Jiang Zemin lost the political battle to Xi Jinping.

A picture really tells a thousand words.

Despite Jiang's flailing condition, he had to attend Xi's presentation in the 19th Communist Party Congress to give the face to Xi.  In fact, Jiang could have excused himself from the Party Congress based on his poor health.

We still could tell that Jiang and Xi had an acrimonious relationship because Xi didn't bother to help Jiang to be seated.  Xi just stood there like a statue without displaying any kind gesture.

It's pretty obvious who won the political battle in China.

There is a rumour circulating that Jiang and Xi have reached a settlement in secrecy.  Xi will not persecute Jiang for corruption and also spare his 2 sons in exchange for the support in Xi's leadership continuation.

http://sg-stock.blogspot.sg/2017/07/political-battles-are-playing-out-in.html

US fiscal deficit in 2017 - USD$666B

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/us-ends-fiscal-2017-with-666-billion-budget-deficit-2017-10-20

The US fiscal deficit in 2017 is already USD$666b.  Trump tax plan will add more to its current deficit.  However, the Senate only managed to pass the deficit of USD$1.5T in the next decade.  Therefore, Trump couldn't get his $5T tax plan fully implemented.

https://sg-stock.blogspot.sg/2017/09/trump-us5t-tax-plan-wont-get-passed.html

Baltic dry index - 1578

Today, Friday, October 20 2017, the Baltic Dry Index decreased by 4 points, reaching 1578 points.

Baltic Dry Index is compiled by the London-based Baltic Exchange and covers prices for transported cargo such as coal, grain and iron ore. The index is based on a daily survey of agents all over the world. Baltic Dry hit a temporary peak on May 20, 2008, when the index hit 11,793. The lowest level ever reached was on Wednesday the 10th of February 2016, when the index dropped to 290 points.

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Related stocks: Sembcorp Marine, Cosco & Pan Ocean.

US rig count - 913

HOUSTON (AP) - The number of rigs exploring for oil and natural gas in the U.S. declined by 15 this week to 913.

That's up from the 553 rigs that were active a year ago.

Houston oilfield services company Baker Hughes said Friday that 736 rigs sought oil and 177 explored for natural gas this week.

Among major oil- and gas-producing states, Texas lost eight rigs, Alaska and Wyoming each declined by two and New Mexico and Utah each lost one.

Arkansas, California, Colorado, Kansas, Louisiana, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania and West Virginia were unchanged.

The U.S. rig count peaked at 4,530 in 1981. It bottomed out in May of 2016 at 404.

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Related stocks: Keppel Corp, Sembcorp Marine & Cosco

UK has no prerogative to meddle in HK's affairs.

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2017/oct/18/uk-summons-chinese-ambassador-after-british-activist-barred-benedict-rogers-barred-hong-kong#img-1

HK is part of China and UK has no prerogative to meddle in HK's affairs.  HK's autonomy is not defined by the UK.

How would UK feel if China demands the UK to give Scotland independence?

China GDP grew at 6.8% in Q3.

http://www.thestar.com.my/business/business-news/2017/10/19/china-q3-gdp-grows-6pt8pct-on-year-in-line-with-forecasts/

This was quite close to what was estimated at 7%.

Let's hope that China can continue the momentum till the end of the year.

http://sg-stock.blogspot.sg/2017/10/chinas-economy-is-powering-ahead-with.html

Singapore stock calls for 20 October 2017

UOB has just marked down its O&G loans by 70-80%.

https://sg.finance.yahoo.com/news/uob-burdened-toxic-loans-o-044300079.html

This showed that our banks had been too optimistic about the recovery in the O&G industry in the past.

Let's see what DBS & OCBC will do.

We did warn about such optimism and the banks were not forthcoming with O&G loan exposures.

http://sg-stock.blogspot.sg/2017/08/singapore-banks-are-facing-strong.html

ECB will start QE tapering in Jan 2018.

https://sg.finance.yahoo.com/news/ecb-gently-trim-asset-buys-delicate-messaging-act-063209193--business.html

ECB will start reducing bond purchases by $20B euros in Jan 2018.  The bond purchases will reduce from $60b to $40b in Jan 2018 and will continue to reduce gradually over time.

