Search This Blog

Thursday, December 8, 2016

EU has started to cut back on its QE!

http://www.businesstimes.com.sg/government-economy/ecb-unexpectedly-cuts-asset-buys-to-60b-euros-per-month-from-april

How will this affect economies?

Well, there will be lesser cheap monies in the market now and interest rates will slowly inch up in EU.  Nonetheless, QE has proven to be not working in the real economies except for stock markets.  Therefore, the impact of lesser QE will only affect the stock markets more than the main streets.

Singapore stock calls for 8 December 2016


New documentary - The coming war on China

https://newint.org/features/2016/12/01/the-coming-war-on-china/

This documentary shows that USA is the aggressor because it wants to retain its hegemony in the world.

Just look at the more than 400 military bases encircling China.  How can China sit back and do nothing?  China has the prerogative to protect itself and its citizens against USA.


Monday, December 5, 2016

Singapore stock calls for 5 December 2016


Singapore has bowed to China finally!

http://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/singapore/china-s-rise-cannot-be-contained-singapore-defence-minister/3340990.html

Will this appease China?  I think this is just a strategic tactic to redeem our seized tanks in Hong Kong.  China government has changed its mentality towards Singapore and only will believe in what we do rather than what we say.  Singapore had been saying that we wanted to be a neutral party and not side with any party but Singapore sided with USA over South China Sea under a spurious court ruling.  Singapore asked China to respect the PCA ruling but didn't request Taiwan to accept the ruling against its Taiping island (no longer an island under PCA ruling).  Singapore also didn't ask Australia to respect the PCA ruling in which East Timor won against Australia recently.

All these have made China look at Singapore as a less credible and prejudice country because Singapore voiced out its opinions selectively.  No matter what, this will be a good start and we have to slowly gain the trust of China all over again.

Saturday, December 3, 2016

Baltic dry index - 1198

Today, Friday, December 02 2016, the Baltic Dry Index climbed by 2 points, reaching 1198 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.

US rig count - 597

HOUSTON (AP) -- The number of rigs exploring for oil and natural gas in the U.S. increased by four this week to 597.
A year ago, 737 rigs were active. Depressed energy prices have curtailed exploration, although the rig count has been rising in recent weeks.
Houston oilfield services company Baker Hughes Inc. said Friday that 477 rigs sought oil and 119 explored for natural gas this week. One was listed as miscellaneous.
Texas gained seven rigs, Wyoming increased by four and Oklahoma gained two.
Louisiana declined by four, Colorado and North Dakota each fell by two and Utah lost one.
Alaska, Arkansas, California, Kansas, New Mexico, Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia were unchanged.
The U.S. rig count peaked at 4,530 in 1981. It bottomed out in May at 404.

Japan stock index (Nikkei 225) has more upsides!

With the USD appreciation and upcoming interest rate rises, yen has been on a devaluation trajectory which will boost its exports.   Therefore, Japan stock market will benefit from this export oomph.

Let's use binomial probability to calculate the likelihood of achieving the 19,000 level.
Current index futures= 18,320
Expected index futures = 19,000
Time from 2 Dec 2016 to 10 Mar 2017 (expiry date) = 98 Days
Upside deviation for the last 12 months = 7.16%
Downside deviation for the last 12 months = -7.92%
Risk-free rate = 2.45% as of 1 Dec 2016

After inputing the above parameters, the possibilities for upside is 56.9% and downside is 43.1%.

Therefore, it is likely for nikkei to rise 680 points by 10 March 2017 than to fall 680 points.

Friday, December 2, 2016

Trump is changing USA "Asia pivot" strategy!

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/dec/01/james-mattis-secretary-of-defense-donald-trump

Trump has appointed a Middle East veteran as the new defense secretary which shows that Trump will be focusing on exterminating ISIS during his office term instead of fighting with China over South China Sea.  The US pacific commander Harris will be shoved out of the door in Jan 2017 and tension in South China Sea will be greatly reduced.

This momentarily peace will be great news for Asean and China because Asean can focus on economic interests while China will have time to build up its air and naval forces with the deployments of 4th generation fighter planes J20 and local built aircraft carriers.

Singapore and Japan are still harping on TPP!

http://news.asiaone.com/news/world/singapore-and-japan-urge-ratification-tpp

If USA endorses TPP, it will be a tight slap to Trump as he has said that he'll terminate it once he takes office.  Trump said that SG stole USA jobs and we're going to antagonize Trump further by harping on TPP.  Trump had already given Japan a tight slap right in the face.....Trump has no qualms to do it to SG especially we are only a small red dot.