dinarpmkum

The phlegmatic government (you can try to get rid of the booger from your fingers but it just sticks around) of Myanmar just announced a shocking awardment of foreign telco licenses to build 4G networks in Myanmar. The winners of the 15 year concession were Telenor from Norway (DIGI fame) and Ooredoo from Qatar. What was shocking was the favourites did not get a mention. SingTel which was easily the hot favourite did not get it. SingTel was bidding as part of a consortium with Myanmar's biggest bank Kanbawza Bank. SingTel with a large footprint in emerging markets, backed by Temasek, not to mention being buddies in  ASEAN loose coalition of neighbours to boot. It would appear that there are other concerns in the awardment of the concessions. The messages are loud and clear. One, Myanmar still regards ASEAN as not the most important grouping as the memebrs try to make it out to be. Suffice to say, Myanmar has had lingering political issues that earned the ire of many foreign countri...

Moodys released a report on state pension funds today that implied that such funds currently hold only 48 cents out of every dollar needed to properly fund their obligations.  Three cheers for Moodys! For decades, state and local pension funds have released grossly misleading and inaccurate figures suggesting that they are better funded than is merited by the facts.  Politicians have acquiesced in this charade since it was inconvenient, to use Al Gore's phrase, to speak the truth. The chief method of disguising the truth is to make over-optimistic assumptions about future asset returns and unrealistic assumptions about the contributions that will be forthcoming in the future. Based upon false information, state and local governments have touted reforms that hardly make a dent in the real problems.  Virginia is a great example.  The so-called pension fund reforms enacted by the Virginia General Assembly and backed by Governor McDonnell were misleadingly hailed as a 'm...

Some of you may wonder how is the Murasaki ts system doing. Our subscriber base has been growing  well. The early months were choppy as people did not fully understand how to use the system. Now we are getting back many of our trial users to our Masterclasses (which are free). The weekly crowd is good and its getting to be a big social event and sharing of investing ideas. Below are two examples of how we use the system to pick early movers. This screenshot was taken at 12.34pm Friday 28 June for LB Aluminum . FQR, M, Live MFI and BRH are our proprietary data. FQR is a measure of the fundamentals based on last 4 quarters. M is the energy index or Murasaki index. If a stock is behaving normally, it should register an M of around 100 or below. If its 400, it means it is 4x abnormal behaviour.  The bottom right is the last 5 days data on M, MFI and BRH. As you can see, the M index was behaving itself for most of the past 5 days except yesterday, the 1,323 was a big anomaly which ...

Instead of 2.4 percent as originally advertised, the US GDP grew at a revised 1.8 percent during the first quarter of 2013.  Consumption spending fell off the cliff, which was unexpected. So, the stock market rallied...big time.  Why?  Because the bad economic news suggested that the Fed might continue its bond purchases indefinitely.  "Long live QE3" was the rallying cry. Meanwhile the President and his cronies were busily designing more strategies to lengthen unemployment lines: increase minimum wage, bury the coal industry, continue down the road on Obamacare, push for higher taxes, and stall the Keystone pipeline. Nothing discourages this White House.  They will not likely be satisfied until unemployment gets back into double digit territory (so they can match their heroes in Europe) or until millions more Americans give up on working and move into disability or off into the black market. On the ObamaCare front, the Administration is now recruiting Hollywood...

A fellow business blogger David Koay put this up his blog. Its a remarkable video. One that must be watched by all, especially our leaders. Even though I knew how the whole thing would turn out, it still made my eyes well up because it is so easy to have racism and discrimination instilled in us knowingly and unknowingly. Its powerful too. Kudos to the great teacher Jane Elliot. Ms. Jane Elliott's "brown eyes, blue eyes" experiment in 1970 (the third one after her first in 1968). This "Eye of Storm" documentary was made by William Peters in 1970 for ABC News and later included in the documentary "A Class Divided" (1985), which included a class reunion (of 1984.)

