What Temasick Sell, You Must Buy...

[angie II]

.....................Mount Rushmore




Bank of America, Citigroup Insiders Reap Millions Buying Stock
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By David Mildenberg

May 19 (Bloomberg) -- Bank of America Corp. and Citigroup Inc. executives and directors have profits of more than $25 million after purchasing shares earlier this year amid speculation that the lenders would be nationalized. Bank of America directors and managers including Chief Executive Officer Kenneth Lewis gained about $6.57 million from buying stock in January and February. Citigroup’s Roberto Hernandez Ramirez, a former director who is nonexecutive chairman of subsidiary Banco Nacional de Mexico, bought 6 million shares at $1.25 on March 2 and the stock has gained more than $15 million in value.

Bank of America, the largest U.S. bank by assets, and Citigroup, the third-largest, have surged by 196 percent and 155 percent, respectively, since March 1 amid speculation that growth in the U.S. economy may resume later this year. The banks are benefiting from improved bond-trading revenue, helping push first-quarter profit above analysts’ expectations. “I give these guys some credit, they bought it well- timed,” Ben Silverman, research director at InsiderScore.com, said about the Bank of America purchases. His company tracks purchases by officers and directors. Citigroup and Bank of America each accepted $45 billion in capital from the U.S. Treasury’s rescue fund, which carries curbs on executive compensation. Those rules don’t prevent executives and directors from using their own money to purchase shares on public stock exchanges. Investors track insider buying and selling to speculate on a company’s performance before the results are officially disclosed.

Returns on Shares
Citigroup rose 18 cents, or 5 percent, to $3.82 as of 2:54 p.m. New York time, and has declined 43 percent this year. Bank of America was little changed at $11.69. Lewis holds a $2.5 million profit after buying 400,000 shares for $4.81 to $6.03 each, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. That’s more than his $1.5 million salary in 2008, when Lewis got no bonus for running Bank of America, the biggest U.S. lender. Twelve other directors and officers bought about 640,000 shares for as little as $3.78, with some more than tripling their investment at today’s prices. Almost all the purchases were made in the three weeks after Charlotte, North Carolina-based Bank of America reported its first quarterly loss in 17 years on Jan. 16. The stock sank to a two-decade low of $2.53 in February as analysts predicted the bank would be seized, and shareholders stripped Lewis of the chairman’s title in April.

Bank of America
Defaults on credit-card, housing and small-business loans and writedowns of mortgage-backed securities caused a $1.79 billion loss in the fourth quarter. Bank of America rebounded to a $4.25 billion profit in the first quarter, aided by demand for home refinancings and improved credit-market trading. Lewis, 62, owned as many as 4,697,070 shares as of Feb. 9, according to the bank’s proxy statement, the bulk of them acquired in previous years. The stock sold for more than $55 in November 2006. The bank’s new chairman, retired college president Walter Massey, 71, bought 2,000 shares in February at $6.21 with gains now totaling $11,040, according to the data compiled by Bloomberg. Director Robert Tillman, 65, retired CEO at Lowe’s Cos., bought 200,000 shares on Jan. 20 and has a paper profit of $1.2 million. Tillman previously owned 20,000 shares. Temple Sloan, 70, the bank’s lead director before Massey’s election as chairman, bought 156,500 shares and has gains of about $1 million. Brian Moynihan, 49, president of the Global Banking and Wealth Management unit that oversees Merrill Lynch & Co., made about $330,000 purchasing 50,000 shares at $3.89 to $6.13 apiece through yesterday’s trading, according to the data. The bank bought Merrill Lynch last July.

Shareholder Value
“We are committed to improving shareholder value and operating the company in the most efficient manner possible,” Bank of America spokesman Jerry Dubrowski said. Citigroup earned $1.6 billion in the first quarter, aided by an increase in net interest margin, or the difference between what a bank pays to borrow and what it charges to lend. Government lending programs including a guarantee on debt sales are enabling banks to reduce their interest expense. Hernandez, 67, was among four Citigroup executives who bought shares in early March, when the bank’s stock swooned to an all-time low of $1.02. Other buyers that week included Latin America regional head Manuel Medina-Mora, Vice Chairman Lewis Kaden and Controller John Gerspach. At the time, bank spokesman Gerardo Chavez called the purchases “a sign of confidence and trust in Citi’s future.”


To contact the reporter on this story: David Mildenberg in Charlotte at [email protected]


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[angie II]

Bank of America Raises $13.5 Billion Selling Shares (Update2)
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By David Mildenberg

May 20 (Bloomberg) -- Bank of America Corp., the biggest U.S. bank by assets, raised about $13.5 billion by selling stock after U.S. regulators determined it needed more cash to weather an extended recession. Bank of America issued 1.25 billion shares at an average price of $10.77 each, according to a statement yesterday. The Charlotte, North Carolina-based company plans to boost common equity capital by $17 billion through the sale of stock and by converting preferred shares mostly held by institutional investors, Chief Executive Officer Kenneth Lewis said May 7. Lewis, told by U.S. regulators earlier this month that he needs to raise $33.9 billion, took advantage of a 40 percent increase in Bank of America’s market value during the past month to bolster capital. Wells Fargo & Co. and Morgan Stanley were the first banks to respond to the government’s stress tests when they sold a combined $16.6 billion of stock and bonds on May 8.

