By: musicwhiz If I had thought the first half of August 2008 was quiet, at least it was punctuated by the results releases from the companies I own. The second half of August 2008, without any earnings release, would thus qualify as probably the quietest half-month since I started preparing my half-monthly portfolio summaries. There was not a whisper of news from the companies I own except small snippets which I will be updating on the respective companies’ summaries. With the Olympic Games in Beijing coming to a close, the Chinese markets and the rest of the world can seem to safely continue their downtrend, which is what I had observed over the last few weeks. By now, most speculators and traders are feeling the despair of a market which cannot seem to go anywhere but down, even though DJIA may be performing “well”. The de-coupling theorists seem to have gone all quiet for some reason. And as usual, there are the talking heads coming out to predict how long the bear market will last and when the index will “turn up” or “be in an uptrend”. Suffice to say such “research” amuses me to no end because these people are essentially being paid to do fortune-telling ! No one is able to know or predict when bear markets will end, but nevertheless, people try their best to predict and forecast. Below is the summary of my investments and related news as at August 29, 2008 (STI at 2,739.95 points).:- Read more...