HOW TO BUY FOREIGN STOCKS AND BONDS

by Gerald Warfield ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 27, 1985

An instructive survey of leading securities exchanges outside the US--by the author of the salutary Investor's Guide to Stock Quotations (1983). Internationally diversified portfolios tend to outperform those with only domestic assets, Warfield notes; but there are risks aplenty for the individual investor. His text is chiefly devoted, though, to detailed profiles of ten of the largest foreign exchanges (Amsterdam through Zurich), plus capsule briefings on lesser outposts. In the first instance, Warfield covers local trading operations, settlement provisions, commission rates, and market indexes, as well as the host countries' regulatory environment, withholding taxes, currency, exchange controls, banking structure, etc. Also included are useful addresses, sources of information (in English as needed), brief histories, and explanations of unfamiliar terms. Among other things, readers will learn that The Stock Exchange (as it's known in London) leads the globe in listings, with upwards of 7,000; runner-up Tokyo has about 2,000 and the NYSE 1,500. In West Germany (as in Switzerland), bankers double as brokers; and the yield-minded can traffic in dividend rights certificates (non-equity instruments that entitle holders to specified returns for designated periods). The quietest exchange Warfield found is in high-flying Stockholm, which compiled the best overall record in the three years through 1983; there, members punch bid and/or asked prices into a computer to participate in the auction market. Never less than informative, and surprisingly interesting.

Pub Date: March 27, 1985

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Harper & Row

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 1985

Categories: NONFICTION