Friday 9 January 2009
Shanghai Scrapes Sky as the Ground Sinks
Is urban development, including China’s highest building now under construction, hastening Shanghai’s slide into the sea?
Shanghai Property Boom Fading Away
The real estate boom seems to have petered out in Shanghai with sellers outnumbering buyers as more and more investors look to exit the sector that triggered the economic crisis.
Wednesday 7 January 2009
Death of graft-buster not murder, court rules
The former deputy chairman of the Xinzhou People’s Political Consultative Conference was jailed for six years yesterday for reckless driving that led to the death of top Shanxi graft-busting official Jin Yinhuan.
670,000 Small Firms Shut; Jobless Rate Doubled
Grim economic conditions forced more than 670,000 of the mainland’s small firms out of business, and real unemployment was more than double the official rate last year, according to leading economic analysts.
Housing Market a Drag on into 2009 and Beyond
2009 will be a year of adjustment for the real estate industry. The bearish market may end in the second half of 2009, but a 21st-Century Real Estate insider said a rebound in the second half of 2009 didn’t mean price hikes. Any boom in a real sense, with rising housing prices, won’t come until 2011 at the soonest.
GM China Sales Growth Slumps to 6% in 2008
General Motors Corp posted a 6-percent growth in its China vehicle sales in 2008, the lowest growth rate in at least six years, the US carmaker said on Tuesday, reflecting the stagnant market amid the financial crisis and a lack of attractive models.
Chang’an Auto Sales Down 4% in 2008
Chongqing Chang’an Automobile Co, the Chinese listed partner of troubled US car giant Ford, sold 739,307 cars in 2008, down 4 percent from the previous year’s figure of 770,546 units, the company said on Tuesday.
‘Comply or Explain’: SGX Must be Stricter
I refer to the letter ‘Thoughts on SGX’s regulatory stance’ by Mak Yuen Teen (BT, Dec 23) and ‘Buyer beware and seller beware too’ by R Sivanithy (BT, Jan 1).
Enough Safeguards to Avoid Conflicts: SGX
Excluding directors of listed firms from SGX board would limit talent pool
SGX Has Robust Framework as a Self-Regulatory Organisation
We refer to the letter from Mr. Mak Yuen Teen, ‘Thoughts on SGX’s regulatory stance’ (BT, Dec 23, 2008).
SGX Strikes Balance as Market Operator
We refer to the article, ‘SGX should set governance benchmark’ by Oh Boon Ping (BT, Dec 25).
Warrant Turnover Down 25% in 2008
But volatile markets also make it more difficult for banks that issue warrants to hedge their risk. As a result, there were 31 per cent fewer new warrant listings in 2008 - just 1,184 compared with 1,724 a year earlier - as issuers turned more cautious.
Tuesday 6 January 2009
IPOs in China to Jump 47%
Funds raised by Chinese companies in local initial public offerings are likely to rise 47 per cent this year compared with last year, accounting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers said on Tuesday.
Laguna En-bloc Saga - Charged with Mischief
Businessman Lee Kok Leong, 62, is alleged to have inserted glue into the padlock, main wooden door and rear gate keyholes of a flat at Block 5000E, Laguna Park, Marine Parade Road, at 12.44am on Aug 25 last year.
Moment of Truth in Fighting off Depression
Unless Congress gets its act together, Obama’s stimulus plan will be delayed or downsized
2009: China’s Year of Rising Opportunities, and Challenges
In 2009, China, along with the rest of the world, is at a new historical starting point. The largest post-Cold War change in the world situation is taking place in response to the global financial crisis and economic recession, a rebalance of the global economy. The change will not be sudden and catastrophic but a gradual and, it is profoundly to be hoped, peaceful evolution, and will run from to the middle of the 21st century.
Monday 5 January 2009
Beijing Eases Sales Tax to Lift Property Market
Tax deductions or exemptions have been added to cuts in the flat rate of taxes levied on property sales on the mainland in a bid to stimulate the floundering market, but analysts believe the measures will have only a marginally positive effect and that more relief is in the pipeline.
Workers Bear Brunt of Vehicle Industry Slump
Workers in the mainland vehicle industry face a tough winter as car plants across the country shut down for extended holiday breaks to trim production in line with falling demand.
Paralyzed Finance
Fiscal policy alone cannot repair the damaged trust in the financial system. Monetary policy has come to its limits as well.
