Squirrels are uncommon in urban area of Hong Kong. Following video clip is captured in Hong Kong Park which is located in Admiralty, the commercial and financial district of Hong Kong.
Saturday, January 29, 2011
Friday, January 28, 2011
Thursday, January 27, 2011
Space Adventures Concludes Agreement to Offer Commercial Spaceflight Opportunities to the International Space Station
Three seats available beginning in 2013.
January 12 2011
Space Adventures, the only company that has provided human space mission opportunities to the world marketplace, announced today the conclusion of an agreement with the Federal Space Agency of the Russian Federation (FSA) and Rocket Space Corporation Energia (RSC Energia) to commercially offer three seats on the Soyuz spacecraft bound for the International Space Station (ISS), beginning in 2013.
These seats will be made available through the increase of Soyuz production, from four to five spacecraft per year. Each flight will be short duration, approximately 10 days, and will contribute to the increase of launch capacity to the ISS.
"We are extremely excited to announce this agreement and would like to thank our Russian partners in increasing Soyuz production and providing Space Adventures these well sought-after transportation services on the only commercially available manned spacecraft currently in operation," said Eric Anderson, Chairman of Space Adventures. "Since Guy Laliberte's mission, there has been an increase of interest by private individuals, organizations and commercial entities seeking ways to access the space station. We have been speaking with these parties about science, education and multi-media programs and hope to make some major announcements in the coming year."
Space Adventures became world-renowned 10 years ago with the launch of Dennis Tito, the world's first privately-funded space explorer. Since then, the company has arranged seven additional missions to the ISS. Cumulatively, our clients have spent almost three months in space, traveling over 36 million miles, and have been true ambassadors in sharing their experience and explaining to millions of people around the world why it's important to explore space," continued Mr. Anderson.
"We are very pleased to continue space tourism with Space Adventures. Also, the addition of a fifth Soyuz spacecraft to the current manifest will add flexibility and redundancy to our ISS transportation capabilities. We welcome the opportunity to increase our efforts to meet the public demand for access to space," said Alexei Krasnov, Director of Human Spaceflight of FSA.
In support of the continued partnership between FSA, Energia and Space Adventures, Vitaly Lopota, President of RSC Energia, commented, "We were first in the space tourism marketplace and we are glad to expand our capabilities by adding a fifth Soyuz and to use these three additional opportunities for commercial flight participants, starting in 2013."
Space Adventures, the company that organized the flights for the world's first private space explorers, is headquartered in Vienna, Va. with an office in Moscow. It offers a variety of programs such as the availability today for spaceflight missions to the International Space Station and around the moon, Zero-Gravity flights, cosmonaut training, spaceflight qualification programs and reservations on future suborbital spacecraft. The company's advisory board includes Apollo 11 moonwalker Buzz Aldrin, Shuttle astronauts Sam Durrance, Tom Jones, Byron Lichtenberg, Norm Thagard, Kathy Thornton, Pierre Thuot, Charles Walker, and Skylab/Shuttle astronaut Owen Garriott.
Space Adventures, Ltd
8000 Towers Crescent Drive
Suite 1000
Vienna, VA 22182
According to the Russian News Network on January 25 reported that the U.S. private space travel, Virginia, Eric Anderson, president recently announced in Munich, Germany in 2015 aboard a Russian "alliance" of the first spacecraft to the moon tour tickets have been sold, tickets price is 1.5 million.
United States, "Space Adventures" Anderson, 23, president of Tourism in Munich, Germany "digital life" speech at the seminar said the first time in human history, from the moon's commercial manned space flight is expected to take place in 2015, visitors will take the Russian private "Union" flying lunar spacecraft now in one of two seats have been sold. He refused to disclose the names of the lunar tourists, but one can guess that he was a famous figure. Company and the second lunar tourists coming to an end of negotiations.
According to the plan, visitors will be accompanied by a Russian astronaut, aboard the Russian "alliance" spacecraft into space. Landing on the lunar surface as the technical requirements are too high, they will only be 100 km away from the lunar surface, the height of lunar flight. "Union" spacecraft capable of carrying a pilot and two passengers into space. Plan "the Moon Tour" from time-consuming and 9 days, of which 3 days are in Earth orbit, up to 5 half days flying around the moon. Anderson said: "We will upgrade communications systems Soyuz, and will increase the window for tourists taking pictures."
Apart from wealth, the moon travelers will need time to train for the mission, and must meet certain health requirements.
U.S. "space adventure" travel company founded in 1998, mainly for the rich to provide the opportunity to fly in space. As has already successfully organized the 8th to the International Space Station, space tourist trip.
