Making the Market To lubricate their transactions, market makers need a supply, or inventory of the securities they support. This can either be real certificates, or via a process called 'stock lending' (don't worry about THAT one yet - it basically means they borrow stock or "pretend" they have it). Once you have an inventory of stock, and the concept of 'spread' (or 'edge'), a marvelous opportunity opens up. The average price at which a market maker accumulates a security and the average price at which he distributes it are going to be different. Add this to the fact that the market maker sets the price tick by tick, and boom! A license to print money. Observe closely, this is a good trick. [More] Why Your Mutual Fund Doesn't Return as Much as You Think Now let's revisit that $1,000 you invested in the average mutual fund last January. By December, you would have paid about $18 in fees and about $12 in capital gains taxes. So you lost about $30 on your $1,000 investment, not $3.70. That's about a 3% decline rather than the 0.37% drop reported recently by fund-tracking firm Lipper Inc. The 0.37% decline is the gross return of the average US stock fund and does not include taxes or fees. [More] Risk and Reward Now what if you are trading stocks with an entry and an exit point already predefined; that is where do I get in and where do I get out. That strategy might be good but that is not risk and reward. The most important question is how much am I invested and how much do I get out. What is the % of risk on each stock position in the portfolio and what is the risk to the total portfolio [More] Wal-Mart to Sell Generic Drugs for $4 in Florida Today I was looking at my stock ticker chart and saw shares of CVS and Walgreens plunging (I don’t own those stocks but have been watching them). I didn’t realize why until I heard the big news on CNBC. Walmart is going to start offering generic prescription drugs for just $4 in Florida and th. "Destroy the Fear of Success!" Wow, I am Finally back!  It has been a great but very busy couple of weeks.&. Topps Posts Strong Earnings Topps (TOPP) banked a second-quarter profit of %243.4 million, or eight cents per share...(Read More).