As the rest of the world gears up to massively increase their carbon footprint, Obama is moving to put the US out of the coal business.  That won't keep worldwide coal production from soaring.  It just takes the US out of the coal business.  Obama has made no effort at all to get global partners to sign on board.  Instead, the US is walking this plank all alone. This is in keeping with the Obama strategy of strangling the US economy to gain accolades from the Harvard coffee houses. Once again, American workers will bear the brunt of the Obama agenda.  It is not enough to have the worst economic recovery on historical record (at least since 1850).  Now, with Obamacare on the horizon, Obama provides one more nail to the coffin of American prosperity with his arbitrary EPA war on the American worker and energy user. The route to third world status is paved with good intentions and truckloads of hubris.

If you have listened to the S&M show you will have some idea of what I am talking about. The points I am trying to make: a) why all oil & gas SPACs, the SC is sending out the wrong signals, telling the markets that they only like oil & gas sector b) the SC has to be careful as it appears to be blurring the lines of approving based on ability and approving based on personalities c) it is not SC's task to pick the sectors, you can put in the stringent requirements but not sector picking We have a huge sector that has been largely ignored by EPU, the Capital Markets masterplan. Why: 1) there is no regional financial center to list regional mining stocks 2) Malaysia's vibrant equity markets have not be proactive to make it the center in terms of fund raising, listing, PE mining centric firms, primary greenfields investing, secondary investing, using of Syariah compliant instruments to promote the sector 3) the ring of fire, we are on a volcanic activity plate which also...

Why so many oil & gas SPACs, why not look at mining ... http://www.bfm.my/snm-show.html Topical song pick ... Lazy Ways, Hazy Days by 10cc from one of my top 3 favourite albums of all time "How Dare You". Go and google to find out why they chose the name 10cc.

Finally, someone who talks sense about the current turmoil in the markets. The markets should not behave like a petulant child when candies are taken away from them. One, you cannot live on liquidity pumping forever. Two, the withdrawal will only happens when the global economy is recovering sufficiently. So where is the problem? Billionaire investor Ken Fisher said the U.S. stock market rally that began in 2009 is only in its “middle” stages because most investors still underestimate the strength of the economy. “We’re right in that transition between skepticism and optimism,” the founder of Fisher Investments, which manages $48 billion, said in an interview at Bloomberg News’s office in Seattle. “The notion that it’s actually the middle of a bull market and there’s a lot ahead -- that’s a really impossible concept for most people to get.” Stocks tumbled last week, with the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index posting its biggest two-day drop since November 2011, and bonds fell around the ...

Suppose you had a business that would improve revenues by $ 60,000 per year if only you could add one additional employee.  Should you add that employee? That depends upon what the employee costs.  It does not depend upon what you pay that employee.  Is there a disconnect here? Yes.  What an employee costs in modern America is a far, far greater number that what an employer might pay that employee. If you hire an employee these days, the costs, beyond salary, are enormous.  In some states these extra costs can make the overall costs nearly double the wage or salary that the employee is paid (before tax).  Why? You can begin with social security taxes, medicare taxes and workmen's compensation.  If the company offers a health care insurance plan, you can add that in.  Under ObamaCare, you must add something in for health care insurance.  What about complying with various federal rules?  OSHA?  Disability Laws? What about potential la...

If you reside in Kuching or nearby, do call to sign up for a seat for our seminar this coming Monday. Seats are limited.

The newest Senator from Massachusetts is Harvard faculty member -- a native American according to her resume (as opposed to her true heritage) -- Elizabeth Warren.  Her main claim to fame is villifying Wall Streeters for lining their pockets, a practice she seems especially adept at.  No wonder she notices it in others. Senator Warren was singing the praises of the minimum wage last week during Senate hearings.  According to Senator Warren, increasing the minimum wage actually increases jobs.  Employers, I presume, get excited, knowing that employees now cost more than before and therefore expand their hiring.  I guess that's Senator Warren's logic, since she didn't offer any logic during the hearing. Using Senator Warren's logic, I propose we cut to the chase.  Increase the minimum wage to $ 1,000 per hour.  That way, it will impact fat cats like Senator Warren, not just minorities and high school graduates.  People like Senator Warren have a nob...

