STI View by AmFraser

STI in early stages of bottoming out process for 2008 that could drag till October before a sustainable year-end/new year rally sets in.

More... text

Recovery in the US is still distant

None of the preconditions for US recovery are in place

• Debt has not yet been repaid.
• Physical property market not yet stabilised.
• Labour market not yet stabilised.
• Rate increases not needed as wages are subdued.
• Rate cuts not my central case but cannot be ruled out (hardening lending attitudes mean NBPS will not benefit).
• Further financial pressure should be expected.

More... pdf

US needs to reduce reliance on Asia’s money

INTELLIGENCE reports. Unemployment statistics. National-security estimates. Political polls. World leaders sure have their hands full digesting reams of data. The next US president should add this to his must-read list: the Federal Reserve’s H.4.1 table.

More... text / pdf

Asian market fallout set to get far worse

Property, stocks will be hit bad as foreign capital is pulled: symposium speakers

More... text / pdf

Is Gold about to decouple?

Gold has moved with the € and in the opposite direction to the US$ for months now. The main reason is because U.S. Investors have linked the performance of the $ to the € as a true reflection of the $ currency value. Of course this implies that the € is the defining currency against which to measure the performance of the $. But is that even reasonable? We think not.

More... text / pdf

Hands-on mums ‘the best tutors’

CHILDREN whose mothers help them with their studies and communicate regularly with their teachers are more likely to do well in school examinations, a study has found.

More... text / pdf

Fire Bernanke, Hire Trichet: Jim Rogers

“Maybe in 20 years we will have 29-year old farmers driving Maseratis instead of 29–year-old investment bankers driving Maseratis,” he said.

More... text / pdf

HSI Put F5LW.SG

I like to see this warrant testing the upper BB at 0.470 on Monday.

West's White Trash Hypocrisy

When you criticise China, it's called freedom of speech. When you praise China, you lose your job.

A Chinese woman working at Germany’s DW-Radio has been suspended from her job following remarks she made in the media on human rights and other issues in China, the German press has reported.

More... text / pdf

Orchestra admits ‘miming’ at Sydney Olympics in 2000

SYDNEY (AFP) - - Eight years after it hosted an Olympics that were famously hailed as the “best games ever,” Sydney has had to confess that it faked one of the key musical performances at the opening ceremony in 2000.

More... text / pdf

Be the Reason for Somebody’s Happiness

The most beautiful thing is to see a person smiling. And even more beautiful is knowing that you are the reason behind it!

More... pdf

Economy’s Surprise Growth Isn’t Expected to Continue

The economy shifted to a higher gear in the spring, growing at its fastest pace in nearly a year as foreign buyers snapped up U.S. exports and tax rebates spurred shoppers at home. But economists don’t expect the sudden surge to last.

More... text

Pope angry over crucified green frog sculpture

“Art must always be free and the artist should not have any restrictions on freedom of expression,” Claudio Strinati, a superintendent for Rome’s state museums, told an Italian newspaper on Thursday.

More... text / pdf

Shanghai police to shame jaywalkers on television

Shanghai police will post photographs and videos of jaywalkers in newspapers and on television in a bid to shame them out of breaking traffic rules, local media reported on Thursday.

More... text

Buffet Rumours Trigger A-share Tremors

The rumour that vastly successful US investor Warren Buffet，worshiped the “God of Investment” in China, planned to sink $500 million into a Chinese company, but was refused, has triggered a round of speculation in China’s stock market, pushing some companies’ share prices up despite the slumped market. It seems China’s A-share investors are now sensitive to any news or rumours.

More... text

Anwar is back

Video

Anwar, you have my utmost respect for "never say die" attitude.

Asian debt offerings facing a global crisis of trust

An expected deluge of Asian debt offers in September runs the risk of turning into a mirage as issuers grapple with a severe global crisis of trust.

More... text

Mainlanders see prestige value in HK

Buyers have been known to view a HK$100m-plus property for 10 minutes and decide on the spot to buy it - in cash

More... text / pdf

Cheap Chairs

Polygamy is the key to a long life

Want to live a little longer? Get a second wife. New research suggests that men from polygamous cultures outlive those from monogamous ones.

