Pathos, Ethos, Logos

Inside Job

2012-01-29T23:07:00.003+08:00

Recently, as I was involved in a term paper on the troubled banks that fell during the financial crisis, a team mate of mind introduced the group to a film called "Inside Job". Initially, I was thinking its not so feasible to request for the whole group to watch a movie but I was so wrong.

I went to watch it and I was blown away. Not only was it very relevant to the term paper that we had to write, it opened my eyes to the financial industry, to Wall Street in particular.

In this blog post, I'm going to talked about some pertinent points highlighted in the film. All my opinions are merely opinions and I hope no one will be offended by them. Thanks. Also, I wish to give credit to the writers and producers of "Inside Joy". They were really brave to approach the senior advisors and bankers.

Derivatives are weapons of mass destruction, as mentioned by Warren Buffet. Initially when I was studying derivatives, I thought to myself, wow these instruments are great invention. But after watching the movie, I do agree with Warren Buffet. You can bet on almost anything with derivatives. You can literally control the world with them.

In the 1990s, Borns who graduated first in her class atStanford Law School tried to regulate the derivatives market but was overruledby the Clinton’s Adminstration, Congress and Larry Summers.

They were all not receptive of the idea of the regulation ofthis industry.

When someone is so afraid, it means that regulation willstop their game altogether, the game of endless streams of profits. They can nolonger make money and that is what they fear most. Hence, they must do whateverit takes to stop the regulation, even it takes up to billions of dollars. I infer that the reason they are spending billions to stop regulation, simply means that they can make even more than that. In the banking industry, I think a simple philosophy is followed, so long as the benefits exceed cost, we go ahead with it.

Later, the market for CDOs had collapsed and that left investmentbanks with hundreds of billions of dollars in loans, CDOs and real estate theycouldn’t sell. Then foreclosures start to increase at a rapid rate and of course many CDOs went on default.

What's horrifying to me is that even in 2008, people are still insisting that everything isunder control and that we will still continue to grow.

At the 1 hour 6^th minute of the movie, it was mentioned that along with the collapsed of Lehman, the commerical paper market crashed as well. I surmised that this was because of the plummet in the level of consumer confident in the commerical papers. Commerical papers are essentially loans issued by corporations on a short term basis to borrow money from the public. They are generally highly rated and safe. However, with the collapse of one of the largest investment bank in the world (Lehman), it is not surprising that.

Another interesting point to note, many faculty professors do not rely on theirfaculty salary alone. They serve as board of directors of big conglomerates aswell as consultants and advisors to the US government.

Glenn Hubbard mentioned that most academic economists aren’twealthy business people. But the reality is that he himself makes $250,000 ayear as a board member of Metlife, and was formerly on the board of Capmark, amajor commercial mortgage lender during the bubble which went bankrupt in 2009.He has also advised Nomura Securities, KKR Financial Corporation and many otherfinancial firms.

In 2004, at the height of the bubble, Glenn Hubbardco-authored a widely read paper with William C. Dudley , the Chief Economist ofGoldman Sachs. In the paper, Hubbard praised credit derivatives and thesecuritisation chain stating that they had improved capital allocation and wereenhancing financial stability. He cited lower financial volatility and statedthat recessions had become less frequent and milder. Credit derivatives wereprotecting banks against losses and helping to distribute risk.

Laura Tyson is a professor at the University of California,Berkeley. She was the chair of the Council of Economic Advisers and thenDirector of the National Economic Council under Clinton. Shortly after leavinggovernment, she joined the board of Morgan Stanley which pays her $350,000 ayear.

Ruth Simmons, President of Brown University makes over$300,000 a year on the board of Goldman Sachs.

Many critics have said that the financial institutions havemade over $5 billion dollars to the political scene and as a result, they havemuch influence over the government policy.

What this means is that they are fighting for morederegulation in order to have it their way when it comes to setting policiesthat actually benefit the financial industry. This will only fuel more bubbles in the future I believe.When questioned about whether the financial institutions had too much politicalinfluence over the government policies, many senior bankers said that they donot think so.

Then came Obama who spoke about reform, changing of WallStreet’s culture. HE mentioned that the irresponsibility of the Wall Streetpeople and the abundance of greed drove us to the financial crisis.

But even till mid 2010s, very little was done. How come? It’sa Wall Street Government. That’s why.

At the end of the day, it appears that most of the people who have caused the subprime mortgage crisis are still serving as senior advisors to the U.S. government which is why critics are insisting that it's a Wall Street government. With them in place, they will be there to stop any constructive reform in the financial industry.

It appears that we have to get rid of them before we can even begin talking about reform.

Definitely an insightful movie and I encourage you all to watch it if you have the time. "Inside Job"

Credits -Inside Job

Samantha Garvey's Incredible Story

2012-01-21T11:24:00.000+08:00

Do watch it if you are free.

Samantha Garvey is such an inspiration. She is homeless but she sustains her passion for Science.

She believes that she will succeed so long as she keep doing what she's good at.

This really goes to show that it doesn't matter your background, so long as you have the passion to succeed.

In Singapore, many students complain about their background, coming from a poor family, coming from a neighbourhood school, losing to elite students from the Ivy Leagues, and getting rejected from interviews.

But on hindsight, did we try hard enough? Do you know how hard these successful people try?

They have went through all sorts of adversity before they come to this stage. They have truly been through alot and they deserve every bit of their success.

What we often see are the glory, fame. But does anyone know how much pain and hurt they have been through to reach here? Not really, in fact, people can't be bothered to find out about what they've been through.

All in all, the moral of the story is. If you want to succeed. Work hard, try your best and give it your all. If you don't then you shouldn't expect anything to come to you in the first place.

You reap what you sow. Don't be jealous of other people's success.

S&P hits euro zone with downgrades

2012-01-14T12:55:00.000+08:00

Ratings agencyStandard & Poor’s on Friday stripped France of its coveted triple-A credit rating andreduced Portugal’s debt status to junk as part of a broad reassessment ofEurope’s financial soundness that highlights the severity of the euro zone’spersistent sovereign debt crisis and complicates efforts to resolve it.

Germany escapedS&P’s scrutiny unharmed. It’s triple-A credit rating was left unchanged andgiven a stable outlook.

S&P’s steps were certain to make it more difficult forEuropean leaders to solve the debt crisis and could trigger a period of volatility in financialmarkets similar to what investors experienced in the wake of S&P’sdowngrade of the United States last year, said Jeremy Hare, Managing Directorof Investments at Gilford Securities. S&P’s moves would also, Hare said,shine a harsh light on the leaders’ ineffectual efforts to solve the crisis.

“It hits them right on the chin,” Hare said. “S&P is calling(German Chancellor Angela) Merkel out and saying, ‘Hey, fix the problem’.”

S&P cut France, Austria, Malta, Slovakia and Slovenia by onenotch, stripping Franceand Austria of rare triple-A ratings that were key to their ability to supportefforts to rescue struggling euro zone members. The ratings agency alsodowngraded by two notches Italy, Spain, Portugal and Cyprus. Portugal andCyprus were cut to junk status.

Of the countries mentioned in Friday’s statement, only Germanyand Slovakia were given stable outlooks. The rest received negative outlooks, meaning S&Pbelieves there is at least a one-in-three chance they may be downgraded in 2012or 2013.

S&P said it was taking the actions because Europe’s leaders had failed atrecent meetings to take decisive steps to solve the region’s debtcrisis. It specifically noted that a Dec. 9 summit deal did not go far enough.

“The political agreement does not supply sufficient additional resources oroperational flexibility to bolster European rescue operations, or extend enoughsupport for those euro zone sovereigns subjected to heightened marketpressures,” S&P said in a statement.

S&P went further, casting doubt on Europe’s approach ofinsisting on tough austerity measures as the main path to restoring financialstability in Europe.

“We believe that a reform process based on a pillar of fiscalausterity alone risks becoming self-defeating,” the agency said.

Instead, it highlighted “rising external imbalances anddivergences in competitiveness between the euro zone’s core and the so-called‘periphery’” as a significant source of the bloc’s problems that needed to beaddressed.

The news of S&P’s action was greeted with dismay by Europeanleaders.

“This is not good news,” French Finance Minister Francois Baroinsaid in an appearance on French national television. Baroin called thedowngrade “a semisurprise” and added that it was “not a catastrophe.”

Baroin, who spoke after a day of swirling rumors about animminent downgrade of France, also said that France’s economic policies wouldnot change as a result of the downgrade.

“It is not the rating agencies who dictate French policy,” hesaid.

European Commission Vice President Olli Rehn said the euro zonehad taken decisive action to fix the crisis.

“I regret the inconsistent decision earliertoday by Standard and Poor’s concerning the rating of several euro area memberstates, at a time when the euro area is tak[ing] decisive action in all frontsof its crisis response,” Rehn said in a statement.

The news,along with an apparent breakdown in negotiations over writedowns for Greekgovernment debt, was credited with sending the euro to a fresh 16-month lowversus the dollar.

“To the extent that [a downgrade] has been anticipated eversince S&P launched its review of euro area sovereign ratings in earlyDecember, a smattering of downgrades should have already been priced in,” saidGrant Lewis, economist at Daiwa Capital Markets.

S&P last month warned that downgrades were possible for 15euro-zone countries, including triple-A rated France, Germany, Austria and theNetherlands.

Still, a downgrade for France all but ensures that the EuropeanFinancial Stability Facility, the euro-zone’s temporary rescue fund, will alsolose its triple-A rating, Lewis and other economists noted.

“A downgrade to France’s rating will be a severe blow to theuseless EFSF,” said Stephen Pope, managing director of Spotlight Ideas, aLondon consulting firm.

Efforts to boost thefirepower of the EFSF by employing leverage or attracting overseas funding havefallen flat in recent months. German Chancellor Angela Merkel and FrenchPresident Nicolas Sarkozy have urged bringing forward the launch of thepermanent rescue mechanism, the European Stability Mechanism, from 2013 to thissummer.

Merkel opened the door to increased funding of the ESM in a newsconference earlier this week.

A downgrade will make life difficult for Italy as it strugglesto convince investors it can get a grip on its debt burden.

Italy this week saw borrowing costs fall dramatically at a pairof debt auctions, but bigger tests loom in coming weeks as the governmentprepares to issue longer-term debt.

A two-notch downgrade by S&P would put Italy into theB-bracket, the lowest investment-grade category, noted Kathleen Brooks,research director at Forex.com. That could result in a rise in margin requirements, which would in turnput more upward pressure on yields, she said.

Meanwhile, France is poised to sell €8.7billion of debt on Monday, while the EFSF and Germany also plan to auction debtnext week, she noted, ensuring a “tense market open” when Europe returns towork next week.

Credits -By William L. Watts and Christopher Noble, MarketWatch

Apple threat looms over TV at CES

2012-01-12T21:44:00.000+08:00

The last two ConsumerElectronics Shows were overshadowed by Apple AAPL +1.02% — first in 2010 by rumors of a tablet and then in2011 by the iPad’s stunning success. Indeed January 2011 brought a slew of iPadwanna-bes, many of which have become road kill, as we predicted. The CES showsin 2008 and 2009 were impacted by the 2007 launch of Apple’s first iPhone.

This year, as the sprawling show floorofficially opens in Las Vegas today, should be no different. Except that thistime around, the specter of Apple and its rumored plans will torment the coreof CES: the television business, ripe for the picking with a growing number ofcustomers fed up with costly cable service and the lack of innovation in TVs.

