Momentum Trading On US Assets

Wall Street suffered a bloody nose on Friday but investors can seek solace that US assets are looking attractive.

Certain events confirmed that hot funds are plumping for US assets and some momentum trading is underway. In a volatile investment climate, the most dangerous place may actually turn out to be the safest.

Read the full article here.

Sarah Palin Pregnancy Scandal?

Sarah Palin Pregnancy scandal is snowballing and it is not a good start for McCain’s presidential campaign.

There are rumors that 16-year-old Bristol Palin and not Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, was the one pregnant. That makes Sarah Palin the grandmother of Trig Palin, instead of the mother. Confusing right? I took a while to grasp the relationship.

Anyway, this could turn out to be nothing more than a conspiracy to undermine the GOP ticket but certain events are too much of a coincidence and have to be explained clearly. For example,

1. Why the sudden announcement on March 6 by Sarah Palin that she was seven months pregnant?

2. Sarah Palin’s water broke a month before Trig was due, but she kept a speaking date in Texas, then flew eight hours, direct, home to Alaska.

3. Sarah Palin headed for Mat-Su Regional Medical Center (a 45 minutes drive away) instead of the more specialized Anchorage medical facility upon labor.

4. On April 18, 2008, Trig Palin, who has Down’s Syndrome, was born prematurely but Sarah Palin returned to work after just three days.

5. Bristol Palin was taken out of Anchorage High School due to “mononucleosis.” She was absent from school for more than 5 months.

Sarah Palin may have considered that her daughter, at the tender age of 16, becoming pregnant will seriously damage her carefully crafted conservative image. It will destroy any chances of her contesting for the Vice President. Or maybe, she is just displaying her motherly instinct to protect her daughter from intense scrutiny of the press.

However, Sarah Palin did not consider the possible backlash from fabricating a lie to the American people.

I do not have the full picture of this Sarah Palin pregnancy scandal but my advice is to come clean on this issue. Sometimes, honesty will be rewarded as we turn critics into sympathizers. On the other hand, telling lies force you to spin the never-ending web of deceit until you entangle yourself more deeply.

What do you guys think of Sarah Palin Pregnancy?

Hurricane Gustav Brings Cheers To Oil Market

Hurricane Gustav is set to bring cheers to the battered oil and commodities market as it heads towards the Gulf of Mexico. Oil prices briefly touched $119.63 per barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange before falling back to $118.15 a barrel Wednesday.

What is the possible extent of damage from Hurricane Gustav?

Read the full article here.

Miss Sister Italy Pageant

Father Antonio Rungi has an excellent idea – to invite the worlds nuns to enter a beauty pageant, debuting next month with the advent of “Miss Sister Italy.” All the nuns have to do is send him a photo and a covering letter.

The creator of this pageant, has a very noble aim which is to erase the stereotype of nuns as being old and sad.

“Nuns are above all women and beauty is a gift from God,” priest Antonio Rungi of the southern Italian diocese of Modragone told the daily Corriere della Sera.

“This contest will be a way to show there isn’t just the beauty we see on television but also a more discrete charm,” he added.

In the first place, this idea is ingenious and I have to credit Rungi for it. A concerted effort to change the impression that female beauty is all about slim bodies, beautiful faces, scanty clothing and plastic surgery ought to be applauded. But to be frank, I am still struggling to see this pageant in a positive light.

I am sure there are many people who are equally skeptical of the ulterior motives behind this beauty contest. Is this pageant designed for those with fetishes or a money raising scheme?

When you get television stations and newspapers into the picture, they have to fight for viewerships and subscribers, the pressure to select someone who is beautiful and sexy is overwhelming. The original, noble aim may be lost as money and sponsorships flow in.

In order to spike public interest, the nuns may be forced into bathsuits or to do ridiculous things. I mean, who wants to spend half an hour watching a contest featuring nuns singing or reciting their prayers?

Let’s see how Miss Sister Italy develops, stay tuned for more updates.

Inflating Earnings By Capitalizing Expenses

In real life, expenses are pretty straightforward. Anything which constitutes an outflow of money to pay for a product or service is deemed as an expense. For accounting students, an expense is recorded when an asset is used up and a liability recorded. Simple, right?

Read the full article here.

Obama-Bayh Bumper Stickers

Is this the real deal? The Democratic ticket for 2008 Presidential campaign comprising of Barack Obama and his running mate, Evan Bayh of Indiana.

This has got rumor mills pumping into overdrive as TV camera crews position themselves outside all possible Barack Obama vice presidential nominees’ houses, hoping to be the first to break the news to America.

The appearance of bumper sticker could be the tipoff or a hoax. Kansas City TV station KMBC, reported that a printing plant in Lenexa is hastily churning out hundreds of thousands of bumper stickers with the names Obama and Bayh ‘08.

Two senators from neighboring states, Barack Obama of Illinois and Evan Bayh of Indiana, former governor and son of former Democratic presidential candidate are gunning for the Oval Office seems to be a favored approach. Bill Clinton has done it too.

