USD has reached new low!

Is the USA deliberately devaluing its currency or people are losing faith in the USD?

The USD has been falling for the past 1 year and is still falling because of the colossal debt problem in the USA. Trump has kicked the can further down the road but still cannot resolve the debt problem except to extend the debt limit again.  There is no doubt that the USA will cross the $20T debt amount with little foreign reserves in its coffer and increased military spendings.

Hurricane Harvey has already done substantial damages to Texas and Hurricane Irma will be worse than Harvey.  Furthermore, meteorologists have detected 2 more hurricanes forming alongside Irma which will also slam into the USA.  The government definitely has to spend billions on the hurricane damages and require more fund raisings in the bond markets.  Insurance companies also will suffer due to substantial payouts and need to raise monies too.

All these don't bode well for the USD because monies are not put to better use other than damage control and repair.  Conversely, if these monies are used for economic developments, the USD will become stronger instead of weaker.

Baltic dry index - 1332

Today, Friday, September 08 2017, the Baltic Dry Index climbed by 36 points, reaching 1332 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 - 944

HOUSTON — The number of rigs exploring for oil and natural gas in the U.S. increased by one this week to 944.

That's up from the 508 rigs that were active a year ago.

Houston oilfield services company Baker Hughes said Friday that 756 rigs sought oil and 187 explored for natural gas this week. One was listed as miscellaneous.

Among major oil- and gas-producing states, New Mexico added three rigs. North Dakota, Pennsylvania and West Virginia each gained one.

Alaska lost two rigs. Arkansas, Colorado and Louisiana were down one rig each.

California, Ohio, Oklahoma, Texas, Utah and Wyoming were all 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

Singapore stock calls for 8 September 2017

Shared bikes business model is a flawed business concept - Part 2

http://en.people.cn/n3/2017/0907/c90000-9266039.html

China has banned new shared bikes now because shared bikes concept has created a lot of new social problems like abandonment, parking and obstruction.

https://sg-stock.blogspot.sg/2017/08/shared-bikes-business-model-is-flawed.html

Singapore stock calls for 7 September 2017

The USA is begging for a war with North Korea by imposing an oil embargo.

http://www.asianage.com/world/americas/070917/us-pushes-oil-embargo-on-north-korea-takes-aim-at-kim-jong-un.html

The USA is begging for a war with NK by imposing an oil embargo.  We stated in our previous postings that NK would go to war because of oil as it would become a survival issue.

http://sg-stock.blogspot.sg/2017/09/japan-is-trying-to-start-korean.html

http://sg-stock.blogspot.sg/2017/09/oil-embargo-against-north-korea-will.html

China and Russia have to come to NK's rescue in the name of humanitarian aid because the oil embargo hurts the citizens the most.  If a war breaks out, China and Russia will definitely get involved and Asia will suffer great economic setbacks.

Is this what we want for Asia?

Hurricane Irma is approaching USA! It will be the biggest hurricane to date.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4857842/Hurricane-Irma-slams-Caribbean.html

Hurricane Irma is approaching the speed of 320km/hr and is a category 5 storm.  It will slam into Florida (USA) soon.

China has produced the first mobile AI chip.

http://en.people.cn/n3/2017/0905/c90000-9264860.html

TSMC and Samsung will have lesser chip businesses now as China will be using its own chips.  No more A10 or snapdragon chips in China mobile handsets anymore.

Trump has extended the debt limit to December.

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/trump-agrees-to-extending-debt-limit-government-funding-to-december-democrats-say-2017-09-06

Trump has the excuse to extend the debt limit to December because of the hurricane.  Therefore, the government won't shut down for now.

The media likes to talk about other countries' debts but seldom on the USA's debt.  I wonder why!

China won the HSR construction deal in Thailand.

http://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/asiapacific/thailand-signs-deals-with-chinese-state-firms-for-high-speed-railway-9190256

Wow! An invitation of Thailand to the BRICS summit did the trick!

http://sg-stock.blogspot.sg/2017/09/thai-sino-relationship-is-better-than.html

Let's wait for the outcome for the KSL-SG HSR.