More... text

Life is short. Have an affair to prolong life?

HSI Daily

Parabolic, MACD and Stochastic all pointing up.

HSI vs SIMSCI Relative Performance: Cash/Futures

SIMSCI tracks HSI very closely.

HSI vs DJIA Relative Performance: Cash/Futures

What do you see from this picture?

Govt defends A-G’s stand

Law Minister reiterates that 'not guilty in law' does not mean 'innocent'

This is a classic case of schizophrenic between the executive and the legislature.

When in parliament, the ministers discuss and set laws which are fair. They should not mix up their roles as "government" because otherwise you have a situation where you set laws OR not to set laws to make sure that the governing part is protected.

They should put on the hat of parliamentarians and comment on whether such a law would be fair or not. Keep the government outside parliament.

More... text / pdf

Why Can’t Chinese Cars Compete Internationally?

Since the beginning of 2008, with raw material costs and oil prices rising constantly and “made in China” moving into cooler weather, the Chinese car market has caught a cold and domestic brands are the biggest sneezers.

More... text

Time to track accuracy of analyst calls

IN RESPONSE to a call made last week in this column (BT, Aug 19, ‘Include analyst information in research reports’), a reader wrote in to say he would be compiling data pertaining to analyst performance over the next 12 months to see just how many recommendations actually achieve their target prices, and that once the study is complete, it would be offered for publication in BT.

More... text

Libor Signals Credit Seizing as Banks Balk at Lending

Aug. 25 (Bloomberg) -- Most of the bond strategists and salesmen that Resolution Investment Management Ltd.’s Stuart Thomson talked to last August expected the credit crunch to be long over by now. Instead, money markets show there’s no end in sight, and it may even worsen.

More... text

Lord Action

Power Corrupts:
Absolute Power Corrupts Absolutely.

Axis of Evils

“An evil exists that threatens every man, woman and child of this great nation. We must take steps to ensure our domestic security and protect our homelands.”

Adolf Hitler / George Bush

Who really owns Federal Reserve?

I am a most unhappy man. I have unwittingly ruined my country. A great industrial nation is now controlled by its system of credit.

We are no longer a government by free opinion, no longer a government by conviction and the vote of the majority, but a government by the opinion and duress of a small group of dominant men.

Woodrow Wilson - 1919

Giving people space to let off steam

Tight controls on politics and the Internet are being loosened, giving hope for multi-party democracy in a nation long used to the ruling PAP’s hold on power.

More... text

Why the West is disappointed with Beijing Olympic 2008?

“Before the start of the Games, there were a lot of doubts about Beijing’s ability to host the biggest sports extravaganza in the world - pollution, hygiene conditions, transport and spectators were all concerns,” Mr Fok said. “But at the end of the day, these people witnessed the most successful Olympic Games ever.”

With no screw up to criticise, the West has to resort to the old human rights theme again. So predictable.

Interview with Jim Rogers

That’s one of the advantages of Singapore. The place has an astonishing amount of wealth and only 4 million people. So even if it started squandering it in 2008, which they may be, it’s going to take them forever to do so.

More... pdf

China’s Excess Liquidity Trap

While this situation may sound positive, the associated imbalances in China’s economy are large and increasingly worrisome for China’s leaders. The way China deals with these challenges will have significant national and international implications.

More... text / pdf

China’s the boss, and it’s not even close

BEIJING (AP)—The story line was in place even before they filled the pool inside the Water Cube. This was always going to be China’s Olympics to win, and there wasn’t a lot the United States or anybody else could do about it.

More... text / pdf

Not time for bottom fishing

Stocks, bonds, properties are still in bear markets. They have at least one year to go before hitting bottoms. When they do, they won’t recover quickly. Investors should not hurry for bottom fishing.

More... text / pdf

Foreign exchange reserves cannot be viewed as wealth

However, reserves are not wealth and they cannot be spent domestically.

More... text

‘Made in China’ brand reaps Olympic dividend

BEIJING (AFP) - The Olympics had a negligible direct impact on China’s economy, but analysts say the near flawless organisation of the Games was a priceless 17-day advertisement for the “Made in China” brand.

More... text