“You have to do it while things have improved and you’re really running the gauntlet if you don’t,” said Tim Schroeders, who helps manage $1 billion at Pengana Capital Ltd. in Melbourne. Bank of America was up 32 cents at $11.57 in German trading today, after closing 4.1 percent lower on the New York Stock Exchange. It has more than tripled since falling to a 25-year low on March 6. The bank has said it expects to add another $10 billion of capital through asset sales and at least $7 billion from an improvement in pretax profits. The figures may change as the company considers options to achieve its $33.9 billion target, spokesman Jerry Dubrowski said in a phone interview.

‘No Set Formula’
“There is no set formula in how much of each category we need to accomplish,” Dubrowski said. “We have a target and we’ve talked about a number of different ways to get there.” Bank of America may post a $4 billion after-tax gain from last week’s sale of 13.5 billion China Construction Bank Corp. shares, according to a May 17 estimate from Citigroup Inc. analyst Keith Horowitz. The company is considering a sale of its Columbia Funds asset management group and First Republic Bank, the private bank acquired in the takeover of Merrill Lynch & Co. Bank of America faces potential losses of $136.6 billion, equal to 10 percent of loans, for 2009 and 2010 under the Fed’s adverse scenario for the U.S. economy. The stress tests project an economic scenario much gloomier than most analysts predict, Lewis said on a May 7 conference call.

Earnings Estimates
“We are comfortable with our current capital position in the present economic environment,” Lewis said at the time. “The stress test asks what if the economy does much worse than most experts project.” Analysts at Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised their investment rating on Bank of America this week to “buy” from “neutral,” saying the company may earn 25 cents a share in the second quarter. The average estimate of 20 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg is for a profit of 2.7 cents.

“The worst is over for Bank of America and it will have absolutely no problem raising more capital,” said Kim Yong Tae, head of overseas investment at Yurie Asset Management Inc. in Seoul, which runs $2 billion. “The minute the U.S. government started pumping taxpayer money into lenders its financial-system risks started easing, and are now completely gone.”

To contact the reporter on this story: David Mildenberg in Charlotte at [email protected]
Last Updated: May 20, 2009 04:10 EDT


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[angie II]

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[angie II]

Singapore's Lesson: Buy High, Sell Low

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Economics/Business

Singapore's Lesson: Buy High, Sell Low
<table class="contentpaneopen"> <tbody><tr> <td colspan="2" align="left" valign="top" width="70%"> Written by Our Correspondent </td> </tr> <tr> <td colspan="2" class="createdate" valign="top"> Wednesday, 20 May 2009 </td> </tr> <tr> <td colspan="2" valign="top"> Aristocratic lineage isn't a qualification for financial management

Ho Ching's flawed management of the billions of public savings entrusted to her as chief executive of Temasek Holdings has continued until the last. Her successor, Chip Goodyear, formerly with BHP, moved in as CEO-designate in March and formerly takes over in October. But presumably it was Ho Ching, the wife of Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, who took the decision to sell out of its huge Bank of America holding, an investment originally made in Merrill Lynch which was taken over last year to save it from bankruptcy. Now she has managed to sell out at what, at least on a six month view, looks close to the bottom of the US financial sector. The sale was completed by the end of March so presumably took place in the preceding few weeks. Since then the BoA share price has risen 66 percent.

Temasek's loss on BoA alone is estimated around US$4.6 billion, or roughly US$1,000 for every single Singaporean citizen. Big losses too were sustained on most of the rest of the financial portfolio such as Barclays of the UK and UBS of Switzerland. Other huge losses were sustained by the even less transparent Government Investment Corporation, which invested Swiss francs 11 billion in UBS in 2007 and added to it in a rights issue in 2008. From US$60 in New York in 2007, UBS shares have slumped to US$13, having been down to US$7. Did GIC also sell UBS when Temasek was selling BoA? Or is its presence in Singapore, where it occupies the former residence of the president, too useful for bringing in business from Myanmar generals and other friends of Singapore?

The desire to get out of Wall Street's black holes was understandable but the exodus seems to have been part of the group's follow-the-crowd mentality. And one wonders if it is not going to repeat itself. Goodyear's claim to fame was increasing BHP's market capitalization from US$12 billion to US$200 billion and a quadrupling its share price in his eight years at the helm. However, most of this was luck – the biggest mineral price boom for 40 years -- plus acquisitions made at increasingly high prices. Goodyear's reputation would be very different if Rio Tinto had accepted BHP's top of the market bid made just after he left office but with his support. Instead Rio's ego maniac chief executive rejected the offer so, having saddled itself with massive debt of its own, now going cap in hand to China.

Will Goodyear push Temasek into resources because he knows about them and Singapore itself has caught the China-growth bug? For sure prices of commodities are down a lot from a year ago. But they also have long cycles.
The latest investment focus of Temasek now, according to an executive quoted by Bloomberg, is "going to be driven more and more by China's economy and consumers so might as well load up more on Chinese banks."

So Temasek is again following fashion, re-focusing on Asia at a time when Asian markets have already recovered a long way while its former western favorites are still languishing. Temasek still seems to think that Chinese banks made a good proxy for its economy and consumers. Just like Southeast Asia in the 1990s, China's economy can grow rapidly, but still leave banks with piles of bad debts flowing from government-directed lending. For sure, developing Asia looks a better long-term bet than the west, but discovering that today is not exactly evidence of being ahead of the curve.