“Apple is a very prominent non-participant at CES, within theTV industry and elsewhere in the consumer electronics industry,” said PaulGagnon, director of North American TV research at NPD DisplaySearch

The Cupertino, Calif. company has not made anyannouncements in TV beyond its Apple TV set-top box, which former CEO SteveJobs once called a “hobby.” But before his death in October 2011, Jobs told hisbiographer Walter Isaacson that he had “finally cracked” TV with the “simplestuser interface,” that would synch with all your devices and get rid of thecomplex remote controls now used for DVD players and cable.

“Apple is going to do something at somepoint,” said Shaw Wu, a Sterne Agee analyst. “It’s a question of timing.”

Thetelevision market is clearly in the cross hairs.Consumers are frustrated with high costs for cable services, including payingfor hundreds of channels they never watch and systems with antiquated orbizarre navigation tools. There’s also a high saturation point of consumers whohave already purchased a big-screen HDTV.

Google Inc. GOOG +0.95% is providing one effort with its Android basedsoftware that integrates streaming Web content with standard TV fare.

But its firstgeneration of Google TV, unrolled in 2010, was underwhelming. At CES, some TVmakers are showing Google TV built into new sets with the latest secondgeneration software by the Internet search giant.

“This year the TV industry had kind of muddledthrough,” said Gagnon. “2011 was not a strong growth year for the TV industry.A lot of people own them and TV makers are trying to find something to exciteconsumers to get them to trade up.”

So now, consumers whodon’t need to upgrade their TV set for awhile, want smarter, more navigable, and less costly viewing.The instances of cord cutting — those who are getting rid of their cableservice — is creeping upwards, as more consumers are watching network TV showsor movies streamed over the Internet, cancelling cable and the hundreds of channelsthey never watch.

A study by Deloitte earlier this week ofU.S.consumers reported that 9% of respondents had canceled cable subscriptions,and another 11% said they were considering it. Viewers are also watching TVshows and even movies on other devices, including tablets and smartphones.

“Apple could totally change the game,” Wusaid. “The content is what’s holding it up. It’s tough to predict. The most important trend is cordcutting.” Wu noted it is still a nascent trend and that cable companiesand broadcasters still hold the cards with their content. “But if thatcontinues, and the content guys are losing business, they may be forced toexplore with Apple where they have to change their business model.”

Some speculation around Apple TV includestheories that Apple may even be developing its own TV, and thus would controlthe whole ecosystem, much as it does with the iPhone, the iPad, the iPod, andthe Mac.

Credit -Therese Poletti

Live life to the fullest

2012-01-10T18:05:00.001+08:00

These 10 lines are extremely meaningful even though they might seem simple and ordinary.

Sometimes, we are too troubled over unnecessary things and we make life difficult.

Personally, I'm a really optimistic, motivated and cheerful person. I hope that everyone out there will get out of the "emo trend" soon and not indulge in such a damaging culture!

Live life to the fullest ! :)

Credits -All rights reserved by -kristinmarie

Credit Suisse Pushes on Integration

2012-01-08T18:51:00.000+08:00

Credit Suisse Group plans to integrate the operational functions of its private-banking and investment-banking divisions into a new global entity, as the Swiss bank seeks to cut costs and improve profits.

The new unit, which will be combined effective Jan. 1 and report to Chief Financial Officer David Mathers, will be led by Gary Bullock.

This latest move, which seeks to make the two businesses work more closely with each other, comes as the banking industry faces a profit squeeze amid a global crackdown on tax havens, dismal financial markets, deteriorating economic prospects and tougher regulators.

The move at Credit Suisse, Switzerland's second-largest bank by assets, comes after it said last month that it will fold its Clariden Leu subsidiary into the rest of the bank, eliminating a brand that has been around for more than 250 years.

It also recently said it would split its European private-banking operations into two, to better address the diverging needs of clients in Western Europe and emerging Europe.

The bank is going the opposite way at the investment bank, where it plans to fold emerging-market currencies and fixed-income operations into the global foreign exchange division. The move, announced Thursday, is a response to clients' requests to have only one desk to turn to for currency deals, it said.

This new desk will be led by Ben Shooter, who now heads European currency sales, it said.

Meanwhile, Mr. Bullock will work closely with Romeo Lacher, head of private-banking operations, and Stef Toffolo, head of investment-banking operations, as well as with the respective management teams to ensure business continuity and a smooth transition.

"These changes will accelerate the development of more integrated operating and securities processing platforms across the bank, improving client access to our products and reducing the cost of delivery," the bank said in its memo to all staff.

"These measures will also significantly contribute to the bank's overall cost-reduction efforts," Credit Suisse added.

Credit Suisse plans to reduce annual expenses by 2 billion Swiss francs ($2.1 billion) and cut around 3,500 jobs by 2014.

These steps to boost efficiency come as the banking industry battles a raft of challenges. Among them are requests from regulators to raise capital and reduce risks to better withstand fallout from the ongoing European sovereign debt crisis.

The loss of confidence in the banking system has resulted in a sharp fall in activity on the interbank market, which in turn is leading to higher refinancing costs and liquidity bottlenecks, warned Thomas Jordan, the Swiss central bank's vice president.

"The deterioration in the global economic environment hasn't left the Swiss big banks unscathed," he said at the Swiss National Bank's annual media conference Thursday. "In the second half of 2011, their profitability suffered from the volatile financial market situation as well as from low customer activity levels."

The central bank welcomes efforts by the two big banks, Credit Suisse and UBS AG, to significantly reduce their risk exposure and boost capital, but more is needed, he said.

A second area of concern for the banks is the global crackdown on tax havens, which is driving up costs for Swiss private banks.

Since Europe and the U.S. got tough on tax havens, Swiss banks have been forced to reinvent their business models and offer their clients more than protection from tax authorities. Switzerland recently negotiated deals with Germany and the U.K. that aim to make sure that taxes on wealth managed in Switzerland are paid, while preserving the privacy of banking clients.

The changes in dealing with untaxed assets come at a difficult time for the industry. Fees are falling because clients are shying away from trading, even as the value of their assets is declining due to tough financial markets.

—Alexandra Fletcher in London contributed to this article.

Zhou Xiaochuan Part II

2012-01-05T14:59:00.001+08:00

The upcoming U.S.presidential election has created some pressure for yuan appreciation. On theother hand, from a market perspective, the yuan has showed a tendency todevalue. What is your opinion of this trend and any corresponding advancementfor exchange-rate reform?

A lot of results have been achieved in yuanexchange-rate reform in recent years. In judging whether the exchange rate isat equilibrium, the current international comparison is mainly based on thecurrent-account balance. From the perspective of the current-account balance,the yuan exchange rate has moved closer to the equilibrium point over the pastfew years.

There is a problem with lagging relations between the exchange rateand current-account balance. Exchange-rate adjustments will quicklyaffect decisions made by some manufacturers, such as whether to sell productsinternationally or domestically, or whether to procure domestically or abroad.But the deeper response involves adjusting capacity. A combination ofadjustments to investing and factors of production are needed for them toadapt, and there will be a lag period, which is more obvious in China.

Changesin exchange rates cause readjustments in production capacity. For example, reallocating resources from the manufacturingindustry to the service industry requires a process in order for changes tooccur gradually.

China’s current-account surplus (mainly tradesurplus) reached a peak in 2007 and 2008, and subsequently began to fall. Thecurrent-account surplus at the end of 2011 may have ended up, being only around3% percent of GDP. A current-account balance inclining toward equilibrium isthe result of structural and exchange-rate adjustments.

Worrying too much about exchange-rateadjustment and trade balance issues is inappropriate and useless because thereis a process for resource allocation and adjustment. In reality, China hassignificantly developed toward equilibrium, although there will befluctuations.

As for exchange-rate reform, the closer theyuan is to the equilibrium level, the fewer difficulties will result fromreform. At the same time, as the trading band expands and controls are furtherreduced, reform’s difficulties will be smaller, and the conditions for yuanconvertibility on the capital account will be increasingly present. In fact,exchange-rate reform has, on the whole, developed for the better, with a numberof international political implications.

Is the current two-wayvolatility of the yuan a temporary phenomenon, or does it fundamentallyindicate that the yuan exchange rate has already been overshot?

In the past, people said expectations for theyuan were one-way appreciation. Until close to the equilibrium level, it wouldexperience two-way expectations and two-way volatility. This sort of natural,bi-directional floating state is the goal that reform has pursued. But to trulyreach this state may take more time. The movement in the currentforeign-exchange market is still mainly related to the external environment.

Speaking of foreign direct investment, manyEuropean and American investments in China did not bring the money back or evenpay dividends in the past. Undistributed profits remained in a company’saccounts. Now, if funds are tight in a parent company’s host country, moreprofits (from Chinese operations) will be sent back (to the parent).Considering domestic factors recently, enthusiasm for overseas investment hasrapidly increased.

In the past, many traders settled foreigntrade payment in advance and made long-term purchases of foreign currency,resulting in a relatively high demand for yuan. Now, financing conditions for foreign trade arechanging, and settlements are being postponed. This situation makes forperiodic changes in foreign-exchange supply and demand. Of course, there areindividual cases of control-evasion and using fake trading backgrounds forexchange arbitrage. For these and other reasons, the Hong Kong Non-DeliverableForward contract has changed direction.

On the whole, these changes still have to bemonitored. The most important thing is to look at economic fundamentals.Looking at the foreign-exchange market, we still need to look at whether thecurrent account is in surplus or deficit, (and) whether the net directinvestment is flowing in or out; that is, whether direct investment fromforeign businesses minus China’s outgoing direct investment is positive ornegative.

China’s commodity trade surplus in 2011 mayhave been as high as $150 billion, and total FDI is still quite large. ...Overall, the capital account and current account are still in surplus. Thebalance has improved significantly, but there have been no reversals for thefundamentals. Exchange-rate movements need to be monitored further.

With the exchange rateapproaching to the equilibrium point, can capital-account convertibility be puton the agenda as well?

Some things still need clarification regardingcapital-account convertibility. In the past, there was an argument that fullconvertibility was understood as the highest standard. But in reality, internationalorganizations have not clearly defined this. Most developed countries are not100% freely convertible; maybe they only reach an 80% or 90% level.

Second, retaining necessary oversight is notan obstacle to the realization of convertibility. An internal InternationalMonetary Fund opinion in 2010 said that to maintain macro-economic stability,it is rational for countries to implement a certain degree of management oremploy temporary management measures for a capital account, especially forunusual, short-term capital flows.

In China’s case, there are three principles toconsider in the development of policy goals in the area of capital-accountconvertibility. First, prudentmacro-economic management of private and public debt must be implementedto prevent broad mismatches of currencies.

Second, necessary oversight of cross-borderfinancial transactions must be carried out. Currently, there are three oversight aspectsthat are internationally recognized and for which there is consensus: Moneylaundering, terrorist financing, and excessive use of tax havens must beprevented.

Third, short-term, cross-border, speculative cash flows must beproperly managed.

Discounting the above factors, comparing the40 sub-items relating to capital-account convertibility required by the IMF,one finds that, in fact, we are not far from the goal of capital-accountconvertibility.

There are two main difficulties. First, ourconcerns and worries about overseas investment by companies and residents arerelatively high. This should be adjusted. The government’s main responsibilityis to educate investors, letting them accumulate their own knowledge andgradually undertake their own risks.

Another control is aimed at the problem offoreign companies coming to China to raise funds. Currently, foreign institutions are permittedto issue yuan debt in China, but equity financing is still prohibited.However, the China Securities Regulatory Commission is paying efforts to studythe issues, and the overall trend is to gradually liberalize. From this pointof view, we are not far from capital-account convertibility.

There is another prerequisite forcapital-account convertibility, which is for the yuan exchange rate to be closeto the equilibrium exchange-rate level. If the difference is too great, thehole for arbitrage will be relatively deep.

