Don’t Dump Gold Just Because GIC Is Bullish

GIC’s director of economics and strategy, Yeoh Lam Keong, made an interesting statement on Tuesday that there will be further weakness in financial markets. He advises investors to go for gold, hold government bonds and currencies such as the yen, yuan and Canadian dollar. The US dollar is to be avoided “like the plague” as the United States monetise their debt by printing money.

That is all rather belated and even, ironical, considering GIC’s multi-billion dollar stakes in Citigroup and UBS. Nevertheless, it serves no purpose crying over spilt milk. As a matter of fact, I don’t believe any investors have been immune in this period of wealth destruction. The world’s richest are collectively poorer, with $2 trillion of wealth vaporized. Warren Buffett sufffered his worst year ever, losing $25 billion, but is still the second richest man.

Read the full article here.

Worst Year For Warren Buffett As Recession Bites

A new month, but it did not bring new hopes. This week’s stock market opening wasn’t any different as it continues to test new low. Asian bourses were jolted by bleak data while Wall Street fell to fresh 12-year lows on heightened fears about the murky financial sector.

AIG announced $62 billion losses (a cool $460,000 per minute) and a third bailout package was injected which brought the insurance giant closer to becoming absolutely owned by the US government.

Read the full article here.

Putting Your Cash To Use: Be A Gold Bug And Clear Debts

Global stock markets have been whitewashed over the past month, Dow Jones fell to its lowest level in 6 years this week, and gold has charged to a record high $1,007 as investors seek to preserve capital.

Granted that Obama’s administration has been hard at work – a $787 billion economic stimulus was signed into law Tuesday and a $75 billion foreclosure prevention plan was unveiled to aid distressed homeowners and revive the housing market. However, there is little confidence that these measures will be effective.

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Invest Only What You Can Afford To Lose

Every day we open up the newspapers, we are hit by depressing news – what with retrenchments (DBS axes 900, NOL ships out 1000, Citigroup eliminates 52000 worldwide, etc) and pay cuts (Temasek staff and Cabinet ministers). Taken together, the “contributions” from DBS and NOL are close to surpassing the retrenchment figures for third quarter.

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One Way Traffic: Dow Plunges Below 8000

It is one way traffic: Dow Jones plunged below 8000, a first since 2003. There was a bear rally on Tuesday but it is a folly to be tempted by profits in all these technical rebounds. For those who are drawn in and end up selling in a panic, you risk doubling your losses. You are doing just fine having the bulk of your money in the bank. If you want to go long (very long), then just nibble at the stocks.

Read the fulll article here.

A Ray Of Hope For Stock Investors

Red October, one of the worst month in Wall Street history, ended on a sweet note on Friday as stocks rallied to cap a week of impressive gains. For the week, the Dow Jones was up 10.1%, S&P 500 was up 9.5% and the Nasdaq had gained 9.8%.

There are storm clouds gathering but at the moment, investors are caught up in the euphoria and unmoved by grim economic indicators. Read the full article here.

Flush DBS High Notes 5 Down The Drain

After a prolonged wait for embattled investors who bought into Lehman linked products, their worst fears have been confirmed. While mediation for Hong Kong Lehman minibond investors is currently underway, for those who purchased DBS High Notes 5, they might as well flush them down the drain.

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Global Stock Markets Pricing In Recession

Stock markets are now entering a period of painful decline as countries around the world face up to the prospect of recession. While interbank lending has eased tentatively as central banks’ measures to inject cash loans to banks unblocked the credit crunch, investors have little time to absorb the good news.

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Prudence Is The Way To Go

Let us look at the below comic strip:

Don’t you just love CEOs who talk about issuing options to align their interests with shareholders? They conveniently omitted that that they are aligned on the upside but without money committed like shareholders, they have virtually no risk and little downside.

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Are You Rattled By The Stock Market Crash?

The credit crunch is now the most critical challenge facing the US administrators and central banks around the world. Without loans to lubricate the system, perfectly sound businesses may not be able to meet short-term obligations, and consumers’ reluctance to purchase goods/services will force the economy into seizure with more shutdowns and rising unemployment.

Read the full article here.