It could be speculative, of course. And campaigns have been known to feint. The printing plant is not saying anything. But many believe that an O-B ticket is for real.

One other tidbit: Sen. Hillary Clinton has released her schedule for upcoming days and it does not show her traveling with Obama, unlike what usually happens with newly-minted running mates. But that’s just a paper schedule.

Meanwhile, Sen. Joe Biden is also in the radar as a vice presidential nominee. Stay tuned for more updates.

Alexis Miller Stalked By Shaquille O’Neal

NBA star Shaquille O’Neal has been ordered to steer clear of an Atlanta-area woman who took out a restraining order Thursday.

Fulton County Superior Court Judge Richard Hicks granted Alexis Miller’s request Thursday after reviewing her allegations that the basketball player stalked her, threatened her with bodily harm and made harassing phone calls in which he breathed heavily into the phone before hanging up.

Miller, a 23-year-old hip-hop artist known professionally as Maryjane, claimed she ended an intimate relationship with O’Neal last month. She alleged he then threatened to pay performers $50,000 each not to work with her.

“It’s been very difficult for her,” said L. David Wolfe, Miller’s Atlanta-based attorney. “Her fears are not only for herself but also the people around her.” He said Miller, who has a young son, is “pretty traumatized.”

I respect Shaquille O’Neal a lot for his achievements on the basketball courts but this season, he has been a disgrace. Shaq has been rumored to want a reconciliation with his estranged wife but now with this STUPID or rather childish incident, it is not likely.

On the court, he has been attracting unwanted attention too. He was caught on YouTube recently for denigrating his former team mate Kobe Bryant after a LA Lakers defeat. Seems the rift between both superstars is true (despite their public denial) and the bad blood is still present even after all these years of going their separate ways.

Do all famous sports personalities go down this path of self-destruction?

Korea Development Bank And Lehman Brothers

Interesting news that Lehman Brothers may be saved from its insolvent fate by Korea Development Bank. Rumors have emerged that a very big investment bank on Wall Street may fail in the near future and Lehman Brothers is a firm candidate.

Lehman Brothers and Wall Street can rejoice but is it a wise decision by Korea Development Bank? The state-run lender has performed poorly in overseas investment and is now lined up for privatization. Net profit halving to $24.6 million in the first half year-on-year.

The setback stands out against other local commercial banks, such as Shinhan and the Korea Exchange Bank (KEB), which enjoyed excellent profit growth abroad. Their lackluster performance is mainly due to high exposure to subprime mortgages and poor risk management.

Korea Development Bank has as good a chance as Lehman Brothers of going under by taking up more mortgage risks. Will they break with tradition and score a home run this time round? Don’t bet on it.

Korea Development Bank’s Chief Executive Officer Min Euoo Sung declined to comment on a Reuters report that the state-run lender is “open to” a potential acquisition of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc.

Reuters, citing an unidentified Korea Development Bank spokesman, said Korea Development is studying a number of options, including buying Lehman.

The government is aiming to privatize the bank by 2012, and acquisitions of domestic and foreign companies may help the company expand ahead of that target.

Lehman spokesman Mark Lane declined to comment when contacted today by Bloomberg. Lehman, based in New York, is the fourth- largest U.S. securities firm.

Source: Bloomberg

To Sell Or Hold Blue Chips In A Bear Market?

The global economy is headed for a recession and the stock market decline is well underway – investors will not touch stocks with a barge pole. I do not foresee a stock market crash for SGX nor embattled Wall Street, but it is certainly a period of financial destruction if we are not careful.

At this point of time, I believe many investors are deliberating whether to sell their blue chips.

Read the full article here.

Project Playlist: Hot Tool For Social Networks

The latest darling of social networks such as MySpace and Facebook is Project Playlist (playlist.com).

In case you have not caught onto this trend, Project Playlist, founded two years ago, is a music aggregating tool that allows you to add your personal music or music that your friends have uploaded. Users can then enjoy the music by listening to an embeddable music player or put it into a widget to add to their blogs or other social sites.

In April, Project Playlist received a complaint filed on behalf of all the top music labels, except Sony BMG, which is negotiating with Project Playlist. The RIAA alleges that the majority of the links found at the site lead to pirated music.

In many ways, Project Playlist is similar to Last.fm when it burst onto the social media scene. As of today Project Playlist has over 33 million members which is astonishing for a relatively new site.

I recently browsed through and signed up for a Project Playlist account to test the waters. There are some neat features that you might like and might want to add to your blog or social site.

When signing up for a Project Playlist account, just enter your username, password, and email address. Once logged in, you will be able to do things like create a playlist or search for an artist by song or by name.

After creating your playlist you can play the music on the website or you can get a code to place the playlist on your blog or social site. If you like to organize your music links, then create many playlists (max 100 songs) to group the different artistes.

Apart from some irritating advertisements, Project Playlist is a pretty decent site. So if you are interested, you can hop over to the site and take a look.