How do you viewrelations between yuan internationalization, market-oriented reform of thecapital account, and maintaining the value of foreign reserves?

It should be said that this problem is arelatively weak link in research inside every circle. In theory, an optimalsequence should be designed in advance. Not every reform can be advancedfollowing conventional procedures.

Some currently ask: How did the yuan becomeinternationalized before convertibility? At the same time, they say otherconditions are not yet in place. Will beginning to use yuan in place of foreigncurrency for import payments not cause China’s foreign-exchange reserves togrow faster?

Therein lie questions about understandingforeign-exchange reserves. Some voices say higher reserves are purely bad. Thisidea is not comprehensive. Itshould be understood that the side effects of excessive reserves emerge whenreserves increase too quickly, leading to a surge in funds outstanding forforeign exchange. If sterilization is inadequate, inflationary pressurewill increase. Using yuan to pay for imports on the surface looks likereplacing a portion of foreign-reserve payment, but some foreign-exchangereserves do not need to be sterilized.

Theoretically, reforms should first remove all unnecessary controlpolicies and achieve capital-account convertibility, and then push foroverseas settlement of the yuan. But deregulation will not necessarily lead toan international currency.

Promoting cross-border use of the yuan stemsfrom an opportunity seen at the beginning of the financial crisis. SouthKorea’s capital outflows were quite conspicuous, and the country hoped to carryout a currency swap with China to increase liquidity and market confidence. Butunder those circumstances, if China had used U.S. dollars for the swap, itwould have been unacceptable, because no one knew how the crisis would evolve.Thus, using local currency was proposed. Subsequently, more than 10 countrieslaunched currency swaps with China, and wanted to go a step further by usingyuan for trade and investment settlement.

At that time, the market confidence in thedollar had declined due to the impact of the crisis. This was a littleprovidential. This sequence of events certainly did not conform to generalrules. But if neighboring countries welcome the yuan without it beingconvertible, why stop it?

Of course, the basic logic is that we will haveto streamline the procedure sooner or later. The sequence of what we do now maybe contrary to common sense of the past, but this is not necessarily a badthing, because it was created by opportunity. It can also force us to do thingswe had not done.

The internationalization of the Yuan dependsprimarily on the degree of its acceptance by the market. First, this isaffected by the progress of China’s reform and opening. With slow reform, itspopularity will fall.

Second, [it is] related to the sustainability and stability ofmacro-economic growth. China’s macro-economy now is relatively good, butin fact we have many difficulties and challenges.

Zhou Xiaochuan Part I

2012-01-05T14:08:00.001+08:00

Zhou attracts as much attention as U.S. Federal ReserveChairman Ben Bernanke and European Central Bank President Mario Draghi becausethe world’s financial markets are vitally interested in China’s interest-ratetrends, bank deposit reserve ratio adjustments, and yuan-dollar exchange rates.

Zhou is a big-thinking strategist with firmideas about financial reform. He’s also a tactician who can find opportunitiesfor promoting reform in any situation. He harmoniously pursues realism andidealism, seeking gradual progress while pushing for financial reform.

The year 2011 was difficult and complex forChina’ economy. The year 2012 will be no different. What does Zhou see ahead,and what lessons can be learned from the past year?

In an interview in December, shortly after theChinese government set its 2012 policy goals at the annual Central EconomicWork Conference in Beijing, Zhou sat down with Caixin to discuss his personalviews and the central bank’s views toward inflation and monetary-policyadjustments, interest-rate control, exchange-rate reform, capital-accountliberalization and the internationalization of the yuan. His comments follow:

Caixin: China’smacro-economic policies were adapted to fit changing economic situations in2011. How do you see the economic situation in 2012 and corresponding policy options?

Zhou Xiaochuan: The Central Economic WorkConference clearly articulated macro-economic policy, taking into account twoconsiderations: Efforts to prevent an economic downturn, and efforts torestrain inflation.

First, we are encountering concurrent issuesin the international arena, including an evolving European debt crisis, U.S. economic uncertainty,and slowing growth in emerging economies. More importantly, theinternational economy is changing rapidly, and its outlook remains uncertain.Thus, we must be prepared to respond to new situations.

On the other hand, looking at China’s domesticeconomy, local governments will have leadership reshuffles in 2012, and thecapacity for growth in the Chinese economy is still great. At the same time,the consumer-price situation has changed for the better, and the need tocontrol inflation is not as pressing as it was in early 2011. Of course, thereare still uncertain factors, such as the impact that the real-estate marketwill have on the national economy.

Overall, we need to plan for the worst external environmentwithout relaxing efforts to keep prices from rising too quickly. We need torationally manage inflationary expectations. Meanwhile, economic structuraladjustment is still a difficult task. Macro-economic policy makers need toweigh all these issues.

China’s consumer priceindex (CPI) grew 4.2% in November, 1.3 percentage points below October’s andbelow market expectations. How do you view this change?

The target of 4% inflation set for full-year2011 may have been hard to achieve. Ultimately, it was likely to be around 5%.Technically speaking, year-on-yearmonthly comparisons sometimes give wrong impressions. Since the globaleconomic crisis of 2008, economic data have fluctuated significantly, makingfor a large base-number effect for year-on-year comparisons. The effect of thebase number must be considered in all monthly year-over-year numbers.

I have always advocated the use of seasonally adjustedsequential data, which reflects CPI trends quickly. In short, inflationcontrol has achieved some results and is moving in the right direction, but wecannot be too optimistic.

From the perspective of the domestic drivingforce contributing to the growth of the Chinese economy, the quality of life forChinese people needs further improvement. There is still plenty of potential inurbanization, and there is still room for expanding the nation’s infrastructureon a large scale. These projects are all somewhat government-led.

Looking at national conditions and China’sstage of development, the domestic economy is prone to overheating. Lookinginternationally, CPI growth in emerging markets is generally higher than indeveloped countries. This is not to say that there is currently a risk ofoverheating, but that inflation cannot be taken lightly.

How do you assess theeffects of China’s integrated use of quantitative tools and target-price-basedinstruments to achieve regulatory goals in 2011?

There are several aspects that requireattention. First, the frequency and intensity of using quantitative tools andprice controls are different. If you only look at the frequency of adjustments,it seems quantitative tools are used more often. But you need to look at the different strengths of theadjusted results that different tools accomplish.

Second, excess liquidity needs to berestrained. Only by estimating the existing liquidity situation can you judgewhether a policy adjustment’s strength is appropriate. Third is the judgment ofneutrality. Because of the international imbalance, there should bequantitative hedging. Only when hedging reaches a certain point is it neutral.That is, you must distinguishtightening, neutrality and loosening based on quantity.

Of course, you have to consider the mutualimpact of quantitative and price-based policies. In reality, they areconnected. This can be seen clearly through a study of short-term borrowingrates on the interbank market. Quantitative adjustments bring price reactions.Conversely, interest-rate adjustments bring quantitative changes in liquidity.

Since November, theChinese financial institutions’ yuan funds outstanding for foreign exchangehave continued to decrease. Has this provided a certain amount of room forchoice in monetary policy?

We’ve always had a relatively wide space forsetting monetary policy. The policy trade-off is mainly related tomacro-control goals. For example, deciding whether to pursue higher employmentor lower inflation requires repeated consideration of a balanced goal. Otherfuture uncertainties will affect changes in policy objectives.

Of course, there will also have someconstraints, and every policy choice brings some negative effects. Differing economic conditionsin China’s eastern, central and western regions, and a lack of domestic and international synchronizationwill generate arbitrage in opportunities. As long as the arbitrage is not on amassive scale, it is a question of balancing the positive and negative effectsof policy, which requires making judgment calls.

You mentioned that nowis a special time (for China’s economic development). But is it also a time ofreform?

Sometimes, reform’s timing is complicated.Often, difficult reforms that require strong commitments are launched whenpressures are relatively great. This is what we saw with the design ofexchange-rate reform in 1993 (which was implemented Jan. 1, 1994). At the time,people said exchange-rate reform required three conditions: very strongexports; adequate foreign-exchange reserves; and experience in macro-economicregulation. The situation at the time was just the opposite, but reform wasstill pushed forward.

Calls formarket-oriented interest-rate reform have been heard frequently over the pastyear. How do you see the timing for further reform, and the risks?

Market-oriented reforms on interest rates arealways being encouraged. Specific implementations should be introduced in an orderly fashion, and onthe basis of overseas economic situations. From a sequencing perspective, thefirst step is, through reform, to put hard restraints on financialinstitutions. In this way, the competitive behavior of market players becomesmore orderly, and price-liberalization issues are not too great.

From past experience, soft restraints onfinancial institutions’ competition behavior will always be ineffective, andthere will be problems. It should be said that with joint-stock reforms andsuccessful listings of 2010, the soft restraints and fair-competition issues offinancial institutions are gradually being resolved, and conditions are therefor interest-rate market reforms to advance.

When comparing international and domesticsituations, domestic and foreign pressures have differed mainly since thefinancial crisis. China maintained a relatively high rate of growth, while somedeveloped countries kept interest rates at zero. Advancing market reforms forinterest rates at a time when there are wide gaps between interest rates willcreate some special problems.

Credits -marketwatch

End of the Year

2011-12-31T14:27:00.000+08:00

Time flies.

Once again, we are at the end of the year. Before we say goodbye to 2011. Let's see what happened this year.

I can't really remember everything but I will just type whatever I can remember.

Well, 2011 is very significant to me because 11 has always been my favourite number. And I trust that 2011 will be a good year for me and indeed it has been.

I had tremendous success with my results at University. Come to think of it, I received all my results in 2011. First one in January, second one in June, third one in December. I'm really happy with my results where I got all As except Equity Securities which I got A-. Current GPA stands at 4.96, definitely a benchmark for me to keep up with for the next year!

Joined a CCA and was in Banking & Finance club. Not a bad club I must say, definitely a good boost to the resume.

And of course, the internship applications was really intense. Whereby we all had to find a good internship in hopes of being converted into a full-time staff after we graduate.

Starcraft 2 has always been one of my favourite topic and this game came out only last year December. Today, it has flourished and spread its wing throughout the entire world now. Seeing a strategic game go global is definitely heart-warming.

Lots of adults are always criticizing gamers, saying they are good-for-nothing, and that they only play games for a living. But they are so wrong, these people are one of the greatest strategists and hardest worker. They plan, train and work more than any people out there working in the industry.

They have a passion at the very least whereas most of the people are living without a dream. Living aimlessly where they don't even know what they want in the future. Compared to them, the professional gamers are definitely someone to look up to!

My goals for 2012 is definitely for everyone to live happily and healthily. Of course, I hope to sustain my results and to do better in the future.

Also, I hope to secure myself an incredible internship and should I get one, I promised to give it my all and go out there to impress.

Other than results and internships for 2012, I also hope to secure myself an exchange programme to SMU. I tried to apply for an exchange to NUS this year but I failed to secure a spot. Hopefully my application to SMU next year will be a successful one. Everyone has been talking about how SMU students are so pompous and fake, where they can only talk but have no substance. I mean it sounds like a completely different culture so I would really like to go there and see for myself how it is like.

What will I achieve in 2012, what will happen in 2012? No one knows but I'm definitely looking forward to the journey ahead !

11:11

2011-12-25T10:59:00.000+08:00

I have liked the number 11 for an extremely long time now.

But I never knew the reason myself. It just came to me.

Recently, I saw that its popular among other people as well so I went to research about it. And apparently, its a lucky number that allows people to make wishes!