Just when the whole world coming for a rout, only US treasury yields shoot up to multi-months high. Investors might wondering why this happen. Some of our readers are posting these kind of question to us. We think this article might helps. US Treasury = US Government Bond Actually, we are referring to US Government 10 Years Bond. Generally, a government bond is issued by a national government (in this case US) and is denominated in the country's own currency (USD). Bonds issued by national government in foreign currencies are normally referred to as sovereign bonds. The yield required by investors to loan funds to governments reflects inflation expectations and the likelihood that the debt will be repaid. Also, government bonds were usually referred to as risk-free bonds , because governments could easily devalue their currencies or raise taxes to redeem the bond at maturity.  The Story of US Treasury Yields... Just like Base-Lending-Rate (BLR) for Malaysia, everything from mortgag...

The sharp divergence in nearly 10 stocks at market close on Friday had everyone cursing, bitching ... cause most did not profit from the trades. There are a few clarifications that are needed. What happened? Were they mistakes? Here is my view: a) Were they mistakes? No. They looked to be real trades. b) Obviously some fund was selling, why the rush and the size? Funnily, none of the stocks had a grave impact on the KLCI, but they were high dividend yielding stocks . Hence one can infer from that that it was probably a big carry trade fund unwinding. It is not likely to be an indexed fund unwinding as none of them really matched the real index in any way. In fact weighted heavily on plantations as well. Carry trades have been rampant over the past couple of years as big hedge funds could realistically borrow large sums at near 0%, provided it is in yen or USD. When Abenomics got rolling, a lot of the yen carry trade switched over to USD carry trades. When you are borrowing near zero...

So said President Obama speaking in Berlin earlier today.  The president referenced unemployment and poverty as items left undone. What the president meant, of course, is there is more for big government to do. It was appropriate that the president's venue was Europe.  Europe, by policy, has ruled out any hope of full employment or prosperity.  Creating 'justice' and 'fairness' in the labor market has meant that, for European youth, there is no economic future. Unemployment is above 12 percent, on average, across the Eurozone and over 25 percent in the hardest hit areas.  Youth employment (18-25) is rarely below 25 percent even in the best of times in Europe.  This is the new European reality.  The Eurozone GDP has been mired in recession for more than two years and there is little prospect for the European recession to end. America is learning the European way.  The unemployment rate in the US is kept below double digits only by the fact that millions...

Chinese listed companies on Bursa ... Is there a problem? http://www.bfm.my/snm-show.html Enola Gay by OMD ... Orchestral Maneuveres In The Dark

I gave this counter hell when it was listed because from day one when it went listed, the shares was up for only a brief moment and closed the day down. It went down for next subsequent days and weeks, the first IPO probably to see such a huge down performance non stop. Their lows was near 10 sen and certainly it needed something totally new to turn this counter around. Khairul Azwan Harun, Perak Umno Youth Chief, has taken a substantial stake in Ideal Jacobs last week. Although the stake was just 5.83%, it would be silly to assume that that will be the beginning and the end of the story. The rumoured plans include making Ideal Jacobs as part of a river based hydroelectric power plant project in Perak. The said project was on the books but was put on hold pending the recent elections.  The company is relatively clean with losses stemmed judging from the last couple of quarters. Of course the hydro project will require funding, RM100m for 10MW and RM127m for 15MW. Khairul Azwan is a...

As promised, Finance Malaysia blog would like to educate public at large on the importance of personal financial planning , after knowing that most Malaysians falls into debt traps because of this poor financial planning. After finding out, we're surprised that actually not many of us knowing this NEW distribution channel in financial markets --- Financial Planner. The NEW Alternative... Traditionally, when we sourced for financial products or services, we normally go to either agent or bank. Example, for life insurance or unit trust, we buy from life insurance agent or unit trust consultant or banker. This trend continues few years back, when Securities Commission of Malaysia and Bank Negara Malaysia comes out a framework or guidelines introducing financial planning industry. Then, financial planning firms emerge, until only recently some of us would have heard about its existence in the market place. Of course, financial planners came into picture too. Role of a Financial Planner...

