Posted by ray under Uncategorized
Hi All
Preview video of webinar & Registration at -
6-Week Webinar Course (small class)-next intake will be in April 2009.
A HOLISTIC APPROACH WHICH IS UNIQUELY STC
Please write to me at : yintrader@gmail.com,if interested in the next intake or related enquiries about courses or seminars run by Ray Barros.
You can also visit:
Singapore May Devalue Currency in April, Survey Shows (Update1)
By Patricia Lui
March 30 (Bloomberg) — The Monetary Authority of Singapore may devalue the city’s currency and allow it to drop 4 percent against the U.S. dollar by June 30 to aid exporters and lift the economy out of the worst recession since independence in 1965.
The central bank will shift the mid-point of the Singapore dollar trading band at a twice-yearly review in April, according to 15 of 17 economists surveyed by Bloomberg News. The currency is “extremely and ridiculously overvalued,” Patrick Bennett, Asia foreign-exchange strategist at Societe Generale SA in Hong Kong, said last week.
Singapore’s exports fell for a 10th month in February as global demand for electronics and drugs tumbled and the government forecasts gross domestic product will shrink as much as 5 percent this year. Exporters are losing out to regional rivals after the currency weakened 6 percent in the past six months, compared with losses of 17 percent in the Indonesian rupiah and 12 percent in South Korea’s won.
“The central bank’s objective is to restore a measure of competitiveness,” said Wei Zheng Kit, a Singapore-based economist at Citigroup Inc., the world’s fourth-biggest currency trader. “A one-off depreciation will achieve this objective.”
Kit said the MAS may not allow much weakness in the currency after the devaluation because it wants to avoid damaging investor confidence. The central bank conducts monetary policy by adjusting the center, slope or width of an undisclosed band in which the Singapore dollar is allowed to fluctuate against a basket of currencies.
‘Sophisticated Mix’
Singapore’s dollar traded at S$1.5187 to the U.S. currency as of 11:04 a.m. local time. The median estimate of 17 economists for the spot rate by the end of the second quarter was S$1.5820 and the forecast range was S$1.65 to S$1.49. The content of the currency basket isn’t disclosed.
“It is time for a more appropriate mix of policy response,” said Bennett at Societe Generale, France’s third- largest bank. “We are looking for a re-centering, a potential band widening and an indication of a more sophisticated mix of interest rates and exchange-rate policies.”
The central bank focuses on currency policy rather than interest rates because trade is so important to the economy. Total exports are equivalent to 191 percent of GDP.
The MAS opted for faster currency appreciation over a six- month period in October 2007. It announced a one-off strengthening in April last year that caused the currency to jump 1.9 percent against the dollar in a single week. It stopped seeking gains in October 2008. It has yet to set a date for this year’s meeting aside from stipulating the month.
No Adjustment
United Overseas Bank Ltd., Singapore’s second-largest lender, said there have been no signals that the MAS plans a policy adjustment in the currency markets.
“Despite the pressure from exports and growth data, there hasn’t been any indication in the price action in the market that the central bank is heading the way of a band re- centering,” said Penn Nee Chow, an economist at UOB.
The Singapore dollar rose 2.6 percent in March, the first monthly gain this year, even as a government report showed non- oil domestic exports dropped 24 percent in February.
The risk of deflation may also spur the central bank to weaken its currency, boosting import prices, said Wai Ho Leong, a Singapore-based economist at Barclays Capital Plc, the world’s third-biggest currency trader.
‘Easing Bias’
“The objective is not to use the exchange rate to save exports as this is likely to be futile in this environment,” said Leong. “Weakening the currency may limit price declines so it doesn’t become self reinforcing or enter a negative wage price spiral.”
Inflation slowed to a 20-month low in February due to the weaker economy. The consumer price index rose 1.9 percent from a year earlier after gaining 2.9 percent in January, the Department of Statistics said on March 23.
The central bank will maintain a neutral stance, in which it seeks neither gains or losses, after the one-off depreciation, said 15 of the 17 economists surveyed.
“There has never been an easing currency policy bias in the history of the MAS,” said Leong at Barclays. “An easing bias will trigger capital flight, importers will suffer and construction costs will go up.”
Singapore’s GDP contracted an annualized 16.9 percent in the fourth quarter compared with the previous three months, when the economy shrank 5.1 percent. The government will release advance first-quarter estimates the same day that the MAS meets.