In medieval times, numerologists — those who searched for the mystical significance of numbers — believed all numbers had both positive and negative aspects … except for 11. In the words of the 16th century scholar Petrus Bungus, 11 "has no connection with divine things, no ladder reaching up to things above, nor any merit." Stuck between the divine numbers 10 and 12, 11 was pure evil, and represented sinners.

On the flip side, some modern-day numerologists have deemed 11/11/11 auspicious, and according to local news sources around the country, an unusual number of couples have planned to marry on the day. The number 11 is also a favorite of gamblers — particularly blackjack and Keno players. So, amid all these alternative perspectives, what's the real deal about repeating 11s? Is there anything special about the numbers lining up?

With regards to the 11:11 phenomenon, rather than being a supernatural warning sign, psychologists say it is a classic case of "apophenia," or the human tendency to find meaning or patterns in randomly occurring data. This condition feeds on itself, because the more conscious you are of something — such as repeating 11s — the more often you'll notice it in the world around you, and thus the more certain you'll become that the pattern is real.

In online forums about the 11:11 phenomenon, people often say they didn't notice how many 11s appeared to them until hearing about the phenomenon from someone else. This is a tell-tale sign of apophenia: When they found out about the phenomenon, they subconsciously started keeping track of all the 11s they saw, with each new sighting seeming more significant than the last.

Results

2011-12-22T00:19:00.001+08:00

Its the time of the year again. I just received my results last midnight.

So let's start with AA102 - Accounting II.

Initially I was very scared because there are so many FRS readings and I thought to myself, how am I going to memorise all the FRS? But apparently, you don't have to, it just comes naturally once you practice enough. You do not have to memorise the FRS number, its sufficient to just know the rules behind them.

So these are the breakdown for this course

Mid Term 20%: 96.5/100
Project 15%: A

Overall Grade: A

I thought I did quite well in the final exam but I still didn't manage to secure an A+ for this module. Weird but I guess I must have made some mistakes somewhere.

Moving on, its BF215

Mid term 35%: 83/100
Class Participation 10%: 10/10
Ethics Quiz 5%: 11/20

To be honest, I thought I'm dead for this module because its extremely competitive. The mid term average was 74 so I thought I'm around the A- region for mid term.

For the ethics quiz, I just passed. Which further exacerbates the matter.

Thankfully, the final paper was not super easy. So I guess I managed to make a comeback and achieve an overall grade of A.

My advice is to really study hard for your mid terms and finals. Because the weightage for the mid term is freaking high.

Next its BF219: Equity Securities.

Project 30%: B+/A-

To be honest, I'm really disappointed with this module. I really did super alot for this project and in the end, got such a lousy grade.

Worst still, the final paper was embarassingly easy. So easy that I could finish the entire paper in 1 hour when its a 2.5 hours paper.

Couldn't make a comeback in the end and had to settle with an A- :(

Next BH226: Strategic HR & Consulting

Project 25%: A-
Essay 25%: A

For this module, the cohort size is really small. Around 90 students I believe and so I thought this is going to be a steep bell curve man. Furthermore I didn't do so well for the project which has a large weightage as well.

But turns out the final paper was not very easy. But I knew how to do it. So I guess I managed to fight back at the last minute.

Got an overall grade of A.

Finally, MA9001: Introduction to Energy.

Quiz 1 30%: 9/10
Quiz 2 40%: 14/15

Quiz 3 I'm not so sure. But I think its either 8/12 or 11/12. Since I got an A+. I think I got 11/12.

The reason why I'm so unsure is that I can't check the answers in the notes. The options in the MCQ are very ambiguous and you can really argue anyway. I mean its sort of playing around with the English Language.

Furthermore, the bell curve for this module is really, really steep. You need like 90+ for an A.

Its extremely competitive especially with the Engineering students taking this module.

But I'm glad I was able to come out victorious with an A+. Really happy for this module.

Yeah, so that's the end of the module review this semester.

Looking forward to the next semester :) Cheers to all.

And Merry Xmas 2011 !!!

Asia markets fall as Europe optimism fades

2011-12-13T11:43:00.001+08:00

Asia markets tumbled on Tuesday, with exporters and technology firms weak, after ratings agencies weighed in on the latest plans to stem Europe’s debt crisis.

The performance in Asia followed a drop for U.S. stocks, after credit-ratings agencies Moody’s and Fitch issued assessments on last week’s European debt-crisis summit.

Moody’s Investors Service said Monday it still intends to revisit the ratings of all European Union countries during the first quarter of 2012, given “the continued absence of decisive policy measures.”

Separately, the ratings agency placed eight Spanish banks and two holding companies on review for possible downgrades late Monday.

Ratings agency Fitch said the inability by European Union leaders to devise a “comprehensive” fix to the region’s debt crisis had intensified pressure on debt ratings of euro-area nations.

“The sell-off in Asian markets is feedback to the euro zone news, and [losses] in the U.S.,” Peter Lai, Hong Kong-based director at DBS Vickers said.

“Investors are dumping shares connected to the euro zone, the exporters,” he added.

那些年，我們一起追的女孩

2011-12-09T20:29:00.001+08:00

Really a good movie

Brings back memories

Daniel Tammet

2011-12-04T20:57:00.001+08:00

Simply incredible.

When he sees a number, he sees colours, patterns, textures and flashes

He had autism, epilepsy and seizures at 4. But yet, he had this ability as a result.

Perhaps this is god's test of his endurance and since he passed the test. He was awarded.

People with autism are said to have narrow interests and obsession. So its both a disability and an ability.

Matches showing human emotions

2011-12-02T10:23:00.001+08:00

Kitaro Silk Road

2011-11-23T14:39:00.001+08:00

Presenting to you

Kitaro

Helping you to find the inner peace

12 Year Old Steve Jobs Protege

2011-11-16T10:16:00.001+08:00

He might not be ready to submit a college application, but Thomas Suarez of Manhattan Beach, California is already releasing apps for iOS devices. The sixth grader recently gave a talk atTEDxManhattanBeach in which he discussed his love of computers (he got into them in kindergarten), his plans for the future, and the inspiration he got from the late Steve Jobs.

Suarez has released several apps on the Apple App Store since launching his first, a fortune-telling title called Earth Fortune, in late 2010. His most popular app has been Bustin Jieber, a Whack-a-Mole style game where players squish the disembodied head of Justin Bieber. "I created it because a lot of people at school disliked Justin Bieber a little bit," he told the TEDx crowd.

After teaching himself programming basics in Python, C, and Java, Suarez says he took up Apple's SDK and Xcode. "I've gotten a lot of inspiration from Steve Jobs," he says. Inspired, he started an App Club at his school, because "not many kids know where to go to find out how to make a program." As he sees it, "for soccer, you could go to a soccer team, and for violin, you could get a lesson from a violinist." But even parents might not be a resource, since as he rightly points out, "not many of them have written apps."

The club is working with its teacher sponsor to create iPad apps for education, which will eventually be distributed to local school districts free of charge, and sold to others. Oh, and he's even created his own company, CarrotCorp. It sounds like Suarez picked up a little entrepreneurial spirit from Jobs, as well.

7 Wonders of the World

2011-11-13T16:20:00.001+08:00

They look phenomenal !

Amazon Rainforest in South America

Halong Bay in Vietnam

Iguazu Falls in Argentina and Brazil

Jeju Island in South Korea

Komodo National Park in Indonesia

Puerto Princesa Underground River in the Philippines

Table Mountain in South Africa

Teddy

2011-11-03T20:36:00.000+08:00

Check out my dog with his superman clothing and new shoes !!!

Paint what you see

2011-10-31T22:32:00.003+08:00

Saw this really interesting piece of artwork

License	All rights reserved by balsamia

Never Stop Questioning

2011-10-29T15:43:00.001+08:00

New Starcraft 2 Units: Heart of the Swarm

2011-10-23T10:32:00.000+08:00

Check out the videos of the new units for Protoss, Zergs and Terrans.

With the prototypes shown and how it actually works explained by the game balancer David Kim.

Starcraft II New Units

2011-10-22T08:42:00.004+08:00

Cup of Coffee

2011-10-21T12:39:00.001+08:00

Whenthings in your life seem, almost too much to handle,
When 24 Hours in a day is not enough,
Remember the mayonnaise jar and 2 cups of coffee.

A professor stood before his philosophy class
and had some items in front of him.
When the class began, wordlessly,
He picked up a very large and empty mayonnaise jar
And proceeded to fill it with golf balls.

He then asked the students, if the jar was full.
They agreed that it was.

The professor then picked up a box of pebbles andpoured
them into the jar. He shook the jar lightly.
The pebbles rolled into the open Areas between thegolf balls.

He then asked the students again if the jar wasfull. They agreed it was.

The professor next picked up a box of sand andpoured it into the jar.
Of course, the sand filled up everything else.
He asked once more if the jar was full. Thestudents responded with a unanimous 'yes.'

The professor then produced two cups of coffee fromunder the table and poured the entire contents into the jar, effectively
filling the empty space between the sand. Thestudents laughed.

'Now,' said the professor, as the laughtersubsided,
'I want you to recognize that this jar representsyour life.
The golf balls are the important things - family,
children, health, Friends, and Favorite passions–
Things that if everything else was lost and onlythey remained, Your life would still be full.

The pebbles are the other things that matter likeyour job, house, and car.

The sand is everything else --The small stuff.

'If you put the sand into the jar first,' Hecontinued,
there is no room for the pebbles or the golf balls.
The same goes for life.

If you spend all your time and energy on the smallstuff,
You will never have room for the things that areimportant to you.

So...

Pay attention to the things that are critical toyour happiness.
Play With your children.
Take time to get medical checkups.
Take your partner out to dinner.

There will always be time to clean the house andfix the disposal.

'Take care of the golf balls first --
The things that really matter.
Set your priorities. The rest is just sand.

One of the students raised her hand and inquiredwhat the coffee represented.

The professor smiled
'I'm glad you asked'.

It just goes to show you that no matter how fullyour life may seem,
There’s always room for a couple of cups of coffeewith a friend.'

U.S. stock rally translates into weekly gain

2011-10-15T17:42:00.002+08:00

NEW YORK (MarketWatch) — U.S. stocks tallied robust gains Friday, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average capping its longest weekly win streak in six months, after a surge in retail sales and Google Inc.’s earnings lifted sentiment.

“Retail sales were a little better than expected, and earnings so far have been pretty good,” said Randy Frederick, director of trading and derivatives at the Schwab Center for Financial Research.

He noted the S&P 500 Index SPX +1.74%was testing 1,220, the upper part of a two-month trading range.

On Friday, the index added 20.92 points, or 1.7%, to 1,224.58, with energy, natural-resource and technology companies leading the gains among its 10 industry groups.

Tallying a second weekly gain, the S&P 500 rose 6% from last Friday’s close, its biggest weekly rise since July 2009.

Closing in positive territory for 2011 for the first time in more than six weeks, the Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA +1.45% added 166.36 points, or 1.5%, to 11,644.49, a level that has the blue-chip index 4.9% higher on the week and scoring its third consecutive weekly advance, the last occurrence of which took place in the three-week period ending April 8.

Up 7.6% from last Friday’s finish, the Nasdaq Composite Index COMP +1.82% advanced 47.61 points, or 1.8%, to 2,667.85. Year-to-date, the Nasdaq is up 0.6%. It was the Nasdaq Composite’s biggest weekly gain since March 2009.

Volume was light. For every stock on the decline, more than five rose on the New York Stock Exchange, where 847 million shares traded; composite volume neared 3.7 billion shares.

Click to Play

Debit vs. credit: Plastic war heats up

For customers angry about rising debit card fees, banks are promoting an alternative that, they say, is just as convenient, but with lower fees and better rewards. They call it a "credit card."