Hope for a Stronger Manufacturing Sector
China’s Next 30 Years: Manufacturing is crucial to pushing the Chinese economy to the top
Private Equity Losses Sting Chinese Investment Arms
The Chinese government may have lost billions of dollars during the financial crisis when private equity investments vanished.
2 China Women Seek Court Review for Right to Stay Here
They want High Court to order ICA to issue work and study passes
China’s Mounting Pink Slips
As startling as these factory closures have been, the fate of another less-heralded figure may be more significant: the laid-off office worker.
Concerns Over CFOs Quitting
For some firms, the role of the CFO may have evolved over the years so that this staff member is more of a strategic planner or investor-relations chief.
Look to Sell into Strength or Risk Being Bear-Trapped - Again
For most of 2008, the advice given in this column was to selectively buy the dips but to always sell into strength because all bounces would eventually turn out to be bear traps.
China to Boost Auto Sector
China will announce measures in the first quarter to keep its slowing auto sector growing at about 10 per cent annually during the global economic slowdown, state media reported on Monday.
1 in 5 Mulling Leaving Hong Kong
One in five Hong Kong residents is considering leaving the city because of its dire air quality, a survey released on Monday has found, raising fears over the financial hub’s competitiveness.
Straits Asia Resources
1) MACD crossover.
2) Strong enough to break out of wedge.
Resistance 0.955, 1.03 and 1.220.
SMM
1) One more LT line to clear.
2) MACD trending towards 0.
3) Stochastic has more upside.
Resistance 2.06, 2.18 and 2.30.
China’s Young Get Thrifty
China’s office workers are tightening their belts, cutting back spending on everything from clothes to fast food, despite government efforts to boost consumption to stave off the worst effects of a global recession.
Detox Diet - Fact or Fad?
Detox diets that claim to be able to cleanse one’s body of toxins are growing in popularity but some say that it is just pop science.
Goodbye 2008 - Andy Xie
Many governments are trying to boost asset markets directly. The US suspended short-selling for a period. Pakistan and Russia closed stock markets from time to time. China cut stamp duties. These measures have had little effect for a good reason. Most of the reductions in asset prices are due to bubble bursting, i.e., the prices were too high before, not too low now. For example, the average price-book ratio for the US stock market for the past eight decades is 2. The current level is 1.7, not a big discount from the historical norm.
Sunday 4 January 2009
A Remedy Better Than Painkillers
China’s next response to the global economic crisis should embrace opportunities with a new development model.
Shanghai Official Commits Suicide
An official perhaps affiliated with Chen Liangyu’s graft scandal jumped from her balcony.
China Eases Controls for Property Market
Relaxed rules for credit and mortgages could brighten a gloomy real estate market. But banks are treading carefully.
Did Chen Snack His Way Through a Hunger Strike?
A security camera in his cell recorded him nibbling on snacks at night, a Taiwanese magazine reports.
Cheating is in Chen Shui-bian's blood/gene.
Big Hopes for Emerging Market Stocks
Emerging-market stocks fell the most ever last year but investors are looking for Brazil, Russia, India and the mainland to lead a reversal in 2009.
Chinese Aim for the Ivy League
The book spawned a genre, selling more than two million copies in China on the premise that any child, with the proper upbringing, could be Ivy League material.
Continued Growth Could Make Mainland Shares a Good Bet
Despite mainland share prices suffering a dramatic fall last year, it is still too early to write off their long-term investment potential.
Elite Lawyers Spent Only 12 Days in Court Last Year
Each Senior Counsel spent, on average, just one day in the Court of Appeal last year and another 11 days arguing a trial in court.
12,000 Protest Israeli Attacks
About 12,000 people marched through London on Saturday in protest against Israel’s military offensive on Gaza, police said, in a demonstration that began peacefully but ended in a string of arrests.
Dollar the X-Factor in Commodity Markets
“The US is going to print the dollar to get out of the recession, and anything tangible, like industrial metals, is going to be worth more.”
China’s Car Makers Urged to Learn from U.S. Crisis by “Thinking Small”
There’s a lesson for China’s car makers in the fate of the ailing U.S. auto industry: develop smaller, fuel-efficient models instead of betting on gas-guzzlers, industry analysts have warned.
US Stocks Face Headwinds Despite New Year Rally
Experts cautioned that the advances of the key indices came amid very low trading volume as many investors were still on holiday.
Ezra
Ezra's chart is very similar to SMM's. Many oil related stocks are showing the same pattern. Can refer to comments in SMM post. Only difference is Ezra hasn't broken out of the wedge yet.
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