Quite how badly Temasek has done is hard to figure out because the data presented is scanty and unconsolidated. For example, in 2007-08 the value of its portfolio increased by 13 percent to S$185 billion but it is unsure how much of that was simply a capital injection from the government. There are also black holes like its subsidiary Astrea, which borrowed US$810 million in earlier in the decade to invest in a portfolio of private equity and buyout funds. Another fall for Wall Street fashion which will likely be reflected in pensions for Singaporeans.

Meanwhile Temasek's local portfolio has been persistently trimmed and now represents only 33 percent of assets. Of course it may make more sense to invest in faster growing countries rather than in low growth Singapore where there are few new opportunities for a company which already controls so much. Nevertheless it hard not to conclude that some of these sales, such as the December 2008 sale of PowerSeraya to Malaysia's YTL for S$3.8 billion are not partly designed to generate capital profits readily available from long-held local assets.

Ho appears to have made a career of assuming that smart people with the right degrees and loaded up with mathematical models in one hand and high sounding jargon in the other knew more than anyone else about investment. Thus during the boom years for financial services, Temasek followed the crowd, pushing the financial sector component of its portfolio up to 40 percent, most of it invested in just the high profile western outfits favored by Ho's Wharton-bred advisors..

Like the archetypal senior Singapore bureaucrat, paper qualifications seem to have counted for far more than actual experience running a business. Such businesses as these people run are mostly Singapore public sector ones shielded from the force of free competition. Even Singapore Airlines is beginning to look jaded in an era of low cost carriers pioneered by a Malaysian, Tony Fernandes and AirAsia, and the gradual breakdown of fare cartel.

If nothing else, the record of Temasek gives the lie to notion spread by Singapore's ruling clique that they are the best guardians of the people's savings. Paternalism morphed into an arrogance whose full cost to Singaporeans is for now hidden by the opaque nature of the government's accounts, and the very partial revelations provided by Temasek. Singaporeans, gather your purse-strings and, together, pull.


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[angie II]

Read comments from the doggies

Comments

Jolly Red Dot on the Map
written by Ah Kow , May 29, 2009
Hello Singaporeans. DOn't whine so much. For a little red dot on the map, Singapore is doing more than alright by most measures! OK so it is not perfect, but which country is perfect? Even in Japan, one of the largest and advanced economy in the world, you also see homeless people on the streets. They too make occasional mistakes in their investments.

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...
written by Yellow Earth , May 29, 2009
A better alternative for Singaporeans to do something constructive is to vote out the current government and elect a new one. Preferably a competent one that do not have immigrants from neighboring countries who contribute nothing but hot air.

In absolute money terms, I doubt that the sum total of recent Malaysian corruption is greater than the BILLIONS lost by Temasek and GIC, as well as the Singapore Government's capability to safely protect its citizens after the Mat Selamat incident, therefore whether it is "better" than other neigboring governments remain to be seen.

Kind of funny when foreigners who work in Singapore, especially from neighboring countries, who do not have to do National Service, tell Singaporeans to stop whining.

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I Love Singaporeans...
written by Jolly fella , May 28, 2009
..When they criticise, they be so sarcastic and so cynical! When they say sweet things about the govt and the country, you always have to read in between the lines, and see whether it is a real compliment or if is a hit below the belt!
Anyway you Singaporeans git a good place to live, despite whatever shortcomings in your government. But which country's government has no short comings? Your government is still much better than those in your neighbouring countries. So don't whine so much. If you want to contribute to the country, join the government and change it from inside.

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oeioeioei
written by dawg , May 27, 2009
Eh watch what you are saying please. We the PAP dogs will not leave this lying ok? Don't you dare talk bad about our beautiful empress dowager Ho Ching. We will continue to defend her because her family pays us a lot of money. So please make our lives easier and stop telling the truth about Temasek.


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written by Yellow Earth , May 27, 2009

If I am not mistaken, Ho Ching was born in Malaysia. I dunno if we can return her to Malaysia, let her waste Malaysian public money instead. Err because of the racial discrimination, only place left for her would be Penang State.

Would a free market bank / fund ever hire such a grossly incompetent CEO and retain her blunder after blunder? To think she was Asia's MOST powerful woman according to Forbes 2008. (No 8 Worldwide) http://www.forbes.com/lists/20..._Rank.html

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Why the salary of Minister stay the same?
written by aol166 , May 27, 2009
When the economy is good, the minsters claimed they are responsible for the growth of Singapore and the GDP. They then upped their salary to obsene level never seen in Singapore. This is backed by the "economic" data and the heralded achievements of the Ministers. Then they showered themselves with their "rewards".

When the economy is bad, the ministers claimed that it is no fault of theirs when the world is down. They have no "direct control". They said that we fared better than our "poor neighbours" or the other countries. Then they remove the GDP bonus from their salary and claimed that they had a pay cut. When in reality, their salary is the same month on month.

At the same time, the "poor people" of Singapore lost their jobs, take massive pay cut and suffer even though it is through no fault of theirs too.

Go figure.....

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You think Singapore is really that great
written by aol166 , May 26, 2009
Singaporeans think that Singapore is the best. Why the hell are we comparing Singapore with Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand? Come on. Be logical. We are a first world country by any calculation. Then start comparing with Germany, Spain, Italy or even Luxumberg.

