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Call this an extremely slow and boring month, which June has traditionally been in terms of corporate news flow and updates. Add the fact that no companies are releasing any financial results this month and you can somewhat get the idea of how stagnant things can get. The World Cup, which began on June 11, 2010, has furthered shifted attention from the stock and financial markets to the television and newspapers (and maybe even the football betting outlets!). However, I have no cause to worry as I am confident that the companies in my portfolio are managed by competent managers who are adept at maximizing value for their shareholders. In other words, the businesses should be chugging along just fine even in the absence of material corporate developments.
In terms of economic news flow, the sporadic and conflicting news reports oozing out of the USA seem to paint a contradictory picture of whether the economy is slowly recovering, or still mired in quicksand (i.e. sinking slowly but surely). A huge amount of data is churned up by USA and other nations on an almost daily basis and the amount of information and news is staggering and mind-boggling. From what I gather, the psychological effects from the European debt contagion seem to have subsided somewhat, which implies that markets are acting more “rationally” now, if such a word can be used to describe it. This is not to say that the Euro Zone is out of the woods, but it simply seems to imply that people have “acclimatized” to these facts and so are not in “panic” mode anymore. Of course, if any sudden news comes out to report that another member of the Euro Zone is in dire straits, you can be sure there will be renewed panic and fear once again. Such events should be perceived by the astute investor as opportunities to accumulate shares in stable companies for the long-term.
Locally, the property market turned up rather subdued news, even though prices of resale private flats hit another new high. There seems to be a general feeling that prices are flat for now, and buyers and sellers are playing a cautious game as each does not want to budge. Caveats lodged in May 2010 was down 41% month on month and though developers are now gearing up for more launches, it remains to be seen if prices can hold up and maybe even hit new all-time highs. Even our Minister Mentor has come out to say that he believes there is “probably no property bubble here yet”, as housing prices are underpinned by real demand and foreigners still find our property here cheap. It remains to be seen if he is right on his assessment, and only time can prove if property prices are indeed “cheap”. Read more...[caption id="attachment_2568" align="alignright" width="150" caption="Photo by John Althouse Cohen"][/caption]
Call this an extremely slow and boring month, which June has traditionally been in terms of corporate news flow and updates. Add the fact that no companies are releasing any financial results this month and you can somewhat get the idea of how stagnant things can get. The World Cup, which began on June 11, 2010, has furthered shifted attention from the stock and financial markets to the television and newspapers (and maybe even the football betting outlets!). However, I have no cause to worry as I am confident that the companies in my portfolio are managed by competent managers who are adept at maximizing value for their shareholders. In other words, the businesses should be chugging along just fine even in the absence of material corporate developments.
In terms of economic news flow, the sporadic and conflicting news reports oozing out of the USA seem to paint a contradictory picture of whether the economy is slowly recovering, or still mired in quicksand (i.e. sinking slowly but surely). A huge amount of data is churned up by USA and other nations on an almost daily basis and the amount of information and news is staggering and mind-boggling. From what I gather, the psychological effects from the European debt contagion seem to have subsided somewhat, which implies that markets are acting more “rationally” now, if such a word can be used to describe it. This is not to say that the Euro Zone is out of the woods, but it simply seems to imply that people have “acclimatized” to these facts and so are not in “panic” mode anymore. Of course, if any sudden news comes out to report that another member of the Euro Zone is in dire straits, you can be sure there will be renewed panic and fear once again. Such events should be perceived by the astute investor as opportunities to accumulate shares in stable companies for the long-term.
Locally, the property market turned up rather subdued news, even though prices of resale private flats hit another new high. There seems to be a general feeling that prices are flat for now, and buyers and sellers are playing a cautious game as each does not want to budge. Caveats lodged in May 2010 was down 41% month on month and though developers are now gearing up for more launches, it remains to be seen if prices can hold up and maybe even hit new all-time highs. Even our Minister Mentor has come out to say that he believes there is “probably no property bubble here yet”, as housing prices are underpinned by real demand and foreigners still find our property here cheap. It remains to be seen if he is right on his assessment, and only time can prove if property prices are indeed “cheap”. Read more...
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Call this an extremely slow and boring month, which June has traditionally been in terms of corporate news flow and updates. Add the fact that no companies are releasing any financial results this month and you can somewhat get the idea of how stagnant things can get. The World Cup, which began on June 11, 2010, has furthered shifted attention from the stock and financial markets to the television and newspapers (and maybe even the football betting outlets!). However, I have no cause to worry as I am confident that the companies in my portfolio are managed by competent managers who are adept at maximizing value for their shareholders. In other words, the businesses should be chugging along just fine even in the absence of material corporate developments.
In terms of economic news flow, the sporadic and conflicting news reports oozing out of the USA seem to paint a contradictory picture of whether the economy is slowly recovering, or still mired in quicksand (i.e. sinking slowly but surely). A huge amount of data is churned up by USA and other nations on an almost daily basis and the amount of information and news is staggering and mind-boggling. From what I gather, the psychological effects from the European debt contagion seem to have subsided somewhat, which implies that markets are acting more “rationally” now, if such a word can be used to describe it. This is not to say that the Euro Zone is out of the woods, but it simply seems to imply that people have “acclimatized” to these facts and so are not in “panic” mode anymore. Of course, if any sudden news comes out to report that another member of the Euro Zone is in dire straits, you can be sure there will be renewed panic and fear once again. Such events should be perceived by the astute investor as opportunities to accumulate shares in stable companies for the long-term.
Locally, the property market turned up rather subdued news, even though prices of resale private flats hit another new high. There seems to be a general feeling that prices are flat for now, and buyers and sellers are playing a cautious game as each does not want to budge. Caveats lodged in May 2010 was down 41% month on month and though developers are now gearing up for more launches, it remains to be seen if prices can hold up and maybe even hit new all-time highs. Even our Minister Mentor has come out to say that he believes there is “probably no property bubble here yet”, as housing prices are underpinned by real demand and foreigners still find our property here cheap. It remains to be seen if he is right on his assessment, and only time can prove if property prices are indeed “cheap”. Read more...