In Paris, finance ministers and central bankers from the Group of 20 started discussions on Europe’s debt trouble, with officials reportedly thinking about writing down as much as 50% on Greek bonds. Read more on G-20.

“There are a lot of efforts under way to push those potential default concerns out through the end of the year, to get that off the table for the rest of 2011,” said Schwab’s Frederick.

Equities relinquished some of their gains after the Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan preliminary index of consumer sentiment for October fell to 57.5 from 59.4 in September.

More inspiring for riskier investments, the Commerce Department on Friday reported a 1.1% increase in retail sales for September, the largest growth since February, following a 0.3% gain for August, with the latter figure revised up from the prior estimate. See more on retail sales.

The data offered “encouraging news for the U.S. economy,” noted analysts at Wells Fargo in emailed commentary.

Shares of internet-search engine Google Inc. GOOG -0.22% rallied 5.9% a day after it reported better-than-anticipated sales for the third quarter.

By Kate Gibson, MarketWatch

Credit -marketwatch

Apple Steve Jobs die at

2011-10-06T10:03:00.003+08:00

In an email to employees, Tim Cook, Jobs’s handpicked successor, called Jobs a “visionary and creative genius” as well as a “dear friend and inspiring mentor.”

His statement did not give any further details of Job’s condition prior to his passing.

“Steve leaves behind a company that only he could have built, and his spirit will forever be the foundation of Apple,” Cook wrote.

Jobs’s passing leaves behind the legacy of an iconic executive who has led Apple since 1997 — and has since managed to shake not one but three massive industries to their roots.

Known for his meticulous attention to detail, as well as a keen eye for aesthetics, a prescient sense of where technology was heading and an occasionally hot temper, Jobs has arguably left the stage at the top of his game.

Jobs leaves behind a company that has become a power broker across the technology, media and telecommunications industries. Ironically, he has done this as Apple’s legacy business — the Mac computer — inhabits much the same spot it has for decades, as a well-regarded but niche player in the PC market.

A decision not to license the operating system to other hardware manufacturers back in the 1980s relegated Apple to a bit-player role in the PC market relative to then-archrival Microsoft Corp. MSFT -0.12% , which managed to grab a dominant market share for its Windows OS that has remained to this day.

Jobs was ousted from Apple in 1985 only to return in 1996 through the company’s acquisition of his NeXT Computer — and ended up doing an end run around Microsoft.

Rather than continuing to wager the company’s fortunes on the slowing PC market, Jobs took Apple into such rapidly evolving areas as digital music and, later, cell phones. This turned out to be especially prescient, as the computing market has shifted to mobile devices that can pack the processing power and applications that PCs did just a few years prior.

A decade after its launch, Apple’s iPod still controls about two-thirds of the market for digital music players. Jobs was able to use the iPod to convince music executives to allow him to sell songs for 99 cents apiece.

That, along with later capabilities to play video over the device, helped turn the company’s iTunes store into the world’s largest retailer of music, TV shows and movies in digital form.

Jobs cemented his position in the media landscape through Walt Disney Co.’s DIS -0.86% purchase of Pixar Entertainment, which Jobs had bought from “Star Wars” creator George Lucas in 1986.

Pixar, having morphed into a producer of high-end computer-animated films such as the “Toy Story” series, was acquired by Disney in a $7.4 billion deal in 2006, making Jobs the largest shareholder at the entertainment conglomerate.

These uncanny moves have left Apple in an enviable position. The company still derives most of its profits from selling devices. But it also gets a cut of every song, movie, book and application it moves through its system to be used on its products.

As such, Apple as a company is unlikely to revisit the near-ruin that it experienced once before in Jobs’s absence. A deep pool of talent, extensive relationships with developers and an all-but-bottomless pile of money mean Apple has plenty of resources to continue innovation and defend its hard-won territory for many years to come

Credits -apple, -

Kraft boss bumps Pepsi chief as top U.S. woman exec

2011-10-01T10:41:00.000+08:00

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Kraft Foods boss Irene Rosenfeld is the most powerful woman in U.S. business, Fortune magazine said on Thursday, bumping PepsiCo Inc chief Indra Nooyi into second spot after five years on top.

The 14th annual ranking was determined by the size and importance of the woman's business in the global economy, the health and direction of the business, the arc of the woman's career and her social and cultural relevance.

"Rosenfeld made a big show of power this year with her decision to split Kraft into two companies, a reversal of her previous strategy of expanding through acquisitions," Fortune magazine said of the Kraft chief executive, who led a hostile $18 billion takeover of Britain's Cadbury last year.

"On Nooyi's watch, PepsiCo has forged further into nutrition-focused products," Fortune said. "But Nooyi has been criticized for taking her eye off the core North American soda business, which has lost share to Coke."

Nooyi was the only woman in the top 10 most powerful to be among the top 10 highest paid, coming in at No. 9 after earning $14 million last year. The highest paid woman was Oracle President Safra Catz with $42 million.

Just a week after being appointed chief executive of Hewlett-Packard Co, Meg Whitman -- who was chief executive of eBay Inc until 2008 and last year ran a failed bid to become governor of California -- returned to the ranking of the top 50 most powerful business women at No. 9.

"While her ascent to the role is a sure sign of her power, it remains to be seen if she can fix the computer maker and bring order to its dysfunctional board," Fortune said.

Whitman filled a top 10 vacancy left by the firing over the phone last month of Yahoo Inc Chief Executive Carol Bartz, who has now dropped off the Fortune list.

PUSH FOR WOMEN IN BOARDROOMS

Media mogul Oprah Winfrey fell 10 spots to No. 16 with Fortune saying her influence had waned after hosting the final season of "The Oprah Winfrey Show" in May. Johnson & Johnson Vice Chairman, Executive Committee, Sherilyn McCoy, filled that top 10 opening, coming in at the 10th spot.

Otherwise the top of the list was largely unchanged from 2010.

Archer Daniels Midland Chief Executive Patricia Woertz came in at No. 3, followed by DuPont Chief Executive Ellen Kullman, Wellpoint Chief Executive Angela Braly and Avon Products Chief Executive Andrea Jung.

Rounding out the top 10 was IBM Senior Vice President Ginni Rometty at No. 7, followed by Xerox Chief Executive Ursula Burns.

While women represent about half of the United States' white-collar workers, they are a rarity in the upper echelons of business, with female chief executives running just 3 percent of companies in the Standard & Poor's 500 index.

More companies have been focusing recently on increasing their female board representation as more and more research has shown that companies with women directors or even just more diverse boards tend to do better than those with executive teams made up entirely of men.

Some countries such as Norway and Spain have introduced quotas requiring a minimum level of female board representation.

A former British trade minister wants FTSE 100 companies to have 25 percent women on boards by 2015 and EU internal market commissioner Michel Barnier has put gender diversity for bank boards on his radar in the wake of the financial crisis.

Credit -yahoonews

What is Marketing

2011-09-28T12:11:00.002+08:00

Whatis marketing?

... 1. You see a gorgeous girl at a party. You goup to her and say: ' I am very rich. Marry me! ' - That's Direct Marketing'

... 2. You're at a party with a bunch of friendsand see a gorgeous girl. One of your friends goes up to her and pointing at yousays: ' He's very rich. 'Marry him.' -That's Advertising'

... 3. You see a gorgeous girl at a party. You goup to her and get her telephone number. The next day, you call and say: ' Hi,I'm very rich. 'Marry me - That's Telemarketing'

... 4. You're at a party and see gorgeous girl. Youget up and straighten your tie, you walk up to her and pour her a drink, youopen the door (of the car)for her, pick up her bag after she drops it, offerher ride and then say:'By the way, I'm rich. Will you 'Marry Me?' - That'sPublic Relations'

... 5. You're at a party and see gorgeous girl. Shewalks up to you and says:'You are very rich! 'Can you marry ! Me?' - That'sBrand Recognition'

6. You see a gorgeous girl at a party. You go up toher and say: 'I am very rich. Marry me!' She gives you a nice hard slap on yourface. - ' That's Customer Feedback '

7. You see a gorgeous girl at a party. You go up toher and say: 'I am very rich. Marry me!' And she introduces you to her husband.- 'That's demand and supply gap'

8. You see a gorgeous girl at a party. You go up toher and before you say anything, another person come and tell her: 'I'm rich. Willyou marry me?' and she goes with him - 'That's competition eating into yourmarket share'

9. You see a gorgeous girl at a party. You go up toher and before you say: 'I'm rich, Marry me!' your wife arrives. - ' That'srestriction for entering new markets'

JUST FOR LAUGH

2011-09-24T19:33:00.002+08:00

Global Growth at Risk

2011-09-23T10:10:00.002+08:00

U.S. stocks werethrashed Thursday, with the major indexes taking their hardest single-day hitin five weeks, amid widespread selling of stocks and commodities on escalatedfears about the global economy.

After falling almost 528 points during thesession, the Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA -3.51% finished with a drop of 391.01 points, or 3.5%,at 10,733.83.

The battering left the Dow nearly 14 points above its lowestclose for the year and represented its steepest drop since Aug. 18.

All 30 of the blue-chip index’s componentslost ground, with United Technologies Corp. UTX +0.16% hardest hit, its shares tumbling 8.8%.

The negativesentiment taking hold among investors is “driven by the bank runs in Europe,and some of the European banks are rumored to be looking in the Middle East forcapital; it’s like a replay of 2008 for some of the U.S. banks,” said CharlieSmith, chief investment officer at Fort Pitt Capital.

“When you talkabout bank recapitalizing and going to places like Dubai to do it, everythingechoes back to 2008 except economic fundamentals,” said Lazard’s Hogan.

U.S. stocks werepart of a global stock selloff as investors also reacted to the FederalReserve’s statement late Wednesday. The central bank warned of risks to theeconomic outlook and unveiled a bond-swap program, seen as something that wouldhave minimal sway in revitalizing growth.

“The Fed cannotengender growth; the Fed cannot engender risk-taking. What it can do is bufferdeclines, but let’s see a real decline,” said Smith at Fort Pitt Capital,pointing out that the S&P 500 is down 5.8% for the year to date, on a totalreturn basis. “Let’s talk when we make it 18% or 20%. The Fed is going to holdtheir fire until they see the whites of people’s panicked eyes.”

Credit -marketwatch

LV Island Maison

2011-09-18T18:09:00.005+08:00

Japanese visit from Waseda University

2011-09-15T22:15:00.000+08:00

Recently, the Japanese students from Waseda came over to our University for an excursion and we brought them around school.

They were really nice people, super out-going, definitely no awkward moments throughout the entire tour around school.

They have wonderful personalities and are definitely easy to talk to. Even though English is not their strong language, I must say that they speak really, really great English. I was really, really impressed with the level of their English command.

Below is a picture of the wonderful and superb professor from Japan. He is really an awesome guy and he is even an advisor to the government ! How cool is that !!!

We had a lot of fun throughout the tour and some asked me about investments, the modules we taking in Banking and stuff like that. I thought it was really enjoyable talking to them about banking and finance in a casual manner.

I always thought those issues are abit heavy and dry but surprisingly it was an awesome experience talking to them about these topics.

Later on, 4 teams made presentations on valuations about 4 various companies, namely Kikkoman, TOTO, Konami and Ferrotec.

I must say I was really, really impressed. They presented on valuation, something I learnt in my Equity Securities class and that topic is really difficult and yet they were able to present it wonderfully and the best part is that they presented in English.

My god ! If I were asked to present equity securities in Japanese, I will for sure fail terribly.

They all have really left a deep impression on me because of their outgoing personalities and their passion for learning.