"Union" spaceship Owner, Moscow, "Energy" Rocket Space Corporation commercial flight made two lunar program. The first is the "alliance" with the spacecraft and launch vehicle from the booster module, the access to low Earth orbit, the use of boost the engine to the moon, and then the module from the spacecraft and booster, the spacecraft began to fly around the Moon, and then return to Earth Landing is expected to last for the whole trip 8-9 days; second option is the "Union" the first spacecraft to reach the International Space Station, and then docking module with the boost, fly to the moon, is expected to last for the whole trip 9-21 days.
January 12 2011
Space Adventures, the only company that has provided human space mission opportunities to the world marketplace, announced today the conclusion of an agreement with the Federal Space Agency of the Russian Federation (FSA) and Rocket Space Corporation Energia (RSC Energia) to commercially offer three seats on the Soyuz spacecraft bound for the International Space Station (ISS), beginning in 2013.
These seats will be made available through the increase of Soyuz production, from four to five spacecraft per year. Each flight will be short duration, approximately 10 days, and will contribute to the increase of launch capacity to the ISS.
"We are extremely excited to announce this agreement and would like to thank our Russian partners in increasing Soyuz production and providing Space Adventures these well sought-after transportation services on the only commercially available manned spacecraft currently in operation," said Eric Anderson, Chairman of Space Adventures. "Since Guy Laliberte's mission, there has been an increase of interest by private individuals, organizations and commercial entities seeking ways to access the space station. We have been speaking with these parties about science, education and multi-media programs and hope to make some major announcements in the coming year."
Space Adventures became world-renowned 10 years ago with the launch of Dennis Tito, the world's first privately-funded space explorer. Since then, the company has arranged seven additional missions to the ISS. Cumulatively, our clients have spent almost three months in space, traveling over 36 million miles, and have been true ambassadors in sharing their experience and explaining to millions of people around the world why it's important to explore space," continued Mr. Anderson.
"We are very pleased to continue space tourism with Space Adventures. Also, the addition of a fifth Soyuz spacecraft to the current manifest will add flexibility and redundancy to our ISS transportation capabilities. We welcome the opportunity to increase our efforts to meet the public demand for access to space," said Alexei Krasnov, Director of Human Spaceflight of FSA.
In support of the continued partnership between FSA, Energia and Space Adventures, Vitaly Lopota, President of RSC Energia, commented, "We were first in the space tourism marketplace and we are glad to expand our capabilities by adding a fifth Soyuz and to use these three additional opportunities for commercial flight participants, starting in 2013."
Space Adventures, the company that organized the flights for the world's first private space explorers, is headquartered in Vienna, Va. with an office in Moscow. It offers a variety of programs such as the availability today for spaceflight missions to the International Space Station and around the moon, Zero-Gravity flights, cosmonaut training, spaceflight qualification programs and reservations on future suborbital spacecraft. The company's advisory board includes Apollo 11 moonwalker Buzz Aldrin, Shuttle astronauts Sam Durrance, Tom Jones, Byron Lichtenberg, Norm Thagard, Kathy Thornton, Pierre Thuot, Charles Walker, and Skylab/Shuttle astronaut Owen Garriott.
Space Adventures, Ltd
8000 Towers Crescent Drive
Suite 1000
Vienna, VA 22182
According to the Russian News Network on January 25 reported that the U.S. private space travel, Virginia, Eric Anderson, president recently announced in Munich, Germany in 2015 aboard a Russian "alliance" of the first spacecraft to the moon tour tickets have been sold, tickets price is 1.5 million.
United States, "Space Adventures" Anderson, 23, president of Tourism in Munich, Germany "digital life" speech at the seminar said the first time in human history, from the moon's commercial manned space flight is expected to take place in 2015, visitors will take the Russian private "Union" flying lunar spacecraft now in one of two seats have been sold. He refused to disclose the names of the lunar tourists, but one can guess that he was a famous figure. Company and the second lunar tourists coming to an end of negotiations.
According to the plan, visitors will be accompanied by a Russian astronaut, aboard the Russian "alliance" spacecraft into space. Landing on the lunar surface as the technical requirements are too high, they will only be 100 km away from the lunar surface, the height of lunar flight. "Union" spacecraft capable of carrying a pilot and two passengers into space. Plan "the Moon Tour" from time-consuming and 9 days, of which 3 days are in Earth orbit, up to 5 half days flying around the moon. Anderson said: "We will upgrade communications systems Soyuz, and will increase the window for tourists taking pictures."
Apart from wealth, the moon travelers will need time to train for the mission, and must meet certain health requirements.
U.S. "space adventure" travel company founded in 1998, mainly for the rich to provide the opportunity to fly in space. As has already successfully organized the 8th to the International Space Station, space tourist trip.
