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Investing

Investing is a way to make money with your money. First, you have to earn money. As a kid, you get money from allowance, gifts, services, or from selling goods such as lemonade. Try to save some, if not all of this money. The next step is to make your money grow through investing. The chart below illustrates this process.

The earlier you start investing, the sooner you can reach your financial goals. Investing is like "planting" money. A small amount of money invested will often grow to a larger sum over time. Youve heard the phrase, "Time is money." With investing, time also makes money.

Investing Concepts

How does your money grow? Learn about different investment strategies and how to plan and set your goals. Stocks - Want to own a piece of a company? Get the skinny on stocks -- from how they trade to how you can buy them. Mutual Funds - Here's almost everything you'll ever need to know about mutual funds -- including a look at the only mutual funds love.

What are the Risks?

Although investing can make money with money, the downside of investing is that there is a risk of losing your money. The key to investing is to minimize the risk and to maximize the financial reward. For this reason, it is important to understand the many ways to invest money. Let us learn a few basic types of investments. If you want to learn more about financial goals, go to the Financial Goals Calculator.

Disappointing first-quarter profits from consumer-focused companies and a surge in oil prices past $55 per barrel helped push stocks lower Friday as investors, fearing a further economic slowdown, collected profits from the previous session's rally. The Dow Jones industrial average fell 60.89, or 0.6 percent, to 10,157.71. Despite gaining 206 points Thursday, the Dow has seen six losing days, including four 100-point losses, in the last eight sessions. The Standard & Poor's 500 index was down 7.84, or 0.7 percent, at 1,152.11. The Nasdaq composite index lost 30.22, or 1.5 percent, to 1,932.19.

When a 212-year-old bull elephant decides to team up with a nine-year-old cub, something significant is happening. By acquiring Archipelago Holdings, the New York Stock Exchange is transforming its ability to compete with rival exchanges by increasing its ability to handle trading electronically. By becoming a public company, the Big Board will be able to play a leading role in the consolidation of securities trading around the world.

COMPANIES are reeling in their shares hand over fist these days. First-quarter corporate results have brought a new batch of buyback programmesand much food for thought. In the past week alone, BASF, a German chemicals group, has announced a new 1.5 billion share buyback, on top of the 1 billion programme it has just completed. Citigroup and Merrill Lynch, two giants of American finance, have unveiled repurchase plans worth $15 billion and $4 billion respectively. Kerr-McGee, an American oil company, said it would buy back up to $4 billion-worth of its shares. BP, a British oil giant, Franco-Belgian bank Dexia and Germanys Deutsche Brse are also buying back shares.

Just starting out? Need to learn more about bonds or investment strategies? Browse the articles, checklists, and guides found here. Bond Basics - New to the bond market? Learn the what, why, and how in Bond Basics...Learn More What You Should Know - If the first question is what are bonds?, then the next question is, what else do I need to know to become a savvy bond investor? Buying and Selling Bonds - Making decisions on what bonds to buy, how best to buy them, how long you want to hold them, and when you might think about selling. Types of Bonds - The bond market offers investors more choices than the stock market.You can choose from municipal, government, corporate, mortgage-backed or asset-backed securities and international bonds. Bonds at Your Stage of Life - Bonds are an important component of a strategically-balanced portfolio at every stage of any investors life...Learn More

Municipal Market

The latest on the municipal marketplace including our exclusive real-time price information and ticker, in-depth market data, a variety of municipal bond indices, and relevant economic indicators. Invaluable tools for the municipal bond investor. See Municipal Market At-A-Glance

Government Market

A comprehensive view of relevant government and federal agency market data. Check out key indices, and important economic indicators. Use this data to guide your government and agency investment strategy. See Government Market At-A-Glance

Corporate Market

Timely data on corporate bonds including our real-time price information and ticker, in-depth market data, key corporate indices, and relevant economic indicators. A serious toolkit for the corporate bond investor. See Corporate Market At-A-Glance

MBS/ABS Market

General information regarding the mortgage-backed securities and asset-backed securities markets.