purely electronic market place (i.e. The buyers and sellers are in cyberspace).

The difference in the execution differs slightly for each exchange. Specialists working on the NYSE have four roles to fulfill in order to ensure a fair and orderly market:

Auctioneer – because the NYSE is an auction market, bids and asks are competitively forwarded by investors. These bids and asks must be posted for the entire market to see to make certain that the best price is always maintained. It is the job of the specialist to ensure that all bids and asks are reported in an accurate and timely manner, that all marketable trades are executed and that order is maintained on the floor. Along with posting the daily bid and ask prices, the specialist must also set the opening price for the stock every morning. This price can greatly differ from the previous day’s closing price based on after-hours news and events. The role of the specialist is to find the correct market price based on supply and demand.

Agent – the specialist can also accept limit orders relayed by investors through brokers or electronic trading. It is the responsibility of the specialist to ensure the order is transacted appropriately on behalf of others, using the same fiduciary care as the brokers themselves once the price of the stock has reached the limit criteria.

Catalyst – as the specialists are in direct contact with the bidders and sellers of particular securities, it is their responsibility that enough interest exists for a particular stock. This is carried out by specialists seeking out recently active investors in cases where the bids and asks can’t be matched. This aspect of the specialist’s job helps to induce trades that may not of happened if the specialist had not been there to bring buyers and sellers together.

Principal – in the instance where there’s a demand-supply imbalance of a particular security, the market maker must make adjustments by purchasing and selling out of his/her own inventory to equalize the market. If the market is in a buying frenzy the specialist will provide shares from their inventory until the price is stabilized. They’ll also buy shares for their inventory in the event of a large selloff.

On the NASDAQ, market makers are actually not at the exchange. They are large investment companies which buy and sell securities through an electronic network. These market makers maintain inventories and buy and sell stocks from their inventories to individual customers and other dealers.

Each market maker on the NASDAQ is required to give a two-sided quote, meaning they must state a firm bid price and a firm ask price that they are willing to honor.

Each security on the NASDAQ generally has more than one market maker, with an average of 14 market makers for each stock which provides liquidity and efficient trading. The market makers are openly competitive amongst themselves and facilitate competitive prices; as a result, individual investors generally will get the best price. As this competition is evident in the limited spreads between posted bids and asks, the market makers on the NASDAQ will in some instances act very much like the specialists on the NYSE.

As far as how these markets are becoming more similar has a great deal with implementation of information technology. With the proliferation of the internet, the entire world now has access directly to these two markets in virtually real time. This has literally globalized the world’s market places. From a professional trader’s perspective, I know that the NYSE specialists are coming under greater scrutiny on how they execute orders. I have heard that some have criticized the specialists for inter positioning themselves between the buyers and sellers. FINRA/NASD prohibits this practice. Imagine how much more efficient a purely electronic marketplace is the pure sense of latency. I have heard many professionals speculating that one day the NYSE may also become a purely electronic market place. We’ve come a long way since it’s inception in 1792, when 24 New York City stockbrokers and merchants signed the Buttonwood Agreement.

Hope this helped.

Jere answers:

Marketing is the broader study of connecting consumers to products and services. This includes product (the good, service, person or idea that you’re selling) price (how much to charge), place (where to distribute) and promotion (communicating the benefits of the product with prospective buyers).

Public Relations a function of the promotional aspect of marketing–it fits within the larger marketing umbrella and is related to sales promotion, advertising, direct marketing, etc. PR’s focus is typically to promote a company or brand image to the public through mass media (tv, newspaper, radio) vehicles.

Larger US universities often offer both majors, although rarely does coursework overlap. Marketing is often housed in schools of business and public relations is often housed in schools of journalism or in deparments of communication. Marketing majors focus on business and marketing strategy, consumer behavior, market economics and research. PR majors often focus on mass media theory, news writing/editing and PR campaigns.

In industry and in academia, there is a slight perception that PR majors are often “marketing light” or business without the math–and that programs are not as rigorous as their business marketing counterparts. Therefore, it is sometimes assumed that marketing is the stronger choice–possibly supplimented with media writing courses.

In my experience however, PR Specialists come from a variety of related majors–English, communication, marketing, journalism, advertising, etc. And some of the largest, most prestigious agencies are keen on hiring seemingly unrelated humanities and liberal arts majors.

Key to landing that first job in PR, is your out-of-classroom experience (i.e., internship, study abroad), proven writing abilities and strategic thinking skills. Any strong course of study should provide those skills.