"Union" spaceship Owner, Moscow, "Energy" Rocket Space Corporation commercial flight made two lunar program. The first is the "alliance" with the spacecraft and launch vehicle from the booster module, the access to low Earth orbit, the use of boost the engine to the moon, and then the module from the spacecraft and booster, the spacecraft began to fly around the Moon, and then return to Earth Landing is expected to last for the whole trip 8-9 days; second option is the "Union" the first spacecraft to reach the International Space Station, and then docking module with the boost, fly to the moon, is expected to last for the whole trip 9-21 days.
Wealth Inflation: Investors Chasing High Return Assets With Extreme Caution
After setting 52-week high, equity stock market turns back on the last day of week with a loss. Although investors are very cautious, selling appears to be executed orderly. Trading volume does not surge significantly on fear. Wealth effect has benefited investors and increases the confidence to hold hard assets such as equity stocks. Market participants have diversified attitude on trading strategy. Day trading activities increase as some investors increase speculative holding which are flipped for quick profit. Some investors are afraid of a possible correction and temporarily stay on the sideline. A small portion of investors start to turn to real estate for long term investment.
Equity stock remains the favorite investment among household investors because of dividend yield. Treasuries and bonds are less attractive. Real estate has maintenance cost and other expenses. But the intrinsic value is much higher than market value and hence much room for appreciation. Federal Reserve has successfully avoided a collapse in the financial market. The wealth effect will continually boost economic activities despite the fact that it creates a wider wealth gap between the haves and have-nots.
Market may need time for consolidation before advancing further. Investors confidence remains fragile until a recovery on grassroots economy which would benefit a larger portion of household.
Shutting Out the New Traders
High-frequency traders were blamed for speeding last year's flash crash. High-frequency trading firms love to buy from and sell to "dumb" individual and institutional investors. Individuals tend to place market orders rather than using limit orders at or below the bid price. Thus, they pay the maximum. As for mutual funds and other institutional investors, they are easily front-run by the new trading operations, which have faster access to market data as well as faster trading computers. If the funds are buying a particular stock, the traders' computers can detect this activity, buy up shares ahead of the fund and sell it back to the fund for a profit of a cent or two. This runs up the costs for mutual fund investors.
Brace Yourself: Peter Schiff Predicts U.S. "Inflationary Nightmare", Made in China
From the weather, to speculators, to greedy corporations, inflation’s "got nothing to do with those factors” and everything to do with the money supply, says Schiff.
Inflation "is the consequence of what the government has done to try to stimulate the economy,” he says, referring to quantitative easing and stimulus spending. Basically, the Fed has had to print money in order to pay for this country’s huge deficits, which in turn has pushed up the price of just about everything priced in dollars, which remains the world's reserve currency.
"As the Chinese currency increases in strength, the dollar must decrease," he explains. "And, so Americans [would] experience higher prices, falling purchasing power and a lower standard of living.”
Stocks Priced for 'Perfection'? No, But "Pretty Close," Author Says
As we've already seen in Ireland and Greece, and now potentially in the U.K., austerity measures tend to bring about some short-term pain; what's unknown is whether the long-term gains are worth it, assuming they do emerge.
"Never Buy Another Stock Again": An Investing Guide for the Rest of Us
With the Dow nearing 12,000, many would like you to believe it’s a stock-pickers market. But, if you ask Reuters market editor David Gaffen, he’d disagree.
His point, not only is it too time consuming for individual investors to research individual stocks, investing fees are also costly and eat into returns. On top of that, if you don’t carefully monitor each and every stock in your portfolio, you could end up stuck in a stock that tanks.
Even for the best and brightest investors – includlng those whose manage money for a living – it’s not that easy, says Gaffen. He points to the most recent bear market where even some of the best fund managers lost a lot of money.
Dow Jones average falls after hitting 12,000
The last time the Dow closed above 12,000 was June 19, 2008, just as the financial crisis was worsening.
Davos: Soros Speaks
The World Economic Forum in Davos attracts a particular kind of financier and corporate honcho. The folks who flock to this out-of-the-way ski town in the Alps in January are plenty worried about the bottom line and their personal portfolios.
But the reporters were primarily interested in hearing what the oracular investor had to say. As he usually does, Soros spoke about his philosophy of history and the markets. "Markets, left to their own devices, don't tend towards equilibrium. They are prone to create bubbles. So, actually, bubbles are just as characteristic of financial markets as equilibrium."
U.S. manufacturing profits suggest stronger economy
U.S. manufacturing companies posted higher-than-expected results, as sharply improved margins boosted profits amid strong industrial demand and growth in emerging markets.
Citi's Buckland Says Global Stocks Will "Grind Higher" in 2011, Led by #Surprise!# Japan
“We expect earnings and share prices to reengage in 2011,” he tells Aaron in the accompanying video. Last year earnings finally caught up to share prices. This year, Buckland believes earnings will rise 11-12% and share prices will follow.
