Foreign Markets & Dow Futures Watch

[antediluvianist]

A relief. Doesn't mean the weak market is over, but the report could have been much worse.

[camel]

mfc, phi n slf all up intra-day

happy weekend folks

[silentmax]

Lets hope we get some of that attention(from china)....
_____________________________________________________________
http://www.forbes.com/markets/economy/2 ... kets6.html
China To Flex Investment Muscles With Forex Pile
Vivian Wai-yin Kwok, 03.09.07, 1:14 PM ET

HONG KONG -
Seeking to take better advantage of its $1.07 trillion treasure chest of currency reserves and alleviate pressure on the yuan, China announced Friday that it will set up an investment company modeled on Singapore’s state-controlled Temasek to invest in higher-return opportunities around the world.

The investment company will be under the direct control and management of the State Council, the cabinet of China, Finance Minister Jin Renqing said at a press conference in Beijing on Friday.

Various sources have said that the company could receive anywhere from $200 billion to $400 billion to manage, which would make it one of the largest investment vehicles in the world.

What it will buy is a matter of feverish speculation — some government officials have called for using the money to acquire natural resources to support the Chinese economy, such as oil and metal deposits, or overseas technology companies.

The addition of such a well-funded player to the global investment scene is likely to drive up asset prices.

China is believed to currently hold as much as 75% of the vast currency reserves it has accumulated from its export sales in dollar assets — it’s the world's second-largest holder of U.S. Treasury bonds — and it is losing from exchange-rate movements as the yuan gains against the dollar.

Last year China may have earned about $30 billion on its U.S. Treasury holdings, according to an estimate by an economist at Standard Chartered in Shanghai, a meager return of under 3% on its $1 trillion portfolio.

By contrast, Singapore’s Temasek, which has $84.5 billion under management, has returned 18% a year since it was founded in 1974.

Speeding up the investment of foreign reserves could help ease the rising pressure on the yuan, which closed at 7.7436 against the dollar Friday, down slightly from a high of 7.7403 to the dollar Monday. It has climbed 4.78% in 2007.

Seeking to alleviate the pressure on the yuan, the government last year granted local banks and insurance companies $18.6 billion in overseas investment quotas and allowed businesses to keep a larger share of their foreign exchange income.

China’s new strategy to set up a new investment arm like Temasek Holdings will have the country invest in all sorts of companies without national boundaries.

Controlled by Ho Ching, Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong’s wife, Temasek dominates a number of sectors in the city state, and invests abroad in telecommunications, media, financial services, property, transportation, energy and pharmaceuticals.

It’s most recent overseas purchases include 5% of Japan’s eMobile, 5% of Bank of China and a controversial takeover of Shin Corp. in Thailand

[silentmax]

http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/03/09/ ... invest.php
more news with regards to china


if your in the invesment field can you still say damn china?

[jubre]

that's fresh money getting into ICT (yantai port) which will be having its 2po after international roadshow in near term with UBS and CLSA as underwriter and co-manager...

[xoutdeyes]

1. Global time has been worsening since April 06, So the US market has risen only 7%, Japan: -4%, and Europe + 6%. Lots of work to achieve such skimpy returns!

2. US: profits must fall with unit labor costs rising: either firms pass the cost push inflation on, so the Fed tightens more, OR they absorb these higher unit labor costs – but that cramps their margins. Fed wants to do the dirty work way ahead of the elections, so fed funds rise until4Q07

3. America’s sub prime mortgages may be the Russian debt default in August 1998 – after which the yen carry trades were unwound and so the yen shot up by 41% within a year! Key is that carry trades will be unwound – the nightmare scenario is a hedge fund with a carry trade that is financing sub prime mortgage credit default swaps!

4. In Japan and Europe, the monetary data are contracting, so that is withdrawing liquidity. And in Japan, the grey haired retirees (8 million collect Yen 50,000 billion pension payouts within 3 years) will keep buying higher yielding offshore assets

5. Protectionism on Capitol Hill: China is “for free,” so protectionist Pelosi will lead the charge. Bush cannot stop this China bashing thanks to his Iraq ego trip

6. “Sevens” - Big market crashes in 1927, 1987 and 1997.

[camel]

eTelecare will file the MAndatory IPO SEC disclosure in NY today

Morgan Stanley roadshow will commence Tuesday, 13 March 2007

As Shakespeare would have said..."This is it"

[silentmax]

http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/03/08/ ... /bxatm.php

Around the Markets: South Korean stocks lure Warren Buffett and analysts
By Darren Boey
Bloomberg News
Friday, March 9, 2007

HONG KONG: South Korean stocks are attracting value investors including Warren Buffett, one of the world's richest men.