We got world class transportation system? THEY got world class transportation system
We got great pension system? THEY got the best pension system
We got great Healthcare system? THEY got a better healthcare system

Before anybody flame, I am planning to move out.

Before anybody come up with they got higher tax, let me put it this way. We don't need higher tax. Our butter is 3 times more than theirs. And lately I found out that our LCD TV is twice theirs.

So comments away, please

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Lies, damn lies, and Temasek (2)
written by 7th Son , May 26, 2009
>>"Without the Lee family Singapore would be a vassal state of Malaysia today... corrupt politicians, corrupt judiciary, corrupt police, unsafe streets, inefficient and corrupt civil service, religious bigotry, sub standard education, poor health service, and racial discrimination".

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[angie II]

Read comments from the doggies, a lot of them!

Comments

Lies, damn lies, and Temasek
written by 7th Son , May 26, 2009
Yes indeed, why not be fair? Let's begin by pointing out that not all SWFs "made gigantic losses" as so blithely alleged. Saudi Arabia's did not, neither did China's funds which in fact made a $10b profit during that very same period. Norway's SWF kept its nerve throughout, continued to buy at distressed prices and now sits on a decent profit despite its earlier paper loss. So what is Temasek's excuse apart from gross incompetence?

The buck stops with Ho Ching and nobody else. Money is power, and hers was a political appointment designed to keep the levers of power in the grasping hands of the Lee family. Nothing in her CV qualified her for the post, in fact her disastrous investment in Micropolis against all advice as head of Singapore Technologies and the subsequent writeoff of $630m when it went belly-up ought to have rung alarm bells as to her competence for the job. She stumbled royally yet again when she bought Shin Corp, this time incurring a loss of a mere $1b or so. Had she been fired at that point in 2006 for screwing-up, Singapore's reserves might possibly have kept the majority of the $58 billion it subsequently flushed down the loo. There are some advantages to being a member of the royal family it appears, job security being one. As a parting gesture to 'investing for the long term', Ho Ching has now dumped Temasek's BoA stockholding in panic, suffering an unnecessary loss of US$3b plus. Should Singaporeans be really pleased or just pleased?

>>"Without the Lee family Singapore would be a vassal state of Malaysia today... corrupt politicians, corrupt judiciary, corrupt police, unsafe streets, inefficient and corrupt civil service, religious bigotry, sub standard education, poor health service, and racial discrimination".

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Temasek Investment
written by Taneug , May 25, 2009
Let's be fair. The Temasek investment losses must be seen in the context of the current economic tsunami when all the Soveriegn Wealth Funds make gigantic losses. At least Ho Ching resigned and LKY asaid Tewmasek made a mistake. We begrudge Temasek when it is highly profitable and shoots it down when it makes losses. For a journal like run by westerners with a history of run-ins with the Singapore government, and which is inherenelty opposed to its liberal economic/socially conservative outlook, we cannot expect The Asia Senteinel, to be fair.

The problem is that Singaporeans have it so good for so long that when it gets a knock, even as the knock hits all countries in the world, we expect the government to be immune from them.

Singaporeans, some of them, harp on the Lee family. Without the Lee family Singapore would be a vassal state of Malaysia today. Those who have not read history would do well to familairize themselves with the two years Singapore spent as part of Malaysia. Only one foreign investment was approved by the Federal Government in Kuala Lumpur and 60 percent of its tax revenue went to KL. Singapore today would be like Malaysia, probably even worse. Corrupt poiliticans, corrupt judiciary, corrupt police, unsafe streets, inefficient and corrupt civil service, religious bigotry, sub standard education, poor health service, and racial discrimination. I know, I have lived in both places.


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Near Perfect
written by Ah Gong , May 24, 2009
"If you don't like it here you can migrate lah to Ang Mor countries and be second class there."
written by Ah Lian , May 24, 2009

I love it.

Mm chye see . . .

Some Singaporeans are really living in the woods . . . go and live elsewhere as a non-White then you will understand the reality and facts of life.

My grandfather sure could tell. This is paradise on earth. He has passed on since.


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If you don't like it here you can migrate lah to Ang Mor countries and be second class there.
written by Ah Lian , May 24, 2009
We can replenish Singapore with people who are grateful to live here and have talent to contribute some more ! Thousands of Malaysian Chinese and Indonesian Chinese would be happy to come to Singapore after all the discrimination they get in Malaysia, and also will be happy to live in a clean environment and where things work. SIngaporeans always complain and complain, instead of making a contribution to the country. And always so kiasu and kiasee.


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portfolio
written by clever , May 23, 2009
a portfolio approach. temasek made over US$20 billion in china alone. indonesia over US$7 billion. therefor a $3 billion loss from boa is ok. Look at other swfs like norway, china, abu dhabi and dubai. They lost 4 times more than temasek !!
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written by Ah Mah , May 23, 2009
You want to live like a dog go to Indonesia. You want street fights & protests go to Thailand. You wanrt to enjoy apartheid as "non-Bumi" go to Malaysia. You want to be pushed around and be bullied go to any White man land.You want to compete fiercely to survive go to China & Taiwan.Oh my blessed Singapore! Those who have eyes but can't see. How sad . . . .


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NO Changi for critics
written by Pah Lan , May 23, 2009
Actually it is a waste of tax payers' money to keep the critics in Changi for a holiday with free food, free lodging, free security and free medical care. It is cheaper for the tax payers if the government hound you until you become a bankrupt. Especially in a recession, some smart alecks may purposely criticise the government to earn the freebies in Changi so that they don't have to sleep on the streets.