Its through them that I see that we really have to see learning as an enjoyable thing and not to take it for granted. They are working so hard over at Waseda University, learning such a difficult topic in English and so we should not complain about learning here in Singapore.

No doubt its tough but I think its definitely a wonderful opportunity to be able to study and learn about new things in school!

They definitely motivated me a whole lot and for them, I will study even harder :)

Stark steps down from European Central Bank

2011-09-09T22:21:00.000+08:00

The European Central Bank on Friday said Juergen Stark, a member of the Executive Board and the Governing Council, will step down, leaving his post by the end of the year for "personal reasons."

Earlier Friday, news reports said Stark would step down due to disagreements over the ECB's bond-buying program. Stark was reportedly opposed to the reactiviation of bond purchases through the ECB's Securities Market Program last month. In a news release, the ECB said Stark would remain in his current position until a successor is appointed, which would be by the end of the year.

Stark's term was set to expire in May 2014. ECB President Jean-Claude Trichet thanked Stark "wholeheartedly for his outstanding contribution to European unity over many years," the ECB said.

News of Stark's resignation put added pressure on the euro and European and U.S. equities, analysts said.

Soaring Gold Prices

2011-09-07T14:04:00.002+08:00

Gold has been a valuable and highly-sought after metal since long before the beginning of recorded history. This is no exception even till today, especially during this troubling period as many are concerned about whether we will enter into yet another global economic downturn.

In the following months, gold prices are likely to soar higher as investors continue to dash towards the metal for safety. Whether it’s the uncertain growth in the United States, volatile financial market or the Europe debt crisis, all these factors fuel and support the growth of the gold’s strength in today’s market.

Besides the above mentioned issues, there is another key reason to get into the gold business. “There’s this general fear of currencies losing value at a rapid clip and you are going to see gold as a beneficiary of a lot of money going into tangible assets,” said Scott Meyers, a senior trading analyst with Pioneer Futures in New York.

And this is a harsh reality as we made reference to Japan’s draconian measures to tamper down the yen and the Swiss National Bank’s recent move to decrease the value of the franc. Given that investors have nowhere to hide these days, we are seeing gold becoming increasingly credible as a safe-haven.

U.S. said ready to sue big banks over mortgages

2011-09-02T20:29:00.000+08:00

A federal U.S. agency is ready to sue more than a dozen major banks, arguing that they misrepresented the quality of mortgage securities they put together and sold in the run-up to the bursting of the housing bubble, the New York Times reported Friday.

The report said the Federal Housing Finance Agency, which oversees mortgage firms Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, is expected to file the lawsuits in federal court Friday or Tuesday. The agency is expected to seek billions in compensation.

The suits are aimed at Bank of America Corp. BAC -6.20% , Goldman Sachs Group Inc. GS -1.29% , J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. JPM -1.98% , Deutsche Bank AG DE:DBK -3.87% DB -2.54% and others, the report said, citing three unidentified individuals briefed on the matter.

The FHFA will argue that the banks failed to meet their due-diligence duties under securities law and failed to spot evidence that borrowers’ incomes were overstated or falsified, the report said. The securities backed by the mortgages quickly lost value when many borrowers proved unable to meet payments.

The lawsuits aim to secure reimbursement for losses on securities held by Fannie and Freddie. Private investors have attempted to force banks to buy back mortgage-backed bonds.

The report sent Asian and European equity markets lower and was weighing on U.S. stock futures. Shares in Deutsche Bank DE:DBK -3.87% fell more than 4% in Frankfurt, dragging the German DAX 30 index DX:DAX -2.91% down 2.7%.

“The U.S. banking sector has already suffered a massive loss of confidence and remains incredibly fragile,” said Kathleen Brooks, research director at Forex.com, in emailed comments. “This lawsuit and the massive sums involved may aggravate the problem and cause another leg lower in the financial sector.”

Spokespersons for Bank of America, Goldman Sachs and J.P. Morgan declined comment, the report said.

Spokespersons for the banks weren’t immediately available Friday to respond to requests for comment on the story.

A spokesman for Deutsche Bank told the newspaper that the bank “can’t comment on a suit that we haven’t seen and hasn’t been filed yet.”

The report noted that financial executives have privately argued that losses on mortgage-backed securities were the result of a broad downturn in the economy and the housing market rather than how the mortgage securities were structured.

Japan’s new prime minister faces tough challenges

2011-08-30T17:08:00.000+08:00

Finance Minister Yoshihiko Noda emerged as a surprising but seemingly welcome victor in the contest to become Japan’s sixth prime minister in five years on Tuesday, although he will likely face several potential stumbling blocks as leader.

Noda replaces Naoto Kan who resigned last Friday, as he had promised after the Japanese parliament passed a bond-issuance bill and renewable-energy bill.

As well as spearheading reconstruction efforts following the earthquake, key challenges for the 54-year old Noda will include managing the country’s massive debt pile and keeping the yen — currently at levels where profits for exporter firms are often hampered — in check.

“Noda is a strong advocate of tax-funded fiscal reform. He champions hikes in income, corporate and other ‘core taxes’ to pay for reconstruction, and seeks a higher consumption tax to fund future social-security obligations,” said Seiji Adachi, an economist at Deutsche Bank.

Still, those fears may be unfounded. The Nomura analysts said, assuming that income tax is hiked by 10% from 2013, they estimated that the impact on real gross domestic product growth would be just 0.03 percentage points in 2013 and 0.06 percentage points in 2014.

Noda was reportedly helped to election victory by the support of lawmakers unhappy with the idea of power broker Ichiro Ozawa gaining more influence within the party.

The Barclays Capital strategists said.that if Noda attempts to resolve the split within the DPJ between pro- and anti-Ozawa forces, then that “could harden the rift between the ruling and opposition parties, and vice versa.”

In that situation, support for the DPJ could wane, lead to dissolution in the lower house and increase the probability of an election in 2012, they said.

On the other hand, if Noda focuses on reconciling the DPJ and opposition parties, then that will mean he’s likely concentrating on smoothing the path for implementing two extra budgets related to earthquake-reconstruction spending, they said.

2011-08-25T18:52:00.000+08:00

Steve Jobs, the iconic leader of Apple Inc. who transformed the habits of generations of consumers by creating a slew of innovative products and has battled several illnesses in recent years, resigned as chief executive of the technology giant Wednesday, saying “the day has come” for him to step down.

Apple’s board appointed long-time lieutenant Tim Cook to replace him on Jobs‘s recommendation.

Jobs, who made everything from the personal computer to the iPod, iPhone and iPad a part of daily life, submitted a letter to the Apple board of directors announcing that he would leave as CEO.

Jobs will remain involved with the company. Apple named him to the position of chairman of the board of directors — a position which did not previously exist at the firm. Two board members have been serving as co-lead directors up to this point.

“People sold on the rumor, and may sell a little more on the news, but it’s way undervalued right now,” Sutherland said. “I think the fundamentals will eventually take over, and the stock will be a great buying opportunity.”

Investors and consumers have long feared the prospect that Jobs would soon step down from running the day-to-day operations of the company, given his talent for bringing new technology to large masses consumers in a palatable manner.

At the same time, he brought untold value to Apple shares, which have skyrocketed from around $9 a share a decade ago to more than $375 today, for a gain of more than 43 times.

Sales for the company are up 12-fold from a decade ago and have continued to climb thanks to an ever-evolving line of products that seem to resonate with the buying public. The concern is whether Apple can stay innovative without Jobs’s instincts to guide them.

Tesco Marketing Campaign

2011-08-24T15:16:00.002+08:00

Its really cool!!!

Check it out !!!

U.S. stocks extend weekly losing streak to four

2011-08-20T10:34:00.000+08:00

“Given we have a high level of anxiety and we’re coming into a weekend, people would rather be flat than long,” said Randy Frederick, director of trading and derivatives at Charles Schwab Center for Financial Research.

“The only thing that would make it cascade below levels we put in last week was if we found the EU really turning into a banking crisis,” said Michael Gibbs, a managing director and director of equity strategy at Morgan Keegan.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average and the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index both closed out the week at levels above their closing lows of the prior week, when a volatile market had the Dow making triple-digit moves each day.

After climbing as much as 120 points during Friday’s session, the Dow industrials lost 172.93 points, or 1.6%, to end at 10,817.65, down 4% from the week-ago close.

Hewlett-Packard Co. weighed most heavily among the blue chips, off 20% a day after the personal-computer maker reduced its outlook and said it might spin off its PC unit.

“H-P’s earnings met expectations, but [the company] downgraded its forecast for the rest of the year. The bigger problem is that we have very few retail and institutional players in this market,” Marc Pado, U.S. market strategist at Cantor Fitzgerald, wrote in an emailed note.

The market is “following a normal path of figuring out if the lows of last week are indeed the bottom for this correction, which is EU driven, and EU focused,” said Gibbs, a managing director and director of equity strategy at Morgan Keegan.

Should the index close below that level, “it stacks the odds the lows are not in,” said Gibbs. “You can’t draw a line in the sand, you have to eyeball that now expecting the market is going to bounce around it or even under.”

Flashbacks

“We had a crisis here in the fall of ‘08, and we’re getting flashbacks,” said Frederick at Charles Schwab, who also noted that open interest for equity options contracts hit a record high during the week, which “mostly means people are out there trading this market.”

Citigroup Inc. and J.P. Morgan Chase Inc. reduced their growth outlooks for the U.S. economy, while Germany’s chancellor rejected the notion of a jointly issued euro-zone bond.

In the coming week, seven S&P 500 companies are expected to report earnings. Of the 485 that have reported second-quarter results so far, 71% have exceeded Wall Street’s expectations, according to Thomson Reuters.

Germany reiterates 'no' to eurobonds

2011-08-15T20:08:00.000+08:00

BERLIN (AP) — Two leading German ministers reiterated their opposition to issuing jointly guaranteed European government bonds as a means to end the eurozone's crippling debt crisis.

Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble told German news magazine Der Spiegel in its edition dated Monday that so-called eurobonds are out of the question as long as the currency zone's 17 nations still run their own fiscal policy, and that different interest rates for eurozone nations were needed to provide "incentives and the possibility of sanctions to enforce solid financial policy."

Schaeuble acknowledged that the EU must, and will, beef up its response to the crisis to assist the heavily indebted nations, but that "there won't be a collectivization of debt or unlimited assistance."

Chancellor Angela Merkel has long ruled out eurobonds, and Economy Minister Philipp Roesler joined the chorus Monday, describing jointly guaranteed debt as "the wrong way" out of the crisis.

"Eurobonds would mean that everybody shares the same interest burden which would be a punishment for (financially) sound nations," he was quoted as saying by German news agency dapd. "We cannot want this for Germany and for all other good states."

Eurobonds would be a major step toward the bloc's economic integration, and are billed by supporters as an overnight solution to the crisis. Italy, Greece, Belgium and Luxembourg are among the nations calling for eurobonds.

The debate over eurobonds has ratcheted up ahead of Tuesday's meeting in Paris between Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy, though eurobonds are not expected to form part of the discussions.

"Eurobonds won't be an issue at the meeting tomorrow in Paris," Merkel's spokesman Steffen Seibert stressed Monday.

Instead, he said the two leaders will discuss strengthening financial and economic cooperation and governance across the eurozone.

"This is one of the lessons from the euro crisis ... we need a stronger economic cooperation across the eurozone," he added, declining to specify which concrete proposals will be discussed at the meeting.

The principle behind eurobonds is that European countries would guarantee each other's debts, so that investors would see the bonds as super-safe and loan at low interest rates. The hope is that lower borrowing costs would prevent any more financial bailouts.

But Germany as the most creditworthy European country fears it would face higher borrowing costs and more risks if it had to borrow jointly with financially shaky nations.