"could Halim Saad have done it on his own?" ... in light of his lawsuit .... my take ... "Could George Bush Junior have done it on his own???"

My friend, Roger Wang, who also happens to be one of the country's finest guitarist ... has composed a lovely song for his daughter. Plus he sings, OMG ... that is so rare. The video sets with the lego pieces, must have been such a labour of love ... Wonderful Roger... This is the most important song I have ever written.  It's also my first vocals outing and first music video that I created myself. The song was inspired by my daughter's obsession with fairy tales and being a princess. It sums up a lot of my feelings about being a father as well as the hopes and lessons I have for her.  It's often hard for a father to relate to dolls and the way young girls play. Playing Lego together was one of the few activities that we shared. All those hours helped bond us. This video was made with those Lego sets and mini-figures. They became the best way for me to express this song visually. This song and video come from a very personal place, but it goes out to all fathers and dau...

I read, almost religiously, my favourite business magazines, in order of preference ... International Business Week, Fortune and Bloomberg Markets. I do read Forbes now and then but its such a slanted Republican thingee its like Harakah. I think to see how people from various sides and various places look at and view business and investments help to broaden our perspective no end.  Since my almost weekly sojourn to Singapore, its also fun to read what the little island's papers are saying about business and investments. Iskandar The mood is good for Iskandar. They highlighted how well Affiniti Residences sold last weekend, noting that the price was RM850 to RM1,000 psf. They compared that to 1Medini which as launched in January 2012 and sold for just RM450 psf. Hmmm... whetting yand stirring up Singaporeans to further look at Iskandar as a great investing or flipping hotpot. They seemed focused on the Medini or rather the E&O branding, and they also seem to like Puteri Harbour....

Global shares tumbles to multi-months low, especially in Asia whom did well year-to-date thanks to Japan's Abenomics. Commodities and gold also can't spare from the bearish sentiment across investment markets. Reason? US Federal Reserve may stop/scaling down their bond-purchase program. Huh!!! Is this the real reason? Like what I always said, analysts always give a reason for whatever bull or bear markets (after it had happen). For me, the main reason was (again) profit-taking activities took place in view of the good performances during first half of this year. How about Federal Reserve's QE ? It's funny to blame Federal Reserve for the corrections. First, why Fed want to stop QE at the first place? It's because US economy is recovering well. Wasn't this a good news to global markets? Definitely. Then, why we're so fear if Fed stop QE ? Doesn't make sense, right? Anyway, like what I said, the real reason was profit-taking activities which is normal af...

Share buybacks ... not all good. http://www.bfm.my/snm-show.html Libertango (I've Seen That Face Before) - Grace Jones

I never thought a simple posting like this could have struck so many chords. We all love our mums, and rightly mums get most of the accolade, Mother's Day is always bigger than Father's Day. This posting got xx FB likes, I still cannot believe so many felt the same way. Its like we are so connected in what's deepest in us. I may not know all my readers personally, but I feel so humbled to know you all feel the same way. Its not easy to be a blogger, if there are 100 readers, there'd be 4 or 5 who will just hate your guts and they will post nasty comments to let you know that - even though out of the 100 70 or more may like you, but most will not bother to write and tell you nice things, thats the reality when you put yourself out there ... hence reading the comments for this posting was very shocking and restored my faith in humanity. I thought I had to say this, made me realise what I thought was something simple was probably my most important posting because so many p...

The market has been focused on oil & gas, marginal oilfields, Iskandar plays and even Penang's Second Bridge plays. Running out of ideas? So are the analysts. Still, there are gems to be found, and one of them is in Renewable Energy, Cypark Resources. Cypark Resources Berhad is a Malaysia-based company engaged in the provision of environmental technology and engineering solutions to both the private and public sectors. Its services include transforming neglected, degraded or contaminated land into sustainable and manageable fields. Its projects include the restoration of a disused mining land in Cyberpark, Cyberjaya, and the Taman Beringin Safe Landfill Restoration project in Kuala Lumpur.  It has three segments: landscaping, which is engaged in the provision of landscape services for public parks, public amenities and other landscaping developments; maintenance, which is engaged in the provision of maintenance services for public parks, public amenities and other landscape dev...