Jere answers:

As somebody with degrees in econ and finance, who’s taught econ and finance, and has worked on Wall Street, I can tell you that economics can help here. Not all of economics is related to the stock market, but there are definitely several connections.

For example, in an introductory microeconomics class, you’ll learn about supply and demand. Part of this deals with how prices and quantities are effected and calculated under different conditions. And it’s directly-related to the stock market! How? Well let’s take a stock like Apple for example.

Suppose the company reports earnings that beat analyst expectations. In other words, you were anticipating earnings to be lower. But the company had even better earnings, which is good news! How will this impact the price of Apple stock? It’ll result in a higher price. This is a perfect example of supply and demand in action!

The same can be said about GM’s recent announcement that they’re going to pass on advertising during the Superbowl. How will this decision impact the price of GM stock? How much revenue might they miss out on? Economics looks at decisions and their impacts. So an economic analysis, even on an introductory level, can help you see how GM’s stock might be effected. And the reason(s) why.

There is also a relation between macroeconomics and the stock market. For example, there are some stocks that are more closely tied to how well a country’s economy is doing. So if that country’s economy improves, those stocks will tend to increase. A good example of this is what’s happening in Europe. Spain’s economy is in very serious trouble. As a direct result of this, many European stock markets have fallen.

Even US stock markets, such as the Dow Jones, have been impacted by this. Why? Because US companies operate and/or do business in Europe. So if Europe gets into trouble, that can hurt the US. So that’s why we’ve seen US markets fall over worries about Europe.

So there are connection on both a micro and macroeconomic level. However, finance is where you’ll learn more about stocks in particular. And get into much more detail. But the basic financial principles, and even some of the terminology and concepts have their roots in economics. So finance in a sense is an off-shoot of economics.

Economics can be very helpful in reading the tea leaves. And understanding how stock prices could be impacted by a variety of events, situations, and even what-if scenarios. But finance is where you’ll focus more specifically on stocks. And do things like determining the risks and value of a stock. So finance is where you’ll learn more stuff directly relating to the stock market. Yet the basic principles of finance come from econ.

And even if you didn’t take any finance courses at all, just an introductory micro and/or macro class can be helpful because those concepts and principles can be applied to understanding what stocks may do and/or have been doing.

Jere answers:

There are plenty of sites on the internet where people post their screenplays in the hopes that someone will see them and buy them.

The good news for you is that it’s a buyer’s market; none of the scripts found on the internet will be from a professional screenwriter, they’ll be from someone hoping to be discovered. Which means that you can buy the scripts generally for a song.

The bad news is that none of the scripts found on the internet will be from a professional screenwriter, which means that they may not be all that good. Premise may be good, but execution can – quite often – be sketchy.

What kind of flick do you want to direct? That’s an important question, because you’re the guy who is going to have to come up with a budget, figure out shooting schedules, find actors, get costumes, locate sets, get film permits, etc.

If you go period, you’re looking at a much higher budget than, for example, Clerks.

If you need CGI … Well, you’d either better know how to DO CGI yourself, or you’re going to be out a whole lot of money.

First thing you need to do is figure out what your budget is. Once you’ve go that, you’ll be in a better position to know what kind of film you can create.

If you need anything else, let me know.

Jere answers:

4.1% is decent, and better than your local bank. However, you should consider the Vanguard Prime Money Market Fund with a current compound yield of ~4.7% APR. Https://flagship.vanguard.com/VGApp/hnw/FundsSnapshot?FundId=0030&FundIntExt=INT

If you are in a high tax bracket you may prefer their tax exempt money market funds: https://flagship.vanguard.com/VGApp/hnw/FundsByType

Sometimes other institutions will have a higher teaser rate, but Vanguard tends to have the highest yields I’ve found over the long run. (Vanguard money markets are not FDIC insured, however.)

Article on teaser rates:
http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/banks-advertised-rates-dont-always/story.aspx?guid=%7B0A13B6E2-FFB2-4E2B-BD42-E2D1E01C52E5%7D

ING and HSBC often have rates close to Vanguard, and most of their products are FDIC insured. Bankrate.com provides links to CD’s with high interest rates. You can check these at the following links:

http://home.ingdirect.com/

http://www.us.hsbc.com/1/2/3/personal/savings?code=husa

http://www.bankrate.com/

(If you are investing for a long period of time and are willing to accept some volatility, you should consider putting some money into no-load low-expense mutual funds. These are not guaranteed, but over the long run produce much higher returns.)