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Don't criticise the SIngapore government....
written by Pah Lan , May 23, 2009
Otherwise the government people and PAP will get very upset with you. How can anyone else do better than them? They are the cream of Singapore, and they get paid very very well, because they are the best of the best in Singapore, and that makes them the best of the best in SEA. The young Singaporeans should be more grateful for what they have. If they are not happy, they can migrate to Australia, UK or whatever. SIngapore can import mainland Chinese, Indians, Ang Mor, or whatever to replace them. Singapore is the cleanest and richest country in SEA, so don't complain so much lah.


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Whats that smell?
written by sniffer , May 22, 2009
i smell some government dogs in some of these comments. ah kong ask you come here play defense ah?


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hohoho kachingkachingkaching
written by hohoho kachingkachingkaching , May 22, 2009
dont you know we own you? you and all your money. not happy with me or my famiLEE? wanna taste the zest of bankruptcy? wanna go for a holiday in changi detention? just insult me or breathe at my designer hair.

mind you, we watch our political critics more than we watch mas selamat. how do you think he escaped? save your saliva. let my scholar dogs do what they want.

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[makapaaa]

I NO REGRET one! Cos my wifey can always ATM from the smelly peasants to cover my hole! *Grrr...*​

 

[angie II]

Read comments from the doggies, a lot of them!

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written by yc , May 22, 2009 There is nothing new about Singapore elite. She is the wife of PM Lee, who dares to question her.. Any right thinking person will keep their mouth shut, no mateer how wrong the decision maybe.

There is nobody to blame other than the Singaporean system. Critise and you will be in Changi. This is the price Singapore will pay and continue to pay.

There is one more purchase of the century by PM Lee darling wife that went bottom up in less than 6 months. ABC learning, Temasek spent AUD400M on the company that everybody knew is close to death. Everybody except Madam Ho.

Moral of the story, never appoint somebody you cannot sack to work for you.

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...
written by Sons of Genghis Khan , May 22, 2009
S'pore's unique model of past successes, though still resillient amidst all impossible odds, is sadly speaking, utterly unsustainable in the long run. S'pore indeed needs a large & friendly land mass as a hinderland which will provide it with human resources, food belt, or just simply room to play & air to breath after a hard day's slog at the office, factory & other work places. Imagine S'pore's success would have been magnified 10 or hundreds of time more if she possesses enough land & space to exert her fullest potential. Take a look at Hong Kong, a similarly tiny looking city state sharing much in common in many respects. Take a deep ponder how lucky HKers managed to escape the worst ravages of the 1997 & current economical downturns simply by falling back onto the fond cuddle of big benevolent nanny China in time of need~all China needs to do is to just turn on the tap to allow in cash-rich tourists, loan a tiny fraction of their hordes of reserved currency, giving preferential CEPA access to HK goods, services & personnels etc to help HK tackle its difficulties. Compared these scenarios to S'pore's pathetic neighbourhood~surrounded & haunted by the worst of neighbours, Malaysia & Indonesia, which have the unenviable notorities of having committed mass murders & rapes of Chinese diaspora, practise racism against their minorities, jealous of S'pore's apparent success, eager to swallow up S'pore at any faint chance of weakness......S'poreans would really have wished that they should have had a better karma so as not to be in such a precarious situation.


With the world power shifting decisively to the East & China once again playing a povital role, perhaps it is time for S'pore to look beyond its traditional horizons & perspectives & seriously ponder at a possible union with Greater China comprising the Mainland, HK, Macao, Taiwan. Before you do that, first you must throw out your apparent ignorance, snob, superiority complex with
regards to the Mainland; & most of all your all-too-apparent Western-centric psyche (ie everything English & the West (whiteman) first attitudes~these are what Mainlanders hate most about S'pore).


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Name of the Game
written by Smartie , May 22, 2009
Singaporeans are economic beasts.

But sadly. They are zero when it comes to international politics i.e. motives & agendas.

MM & Mdm Ho Ching are not crooks!

45 years after independence and the whole world envies and admires our achievements. A tiny, resourceless, red dot.

Can't we see if Singapore sinks, Singaporeans ourselves will suffer. No one. NO ONE will help us in this dog-eats-dog world.

So when foreign journalists write bad thinbgs about out government we shd always question their motives & agendas.

Who, in fact, caused the global economic meltdown and spread it round the world? WHO? Instead of pointing fingers at people trying to salvage their economies they should pick on tyhe SOURCE.

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The market gives and the market takes away
written by Focus, please , May 21, 2009
If Ho is to be castigated, quite rightly, for the losses, she should also be praised for the gains made during her tenure - which before selling BOA were rather impressive. I nearly choked when I read that Temasek has been selling BOA, just as financials have been turning the corner. (GIC has made a profit on its Citigroup investment as of now.)
When one invests in the market, one can win or lose. No one wins all the time. The wider question for Singaporeans is this: has this adventure - of using people's savings to invest in stock markets worldwide - been worth it? Or should the funds have been put in more secure projects with much smaller returns? The Singapore government has been generous with its handouts and support for the aged and poor. Without playing the stock market with the people's money, could that have been achieved? Should this have been the way? That's something Singaporeans have to ask themselves.

