Uncle Pie

Treasurys reversed course in the afternoon after seeing strength in a record seven-year note auction: 30-year futures +0.67% to 122-11; 10-year +0.42%; 5-year +0.13%. The dollar tumbled: -1.2% against euro, -0.8% against pound, -1.3% against yen, -1.3% against Swiss franc, -1.4% against Aussie dollar.

The Swiss franc hit parity with the US $ today. I can recall when one US dollar bought FOUR Swiss francs back in the 70s.
Next candidate for parity: the Canadian $, then the Australian $ will follow.
I'm glad that 85% of my retirement income is in currencies other than the US dollar by virtue of my investments in non US dividend paying equities.

Murdoch’s Bing Bluster Will Hurt News Corp, Not Google

Mr. Murdoch is a very angry man. His purchase of Dow Jones is not working out. His anger is reflected through the poisonous hatred being spewed out by his Fox News network. I cancelled my subscriptions to the online Wall St Journal and Barrons when the cost went from $79 to $200/year. They've lost most of their better writers anyway. Who needs them when you have excellent FREE sites like Bloomberg, Reuters, the NY Times, the Financial Post, the Globe and Mail, seekingalpha.com, CNBC and BNN.ca? (to name just a few!) Who needs his anger?

The Top 10 Global Electric Utilities

Looking for a small utility that no one pays any attention to? Consider MGE Energy, holding company for Madison (Wisconsin) Gas & Electric. Trades on NASDAQ, symbol MGEE. Current yield is 4.17%. Has paid dividends regularly since 1909. Has increased its dividend every year since 1976. Madison Gas & Electric has the highest credit rating of any US investor owned utility at AA- from Standard & Poor's. (The average utility rating is BBB). Madison is the capital of Wisconsin and the home of the University of Wisconsin, so the local economy is relatively recession resistant. This writer has been a shareholder of MGEE for 20 years...this stock that has stood the test of time!

The Street's Take on Manulife

Seems like the Variable Annuity is not only a bad deal for the buyers, but for the issuers, as well.

The Complete List of Italian ADR Stocks

If you want the "complete list" go to adr.com, the website of the Bank of New York/Mellon, which is the primary ADR depository, and you'll find all the ADRs of Italian companies listed. There are thirty-eight names, not just seven. You can search by any country you want.

Suncor Energy: Positioned to Benefit from Worldwide Economic Growth

Investors seeking ownership of a multi-decade supply of oil, with no production declines, in a politically secure jurisdiction, should own not only Suncor, SU, but also Canadian Natural Resources, CNQ and Canadian Oil Sands Trust, COSWF. This writer owns shares in all three.

10 Canadian High Yielding Dividend Growth Stocks

This list just scratches the surface! Why no energy shares? There are a quite a few with various yields, some into double digits. Canada is the largest supplier of petroleum to the United States.

David Weidner's advice for the government and [[AIG]]: Let Benmosche go. The CEO of four months has helped morale at the insurer, but by threatening to quit over pay restrictions, he risks making the AIG debate a battle between taxpayers and fat cats - and he's going to lose.

Our government should just call in the loans and put AIG out of its misery. Any counter party that hasn't unwound its positions with AIG by now deserves what it gets.

The Complete List of French ADR Stocks

The "complete list" of French ADRs has 79 names according to the website adr.com, which is run by The Bank of New York Mellon, which is the depository for the ADRs (so they should know).
You will find some names that may be familiar to you that are not included in the "complete list" of just ten names above, like:
BIC, BNP Paribas, Club Med, Danone,Hermes, L'Oreal, LVMH,
Michelin, Peugeot, Societe Generale, Ubisoft and Vivendi, to name a few.

The Complete List of Swiss ADR Stocks

Not a complete list at all: how about Swisscom SCMWY or Roche Holding RHHBY or Zurich Financial ZFSVY? This writer owns some ADRs of all three of these companies, and is happy to receive dividends paid in Swiss Francs. For a complete list of Swiss ADRs, or the ADRs from any country in the world, one need only visit adr.com, where there is an abundance of information.

The Complete List of Australian ADR Stocks

With respect, what is the purpose of these articles listing various ADRs by country? All that information, and much more, is readily available anytime at adr.com. Click on "DR Seach" for a complete list by country, by region, by industry, whatever search criteria you want to use. You get trading symbols, quotes, cusip numbers, charts, a company description, etc, etc.