Eurobonds could drive down the borrowing costs for troubled eurozone countries immediately, but Germany maintains that cheap credit without a powerful European institution overseeing the member states' budget and fiscal policy cannot be a solution.

Skeptics also point out that the current European Union treaty forbids countries from assuming each other's debts, and say it would be difficult to avoid reckless countries borrowing too much on the good credit of the more careful ones.

The European Central Bank last week had to step in and start buying Italian and Spanish government bonds to drive down high interest yields that threatened those countries. The bank is shouldering the burden of fighting the crisis until national parliaments approve new powers for the European Union's bailout so it can buy government bonds or help recapitalize banks if necessary.

The focus in the markets later will be ECB figures indicating how much the bank splashed out last week supporting the bond markets of Italy and Spain.

U.S. stocks leap in another manic trading day

2011-08-12T11:53:00.000+08:00

A drop in first-time jobless claims calmed nerves about the economy.

“In 2008 it felt apocalyptic; this just feels a little tiring,” said Jason Weisberg, a floor trader on the New York Stock Exchange and senior vice president at Seaport Securities

“It’s the new norm,” Alan Valdes, director of floor trade at DME Securities, said of the ongoing volatility.

After rising as much as 558.96 points, the Dow Jones Industrial Average ended up 423.37 points to 11,143.31, or 4% higher. The blue-chip index is now off 2.6% for the week, after four days of closing up or down 400 points or more.

For every stock that fell, a dozen gained on the New York Stock Exchange, where nearly 1.9 billion shares traded. Composite volume neared 7 billion.

“While the economy may not be getting better, jobless claims indicate that the labor market may not be getting worse,” said Dan Greenhaus, chief global strategist at BTIG LLC.

The Dow industrials on Monday tanked 634 points, only to rebound with a 429-point gain Tuesday. On Wednesday, the average fell 519 points in triple-digit moves reminiscent of Wall Street’s behavior during the financial crisis of late 2008.

“In 2008, the problem was a massive overhang of poorly understood, faulty mortgage-backed securities created and insured by U.S. financial institutions with virtually no reliable collateral,” noted Peter Morici, a business professor at the University of Maryland. “This time, the principal debtors are sovereigns with the capacity to tax and restructure debt.”

Investors lose a trillion dollars in one day

2011-08-09T16:55:00.000+08:00

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- Investors lost a trillion dollars in the in the stock market Monday as the debt crisis in Europe, lackluster economic news and a downgrade to the U.S. credit rating spark fears of a double-dip recession.

The Wilshire 5000 Total Market Index, the broadest index of U.S. stocks, lost 891.93 points, or just over 7%, Monday. This represents a paper loss for the day of approximately $1.0 trillion.

Monday is the largest percentage drop for the Index since December 1, 2008 when it fell over 9%.

Since July 22, when Republicans abandoned debt negotiations with the White House for the third time that month, the index has lost $2.9 trillion in value.

Cynical investors, which could include any of the millions of Americans with pension plans, mutual funds or other retirement accounts, might be tempted to blame squabbling politicians in Washington for much of their ill fate. But experts say it's more complicated than that.

U.S. Treasuries are still safe! Sorta

Clark said the prospect of Italy or Spain defaulting on their debt, scant consumer spending and concern about the overall economy are causing the sell off in stocks.

"It's just fear, everything together," he said. "It's not just Washington."

Clark believes the market is way oversold.

Stocks did rally after the last big sell off following the financial crisis of 2008. The Wilshire Index remains 84%, or $6.9 trillion higher than it was in March 2009. But it's still $4 trillion lower than the market's pre-crisis high in 2007.

"This is the culmination of 60 years of have-it-now policies," he said, referring the deficits Washington has been running for so long. "[The downgrade] would have happened one way or another."

Ablin wasn't quite as upbeat as Clark in predicting the next rally, noting that his bank moved 10% of its $60 billion in assets under management into cash last week.

"Values are cheap and expectations are low," he said. "But I don't see a catalyst just yet."

Credits -cnn

U.S Downgrade and Euro's Debt Crisis

2011-08-07T15:15:00.000+08:00

HONG KONG (Reuters) - The U.S. dollar may weaken and Treasury yields rise when Asian markets reopen on Monday, though any selling in response to ratings agency S&P's downgrade of the United States is likely to be tempered by the escalating crisis in the euro zone.

The S&P cut in the U.S. long-term credit rating by a notch to AA-plus is an unprecedented blow and results from concerns about the nation's budget deficits and climbing debt burden. It called the outlook "negative," signalling another downgrade is possible in the next 12 to 18 months.

"The initial reaction will be a high degree of uncertainty and thus volatility since investors will not know where to turn for safety," said Mark Mobius, executive chairman of Templeton Emerging Markets group, in an email to Reuters.

"During the sub-prime crisis safety was in U.S. Dollars and U.S. Treasuries. Now that anchor to the global community is deteriorating," added Mobius, whose unit oversees $50 billion in emerging market assets.

Fears of a slide back into recession for the world's biggest economy prompted a global sell-off that wiped $2.5 trillion off company values over the past week, with consumer discretionary shares of firms dependent on external demand likely to be singled out for more punishment.

The fall in global share prices, as measured by the MSCI All-country World Index, was the biggest weekly decline since early October 2008, according to Thomson Reuters Datastream.

Market players warned the U.S. downgrade was likely to exacerbate a sharp contraction in risk appetite, and could see investors shift to the low-yielding Japanese yen and the Swiss Franc, despite market interventions from their respective authorities to weaken the currencies last week.

But they said fears that Europe's debt crisis could engulf core economies Spain and Italy, where sovereign debt yields have soared to 14-year highs, meant investors may still seek a safe-haven in the dollar, despite the U.S. woes.

Goldman Sachs strategists said there was a one-in-three probability of a U.S. recession due to the worsening European crisis, extension of payroll tax cuts and elevated levels of joblessness, despite a slight dip in the U.S. unemployment rate in July.

"Simply put, market sentiment appears acutely vulnerable given the build-up of concern on a sharper U.S. slowdown and speculation on the appropriate policy response and lingering fears stemming from the sovereign debt crisis in Europe," Citigroup strategists said in a note.

The benchmark MSCI all-country world stocks index fell to its lowest level since September 2010 last week, and has slumped more than 12 percent since late July.

The benchmark MSCI index of Asia Pacific ex-Japan stocks fell 8.7 percent last week.

Meanwhile, global leaders scrambled to discuss the U.S. sovereign rating downgrade and Europe's debt woes, and may issue a statement after a conference call, a Japanese government source said on Sunday.

Yields on benchmark U.S. ten-year treasury notes rebounded smartly to 2.56 percent on Friday but were not far away from a record low of near two percent hit during the throes of the global financial crisis.

Warrants

2011-08-06T17:26:00.000+08:00

Recently, I have joined the Macquarie Hotshot Contest.

It lasts for a month from 1 August till 30 August 2011. I thought it was a good experience and I definitely did enjoy it till now.

It has been a week now and I am proud to announce that I am currently ranked 7 in the student's category.

To see my name on a renowned website and contest is definitely satisfying. I was very happy to find out that I am rank 7 and that has motivated me to work hard for the next 3 weeks to perform the best I possibly can.

This has been an awesome learning experience. Reason being, it is hands-on.

We learn a lot of things in school but we often forget about it after 6 months. Why? Because it does not stick to us. It is only temporary. We learn ad we forget.

But, if we do it everyday, we will never forget. We become so in touch with the skill that we are so familiar with it.

Through this experience, I learnt to keep up with the global news. Before this contest, I always felt that it is very difficult to keep up with what's going on around the world. The professors always tells us to read the Business news, The Financial Times, but I always find it hard to consistently read them because of the workload in school.

However, through this contest, I realised that I have been keeping with what's happening around the world.

1. U.S raising the debt ceiling but still facing uncertain growth rate as the tax cuts are expiring soon

2. Italy and Spain might default on their debts and Europe is definitely in the dark right now.

3. China has $1 trillion investment in US debts and are very unhappy with the recent downgrade in the credit ratings by S&P

4. Asia stocks have been plummeting amidst fear of the uncertainty surrounding the West

By linking these 4 news together, you can make a lot of judgemnets and conclusions and I find that really amazing.

It is no longer difficult to read the news and I am able to understand them now. Having mastered the financial terms in school, I am able to put them into good use when I am analysing data online and also, I am able to make my own judgements on certain issues happening around the world.

From this warrant contest, I have learnt that by consistently following the news, it is actually quite easy to keep up with what's happening around the globe.

In fact, this is really what I want to do in the future, investment banking and that requires a lot of analysis, time and commitment. I am really happy that I am moving smoothly towards my goal and as the new school term is starting next week, I promise to keep up with the competition, the global news as well as my studies !

Asia markets plunge amid recession fears

2011-08-05T21:09:00.000+08:00

Asian stock markets plummeted on Friday following carnage in the US and European markets over fears the world was heading towards another financial crisis.

Already-fragile investor confidence was hammered by more weak US economic data and a warning from the head of the European Commission that the eurozone debt crisis had likely spread to other economies.

"It's going to be a very ugly end to an even uglier week," IG Markets analyst Ben Potter said in Sydney, adding that all sectors were expected to take a battering.

Fear swept across Asia from Europe and the United States, where the Dow Jones Industrial Average suffered its worst one-day drop since December 2008 to close 4.3 percent lower at 11,383.68, erasing all this year's gains.

"We're seeing the erosion and now the loss of confidence, confidence in the economy, confidence in the market, confidence in the policy makers. It's all showing up," said US-based Hugh Johnson, of Hugh Johnson Advisors.

Weak jobs data out of the United States on Thursday fuelled concerns among some analysts that the world could be heading towards another recession following the 2008 financial crisis.

The US Labor Department reported that weekly claims for unemployment benefits remained at a high 400,000 last week.

Those figures followed data this week showing manufacturing growth in the United States, Europe and Asia had come to a virtual standstill.

"There is a deep concern about global growth and of the state of play in the United States in particular," said City Index analyst Giles Watts.

"Traders are growing increasingly concerned about a sharp slowdown in US economic activity in the third quarter."

Eyes will be on the United States later Friday when Washington releases key government jobs data and a weaker-than-expected result could lead to a further sell-off.

European Commission chief Jose Manuel Barroso on Thursday urged eurozone leaders to re-think their currency's financial defences, admitting debt contagion has now spread.

"It is clear that we are no longer managing a crisis just in the euro-area periphery," Barroso warned in a letter sent to the 17 eurozone leaders.

A July 21 deal on a second bailout for Greece worth $226 billion has failed to prevent sharply higher debt-risk premiums for Italy and Spain, the eurozone's third and fourth-largest economies.

His comments came as the European Central Bank announced it would resume emergency credit-easing measures, some of which were last enacted at the height of the financial crisis.

But the ECB's efforts still failed to restore confidence. The risk premium investors demand to buy Spanish 10-year bonds over safe-bet German debt shot back up to near a record high on Thursday.

The eurozone debt crisis has put Italy and Spain under huge pressure in recent weeks after Greece, Ireland and Portugal had to be bailed out by the European Union and the International Monetary Fund.

On currency markets the dollar held some of the gains it made against the yen Thursday after Tokyo stepped in to sell the Japanese unit as it edged towards a record high.

The greenback was at 78.43 yen, after rising close to 80 yen in the first few hours following Tokyo's intervention. However, some analysts said the possibility of a further intervention was supporting the dollar.

And Minister of State for Economic and Fiscal Policy Kaoru Yosano suggested more market action may follow, saying "it would be too hasty to think Thursday's intervention was a one-off measure".