Spain to suspend Catalan autonomy.

https://in.news.yahoo.com/spain-moves-suspend-catalan-autonomy-094803353.html

https://qz.com/1106478/catalonia-independence-crisis-spain-plans-to-invoke-article-155-and-impose-direct-rule/?utm_source=YPL&yptr=yahoo

The Spanish move will definitely spark more instabilities in Catalan and the Spain stock market.

Singapore stock calls for 19 October 2017

HNA to delist CWT from SGX after Nov 2.

http://www.businesstimes.com.sg/companies-markets/cwt-to-be-delisted-after-nov-2-as-hnas-control-crosses-90

Goodbye CWT!

Another client has left SGX. Sigh!

SGX doesn't understand the capital market!

Why do I say that?

Just look at the flopped collaborative agreements in the past.

SGX-CLOB failed!
SGX-ASX failed!
SGX-TWSE failed!
SGX-ASEAN failed!

https://www.theedgesingapore.com/asean-trading-linkage-quietly-shuts-down

The SGX has just signed another collaborative agreement with Nasdaq.  Needless to say, it will flop too because no company will want to list on SGX when it can list on Nasdaq.  This win-lose collaboration will benefit Nasdaq more than SGX.

https://www.thestreet.com/story/14347895/1/nasdaq-singapore-s-sgx-announce-agreement.html?puc=yahoo&cm_ven=YAHOO&yptr=yahoo

SGX just doesn't understand the capital market and stock trading exchange well enough.  It removed and reinstated the lunch break, kept changing the bid/sell spreads, etc.  No wonder SGX is losing its listed clients more than it is attracting the IPOs.

Singapore stock calls for 17 October 2017

North Korea warns of a nuclear war!

https://sg.news.yahoo.com/nuclear-war-may-break-time-warns-north-korea-042811050.html

I hope there won't be a nuclear war in Asia as this will cause devastations.

The USA softens its stance after NK warning which is a good news for Asia.

https://sg.news.yahoo.com/u-not-ruling-eventual-direct-talks-north-korea-024603566.html

Bitcoin fanatics: Dumbest thing on wall street.

https://www.thestreet.com/story/14340563/1/dumbest-thing-on-wall-street-bitcoin.html

Bitcoin fanatics really don't know what they're saying.

They try to use the Wi-Fi analogy to say that Bitcoin is as useful as Wi-Fi but Bitcoin is not Wi-Fi.  Wi-Fi is a technology but bitcoin is a derivative of a technology.  The technology behind Bitcoin is Blockchain, an open digital ledger.

One of the derivatives of Wi-Fi is wireless files transfer.  Therefore, Bitcoin is just like a wireless files transfer if we want to make a compatible comparison.  We use wifi everyday but not wireless files transfer.  Therefore, bitcoin is not as important and useful as what the fanatics portend it to be.  It is the blockchain technology that we're interested in, not bitcoin.

Anyway, Wi-Fi is already outdated because there is Li-Fi now.

It's time for the fanatics to wake up from their dreams.

China won't be using normal MRTs in the future.

China will be implementing maglev system in China instead of using the normal MRTs track.  Maglev system gives passengers a smooth ride.  Just look at the coin standing on the floor during motion.

Singapore non-oil domestic exports (NODX) - Part 6

http://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/singapore/singapore-nodx-exports-fall-1-1-after-4-months-of-growth-9317146

Singapore NODX decreased 1.1% in September YOY.

Year on year changes:

September 2017: -1.1%

August 2017: 16.7%

July 2017: 8.5%

June 2017: 8.2%
May 2017: -1.2%
Apr 2017: -0.7%
Mar 2017: 16.5%
Feb 2017: 21.1%
Jan 2017: 8.6%
Dec 2016: 9.1%
Nov 2016: 15.6%

http://sg-stock.blogspot.sg/2017/08/singapore-non-oil-domestic-exports-nodx.html

Somalia worst terrorist attack in decades.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/oct/15/truck-bomb-mogadishu-kills-people-somalia

A truck bomb had just killed more than 300 people in Somalia last Saturday but not many news media reported it.

Whether the victims are black, white, yellow or brown, we must express abhorrence towards such terrorism of killing innocent lives.

Fully automatic carpark in China.

Car parking is such a breeze in China now.