The companies reliant on high cost approaches will not be able to survive with such low prices. I suppose the oil sands strategy is in big trouble.
http://money.cnn.com/2015/08/05/investing/oil-companies-bankruptcy/index.html
Category: Investing
One of those rare instances when a car is considered to be a worthwhile investment
The value of a Ferrari car is expected to outperform the Ferrari stock
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-07-24/ferrari-stock-faces-soaring-testarossa-prices-for-investor-favor
Should Germany exit the European Monetary Union instead of Greece?
http://www.bloombergview.com/articles/2015-07-17/germany-not-greece-should-exit-the-euro
A look back at what people said about the monetary union long before the Greek crisis
United we stand, United we fall.
The potential perils of a monetary union were always apparent, but the policy makers were probably hoping the benefits would outweigh them.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-07-15/nine-people-who-saw-the-greek-crisis-coming-years-before-everyone-else-did
Iran’s return to the oil supply chain and what it means
Good article from Bloomberg on what the Nuclear deal and the acceptance of Iran back into the global fold means to the oil markets.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-07-14/what-iran-s-nuclear-deal-means-for-the-global-crude-oil-market
India’s (Un)healthcare sector downfall?
Now that India has the ignominy of having a super-bacteria gene named after them — New Delhi, to be exact — one wonders if that spells the demise of the healthcare sector and its “medical tourism” industry.
It wasn’t too long ago that Fortis was looking to expand beyond their shores in their competition with Khazanah for the Parkway pie. Now, they might just need to concentrate a wee bit more on their home turf.
If you want to find out more about this new Indian bacteria gene that can potentially have fatal and devastating effects, there is this fairly new writeup on Wikipedia.
The Malaysian Bears are sniffing around?
For some reason or other, the research analysts from CIMB were exceedingly bearish compared to the analysts from the other banks and brokers. Wonder if they know something that the rest don’t? Just check out the number of Neutral or Underperform calls that they made last week.
What does TBTF stand for?
Well, that’s a FLA (Four-Letter-Acronym) that came in vogue some time last year to represent “Too Big To Fail”. It was used particularly in the context of the TARP (another FLA: “Troubled Assets Relief Programme) coming into play for AIG because it was deemed its failure will have a cascading effect on the rest of the American — and possibly world — economy.
Now we have TBTF standing for “Too Big To Fall” as well. This article from Bloomberg is an interesting read on how the punishments can be disproportionate to the magnitude of the wrongdoing.
Directors in listed companies should be held to higher standards as they are responsible not only for the welfare of their staff and the company, but they are supposed to consider the interests of investors. Let’s hope that SGX-listed companies clean up their acts as there have been more than a few dodgy directors exposed in the media lately…
Turmoil in the Manila Bourse
Wonder if any index funds based on the Philippine Stock Exchanges benchmark index will be able to claim any losses? Then again, I’m not sure if there are any pure index plays based on their markets…
http://www.businesstimes.com.sg/sub/news/story/0,4574,396706,00.html?
The Philippine Stock Exchange yesterday rolled out a new trading system that quickly plunged the market into disarray with wildly wrong data.
It took the bourse more than three hours after the close of trading to issue the correct figure for the benchmark index, after officials told investors to disregard the whooping 14 per cent gain erroneously calculated by the new system.
Earnings Season Mayhem
The coming week, and possibly the next few weeks will be marked by mayhem in the stock markets as investors veer between joy and horror within short spaces of time due to the earnings season.
Fundamentals (and possibly common sense) are thrown out the window as fear rules the markets. Alcoa, who led the earnings season with favourable figures, is also being dragged down now even though nothing fundamentally has changed about it the last few days when it first rallied after good earnings reports!
Unless you have a good appetite for risk, it may be wise for you and your money to stay out for now or take small positions…