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Outlasted the Pundits
written by Ah Beng , May 21, 2009
"Temasek, an SFW, belongs to the people of Singapore".

Of course it does. It was there if not fo MM (PAP).. Ho Ching baked the cake from nothing.
The cake is still there though dehydrated because of the global economic meltdoen.

Any big mouths out there who can take over, let alone make 10k a month?

I hate empty vessels making lots of noise. Please look into the mirror and see the reality.

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Sovereign Wealth Funds (SFW) belong to the people
written by Croesus , May 21, 2009
Temasek, an SFW, belongs to the people of Singapore, not the kleptocratic ruling family. That almost half of the fund's value has been lost through blunders, misreading of the market and simple incompetence would, in a democracy, give rise to street protests etc. Yet the PAP has everything so nailed-down that hardly a whimper is heard as pension money is squandered on the crap table of international trading. Ho Ching made a lot of merchant bankers rich through her narrow ability and gullability. Her demise is nothing short of a God send for this island. Temasek should rebrand and reinvent itself once the sullen daughter in law goes off to prune her geraniums.


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Good medicine
written by Limpeh , May 21, 2009
It is good to get knocked down once in a while, so that one is reminded that no one is a superman, or a super country, or a super state. Singapore needed this medicine because it was getting quite arrogant after a string of successes. Hopefully the mistakes of arrogance is well learnt, and it can come back as a better and stronger nation. This is similar to the knock-down that USA is getting. USA was behaving like a superman that would not acknowledge any wrong doing, bullying everybody, and thought that its system was the best in the world. But ifg America do learn from its mistake, it will rebuild and come back strong again. Meanwhile, PAP should give more freedom to Singaporeans to let their talent flourish. Let Singaporeans express their creativity, political or otherwise. Disagreement with the government is not the same as disloyalty, and does not mean that they are threats to the nation.


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Blind trust is not good
written by Linda Kosmanto , May 21, 2009
We must stop blindly trusting and following people who make others believe they have superior faculties. Even people like LKY, his boys and his daughter-in-law are human and deserve to be treated with the same suspicion as everyone else.


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Kiasu-ism
written by Dynas Tee , May 21, 2009
During the long tenure of PAP, the traits of Kaisu-ism is ingrained into the Singaporean. People who do not make the cuts academically are regularly denigrated as born losers in society. Young kids who are not inclined academically are mockingly called "Normal" streamers. Entrepreneurs who lost out in the competitive world are satirized so much so that our bests are sheperded into the cozy world on MNC, civil services and the PAP. Now the only real entrepreneurial class seems to be the Doctors and Lawyers in private practises.

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[angie II]

Read comments from the IB doggies

Lesson learned
written by Dynas Tee , May 21, 2009
Not all is lost if we Singaporeans take this unfortunate episode as an expensive lessons. We should not go around smelling the s**ts of foreign talents as if it smelt like perfume. What we need now is to groom our own talents and place more trusts in our own people ability than blindly thinking foreign talents can do the thinkings for us.

In fact, our best talents compared favourably with their bests in China, Europe, India and US, regularly beating their s**ts out in maths and science competitions. What we need is the PAP to respect our people abilities?

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Asian Style
written by Dave , May 20, 2009
This is the Asian Way - pyramid, top down - which is why they will never overtake the western way of people power, we all have an opinion and all can succeed..not just the few

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Success leads to Arrogance, which then leads to Self Deception, then Failure.
written by Rambo , May 20, 2009
Singaporean track

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True Colors, Lowly rated comment [Show]
Broaden the base of Talents
written by Dynas Tee , May 20, 2009
We will not be in such dire state if we has broaden our base of Talents. For a start, the foreign spouses of any Singaporean female should automatically qualify to be a Singaporean after meeting some basic criteria. Children from one parent who is Singaporean should be admitted automatically as Singaporean if they choose to do so upto a certain cut-off age says, 35 years.

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True colours?
written by old man river , May 20, 2009
She, like the Lee clan have failed the country and failed themselves. All of them cannot live up to their exhortations of 40 years ago. LOOK EAST! Follow the Japs. See how they do things. Firstly, she must bow publicly to the people of Singapore and beg for forgiveness. She need not perform hara kiri. Just get out of the scene! Then old senile Lee must do the same. It is probably he that is the force behind Temasek. To placate her for the public scoldings, he gave her a medal for her duties towards the Labour Movement! What! What did she do for the labour movement? Lee must do double bowings and beggings - one for himself and one for pushing others to do his bidding. Wasn't he who said that investment is for 40 or more years? What crap! When he was in the opposition he would have torn the government of the day to shreds. Now he is waiting for the inevitable. When will it come? It will show on polling day. 1st world economics but 3rd world politics. He and his clique of paratroopers(they parachuted into positions of power) are like the 1st class passengers on SIA B787. Sooner the plane must land the the reality of life will hit them hard. The good life is not forever. His psychotic approach to the persecution of Chee Soon Juan will be the beginning of his downfall. The evil that man do lives after them. Poor Singapore. The iron fist will be passed on to the favoured contender.

