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© Lars Plougmann

As automated trading continues to gain popularity in the world's markets, Deutsche Bank has unveiled new stock trading tools that seek to mimic high-speed market-making strategies. Their new algorithm is a revised version of the bank's previous Stealth product.

It will use models that predict price changes over a period of microseconds along with complex quantitative tools that are designed for institutional clients like mutual and pension funds. These traditional investors have feared that high-frequency trading firms are taking the best prices from public markets, with many citing it as their top concern. One solution has been the development of dark pools and block-trading venues like Liquidnet and Pipeline, that allow institutions to trade amongst themselves to avoid the high-speed market makers in the public markets. However, banks are taking the attitude that if you can't beat them, join them, and developing their own algorithmic tools for large block trades.

© USACE Europe District

Top businesses in transportation and supply chain management put a high priority on hiring the best executive leadership teams. That's because these leaders in the Senior Vice President and COO positions are responsible for leading continental operations for the most critical business segments. Large transportation companies can easily have fleets numbering over 100,000 vehicles and hundreds of locations, which means that executives must be able to effectively manage operations of this scale. Many of these large companies are also worthwhile investments, but the management team is a major factor in the investment decision.

Top companies look for proven leadership capability in building and managing large teams to ramp growth, with a focus on efficiency and profitability. They also need to be able to adapt to a changing environment by implementing green policies to conserve fuel and reduce social and environmental impact, for example. Like large businesses in other industries, these companies prefer to hire those with MBA degrees from respected schools.

Ironically, the founder of one of the top transportation companies in the US didn't have an MBA and started the business at the age of 23. More recently, Perry Mandera financial services to community causes is his way of giving back to the Chicago community. He has made generous donations to organizations like the Lynn Sage Cancer Fund, The University of Chicago Hospital, and the Catholic Charities among others.

Mandera even started his own charitable foundation called Custom Cares Charities with a focus on children's charities. His company also contributes to the community as a large employer and innovator in transportation services. His company was recently ISO certified, which is an achievement shared by only 270 other trucking companies around the world. Mandera is a leader in the transportation industry with a positive track record in charitable giving.

From as early as 1991, Mr. Mandera was enjoying the admiration of his community in many different ways. He was a well known businessman and philanthropist who was honored by the Italian American Executives of Transportation (IAET) of Chicago with their annual achievement award. He was the youngest person to receive that honor from this philanthropic and social networking organization for area businessmen. The IAET is an influential organization in Chicago which raises money for chosen causes through social networking events, including an annual golf outing at a country club in Barlett, IL.

Perry Mandera is just one example of a high quality senior executive in a major transportation company. Finding other elite managers and understanding their background is essential when investing your money in transportation companies.

© Katrina.Tuliao

The Stock Trader's Almanac is a well known stock trading tool that gives traders historical market data for every trading day of the year. This useful reference is now available to mobile traders as an app for iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPad for $9.99. The app contains all of the data from the renowned book in an easy-to-use format.

The app offers a wealth of information organized in a calender format. It alerts traders to little-known market patterns and tendencies that can help them to predict market trends with accuracy and confidence. This data is used by well-known finance professionals, including money managers and journalists. The app contains many research tools, including a probability index, which is a graphical representation of the likelihood in a given period of time that the market will rise or fall based on historical performance.