This video is about an island in the ocean at 2000 km from any other coast line. Nobody lives, only birds and yet, you will not believe what you will see here. Please don't throw anything into the sea. Unbelievable, just look at the consequences.

As expected, the economy continues to limp along.  The jobs report this morning showed 175,000 new jobs.  With net downward revisions for the prior months, the number was barely above the 150 K mark.  The result -- 7.6 percent unemployment unchanged.  Five years after the bottom, still a pitiful recovery.  But, that's good news for Wall Street because it suggests that expansive liqudity provision by the Federal Reserve will remain the policy. For a while, higher stock prices will paper over the continued stagnation of the American economy.  But those looking for jobs and wage gains have all but given up hope in this tepid recovery.  The economy figures to soon be body slammed by Obamacare, so don't expect a healthy economy for quite a while.

World stock markets appear to be hoping for a bad employment number this morning.  Why?  They want Bernanke to continue QE3.  That's why.  Global markets reflect the new wave:  hope for bad economic news and expect a bailout.  This mentality encourages homeowners to borrow more than they could ever afford to pay back.  Student borrowers are encouraged to do the same.  Gaming the system by behaving economically foolish pays off because of the expectation that the government will step in.  At the end of the day, that is what Obamacare is all about as well. In the bad old days, we expected free markets and incentives to fuel economic growth to raise living standards.  That is no longer the plan.  Now, it is all about slicing up the pie, while the pie no longer grows.  The taxpayer is assumed to have endless resources.  A bad assumption. The 'entitlement mentality' has permeated every level of society and has infected global e...

This is highly interesting. As a test, if you were looking at the table what could you say or what kind of observations could you make. Not trying to be an asshole or "guru" here, but if you are honest about your knowledge of markets, the ability to synthesize data and tell a story, you should do well in financial markets. If you can't, then you shouldn't be, or are just plodding along. To be in the markets you can study, but you have to have passion for it. Make your own observations before scrolling down. - The one month data does not tell us much. - YTD, the equity markets have been well led by the US, in fact emerging markets have been trailing ... suffice to say that most of the Asian markets which have been surging so far this year have been an anomaly, which further depresses the real performance of other emerging markets. - We know the financial markets have been awashed in liquidity with QEs from various central banks, but where have they been headed. The YTD...

One of the more interesting, yet to be explained, facts in finance is the fact that common stocks perform so well, as compared to less risky assets.  Treasury bills are earning almost nothing these days, but stocks are on a tear.  Why? The same pattern has held historically.  The gap between what stocks earn and what much safer assets earn has been much, much bigger than could possibly be explained by aversion to risk.  Something more is afoot. The question is front and center today.  Usually the question is posed as: "why are short term rates near zero, but other assets -- stocks, housing, e.g. -- doing so well.  Why don't people simply shift from treasuries to stocks and housing?"  Apparently folks are doing just that, but not by enough to narrow the return gap. You could argue that there is not enough investment by ordinary folks in stocks.  That means that stock prices never get quite high enough to deflate their long run return prospects....

http://www.bfm.my/snm-show.html Long term investing vs short term ..... and Llorando by Rebekah del Rio.

Markets everywhere have been shaken over the last two weeks. First was the correction in the Japanese equity markets. It has lost substantial ground over just the last couple of weeks. Next came the Bernanke's testimony which led all to conclude that QE would be ending soon.  If an article in Monday's Wall Street Journal is anything to go by, the U.S. Federal Reserve is getting ready to unwind its massive monetary stimulus program. So, is that prospect as alarming for financial markets as feared? Fed officials have mapped out a strategy to wind down its $85 billion-a-month bond-buying program in careful steps, although the timing of when that will start is still being debated, noted Fed watcher Jon Hilsenrath wrote in the WSJ.  Any unwinding of the Fed's quantitative easing (QE) program, which has fueled a rally in equity markets and other risk assets, is generally viewed as negative and any indication of this happening has been highly anticipated in the U.S. since late las...