Buffett's Options for His Mountain of Cash
According to a Sept. 30, 2010 filing, Berkshire Hathaway has $34.46 billion in cash. While it is possible, the chance that Buffett would be satisfied simply standing by and watching his money pile continue grow in size is slim. In the past, he has clearly expressed his negative feelings towards the idea of holding cash as a long term investment.
Paulson's $5 billion payout shocks, raises questions
Billionaire hedge fund manager John Paulson, whose bet against the overheated housing market made him one of the world's wealthiest people, became a lot richer last year.
By earning an estimated $5 billion in 2010 thanks mainly to bets the economy would recover, Paulson likely set a record for the $1.9 trillion hedge fund industry's biggest-ever year's earnings. He beat his own record, which he set in 2007 with a $4 billion haul made off the subprime bet.
More generally, Paulson's eye-popping payday confirms that hedge funds are still Wall Street's gold mine, where hefty fees make hundreds of managers extremely rich. But it also underscores concerns among investors that they may not always be getting their money's worth, especially when hedge fund returns lag behind the broader markets.
Equity stock remains the favorite investment among household investors because of dividend yield. Treasuries and bonds are less attractive. Real estate has maintenance cost and other expenses. But the intrinsic value is much higher than market value and hence much room for appreciation. Federal Reserve has successfully avoided a collapse in the financial market. The wealth effect will continually boost economic activities despite the fact that it creates a wider wealth gap between the haves and have-nots.
Market may need time for consolidation before advancing further. Investors confidence remains fragile until a recovery on grassroots economy which would benefit a larger portion of household.
Shutting Out the New Traders
High-frequency traders were blamed for speeding last year's flash crash. High-frequency trading firms love to buy from and sell to "dumb" individual and institutional investors. Individuals tend to place market orders rather than using limit orders at or below the bid price. Thus, they pay the maximum. As for mutual funds and other institutional investors, they are easily front-run by the new trading operations, which have faster access to market data as well as faster trading computers. If the funds are buying a particular stock, the traders' computers can detect this activity, buy up shares ahead of the fund and sell it back to the fund for a profit of a cent or two. This runs up the costs for mutual fund investors.
Brace Yourself: Peter Schiff Predicts U.S. "Inflationary Nightmare", Made in China
From the weather, to speculators, to greedy corporations, inflation’s "got nothing to do with those factors” and everything to do with the money supply, says Schiff.
Inflation "is the consequence of what the government has done to try to stimulate the economy,” he says, referring to quantitative easing and stimulus spending. Basically, the Fed has had to print money in order to pay for this country’s huge deficits, which in turn has pushed up the price of just about everything priced in dollars, which remains the world's reserve currency.
"As the Chinese currency increases in strength, the dollar must decrease," he explains. "And, so Americans [would] experience higher prices, falling purchasing power and a lower standard of living.”
Stocks Priced for 'Perfection'? No, But "Pretty Close," Author Says
As we've already seen in Ireland and Greece, and now potentially in the U.K., austerity measures tend to bring about some short-term pain; what's unknown is whether the long-term gains are worth it, assuming they do emerge.
"Never Buy Another Stock Again": An Investing Guide for the Rest of Us
With the Dow nearing 12,000, many would like you to believe it’s a stock-pickers market. But, if you ask Reuters market editor David Gaffen, he’d disagree.
His point, not only is it too time consuming for individual investors to research individual stocks, investing fees are also costly and eat into returns. On top of that, if you don’t carefully monitor each and every stock in your portfolio, you could end up stuck in a stock that tanks.
Even for the best and brightest investors – includlng those whose manage money for a living – it’s not that easy, says Gaffen. He points to the most recent bear market where even some of the best fund managers lost a lot of money.
Dow Jones average falls after hitting 12,000
The last time the Dow closed above 12,000 was June 19, 2008, just as the financial crisis was worsening.
Davos: Soros Speaks
The World Economic Forum in Davos attracts a particular kind of financier and corporate honcho. The folks who flock to this out-of-the-way ski town in the Alps in January are plenty worried about the bottom line and their personal portfolios.
But the reporters were primarily interested in hearing what the oracular investor had to say. As he usually does, Soros spoke about his philosophy of history and the markets. "Markets, left to their own devices, don't tend towards equilibrium. They are prone to create bubbles. So, actually, bubbles are just as characteristic of financial markets as equilibrium."
U.S. manufacturing profits suggest stronger economy
U.S. manufacturing companies posted higher-than-expected results, as sharply improved margins boosted profits amid strong industrial demand and growth in emerging markets.
Citi's Buckland Says Global Stocks Will "Grind Higher" in 2011, Led by #Surprise!# Japan
“We expect earnings and share prices to reengage in 2011,” he tells Aaron in the accompanying video. Last year earnings finally caught up to share prices. This year, Buckland believes earnings will rise 11-12% and share prices will follow.