Utilities: Get Dividends Paid in Euros

Most of the foreign shares that trade with 5-letter symbols in the OTC market (called the pink sheets although I'm pretty sure the pink sheets no longer exist) are ADRs of foreign companies. Because of the Sarbanes Oxley and other regulatory red tape, it costs a foreign company about a million dollars a year in legal fees to be listed so many have just pulled the plug. I bought my Swisscom when it was listed on the NYSE under symbol SCM but they ditched the exchange and the associated fees and now the same ADRs trade OTC under the symbol SCMWY. Foreign companies make their disclosures according to the laws of their respective countries. You can find a lot of information on ADRs at adr.com. "Sponsored" ADRs are ADRs created by a US bank with the cooperation and support of the foreign company. "Unsponsored" ADRs are simply issued by the US bank without the collusion of the foreign company. Some of the OTC ADRs are pretty illiquid. Some trade thousands of shares one day, and zero shares the next. The best place to check trading volume and the bid/ask spread that I know of is the Bloomberg website. Enter the 5 letter symbol in the "quote" box and you should get the previous day's closing price and the current (delayed 15 minutes) bid and ask. And the previous day's trading volume. When in doubt, use limit orders.
Canadian issues that are listed in Toronto trade in the US with five-letter symbols, but they are not ADRs. They are just the US symbols for Toronto listed companies, and most brokers will handle orders for Toronto listed items using the 5-letter symbol. Often there is an extra fee or charge involved. The larger Canadian issuers list their shares on the NYSE and on Toronto, so if you are American you can buy them on the NYSE just like any other stock. The Canadian government withholds 15% of your dividend, but you can claim the tax withheld as a credit on your income tax return, which reduces your tax bill by the exact amount of the tax withheld by Canada. If you receive dividends from a Canadian company in your IRA, there is no withholding tax. I'm not up to date on withholding rules of the other governments. If someone knows of a guide out there, please let me know.


On Nov 02 02:20 PM David Van Knapp wrote:

> Question: My understanding is that pink sheet stocks do not have
> the same disclosure requirements as stocks on major exchanges such
> as NYSE and NASDAQ. So is it true that these companies just don't
> want to "bother with" the major exchanges, or are there risks associated
> with them that may not be obvious but could be very real? Just wondering
> if anyone has information or facts about this.

Utilities: Get Dividends Paid in Euros

In Norway, I have Statoil, the national oil company, STO, and Yara, a fertilizer company, the largest producer of nitrogen fertilizer in the world, if I'm not mistaken. Symbol is YARIY. The five-letter symbol ADRs that are called "pink sheet" issues (although I'm pretty sure the pink sheets no longer exist) can be illiquid. Always check the daily trading volume and the spread between the bid and the ask. The best place to do this I am aware of is the Bloomberg website. Just enter the five letter symbol in the "quote" box and you should get a last sale (maybe from the previous day) and a 15-minute delayed bid and ask, and yesterday's trading volume. Some of these may trade thousands of shares one day, and zero shares another day. Some have tight, some wide bid/ask spreads. When in doubt, use limit orders.


On Nov 02 09:59 AM mbkelly75 wrote:

> An excellent article and Uncle has some good points also. I have
> also been making new investments in solid, dividend-paying companies
> that pay that dividend in a currency other than the US Dollar for
> the same reasons. Mostly Canadian at this time, with some Aussie
> and Swiss also. I have been checking for Norwegian investments. Uncle
> Pie - what are your suggestions here? I have avoided the Pink Sheets
> up until now, but the author makes a good point that I have heard
> in several other places just recently. I may have to expand my views
> here. Thanks to both of you for your work here.

Ten (Out of 290) Stocks that Pay Monthly Dividends

Most of the Canadian Income Trusts, and some of the income trusts that have recently converted to corporations, pay distributions monthly. Some, like ERF, are listed in New York as well as Toronto; the ones with the 5-letter trading symbols in the US trade only on the Toronto Exchange, where they have different symbols. Here are a few in which this writer owns some shares:
Riocan REIT, RIOCF
Baytex Energy Trust, BTE
Crescent Point Energy Corp., CSCTF
Vermilion Energy Trust, VETMF
Arc Energy Trust, AETUF
Pembina Pipeline, PMBIF
Penn West Energy, PWE
The Toronto Stock Exchange website is a good source of data on these companies. Also each company has one or more investor presentations on their website. Love that monthly income!

The Complete List of Indian ADRs

You can get lots of information on ADRs at...surprise!....adr.com