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The New York Stock Exchange trading plunged to the lowest by 26 percent during present quarter since 2001 as competing platforms that include Bats Trading Inc. garnered some share of the market and while the total US equities volume surged.

Investors are trying to stay as far away as possible from the floor brokers, for they are the ones who were dominating trading floor throughout the Big Board’s history.

The ever increasing use of automated strategies forced the NYSE Euronext to renew the system by overhauling it as well as cutting the costs of every transaction to keep abreast with orders that come in a flash.

“We’re trying to make the technology move as fast as we can. The bottom line is that it’s very easy to get started and compete with us. The barriers to entry for someone to get a license and compete with us are lower than they have ever been,” said NYSE Euronext CEO Duncan Niederauer.

“Technicians should be losing sleep over this. I can’t be as trusting of my indicator, because I don’t have all the data,”‘ said Ralph Acampora (40-year Wall Street veteran who helped pioneer technical analysis).

“The competitive arena for U.S. equity trading has never been as intense. We’re in a period of indecision in the marketplace with investors debating whether the recent rebound in the market is a ‘bear trap’ or represents a sustainable rebound in global equity indices,” said head of global equities Ciaran O’Kelly, Bank of America Corp., New York.

A majority of Japanese stocks incurred severe losses as they were being weighed down by trading companies and shipping lines, amidst declining commodity prices and cargo rates.

Companies, like Mitsubishi Corp. and Mitsui & Co. that get greater than one-half of their realized profit from commodities, sent trading companies grazing the bottom. Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha Ltd. after having incurred huge losses led a decline by shipping lines.

“Some investors want to reduce their holdings of commodity-related stocks as volatility increases. I expect the stock market’s nauseating gyrations to continue,” according to said Hideo Arimura, who helps oversee US$26 billion at Mizuho Asset Management Co., Tokyo.

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The Topix index has been swinging, six times, between opposite ends of gains and losses. This has further resulted in ending down 2.98, or about 0.2 percent, to 1,376.69. This week, there has been 1.4 percent gauge lost, trimming a two-month rally by 22 percent up to May 16. The Nikkei 225 Stock Average increased by 33.74, or 0.2 percent, and closed at 14,012.20, and incurred a 1.5 percent loss.

Crude oil fell 1.8 percent, the largest losses ever incurred since April 30, to $130.81 per barrel yesterday. Gold, on the other hand, plunged 1.1 percent from a one-month high. Copper hit bottom this week.

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Chinese stocks incurred heavy losses as they end their worst week ever out of five, amidst concern that the said drop in stocks after the earthquake last week will be much larger than what investors initially expected.

Today the China’s biggest producer of gold, Zijin Mining Group Co., incurred so much losses and is now at its lowest since the first day of trading after the decline in metals. Jiangxi Copper Co. also fell to its lowest this month.

China United Telecommunications Corp., however, showed signs of improvement as it surged before a trading suspension despite reports that China’s phone industry is being reorganized by the government.

“The earthquake has further weakened market sentiment, prompting investors to sell first as they gauge the real loss it has caused to the economy,” according to investment manager Yan Ji, HSBC Jintrust Fund Management Co., Shanghai.

“Market sentiment is pretty weak. Any negative factor, such as the retreat in commodity prices, will trigger selling of related shares,” said fund manager Wu Kan, Dazhong Insurance Co., Shanghai.

The earthquake that wrecked havoc on Sichuan province May 12 had a magnitude of 7.9. The calamity was the cause of death of greater than 55,000 people.

The earthquake disrupted production that of course resulted in losses. Companies such as Sichuan Hongda Chemical Industry Co. and Dongfang Electric Co. have suffered tremendous losses that reached an estimated 67 billion yuan (about US$9.6 billion), according to the Ministry of Industry and Information.

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A number of U.S. carriers that include United Airlines parent UAL Corp. incurred losses in New York trading, taking a benchmark stock index to its lowest week since the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, based on speculations that the risk for bankruptcy is increasing.

The sudden rise this week by 2.3 percent (86 percent 12 months) in jet fuel prices has been stripping the airlines of cash and prompting analysts to increase their loss estimates’ scope.

“We view the value of the stocks as primarily coming from the chance that fuel prices plummet before the carriers must seek bankruptcy court protection. This is certainly one possible outcome, but we are not holding out much hope,” said analyst Kevin Crissey, UBS Securities LLC.

“If [jet fuel] prices continue to go higher, some of the airlines could be at risk of bankruptcy by early next year,” according to Philip Baggaley, Standard & Poor’s analyst.

The biggest US carriers may be in for a $7.2 billion operating loss in 2008. Northwest Airlines Corp., US Airways and AMR are most definitely the ones who will seek protection under Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

In Tokyo, rubber futures escalated in 28 years to a record high as surging oil prices made manufacturing of synthetic rubber more costly, thus shifting traders’ attention to natural rubber.

As Chinese stockpiles, for an eleventh week, declined, and rubber was able to rise by as much as 3.4 percent. The reason why synthetic rubber is so tied up with oil is that it is made from a petroleum distillate called naphta.

Today Thailand, the biggest rubber exporter and manufacturer, raised offer prices due to slow production, increasing costs for the biggest car manufacturer of Japan — Toyota Motor Corp., and tire producer Bridgestone Corp., which forecasts that there will be decline in profit by 32 percent this year because of rising costs of raw material.