Buffett's Options for His Mountain of Cash
According to a Sept. 30, 2010 filing, Berkshire Hathaway has $34.46 billion in cash. While it is possible, the chance that Buffett would be satisfied simply standing by and watching his money pile continue grow in size is slim. In the past, he has clearly expressed his negative feelings towards the idea of holding cash as a long term investment.
Paulson's $5 billion payout shocks, raises questions
Billionaire hedge fund manager John Paulson, whose bet against the overheated housing market made him one of the world's wealthiest people, became a lot richer last year.
By earning an estimated $5 billion in 2010 thanks mainly to bets the economy would recover, Paulson likely set a record for the $1.9 trillion hedge fund industry's biggest-ever year's earnings. He beat his own record, which he set in 2007 with a $4 billion haul made off the subprime bet.
More generally, Paulson's eye-popping payday confirms that hedge funds are still Wall Street's gold mine, where hefty fees make hundreds of managers extremely rich. But it also underscores concerns among investors that they may not always be getting their money's worth, especially when hedge fund returns lag behind the broader markets.
Friday, January 21, 2011
Confused Investors: Greed vs Risk
Market rally finally came to a halt with the announcement of Goldman Sachs quarterly result. Many investors are expecting a correction to re-enter the market. As mentioned in previous week's post, individual investors stopped buying in the previous week but still holding with existing stocks. But investors' mentality change very quickly. Goldman's disappointing result causes panic selling despite Apple's and IBM's strong result. Individual investors recalled memory of last year's flash crash and sold stocks to protect profit gained in the rally. The shadow of financial crisis loomed in the mind.
On the other hand, institutional investors and hedge funds remained relatively calm. As a consequence, the trading volume is only moderately higher. Sell-off is most dominant in the financial and technology sectors. Decline in the former sector is due to unsatisfactory result in some banks and the latter is due to overbought during the rally. Some investors are rotating sectors and slowly accumulating positions in the portfolio.
In the coming week, individual investors may continue to liquidate the portfolio to protect profit. However, due to wealth effect the core holdings will be kept for long term appreciation. Therefore although individual investors are no longer driving the market up, there is little chance of a market crash either. Some individual investors have already taken profit before the rally ends and are waiting on the sideline with cash to re-enter market again. Hedge funds currently do not have heavy holding in equity stocks. Seeing a potential strong support at lower level, hedge funds would not risk to sell down the market. Instead hedge funds are using available cash to accumulate positions.
Although it was mentioned in last week's post that there is risk for holding positions overnight, greed resulted in such a mistake. A heavy position in leveraged financial ETF was initiated on Tuesday. Since the holding was bought at exactly day low, it already made a decent profit if the position was closed at the end of day. However, it is speculated that Apple will announce a strong result and market will be boosted. After-hour market went up further on Apple result. Therefore it was decided to keep the position overnight for more profit. However, market was manipulated and Goldman's result was used as an excuse to drive down stocks. Fortunately, only individual investors were in panic while institutional investors remained calm and hedge funds did not speculate a significant market decline. Some frightened individual investors were selling to protect profit. Day traders are also active in a turbulent market. Wealth effect encourage investors to hold on with core positions in the portfolio. As a result there is only minor market correction in this week.
Equity stock market have not dropped significantly. Those investors waiting on the sideline with cash will keep on waiting for a lower entry point. Unlike last year's flash crash, individual investors now has a larger role in market participation. After the flash crash, market continued to decline due to lack of buying desire. Investors were seeking safety in treasuries and bonds. Currently, investors are liquidating treasuries and bonds and enhancing the positions in equity stocks and commodities. Therefore even if market retreats, there is buying support along the decline. On the other hand, investors do not have strong confidence to chase if the market rallies.
Although there is confidence that the new leveraged ETF position in the speculative trading portfolio may finally break even, there is an opportunity cost for extended duration of holding. Firstly, there is the interest cost due to leveraged borrowing. Secondly, the holding locks up resources for speculative trading in a turbulent market. Thirdly, leveraged ETF exhibits value decay over time due to leveraging and unfavorable market movement. Therefore portion of the holding was liquidated with a loss to free up some of the limited resources and reduce risk exposure on leveraged ETF. This is a precious experience for future trading practice.
Why Green Energy Can't Power a Job Engine
America has had many high-tech breakthroughs over the past half-century, but those innovations have rarely provided abundant employment for the less educated workers who need jobs most. The Devens closing reminds us that even when ideas are "made in America," production is almost always cheaper in China.
Brain Drain: Most College Students Learn Next to Nothing, New Study Says
Even (and especially) in today's tough labor market, Corporate America agrees that, "yes" college is worth every penny as most employers consider a college degree a prerequisite for employment.