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You can never be to rich, nor too thin
written by Wallis , May 20, 2009
Madam Ho has failed her investors, failed her husband's subjects, failed her father-in-law's belief in all things family being good for his one-family state and, ultimately, failed herself. She was deaf, blinkered and easily smitten by fast-talking foreign bankers and hucksters. She cast a severe shadow on Temasek, which has floundered for years under varying degrees of incompetent management. Old Square Face Thaksin took her for the biggest ride ever, no doubt charming the dour and dull spinsterish Ho with his wiles, convincing her that to be rich at other people's expense is glorious. She will no doubt be a happy housewife, changing all those plugs her fey husband has such trouble with.

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Best services to Singaporean
written by Dynas Tee , May 20, 2009
PM Lee Hsien Loong could render suffering Singaporeans a good deed by shutting down Tumasek for good, and quit using our Sovereign Wealth funds to save the Western institutions.

Another eye-sore policy of importing Foreign Talents should also be scrapped to groom our own talents. We could also in fact emulate the USA to import more geniuses. These outstanding individuals may not be the one with the best or most paper qualifications being chased like crazy over here.

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Paper Tiger, Lowly rated comment [Show]

Lee family has lost its magic touch
written by puah siew hoon , May 20, 2009
Ok, my father got moderately affluent by first being kicked out of our kampung and then having to accept HDB flat with $50,000 mortgage. Now it's worth more. But I cannot see the same happening to me and my siblings. Our savings, particularly those held by the government agencies, are dwindling.

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[angie II]

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[nickers9]

Re: Singapore's Lesson: Buy High, Sell Low

Home

Economics/Business

Singapore's Lesson: Buy High, Sell Low


Buyin high and sellin low, that is short selling rite?

No wonder, they said Temasek made more money than losing money is because they short the stock market.

 

[po2wq]

What Temasick Sell, You Must Buy... ...

gd advice! ...

wat if dey start 2 sell back side? ... still muz buy, ah? ...

 

[angie II]

gd advice! ...

wat if dey start 2 sell back side? ... still muz buy, ah? ...

Please specify who are "dey".

If so then its up to your own discretion to take the offer.


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[angie II]

U.S. Markets Wrap: Stocks Gain, Bond Fall as Economy Rebounds
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By Dakin Campbell and Jeff Kearns


June 18 (Bloomberg) -- U.S. stocks snapped a three-day losing streak and Treasuries fell as reports on jobless claims and manufacturing added to evidence the recession may be near a bottom. The dollar and oil rose.

Bank of America Corp. and JPMorgan Chase & Co. climbed at least 4.4 percent as the number of people collecting unemployment insurance fell by the most in almost eight years. Alcoa Inc. and DuPont Co. added more than 1.7 percent as gauges of leading economic indicators and Philadelphia’s economy topped economists’ estimates. Discover Financial Services rallied as the credit-card company’s loan losses grew less than forecast. “The market has run out of fantastic reasons to sell,” said Stephen Wood, who helps manage $136 billion as chief market strategist for North America at Russell Investments in New York. “Those Armageddon, Great Depression, worst-case scenarios being priced in a few months ago are now a low probability, and the recovery reflects that.”

The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index rallied 0.8 percent to 918.34 at 4 p.m. in New York. The Dow Jones Industrial Average advanced 57.59 points, or 0.7 percent, to 8,554.77. The Nasdaq Composite lagged other indexes, slipping less than 0.1 percent as SanDisk Corp. tumbled on an analyst downgrade.
Treasuries fell for a second day as the reports showed the deepest recession in 50 years may be ending and the U.S. said note sales will increase to a record $104 billion next week. The dollar gained 0.4 percent against the euro and oil rose 0.3 percent to $71.37 a barrel.

Ten-Year Yields
Ten-year yields touched the highest in almost a week amid concern President Barack Obama’s record borrowing will overwhelm demand. The difference in yield between 2- and 10-year notes widened to 2.56 percentage points, the most in over a week. “There’s so much focus on the borrowing amounts Treasury will face over the next couple of years,” said Carl Riccadonna, a senior economist at Deutsche Bank Securities Inc., in New York. Deutsche is one of 17 primary dealers that trade with the Federal Reserve. “There’s evidence that the economy may be turning the corner. That’s pushing yields up.” The 10-year note yield rose 13 basis points, or 0.13 percentage point, to 3.82 percent, according to BGCantor Market Data. It touched 3.84 percent, the highest since June 12. The 3.125 percent security maturing in May 2019 fell 1, or $10 per $1,000 face amount, to 94 9/32. The U.S. Dollar Index, a six-currency gauge of the greenback’s value, gained 0.5 percent to 80.590.

Auctions
Stocks opened higher as the Labor Department said continuing jobless claims decreased by 148,000 to 6.69 million, the first drop since January, even after weekly initial claims increased 3,000 to 608,000. Gains accelerated after the Conference Board’s index of leading economic indicators climbed 1.2 percent and a Federal Reserve report showed Philadelphia- area manufacturing shrank at the slowest pace in nine months. The Treasury said it will auction $40 billion in two-year notes on June 23, $37 billion of five-year debt the following day, and $27 billion of seven-year securities on June 25. The total is $3 billion more than when the government last sold notes of similar maturities and the most since the U.S. began sales of this combination of maturities in February. Daniel Fuss, the Loomis Sayles bond fund manager who has matched the returns of Pacific Investment Management Co.’s Bill Gross for the past decade, isn’t tempted by Treasuries even after yields on the 10-year note have climbed more than 64 percent this year.

