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How To Beat The Stock Market: Buy Companies With High Customer Satisfaction Scores

A study in the Journal of Marketing concludes that you can beat the market consistently by buying stock in companies with high customer satisfaction ratings:

Using a back-tested paper portfolio and an actual case, the authors of a study published in the Journal of Marketing found that companies at the top 20% of the the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI) greatly outperformed the the stock market, generating a 40% return. From 1996-2003, the portfolio outperformed the Dow Jones Industrial Average by 93%, the S&P 500 by 201%, and NASDAQ by 335%.

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China expects trade surplus of $168 billion for 2006

The Chinese trade surplus will swell by 65 percent to a record $168 billion this year, the Chinese customs bureau said Thursday, less than a week before the U.S. Treasury secretary, Henry Paulson, travels to Beijing to discuss ways to reduce the gap.

Full-year exports will rise 27 percent to $963 billion and imports will climb 20 percent to $795 billion, the bureau said on its Web site. The trade surplus through November reached $157 billion.

China's ballooning trade surplus has flooded its economy with cash and sparked calls from the United States and Europe for Beijing to let its currency rise faster and to crack down on counterfeiting.

» Search Financial-Specific Tags: Chinese Trade - Trade Surplus - International Trade
» IHT

Equities Swing With Harvard MBAs

Mr. Soifer tracks how many Harvard Business School graduates choose market-sensitive jobs each year. If 10% or less of that year's class take jobs in investment banking, investment management, sales & trading, venture capital, private equity, or leveraged buy-outs, it's a long-term 'buy' signal.

If 30% or more take such jobs, it's a long-term 'sell.'

This year, some 37% of Harvard Business School's graduate found work on Wall Street, up from 30% a year ago and 26% for the Class of 2004. The trend suggests that Wall Street is becoming bloated and the American economy is ripe for a slowdown.

» New York Sun