Investors' return to US stocks could be too late
While millions sought refuge in traditionally stable bonds over the past two years, they missed a more than 90 percent rally in stocks. Suddenly bonds don't look so safe, and some of the $11 trillion that Americans have parked in mutual funds is shifting back to stocks.
Sooner or later, investors will put their money where it's gaining the most, predicts Bob Doll, chief stock strategist at BlackRock, the world's biggest money management company. Investors tend to chase rather than anticipate returns. He expects investors will embrace stock funds over bonds, ending what he calls an era of fear.
"The numbers suggest a slow rebound for investor confidence in stocks," says Strategic Insight's Avi Nachmany. "But they'll continue to buy bonds for the same reasons they bought them before: There's an insatiable interest in income, and people are still scared."
Here Comes the Dumb Money!
But investors are clearly starting to get more comfortable with stocks after pulling money out of stock funds constantly between early May and early October last year. Since then, they have put a total of $9 billion into stock funds, compared with $3 billion in bond funds.
Hedge fund industry assets swell to $1.92 trillion
Hedge fund assets grew a record $149 billion during the last three months of 2010, according to new data released on Wednesday.
According to Hedge Fund Research (HFR), which tracks industry performance and asset flows, hedge funds around the world now invest $1.917 trillion.
The increased flows came even as the industry delivered only lackluster returns of 10 percent, lagging behind mutual funds and the industry's own more impressive 19 percent gain in 2009.
Financial stocks pull market lower
Stocks suffered their largest one-day decline since November after banks reported steep drops in profits Wednesday.
Dow, S&P dip as F5 view hits Nasdaq, Google up late
Stocks fell on Thursday as lackluster tech and materials earnings failed to live up to heightened expectations, threatening to short-circuit a seven-week run.
"It's Time to Take a Pause": Stocks Slip Again as Momentum Favorites Tumble
Rolfe, who describes himself as a bull, says any near-term correction is likely to coincide with a period of rotation to new leadership.
2011 Revenues May Surprise Investors: Analysts
This may turn out to be a much better year for corporate revenues than expected, although weak consumer demand and a depressed jobs market will continue to pose a challenge, some analysts say.
GE profits send Dow up for 8th straight week
Strong profits at General Electric sent industrial stocks higher Friday and helped the Dow Jones industrial average notch its eighth straight week of gains.
Despite the "Wounds", Now's The Time to Invest in "Best in Class Franchises" Like Goldman, Says Rolfe
It’s been a tough week for financial stocks with disappointing results from Goldman Sachs and Cititgroup, but there's no need to sweat the disappointing news says David Rolfe, chief investment officer of Wedgewood Partners.
On the other hand, institutional investors and hedge funds remained relatively calm. As a consequence, the trading volume is only moderately higher. Sell-off is most dominant in the financial and technology sectors. Decline in the former sector is due to unsatisfactory result in some banks and the latter is due to overbought during the rally. Some investors are rotating sectors and slowly accumulating positions in the portfolio.
In the coming week, individual investors may continue to liquidate the portfolio to protect profit. However, due to wealth effect the core holdings will be kept for long term appreciation. Therefore although individual investors are no longer driving the market up, there is little chance of a market crash either. Some individual investors have already taken profit before the rally ends and are waiting on the sideline with cash to re-enter market again. Hedge funds currently do not have heavy holding in equity stocks. Seeing a potential strong support at lower level, hedge funds would not risk to sell down the market. Instead hedge funds are using available cash to accumulate positions.
Although it was mentioned in last week's post that there is risk for holding positions overnight, greed resulted in such a mistake. A heavy position in leveraged financial ETF was initiated on Tuesday. Since the holding was bought at exactly day low, it already made a decent profit if the position was closed at the end of day. However, it is speculated that Apple will announce a strong result and market will be boosted. After-hour market went up further on Apple result. Therefore it was decided to keep the position overnight for more profit. However, market was manipulated and Goldman's result was used as an excuse to drive down stocks. Fortunately, only individual investors were in panic while institutional investors remained calm and hedge funds did not speculate a significant market decline. Some frightened individual investors were selling to protect profit. Day traders are also active in a turbulent market. Wealth effect encourage investors to hold on with core positions in the portfolio. As a result there is only minor market correction in this week.
Equity stock market have not dropped significantly. Those investors waiting on the sideline with cash will keep on waiting for a lower entry point. Unlike last year's flash crash, individual investors now has a larger role in market participation. After the flash crash, market continued to decline due to lack of buying desire. Investors were seeking safety in treasuries and bonds. Currently, investors are liquidating treasuries and bonds and enhancing the positions in equity stocks and commodities. Therefore even if market retreats, there is buying support along the decline. On the other hand, investors do not have strong confidence to chase if the market rallies.