“Singapore has one of the highest exposures to weakness in external demand,” Enoch Fung, a Hong Kong-based economist at Goldman Sachs Group Inc., wrote in a research note on March 19. “The MAS is likely to weaken the currency by shifting the policy band lower.”
Firm April Policy Bias Mid-Year SGD Year-End SGD UBS Re-centre Neutral 1.5900 1.6000 HSBC Re-centre Neutral 1.6000 1.6200 Citigroup Re-centre Neutral 1.5800 1.5000 UOB No Change Neutral 1.5700 1.5500 OCBC Re-centre Ease 1.5820 1.5800 Goldman Re-centre Neutral 1.6400 1.5800 Barclays Re-centre Neutral 1.5600 1.5000 RBS No change Ease 1.6000 1.5900 Sumitomo Re-centre Neutral 1.5850 1.6550 Societe- Generale Re-centre Neutral 1.6200 1.7400 Mitsubishi UFJ Re-centre Neutral 1.5000 1.6500 Nomura Re-centre Neutral 1.5500 1.5200 Merrill Re-centre Neutral 1.4900 1.4600 Calyon Re-centre Neutral 1.6500 1.5400 Stanchart Re-centre Neutral 1.5700 1.4800 DBS Re-centre Neutral 1.5600 1.5200 Macquarie Re-centre Neutral 1.6000 1.5200 Median 1.5820 1.5550
To contact the reporter on this story: Patricia Lui at plui4@bloomberg.net
Come April 1 2009 will be the First Anniversary of IDkit, my free newsletter to help disseminate fundamentals and technical analysis to enlighten any one with any interest in trading, especially newbies.
I am happy to have in my Archives since inception in April 2008: more than 700 Posts, 32 Pages, all in 7 Categories ranging from Methodologies through Psychology to Market Commentaries.
IDkit has given to an offspring IDkitLog which is for my friends at Facebook.
You can now access our page ‘idkitlog’ directly with the following web address – please bookmark it:
http://facebook.dj/idkitlogawanginvest/
Happy Reading
Ana aka IDkit
Mar 28 2009
Key economic data for the week starting Mar 30th, 2009. Numbers shown are consensus estimates (market anticipates this value) and prior value.
| Tuesday: | |
 |
09:00 Consumer Confidence Mar 27.0 25.0
09:00 S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Index Jan -18.5% -18.55% 09:45 Chicago PMI Mar 34.7 34.2 |
| Wednesday: | |
|
08:15 ADP Employment Change Mar -648K -697K
10:00 Construction Spending Feb -1.6% -3.3% 10:00 ISM Index Mar 36.0 35.8 10:00 Pending Home Sales Feb -2.0% -7.7% 10:30 Crude Inventories 03/27 NA +3300K 14:00 Auto Sales Mar NA 2.9M 14:00 Truck Sales Mar NA 3.5M |
| Thursday: | |
|
08:30 Initial Claims 03/28 653K NA
10:00 Factory Orders Feb -0.3% -1.9% |
| Friday: | |
|
08:30 Average Workweek Mar 33.3 33.3
08:30 Hourly Earnings Mar 0.2% 0.2% 08:30 Nonfarm Payrolls Mar -656K -651K 08:30 Unemployment Rate Mar 8.5% 8.1% 10:00 ISM Services Mar 42.0 41.6 |
These videos are educational only:
S&P Analysis:
http://www.ino.com/info/324/CD3131/&dp=0&l=0&campaignid=3
Crude Oil Outlook:
http://www.ino.com/info/323/CD3131/&dp=0&l=0&campaignid=3
Nasdaq Extends Suspension of Minimum Listing Requirements
Given the continued market instability, NASDAQ has submitted to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission a proposal to extend through July 19, 2009, its prior suspension of its rules requiring that NASDAQ-listed companies maintain a minimum bid price and market value of their public float (i.e., shares held by non-affiliates). Under the current rules, NASDAQ-listed companies would have been subject to delisting for failure to maintain either (a) a minimum closing bid price of $1.00 for 30 consecutive business days or (b) the minimum market value requirements for publicly held shares for 30 consecutive business days.
To read the full text of this Alert, please click on the link below.