Being the fastest-growing major economy of the world, China is importing more and more rubber as economic growth pushes the demand for cars and trucks.

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“Both natural and synthetic rubber are used for tires and increased prices are negative for earnings of tire makers and carmakers. Rising material prices may eventually weaken demand,” according to analyst Jun Nishimuta, Kanetsu Asset Management Co., Tokyo.

“Prices were also boosted by strong demand from China, where rubber stockpiles were drawn down to a very low level,” said strategist Kazuhiko Saito, Interes Capital Management Co., Tokyo.

A reverse mortgage is where you capitalize on the value of your home. It’s like a deferred sale. You approach the bank, or the bank’s salespeople approach you, and if you agree to the terms, they either pay you a lump sum amount that is based on the value of the home, or they agree to pay you a monthly amount, which once more depends on the valuation of your property.

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Usually monthly income is provided until your death, or if you are married, the death of your spouse too, and then the bank takes possession of your home. It’s like taking your home out to pay for the remainder of your years.

In countries like the US, it’s a very popular scheme, and is available to senior citizens above the age of 62. The banks usually give you up to 60% of the value of your home, which can be fairly substantial for the average individual considering that he/she gets to spend the rest of their life in it as well.

It must be noted, that banks often charge costs which can turn out to be rather expensive, amounting to up to 5% or more of your home. The details will depend on the specific scheme that you take out, and different countries have different implementations of the same thing.

It’s often touted as an advantage, that going green is cheaper by saving energy, and preventing the waste of paper. However, it seems that the initial cost of doing this is rather more than the average couple can afford.

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The running costs may be low, but the capital investments might eat you out of house and home. Ironic, considering the fact that you want to use the money on your home in the first place.

Examples are using Polyethylene tubing which is energy efficient for plumbing jobs. The issue is that the plumbers who are qualified to work with such materials are too expensive. Another issue is with radiant floor heating, which consists of tubes of hot water that run under the floor. I can save you energy costs, but the problem is the insulation which costs a bomb.

Other expensive implements are a garden on the roof to keep the roofs warm in summer, and solar hot water and electric systems. Hiring a good energy expert can yield some interesting ideas that may not cost too much. Also, a financial planner to help you understand the effects that such restoration will have may not be out of place.

However, I feel that the primary reason for the high costs, is the lack of mass acceptance by others. Once this happens (and it’s bound to happen), living green will definitely be cheaper.

Nowadays, it’s so easy for a person to know nothing about the stock markets, and still make good viable investments. Mutual funds and fund managers have taken almost the bogeyman out of investing.

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However, there are some brave souls who want to brave it alone. To battle the elements and storms of the stock market without a middle man to buffer them. These people spend hours doing their own research into companies, and hope that they will be able to spot those firms that will do well in the future.

When Google was still a private company, it’s employees could purchase shares at just $0.3 per share. Anyone who spent $10,000 on their shares at that time, would have made a profit of over a million dollars by now! It’s very clear why investors are willing to take this chance for the insane returns.

Inspired by people like Warren Buffet who have consistently beat the market for years together, they hope to do a better job picking and selecting their stocks than Mutual Fund managers, who charge you a fee for doing it. They try and do a ‘Fundamental Analysis’, which assumes that share prices as they exist can contain inaccuracies.

This differs from the basics of ‘Technical Analysis’ which assumes that all information is already present in the market, and ultimately, Fundamental Analysis is a waste of time. In future articles, we are going to explore more about fundamental analysis.

The Economic Value Added Metric (EVA) is a measure of how well a company is able to deliver returns over and above the cost of capital.

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We have already seen in an earlier post, a metric used to assess the position and pricing of a stock, namely the P/E Ratio. Among other things, the P/E ratio is not a static assessment of a stock, and depends heavily on the market assessment of the stock (The ‘P’).

The Economic Value Added Metric (EVA), is more objective that the P/E ratio, and was developed by Stern Stewart & Co. and is their registered trademark.

To find out the EVA, one needs to know the Net Operating Profit after Taxes (NOPAT), and the current cost of capital. EVA is then calculated as: NOPAT - (Cost of Capital) x Total Capital Invested. As you can see, if the company outperforms, the EVA is positive.

This metric is only used for shareholder assessment, and is thus fairly unimportant for anything else. In spite of it’s usefulness however, it is sometimes criticized for giving inaccurate results unless the NOPAT is completely accurate. Inaccuracies can even include not taking into account depreciation, and is therefore hard to be spot on.

It would be nice if people can see hope on the horizon. But what exactly is the horizon, where is it, and how do you see it? Let’s look at some indicators that tell us the status of the economy.

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The first and foremost indicator, is the attitude of companies and how upbeat they feel about their future prospects. If they feel their prospects are good, they will hire people, and those people will have jobs, and more money to spend, and consequently raise the level of demand for products.

The next indicator is the housing inventory. This means the average number of months it takes to sell off a house. People buy real estate if they’re confident about the market, and if the inventory falls below six months, historically, it can signal the end of a recession.

The next indicator, is the Yield curve, which compares the prices of short term and long term bonds. Typically, long term bonds have higher interest rates since you’re keeping your cash there for a long time. An inverted yield curve, is when that relationship is reversed, and short term bonds give better returns than long term ones.

So keep your eye out for these signs. They might raise your hope, and that of all your friends that the crisis is coming to an end.