Although there is confidence that the new leveraged ETF position in the speculative trading portfolio may finally break even, there is an opportunity cost for extended duration of holding. Firstly, there is the interest cost due to leveraged borrowing. Secondly, the holding locks up resources for speculative trading in a turbulent market. Thirdly, leveraged ETF exhibits value decay over time due to leveraging and unfavorable market movement. Therefore portion of the holding was liquidated with a loss to free up some of the limited resources and reduce risk exposure on leveraged ETF. This is a precious experience for future trading practice.
Why Green Energy Can't Power a Job Engine
America has had many high-tech breakthroughs over the past half-century, but those innovations have rarely provided abundant employment for the less educated workers who need jobs most. The Devens closing reminds us that even when ideas are "made in America," production is almost always cheaper in China.
Brain Drain: Most College Students Learn Next to Nothing, New Study Says
Even (and especially) in today's tough labor market, Corporate America agrees that, "yes" college is worth every penny as most employers consider a college degree a prerequisite for employment.
Investors' return to US stocks could be too late
While millions sought refuge in traditionally stable bonds over the past two years, they missed a more than 90 percent rally in stocks. Suddenly bonds don't look so safe, and some of the $11 trillion that Americans have parked in mutual funds is shifting back to stocks.
Sooner or later, investors will put their money where it's gaining the most, predicts Bob Doll, chief stock strategist at BlackRock, the world's biggest money management company. Investors tend to chase rather than anticipate returns. He expects investors will embrace stock funds over bonds, ending what he calls an era of fear.
"The numbers suggest a slow rebound for investor confidence in stocks," says Strategic Insight's Avi Nachmany. "But they'll continue to buy bonds for the same reasons they bought them before: There's an insatiable interest in income, and people are still scared."
Here Comes the Dumb Money!
But investors are clearly starting to get more comfortable with stocks after pulling money out of stock funds constantly between early May and early October last year. Since then, they have put a total of $9 billion into stock funds, compared with $3 billion in bond funds.
Hedge fund industry assets swell to $1.92 trillion
Hedge fund assets grew a record $149 billion during the last three months of 2010, according to new data released on Wednesday.
According to Hedge Fund Research (HFR), which tracks industry performance and asset flows, hedge funds around the world now invest $1.917 trillion.
The increased flows came even as the industry delivered only lackluster returns of 10 percent, lagging behind mutual funds and the industry's own more impressive 19 percent gain in 2009.
Financial stocks pull market lower
Stocks suffered their largest one-day decline since November after banks reported steep drops in profits Wednesday.
Dow, S&P dip as F5 view hits Nasdaq, Google up late
Stocks fell on Thursday as lackluster tech and materials earnings failed to live up to heightened expectations, threatening to short-circuit a seven-week run.
"It's Time to Take a Pause": Stocks Slip Again as Momentum Favorites Tumble
Rolfe, who describes himself as a bull, says any near-term correction is likely to coincide with a period of rotation to new leadership.
2011 Revenues May Surprise Investors: Analysts
This may turn out to be a much better year for corporate revenues than expected, although weak consumer demand and a depressed jobs market will continue to pose a challenge, some analysts say.
GE profits send Dow up for 8th straight week
Strong profits at General Electric sent industrial stocks higher Friday and helped the Dow Jones industrial average notch its eighth straight week of gains.
Despite the "Wounds", Now's The Time to Invest in "Best in Class Franchises" Like Goldman, Says Rolfe
It’s been a tough week for financial stocks with disappointing results from Goldman Sachs and Cititgroup, but there's no need to sweat the disappointing news says David Rolfe, chief investment officer of Wedgewood Partners.
Tuesday, January 18, 2011
Update: YouTube Video: About Physics Topic
Statistical Analysis of Atomic and Electron Mass & Interpretation
The presenter has wild imagination but the conclusion is not practical.
Part 1 of 4
Part 2 of 4
Part 3 of 4
Part 4 of 4
The presenter has wild imagination but the conclusion is not practical.
Part 1 of 4
Part 2 of 4
Part 3 of 4
Part 4 of 4
Sunday, January 16, 2011
Full Throttle On Wealth Recovery; Grassroots Economy Lagging Behind
Equity stock market is setting 52-week high continuously. Market participants are in a mood for rising market trend. As mentioned in the last several posts, investors do not have much intention to sell in this market.
Individual investors who give strong support for the market in the last three months are now beginning to stop further buying but still hold on to the positions for market appreciation. Some individual investors have realized part or all of the profit in the recent rally and are waiting on the sideline for market correction to reenter. Institutional investors finish restructuring of the portfolio and will wait and see the result. Hedge funds replace the role of individual investors to drive the market up. However unlike institutional and individual investors who mostly make profit on a rising market, hedge funds speculate on both market direction. Therefore there is certain risk in the continuation of the rally without significant buying from institutional and individual investors.