Hi All
The much awaited details of the annual Habits of Success seminar at Singapore Management University on Aug 22 & 23 2009 are now open for early bird registration at:
http://www.barrometrics.com/idevaffiliate/idevaffiliate.php?id=104&url=2
If you have any question, you may email me at: yintrader@gmail.com
Ana Wang
Coordinator of BarroMetrics
I have sustained two toe fractures within a period of 6 months, the first a few days before 9/12, my birthday last year and again on Mar 16 09 , rushing on way to Changi Airport.
This kind of fracture is so common especially among older folks like me, that I think it is good to share this story so that we take precautions to avoid such fractures.
I have a metatarsal-fracture of the second last toe on the left foot.
Quote:
The structure of your foot is complex, consisting of bones, muscles, tendons, and other soft tissues. Of the 26 bones in your foot, 19 are toe bones (phalanges) and metatarsal bones (the long bones in the midfoot). Fractures of the toe and metatarsal bones (broken toes) are common and require evaluation by a specialist. A foot and ankle surgeon should be seen for proper diagnosis and treatment, even if initial treatment has been received in an emergency room.
What is a Fracture?
A fracture is a break in the bone. Fractures can be divided into two categories: traumatic fractures and stress fractures.
Traumatic Fractures 
Traumatic fractures (also called acute fractures) are caused by a direct blow or impact – like seriously stubbing your toe. Traumatic fractures can be displaced or nondisplaced. If the fracture is displaced, the bone is broken in such a way that it has changed in position (dislocated). Treatment of a traumatic fracture depends on the location and extent of the break and whether it is displaced. Surgery is sometimes required.
Signs and symptoms of a traumatic fracture include:
Treatment of Toe Fractures
Fractures of the toe bones are almost always traumatic fractures. Treatment for traumatic fractures depends on the break itself and may include these options:
More
http://www.footphysicians.com/footankleinfo/metatarsal-fractures.htm
The following is excerpted from Robert Prechter’s Independent Investor eBook. The 75-page eBook is a compilation of some of the New York Times bestselling author’s writings that challenge conventional financial market assumptions. Visit Elliott Wave International to download the eBook, free.
By Robert Prechter, CMT
…The natural tendency of people to apply physics to finance explains why successful traders are so rare and why they are so immensely rewarded for their skills. There is no such thing as a “born trader” because people are born — or learn very early — to respect the laws of physics. This respect is so strong that they apply these laws even in inappropriate situations. Most people who follow the market closely act as if the market is a physical force aimed at their heads. Buying during rallies and selling during declines is akin to ducking when a rock is hurtling toward you.
Successful traders learn to do something that almost no one else can do. They sell near the emotional extreme of a rally and buy near the emotional extreme of a decline. The mental discipline that a successful trader shows in buying low and selling high is akin to that of a person who sees a rock thrown at his head and refuses to duck. He thinks, I’m betting that the rock will veer away at the last moment, of its own accord. In this endeavor, he must ignore the laws of physics to which his mind naturally defaults. In the physical world, this would be insane behavior; in finance, it makes him rich.
Unfortunately, sometimes the rock does not veer. It hits the trader in the head. All he has to rely upon is percentages. He knows from long study that most of the time, the rock coming at him will veer away, but he also must take the consequences when it doesn’t. The emotional fortitude required to stand in the way of a hurtling stone when you might get hurt is immense, and few people possess it. It is, of course, a great paradox that people who can’t perform this feat get hurt over and over in financial markets and endure a serious stoning, sometimes to death. Many great truths about life are paradoxical, and so is this one.
Ana –
I wanted to tell you about an exciting new feature just launched on the White House website called “Open for Questions.”
Here’s how it works — President Obama is inviting everyone to ask a question about the economy and to rate other questions up or down.
On Thursday morning, the President will conduct an online town hall on the economy and answer some of the most popular questions live.
Watch a video of the President explaining this new feature and be a part of it now.
“Open for Questions” is an opportunity to open up the White House to all Americans.
It’s an experiment designed to encourage transparency and accountability by giving you a direct line to the White House.
This first round will deal with the economy. Americans deserve to know what their government is doing to get our economy back on track. But it’s up to you to participate and make this experiment a success.
Join the discussion now:
http://whitehouse.gov/OpenForQuestions
Thanks, and remember to check back Thursday to watch the President answer some of your questions live.
Mitch
Mitch Stewart
Director
Organizing for America
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