Singapore stock calls for 6 September 2017

Triyards may collapse soon!

http://www.businesstimes.com.sg/companies-markets/triyards-flags-potential-threat-to-going-concern

The oil and gas industry is still not recovering and there will be more loan defaults soon.  Many analysts are still too optimistic about this industry as none is calling for a SELL on Triyards.

South Korea seeks Russia's help to resolve North Korea issue.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-09-06/moon-seeks-putin-s-help-warns-of-uncontrollable-north-korea

President Moon still doesn't understand the whole situation.  Russia cannot help because SK is no longer a sovereign state and cannot make any decision without involving the USA.  Russia, like China, will demand SK to remove THAAD but SK cannot remove THAAD without the USA's approval.  The real crux of the Korea peninsula problem lies between the USA and NK.  SK and Japan will be the collateral damages when a war breaks out.  As long as SK and Japan don't pressure the USA to remove THAAD from SK, it is difficult to resolve the current impasse.

North Korea H-Nuclear warhead.

This is the H-Nuclear bomb which will be put in a ballistic warhead.  H-Nuclear bomb is the most powerful bomb so far on earth.  The Hydrogen bomb which was recently tested by NK was 10x more powerful than the atomic bomb dropped in Japan.

H-Nuclear bomb is a high technological bomb because it has to go through a fission-fusion-fission process to achieve the maximum explosion.  In a nutshell, a small atomic bomb (fission-split atoms) has to be ignited to achieve a high temperature of a few thousands degree for fusion (merge atoms) to take place before it eventually explodes again(split atoms) for maximum damage.

The diagram on the top left corner of the picture depicts the H-Nuclear bomb warhead.

China quantum communication can span more than 2,000km now.

http://en.people.cn/n3/2017/0905/c90000-9264879.html

After the advent of Quantum satellite, other quantum technologies are evolving as well. The quantum communication can achieve a distance of more than 2,000km now.  This also means the quantum radar range will also be longer than before and stealth fighter will no longer be stealth anymore.  All the billions sunk into the development of F35 would be flushed down the toilet bowl.  What a waste!

Will USA attack North Korea unilaterally?

Well, this is a billion dollar question but we'll try to seek the answer with our best effort.

The USA will only attack North Korea if it is confident that it can destroy NK's nuclear sites and ballistic missiles in the first air strike.  However, we do not foresee such confidence from the USA because the USA can only destroy about 85% of NK's capabilities leaving 15% for retaliation against South Korea and Japan.  Our online research shows that the USA can only gather about 85% of intelligence about NK insofar.  There are many unknown underground tunnels in NK that can accommodate mobile missile launchers.  Therefore, the USA will not act unilaterally because Seoul and Tokyo will be annihilated from NK's retaliations.

The USA has been making public proclamation that it doesn't seek to dethrone Kim but Kim will not trust the USA due to the USA having a bad credibility record.  I would say that the USA and NK are at an impasse now because both countries are suspicious of each other.

Furthermore, China and Russia won't allow a Korean peninsula war right at their doorsteps.

It's official now! Government tax credit is not considered a state subsidy under WTO.

http://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/business/wto-reverses-ruling-against-boeing-777x-tax-credits-9184910

Many countries will use the tax credit to boost its competitiveness now as WTO doesn't consider tax credit as a state subsidy.

WTO has set the precedent for all to follow.  Good job!

Singapore stock calls for 5 September 2017

Our envision for the future is going to be materialized.

https://sg.finance.yahoo.com/news/fear-robots-taking-jobs-spurs-040550775.html

More countries are considering an universal basic income in their societal structures for the foreseeable future because of displaced workers.

Our Envision:

http://sg-stock.blogspot.sg/2016/12/the-new-economy-and-radical-social.html

We did mention in our article that people would receive state assistance for subsistence in the new world and this universal basic income system is akin to the state assistance for subsistence.

This upcoming industrial revolution will destroy more jobs than it creates.  Therefore, displaced workers will no longer be able to find jobs in this new world.

http://sg-stock.blogspot.sg/2017/05/artificial-intelligence-will-destroy.html

Are we prepared for this new societal development in Singapore?