Market may exhibit volatility in the coming days. The speculative trading portfolio will minimize overnight holding with adequate hedging while a violent market provides opportunities.
Booming Commodities and an Anemic Economic Recovery: What It Means for Investors At a recent institutional investor conference one of the speakers was the economist and chief investment officer of a major institutional investment consulting firm. He recounted that in late 2008 his firm recommended that institutions overweight commodities. This was based on all of the liquidity provided to the financial system around the world by governments seeking to combat the deflationary affects of the deep recession.
He went on to say that his firm was staying with that over-weighted position as of December of 2010 despite how successful the strategy has been. From there he described how anemic this economic recovery in the US is compared to past recovery periods following deep recessions. Slow GDP growth, persistently high unemployment rates and virtually no contribution from home building led him to believe the economic recovery would remain anemic.
Brace Yourself: Our Society Is Going To The Dogs Fortunately, says Celente, civilization itself will not collapse. But it's going to get really bad for a while.
Fed survey: US economy ends 2010 on strong note Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke says he is optimistic that the economy will strengthen this year. But he warned last week that it will take up to five years for unemployment to drop to a historically normal level of around 6 percent.
If You Can't Join 'Em, Beat 'Em Of course, many people opt not to invest on their own and, instead, turn to mutual funds for professional money management. The average equity fund, according to Lipper Inc., has 88% turnover, meaning it doesn't quite swap out everything it holds once every year; that means the fund managers aren't playing with a 22-second clock.
But when funds don't do well, they test investor patience. When the market tanked in 2008 and many funds went with it, many investors bailed out, missing out on the subsequent recovery. It's hard to stay focused on the long-term when the short-term numbers are bad, and when you know that someone is out there trading three times a minute trying to best both you and your fund manager.
That's not to say that investors should recklessly move to buy-and-forget-about it,"but rather that the more short-term thinking pervades the market, the easier it might be to get past the idea that the big institutions have it in for you. Rather than follow their trend to shorter and shorter time frames — where they have the advantage — keep the longer view; instead of playing their game, play your own.
Individual investors who give strong support for the market in the last three months are now beginning to stop further buying but still hold on to the positions for market appreciation. Some individual investors have realized part or all of the profit in the recent rally and are waiting on the sideline for market correction to reenter. Institutional investors finish restructuring of the portfolio and will wait and see the result. Hedge funds replace the role of individual investors to drive the market up. However unlike institutional and individual investors who mostly make profit on a rising market, hedge funds speculate on both market direction. Therefore there is certain risk in the continuation of the rally without significant buying from institutional and individual investors.
Market may exhibit volatility in the coming days. The speculative trading portfolio will minimize overnight holding with adequate hedging while a violent market provides opportunities.
Booming Commodities and an Anemic Economic Recovery: What It Means for Investors At a recent institutional investor conference one of the speakers was the economist and chief investment officer of a major institutional investment consulting firm. He recounted that in late 2008 his firm recommended that institutions overweight commodities. This was based on all of the liquidity provided to the financial system around the world by governments seeking to combat the deflationary affects of the deep recession.
He went on to say that his firm was staying with that over-weighted position as of December of 2010 despite how successful the strategy has been. From there he described how anemic this economic recovery in the US is compared to past recovery periods following deep recessions. Slow GDP growth, persistently high unemployment rates and virtually no contribution from home building led him to believe the economic recovery would remain anemic.
Brace Yourself: Our Society Is Going To The Dogs Fortunately, says Celente, civilization itself will not collapse. But it's going to get really bad for a while.
Fed survey: US economy ends 2010 on strong note Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke says he is optimistic that the economy will strengthen this year. But he warned last week that it will take up to five years for unemployment to drop to a historically normal level of around 6 percent.
If You Can't Join 'Em, Beat 'Em Of course, many people opt not to invest on their own and, instead, turn to mutual funds for professional money management. The average equity fund, according to Lipper Inc., has 88% turnover, meaning it doesn't quite swap out everything it holds once every year; that means the fund managers aren't playing with a 22-second clock.
But when funds don't do well, they test investor patience. When the market tanked in 2008 and many funds went with it, many investors bailed out, missing out on the subsequent recovery. It's hard to stay focused on the long-term when the short-term numbers are bad, and when you know that someone is out there trading three times a minute trying to best both you and your fund manager.
That's not to say that investors should recklessly move to buy-and-forget-about it,"but rather that the more short-term thinking pervades the market, the easier it might be to get past the idea that the big institutions have it in for you. Rather than follow their trend to shorter and shorter time frames — where they have the advantage — keep the longer view; instead of playing their game, play your own.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)