"Korea is now cheap," said Geoff Lewis, head of investment services JF Asset Management in Hong Kong. "We're not necessarily following Buffett, but if the Sage of Omaha is buying South Korea, some people are bound to do so as well."

JF Asset has been buying more Korean shares in the past four to six weeks, Lewis said, declining to name them. It owns shares of Samsung Electronics, the world's largest maker of computer-memory chips, and SK Telecom, Korea's No. 1 mobile-phone operator.

In a five-day global equities sell- off that started Feb. 27, Korea's benchmark Kospi lost 6.4 percent, less than the Morgan Stanley Capital International emerging market index's 10 percent plunge and the MSCI Asia Pacific index's 6.9 percent fall.

Berkshire Hathaway, run by the billionaire Buffett, owned 4 percent of Posco, the Korean steel maker, as of Dec. 31. Buffett's annual letter to shareholders released March 1 revealed the stake, while Posco was not listed among Berkshire's holdings at the end of 2005.

Overseas investors, who were net sellers of $12 billion worth of Korean shares last year, have bought $1.3 billion more of shares in Korean companies than they have sold so far this year. That is the second most behind Japan of the eight Asian markets for which the data is tracked. A Merrill Lynch survey of fund managers last month found "the most notable shift" was a move away from Chinese stocks toward Korea and Taiwan.

Strategists at Merrill Lynch, Macquarie Securities, UBS and Deutsche Bank this month all said that investors should buy Korean shares because of their low valuations.

Companies in the Kospi sell on average for 13.3 times estimated profit, making it the cheapest benchmark in Asia after Thailand. The Kospi added 4 percent in 2006, lagging behind a 29 percent surge in MSCI's emerging markets index.

The global sell-off started last week when Chinese stocks fell the most in a decade after the country's government approved a task force to clamp down on illegal share offerings and other banned activities in the market.

Global stocks erased an estimated $3.3 trillion in market value over the next five days.

"When global markets stabilize, Korean stocks are likely to outperform," said Choi Min Jai of KTB Asset Management in Seoul. "They are still cheap and the won currency will move positively for exporters."

Buffett, 76, did not say in his March 1 letter when the Posco stake was purchased. Buffett declined to comment on Posco and Korean stocks through an aide.

Forbes magazine places Buffett second on the list of the world's richest people in 2006 after Microsoft's chairman, Bill Gates.

"It's good news and may help underscore the competitiveness of Korean companies," said Lee Seung Jun, who manages investments at CJ Asset Management in Seoul.

Strategists are urging investors to follow Buffett's lead.

Merrill Lynch upgraded its opinion on Korean stocks to "overweight" from "neutral" in a March 2 note, on expectations of an economic recovery and increasing investment from overseas.

Hyundai Mobis, the biggest auto- component maker in Korea, and Lotte Shopping, a department-store operator, are among Merrill's top picks.

Tim Rocks, a Hong Kong-based Asian equities strategist at Macquarie, said the sell-off elsewhere in Asia and the won's decline against the yen would prompt international investors to reverse their bets that Korean shares will fall.

"Korea is suddenly in a position where their export competitiveness will improve sharply," Rocks said. "On top of that, it's cheap. If you want any evidence of that you just have to look at Buffett's purchase."

Rocks named Samsung Electronics, Hynix Semiconductor, the computer memory chip maker, and Hyundai Motor, the biggest automaker in Korea, as likely beneficiaries.

[dragon]

U.S. Consumer Prices Rise More Than Forecast, Reducing Prospect of Fed Cut

arrow points away from the R word Recession.

but to obscure things further, a higher probability of the R word ensures higher chance of rate cut, which would be good for stocks. you need to get sick to be cured.

otherwise, there would be a lingering bacteria stigma of recurring symptoms only.

[passyon1]

S as in stagflation is probably the best letter to describe the situation where we have R as in slowing growth (housing bust, lower consumer confidence etc) and hyperinflation (soon to come) bec of depreciating US dollar, higher import costs/prices (oil, food, made in China stuff etc).

[geri]

stagflation(slowing growth with rising inflation) is catastrophic!

[jubre]

passyon, recession is not slowing growth but negative growth for at least two or more quarters... a severe or long recession is depression... slow growth is still growth...

[roiking]

Stagflation-make one of two choices, each with negative outcomes..And the best is to invest in Gold.