The Greenback
The dollar strengthened against the euro for the first time in three days on speculation changes in how the London interbank offered rate is set may increase the borrowing costs for the greenback outside the U.S. Investors also abandoned bets that the euro would appreciate further after the common European currency failed to strengthen beyond $1.40. The British Bankers’ Association said it may allow more institutions to take part in the daily survey that sets Libor, the benchmark for more than $360 trillion of financial products around the world. The dollar gained 0.4 percent to $1.3890 per euro at 3:34 p.m. in New York, from $1.3942 yesterday. It touched $1.4001. The dollar rose 1 percent to 96.66 yen. Gold fell on speculation that a stronger dollar and an improving U.S. economy will reduce the metal’s investment appeal. Silver also declined. Crude oil rose after the reports signaled that the U.S. economy will rebound later this year, prompting an increase in energy demand.

“The market is stubbornly holding up,” said Peter Beutel, president of Cameron Hanover Inc., an energy consulting company in New Canaan, Connecticut. “Prices are up on expectations that the economy is recovering and demand will strengthen.” Crude oil for July delivery rose 27 cents, or 0.4 percent, to $71.30 a barrel at the 2:30 p.m. close of floor trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Futures dropped as much as 81 cents, or 1.1 percent, earlier today. Prices are up 60 percent this year and reached a seven-month high of $73.23 on June 11.


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[angie II]

Tip of the day : What goes up must come down

......................Real Time Display

U.S. Stocks Climb, Trimming Weekly Loss; Alcoa, Apple Gain
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By Lynn Thomasson

June 19 (Bloomberg) -- U.S. stocks rose for a second day, trimming the first weekly decline in more than a month for the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index, amid growing speculation the recession is easing. Shares in Europe and Asia also climbed. Microsoft Corp. rallied 3.4 percent, the most in a month, after Goldman Sachs Group Inc. added the world’s biggest software maker to its “conviction buy list.” Alcoa Inc., the largest U.S. aluminum producer, added 3.8 percent on higher metal prices. Carnival Corp. jumped 7.5 percent as Wachovia Corp. analysts recommended investors buy shares of the biggest cruise-line operator.

The S&P 500 increased 0.7 percent to 924.78 at 11:41 a.m. in New York and is down 2.3 percent this week. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 40.06 points, or 0.5 percent, to 8,595.66. Five stocks advanced for every two that fell on the New York Stock Exchange. The bull market “is obviously in the early stages,” Hugh Johnson, who manages more than $1.5 billion as chairman at Albany, New York-based Johnson Illington, said in an interview with Bloomberg Radio. “The numbers we’ve been looking at, with regard to the economy, pretty clearly indicate that probably in the third quarter we’re going to have an expansion in the economy.”

While the S&P 500 is still up 37 percent since sliding to a 12-year low on March 9, a worse-than-estimated report on manufacturing in the New York area and a downgrade of credit ratings at 18 banks by Standard & Poor’s dragged stocks lower this week. The market’s three-month rebound came after the government and Federal Reserve pledged $12.8 trillion to end the first global recession since World War II.

‘Modestly Upward’
The International Monetary Fund expects to revise its growth forecasts “modestly upward” to reflect signs that the global economic slowdown is moderating, John Lipsky, the IMF’s No. 2 official said. Markets may be more volatile than usual today as options on equity indexes expire. Stocks yesterday snapped a three-day losing streak as reports on jobless claims and manufacturing added to evidence the recession may be near a bottom. Microsoft increased 3.4 percent to $24.29 for the biggest gain since May 26. Goldman, which estimates the shares will climb to $29, said the company may beat profit forecasts as revenue increases.

New iPhone
Apple Inc. added 2.2 percent to $138.80. The maker of the iPod media player releases a new iPhone today, aiming to tempt consumers with faster speed and more features as competitors crowd the market for Web-equipped phones. Alcoa gained 3.8 percent to $11.19 as aluminum, nickel and copper advanced. ConocoPhillips, the second-largest U.S. oil refiner, added 1.8 percent to $43.58. Crude rose for a third day on speculation fuel demand will recover as the global economy emerges from its slump. Carnival rallied 7.5 percent to $26.63. Wachovia raised the company to “outperform” from “market perform” on better pricing power. Yesterday, Carnival reported second-quarter profit that beat analysts’ estimates and said discounting is starting to let up.

“You’re going to see 1,100 by the end of the year,” said Steven Leuthold, referring to the S&P 500 that’s now trading 16 percent below that level. “The economy is certainly improving.” Leuthold, who manages the $1.13 billion Leuthold Core Investment Fund that’s beaten 95 percent of its rivals over the last five years, spoke in an interview with Bloomberg Television. Hospira Inc. gained 6.4 percent to $36.73, leading a measure of S&P 500 health-care stocks to a 1.3 percent advance. Hospira, which makes injectable drugs for hospitals, won a court ruling to sell a generic version of Sanofi-Aventis SA’s colon cancer treatment Eloxatin.

E*Trade Financial Corp. tumbled 11 percent to $1.27 for the biggest decline in the S&P 500. The online brokerage priced an offering of 435 million common shares at $1.10 each, a 23 percent discount from the stock’s closing price yesterday. To contact the reporter on this story: Lynn Thomasson in New York at [email protected].


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[angie II]

...............................................................................This has to be the prettiest
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[angie II]

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[halsey02]

Nobody ask the question...who is making money out of all the purchases & sales @ Tham Ma Sek?...who is beniftitting?....insider news?