Apple market capitalisation exceeds Exxon’s

For a few moments today, Apple was the most valuable company in the world. I link through BoingBoing so you can read the comments on whether this is a sign of changing times.

Distribution of stock ownership in the USA: Note that 50.9% [Owned by top 1% of population] + 39.4% [Owned by next 2% of population] = 90.3% of all stocks are owned by just 3% of the population!
Graph from: http://donklephant.com

52 quotes from Warren Buffett

Here are 52 quotes from Warren Buffett.
My favourites:
8. I never attempt to make money on the stock market. I buy on the assumption that they could close the market the next day and not reopen it for five years.
21. Most people get interested in stocks when everyone else is. The time to get interested is when no one else is. You can’t buy what is popular and do well.
25. Only when the tide goes out do you discover who’s been swimming naked.
26. Our favorite holding period is forever.
30. Rule No.1: Never lose money. Rule No.2: Never forget rule No.1.

Investment measures illustrated

I am not convinced that it is the best way to understand such things, but this site specializes in explaining investment ratios (and other financial terms) using illustrations, instead of the usual mathematical formulas.

The illustration above shows the quick ratio (also known as the acid test), a commonly-used measure of a company's ability to pay money that it owes in the short term. The quick ratio is actually defined as:

Basically, it just measures how much money you have available (the top of the ratio = assets on hand minus what you have to pay to keep the business running) divided by how much you owe (the bottom part; 'liabilities' are what the company owes. Bank overdrafts, which is how much your bank allows you to go into the hole, are excluded since they are on-going, more or less permanent ways of borrowing). It is best if the quick ratio is at least 1: you don't want to own or invest in (same thing, really) a company that has a ratio lower than 1, because it means that the company does not have enough quickly-available assets to pay its soon-due debts.

Four crashes

Click the image for a larger version.