However the euro slipped versus the yen as investors became more risk averse. The single currency fell to 111.05 yen from 111.27 yen in New York late on Thursday, while it gained to $1.4158 from $1.4100.

"The fear of a double-dip recession with the slowdown in the US and the sovereign debt situation in Europe is having everybody biting their nails," said Adam Sieminski, chief energy economist of Deutsche Bank.

New York's main contract, West Texas Intermediate light, sweet crude for delivery in September, was down $1.10 to $85.53 a barrel in afternoon trade after plunging $5.30, or 5.8 percent, in US trade Thursday.

It was the lowest closing price for WTI since February.

Brent North Sea crude for September delivery inched up four cents to $107.29 after falling $5.98, or 5.3 percent, in London trade.

"The economic data from the US look pretty disappointing, many investors wanted to get out of the markets in anticipation of recession," Samuel Securities economist Lana Soelistyaningsih said.

Sembcorp Marine's Q2 net profit down 15 pct

2011-08-02T19:09:00.000+08:00

* Q2 net profit S$149.7 mln; Reuters f'cast S$183.5 mln

* Secured S$2.6 bln new orders in 2011, orderbook at S$5.7 bln

* Shares down 1.3 pct in 2011, underperforming Keppel, market

SINGAPORE, Aug 2 (Reuters) - Sembcorp Marine , the world's second largest rig builder, posted a worse-than-expected 15 percent fall in second quarter net profit, despite stronger margins.

The company, a unit of waste-processor to infrastructure conglomerate Sembcorp Industries , said it has secured S$2.6 billion ($2.2 billion) worth of new orders so far this year excluding ship repair jobs, taking its total orderbook to S$5.7 billion.

The new orders come after a massive slowdown in the past two years as a result of the global economic crisis and a world-wide disruption in offshore drilling after an accident in the Gulf of Mexico led to an environmental disaster.

"The fundamentals driving the offshore oil industry remain intact with exploration and production spending by oil majors and national oil companies expected to increase in 2011," the company said in a statement.

"As offshore rig demand continues to strengthen in most regions around the world, there is a need for technically advanced, versatile and efficient rigs that will address both the shallow and deepwater prospects."

The company said the lower net profit was mainly due to timing in recognition of rig building projects.

Its earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, and amortisation (EBITDA) margin stood at 21.5 percent compared to 20.3 percent a year ago.

Chomp Chomp + Udders

2011-08-02T17:19:00.000+08:00

Hi guys,

I'm officially a super fan of Chomp Chomp as I went there for 4 times in just 2 weeks!

Well, to me the food at Chomp Chomp is really good :) :)

After Chomp Chomp, we went straight to Udders for some Ice Cream.

I can't really remember e flavours.

But vaguely, they are awesomely chocolate, baileys ice cream, D24 Durian Ice Cream, etc.

Definitely a great place to chill and hang out :)

The photos are below

Enjoy

Super Junior unleashes “Mr. Simple”

2011-08-02T07:32:00.000+08:00

Google Buys 1,030 IBM Patents

2011-07-31T10:21:00.000+08:00

It’s no secret that Google (NSDQ: GOOG) has been in the market to buy some patents for several months now. Now it looks like Google finally found what it’s looking for. The search giant has purchased more than 1,000 patents from the largest U.S. patent-holder of all: IBM.

If there’s any company with patents to spare, it’s surely IBM. Big Blue has topped the list of companies getting the most U.S. patent grants every year for the past 18 years. In 2009, IBM received 4,914 U.S. patents, an all-time record.

The reason Google needs so many patents is to fend off potential attacks by competitors. As Google GC Kent Walker explained in an April blog post, “[O]ne of a company’s best defenses against this kind of litigation is (ironically) to have a formidable patent portfolio, as this helps maintain your freedom to develop new products and services.”

Walker added: “Google is a relatively young company, and although we have a growing number of patents, many of our competitors have larger portfolios given their longer histories.”

SHINEE Juliette

2011-07-29T18:16:00.002+08:00

Last month, Korean group SHINee officially debuted in Japan with the release of their single, “Replay“. The single was a success as it was certified Gold by the RIAJ and recently it was announced that SHINee’s follow up single in Japan would be “JULIETTE“.

Earlier today, a teaser for the upcoming single was revealed on EMI Music Japan YouTube channel.

Check out the teaser ahead of the Japanese version release of “JULIETTE” on August 29th.

Basel III Banking Rules Law

2011-07-25T22:05:00.000+08:00

To say the year-old Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act is under attack in Washington is like describing Little Big Horn as an engagement between the cavalry and the Indians.

Efforts by U.S. regulators to require megabanks to maintain more capital have been weak. Internationally, the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision has proposed (Basel III) that banks hold 7 percent of common capital as a percentage of their risk-weighted assets, with a possible 2 percent to 3 percent surcharge for the megabanks. But Basel III is not binding on individual nations and its new capital requirements would not go fully into effect until 2019.

The banks deemed too big to fail in 2008 and had to be saved by the massive Troubled Asset Relief Program and unprecedented help from the Federal Reserve have never been forced to slim down. The blind hand of the market charges the big six banks lower interest rates than smaller banks. The message of the market is clear: the government is cannot allow these banks to fail.

The central solution proposed in Dodd-Frank to avoid future bailouts is resolution authority. But no one has come up with a workable resolution plan for massive financial institutions with outlets everywhere. Different countries are promulgating different resolution rules — the U.S. with a "living will" for the banks and other countries with proposals for special bonds or contingent capital.

The best way to curb the risky activities of megabanks would have been to reinstate a new version of the Glass-Steagall Act. From its enactment in 1933 until it was repealed in 1999, Glass-Steagall required that commercial banks, insured by the FDIC, be separate from investment banks and the risky investments those banks make. Instead, Dodd-Frank includes a weakened version of a proposal by former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker requiring banks to separate proprietary trading from commercial activities. Many of us thought it would be impossible to create a proprietary trading definition that does not allow creative Wall Streeters to proceed with business as usual. It looks like we were right.

No one questions the major role derivatives played in the financial meltdown. The Commodity Futures Trading Commission was supposed to come up with regulations on derivatives by July 16. The commission recently announced there would be a delay of six months or so. Why? Certainly because the task is complicated, but also because the commission is dealing with a new Republican House of Representatives that seems dead-set against any kind of regulation at all.

One of the most promising parts of Dodd-Frank was the Consumer Finance Protection Board. Led by Interim Director Elizabeth Warren, the CFPB has been successfully staffed and organized. Now President Baraack Obama has nominated Richard Cordray to be its first director. Unfortunately, Senate Republicans say they will confirm no one until there are "major structural changes" in the agency. The CFPB can make no rules without a confirmed director.

New Turning Point in Life

2011-07-23T14:32:00.000+08:00

Recently, I have received emails from the school regarding things like Goldman Sachs coming to NTU on the 10th August and Temasek Holdings having the first round of selection cum networking session on the 28 August.

It makes me think for a while. Is this for real? Goldman and Temasek. In the past, I would not have taken these emails seriously because all that was on my mind was purely academic matters.

However, I guess the moment is finally here, we really have to start giving thoughts about our careers in the future right now, this moment. It is the time when we are going to make serious and groundbreaking decisions, and also the time when we are going to fight like we never fought before for a spot in one of the prestigious companies.

As I update my resume with my latest internship at Mercer as well as my academic results, I felt that I can really see the light beaming with hopes.

Its bright, exciting and I can feel its warmth. There are so many things going for me right now.

I am in a University, and I did well for the first year and I'm going to make tonnes of new friends at these networking sessions and hopefully enter the Banking & Finance Club.

Also, year 2 will be an important year because we will be fighting for internship opportunities at the prestigious companies.

It will really be a huge opportunity and a major morale boost if I am able to secure some internship interviews at those companies.

Oh well, I am going to prepare to submit my application to Goldman Sachs and Temasek Holdings.

I am filled with so much excitement now, I can feel that my life is going to change really soon.

Best of luck to me :)

Hermione, my inspiration

2011-07-18T19:50:00.000+08:00

Tomorrow is the day it all ends.

Yes, I'm heading down to Marina Square after work to catch the finale of Harry Potter, Harry Potter & The Deathly Hallows.

It has been a long 10 years and Harry Potter is definitely part of my childhood. It will be the movie that I will remember for life, the movie that I will look back on in years to come.

Hermione, the girl who scored straight As in all her exams, the girl who is able to study many, many subjects at once and able to go for classes simultaneously.

She made me realise that no matter how much work I have, it is insignificant in comparison to hers. If I really aspire to be like her, I cannot be defeated by a miserable amount of work, I should see them as a challenge and overcome them.

She taught me to be consistent, to study daily and not during the last minute. She taught me to be rebellious at times and not to stick by the book all the time. She taught me to stick out for my friends when they need me. She taught me that it is possible to get straight As even though I'm taking up many modules.

She inspired me that nothing is impossible and the fact that she is in an Ivy League in the real life inspires me even further.

To be able to act in movies and at the same time study in her real life and obtain a spot in the Ivy League, it is definitely quite a feat.

So far, for the first year of my University stinct, I have managed to perform up to expectations, at least to hers.

I will continue to work hard, so that I will not let Hermione down.

Once again, I will like to attribute my success to her, for being such an inspiration and such a beauty of course.

Thank you Hermione.

SNSD transform

2011-07-15T07:27:00.000+08:00

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SNSD transformed a simple pamphlet into a photospread with their beauty.

All the ladies are sporting dark makeup and very big hairstyles along with their facial expressions, poses, and outfits all showing off their charms.

Seohyun, who was recently chosen as having the best facial cross line, showed off a funky and poofy hairstyle. From these photos, you couldn’t tell that these girls are actually innocent young girls.

They really know how to transform into any image.

Element of Surprise

2011-07-12T21:44:00.000+08:00

I have heard this term for a plethora number of times as the commentators analyse the games in Starcraft II tournaments.

Recently, I have decided to blog about this topic because I heard this term during the Transformers movie (spoiler alert).

OptimusPrime told Sam that they need to bring an element of surprise to the decepticons.

When he said that, it strikes me immediately, the term "element of surprise" that is.

To me, it is a powerful weapon, and it is most effective when your opponent is completely unprepared for it.

That's the whole point of the element of surprise, to shock your opponent, to maximise the impact of this surprise on your opponent.

In the game Starcraft II, I have seen the Korean Pros doing it time and again. They hide structures and units just to take their opponents by surprise and it works especially well against the higher level professionals.

Why is this so? Well, this is simply because the high level pros will scout the base of their opponents consistently to make sure they know what's going on. Subsequently, they will prepare builds that will counter that specific build their opponents are going.

However, it is because of this over-analysis that caused them to die to surprise attacks.

Reason: They were totally unprepared for it because they prepared for something else, something they had scouted.

In application to the real business world, I feel that the top corporations and banks are actually so well-versed in the industry because they research and anaylse excessively, in hope that they will be able to grasp what's going on.

However, just like the financial crisis, it came as a shock, the collapse of Lehman Brothers. They just were not prepared for it. And the impact of the collapse of Lehman Brother took the world by shock and it almost obliterated the entire banking industry and resulted in collateral damage to other key industries as well.

So the point here is that, the element of surprise can really be powerful, especially at the higher levels where people start to over-analyse.

The moral of the story? Do not over-analyse. Have an open mind, be flexible. It's not easy, but do try okay?

However, if they ask you something completely different or on an entirely off-track topic, you get so caught off-guard that you falter and screw up so badly.

It's like an interview, sometimes you over-prepare and you think that you will be able to tackle any questions that come your way, anything about the company or the industry, no problem for you.