Thursday, July 22, 2010

Three Gorges Dam - Raging Flood Waters

This is off topic, but bears a mention nonetheless.
The Three Gorges Dam is located on the Yangtze river in Hubei province China
more details on the Three Gorges Dam (For anyone who didn't know about it yet, this is one MEGA hydro electricity + flood control project in China)

Torrential rain, flooding and rising water levels resulted in the authorities needing to release water and monitor water levels closely.
Just goes to remind us of the humongous power of nature and her ability to test and sometimes defeat mankinds' ever improving technological and construction engineering skills.
So far, the Dam has survived its massive stress test.

Let's hope the raging waters subside & everything ends peacefully and that loss of life stays at a minimum.

Tuesday, July 20, 2010

BALTIC DRY INDEX

Well this chart is not as positive about the outlook of the world economy, as the guys on Wall Street are!
David Rosenberg refers to the slide in shipping rates since May 2010 as a ''deflationary stand - alone event''

Some may choose not to admit it, but the ''recovery'' is slowing. Lingering debt worries (both sovereign and private), continue to remind us that all is not well, and that it's time to cut back and take some chips off the table.

Friday, July 16, 2010

SHANGHAI COMPOSITE IND. vs. DJIA

The Shanghai Composite is clearly not mirroring the move in the DJIA. Chinese stock markets are testing new lows for the year as concerns of a stumbling recovery in the developed markets continue.

Will we see a revaluation in the Chinese Yuan? Currency markets have been all over the place. The Euro has rebounded of recent panic lows even as sovereign debt troubles in the 'PIIGS' nations remain unresolved.
The USD has given back some of its recent gains, mainly due to an improving risk appetite and the subsequent rebound in global equities.

But as David Rosenberg recently said, are the Chinese Equity markets and the Baltic Dry Index warning investors that we could be in for a difficult second half in FY10?
Perhaps it's now time to be cutting back on risky assets and looking at minimizing portfolio volatility.

Thursday, July 15, 2010

DAVID ROSENBERG ON VOLATILITY

Here are some charts from David Rosenberg.
It's been one hell of a roller coaster and frankly, many investors are now sea sick!!

David Rosenberg has also been alerting our attention to the slumping Chinese equity markets and the Baltic Dry Index, which have had hardly any coverage in the financial news.
These are no ordinary times....

Friday, July 9, 2010

S&P 500 : Where to next??

Global Equity markets are as volatile as ever.

Should you double up on stocks or expect a double dip around the corner instead?
The news flow is almost manic.
Confusing and contradicting data and news flow have made the last few months a rally testing time for investors.

Some pundits are calling for the resumption of a bull market, while others like David Rosenberg and Robert Prechter are expecting the markets to head back down again.

Data from the US Housing market and US unemployment numbers continue to be weak.
Sovereign debt worries have not yet been resolved.

Graham Summers over at ''Gains Pains & Capital'' put up some interesting charts.
(http://www.gainspainscapital.com/)
Perhaps now is not the best time to be doubling up on risk.

Meanwhile as Mr Summers rightly points out, the Bond market is continuing on its upward trend. David Rosenberg is another ''bond'' fan who seeks 'safety and income' at a reasonable price in these volatile markets.

Saturday, July 3, 2010

JON STEWART : An Energy Independent Future!

The Daily Show With Jon StewartMon - Thurs 11p / 10c
An Energy-Independent Future
http://www.thedailyshow.com/
Daily Show Full EpisodesPolitical HumorTea Party

Just remember, it's not just the U.S.A!!!!!

For the forseeable future, Crude Oil will remain the main fuel source driving the world's ''oil hungry'' economies.

As car sales zoom in China & India, consumption of refined petrochemical products will rise.

This means that the world's oil companies will have to continue to drill for crude oil in deep offshore blocks. Increasing fuel efficiency and enforcing ''clean fuel '' norms can only take us so far. It's time to prepare disaster managment plans for deep off shore drilling.

Accidents may occur, but it will be a whole lot better if the drillers and regulators have disaster management plans and solutions in place before such unfortunate accidents occur again, instead of continuing a never ending blame game!