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HDFC Down 7% - No Surprise

One of the comments I've heard is that if oil is up, demand is up therefore global growth is occurring. It is pretty clear that there has been demand destruction due to the recession in the US, and emerging markets are feeling the pain as well. But to set up the next big rally, we needed oil to get back to the 40s, so that emerging markets can start building up again... so oil being down is a good thing for emerging markets as are a floor on foreclosures in the US because that will help the Housing ATM to tick again...The correlation between foreign emerging companies and oil will cease hopefully soon.

Would a Trade War Help Solve the Problem of Excess Capacity?

Interesting article, but I tend to disagree with the conclusions. Savings is bad and savings rates have to come down - doesn't make sense to me. Over production happened as a result of the excess demand from the US. I would say demand destruction and supply destruction are better for the long term health of economies.. equilibrium will be re-established though the short to medium term pain will be excessive. Getting governments to consume because no one else will not work. China and other Asian nations do not have the vision or the government controls to do so. They are culturally short-sighted.

The Political Case to Short India

The country of India comprises of 35 states subdivided into 618 districts. Naxalism (Communist / Maoist terrorists) exists in 50 districts according to the author, that is less than 8 % of the total.

Propensity to write off India as a basket case exists to a large extent among western authors as they are unable to comprehend how such a diverse nation with so much of disparity can still exist as a nation. Especially in a recession. India has and has been working towards solving these issues. The issues are large and mind boggling no doubt. But a lot of progress has been made.

Those parts of India which are the least developed show the most Naxal activism and this is to be expected. The government should and it will continue to devote more resources to developing these areas to strengthen the nation.

India's private sector is vibrant, and its stock market is well developed. Private enterprise has led much of the recent gains and will continue to. I have no doubt India will emerge from this "global" recession stronger. It has grown over the last year and will continue to grow through the current "global" recession as well.

Yahoo Shares Keep Falling: No Deals with Anyone?

Whether they like it or not, their lack of strategy sucks. Their down stock is going to put pressure on the management. Google is the clear leader in search. They should not attack Google on search, they should try other avenues instead.

India's Recent Economic Growth Causing Infrastructure Problems

There are a few infrastructure companies who focus on this - Power Grid Corporation of India, Larsen & Toubro, etc. do your research on myiris - sector wise list.

Being Contrarian and Thinking of Buying

Maybe you should wait a bit longer, its safer to buy after the bottom has been hit and stocks have started rebounding rather than buy and then watch it go down a lot more...

Zhongpin Has Great Earnings, but Does Anyone Care?

Well said Aalan and Logicalthought.... besides this company making money by selling pork, it can't increase production forever, can't increase margins forever either. It will be a flash in the pan...i.e. it maybe at a forward 11 pe on a triple digit expected growth now, maynot be next year...

ICICI Bank: Unwarranted Beating, Proven Growth Prospects

$51 may be the value you give it, its going to take a while getting there. Inflation can't be wished away - reasons are not far to seek - the government has been raising petrol prices after putting it off for too long. It still has a while to go before its done raising petrol prices. This is going to lead to more inflation and on a higher base... Elections are in 2009, the govt. will have created a classic recession by then trying to control inflation. What does this mean - Lots of NPAs for ICICI, (watch for the NPA percentage shooting up), demand loss for retail loans due to multiple reasons - IT market is saturated, growth is slowing, recessionary conditions forcing customers to slow spending. This is already showing up in multiple places. Maruti Suzuki has started offering huge discounts trying to shore up car sales.

Emerging Markets Infrastructure Is Booming

Investing directly in infrastructure emerging market plays are also difficult. They are usually highly leveraged and are subject to swings in prices. You could consider L&T (Larsen & Toubro), ABB, Aban Offshore, IDFC (Infra Dev Fin Corp), Concor (Container Corp) and other in the Indian market.

Good Time to Buy Chinese Currency: Follow the 'Hot Money'

If there is a risk of stagflation, PBOC will look to raise interest rates and control it at the expense of growth. It will also cause the rate of funds inflow to slow as investors are usually scared off by the term stagflation... Things can turn around mighty fast as foreign investors get cold feet. Besides the pull out of funds willl be faster as is evidenced in India. Don't follow the hot money because it is very hot already.

Smart Phone Wars: iPhone vs. Blackberry vs. ...Android?

Before Blackberry, After Blackberry, Before i-Phone, after i-Phone. You can clearly see that there are differences in the market and how the market has evolved with these market changing products. Android is such a game changer. i-Phone restricts users to AT&T, Blackberry forces you to use its UI. Android will change both of these factors i.e. take your phone to any network and expect to work like it always did with all features and software customized to your needs.

BP Could Lose $20 Billion to Gazprom

While that is all fine, investors ultimately go for potential valuation. If it means Gazprom gets +20Billion, this would ultimately reflect in the share price...

The Long Case for Chinese Smallcap Xinhua Finance Media

XFML is well known for its coverage of news, but I am surprised that the author has compared it to FMCN which earns its revenues primarily from advertising not news coverage or other media.

Global 'Oil Shock' Rattles World Stock Markets

1) Gold is not consumed. You can always say I have my gold right here, stashed under my pillow, when you go to bed, you can't say the same of Oil or any of the other currently high flying commodities.
2) Its odd that Bond vigilantes are asleep and in a coma. They will arise with full vigor shortly.
3) Commodities traders beware, there's only so much the world can take. Don't drive the rest of the world into a recession as well. Demand is directly linked to the price at which it can be consumed.

What does this article tell me ? A Global Recession is on the way and its going to be bad, its going to last longer than anyone expects and there are going to be very few safe havens. They will be the usual, Gold and Cash.

Google Should Hit 90% Search Market Share

Have you used a Yahoo or a Microsoft search engine, if so how many times ? How many times did you feel that you had to use a Yahoo or a Microsoft search engine to get to the results. I have. Many times. I can tell you that Google is definitely heads and shoulders above. But I do not agree with you that Google will hit 90% of the search market. Its amazing that Google is getting an increasing share of a growing market but Yahoo and Microsoft are on too many web pages already for Google to be able to get to 90%.

Besides you forget Google Toolbar, this invention has put the power of deciding the primary search engine in the consumers hands regardless of what Microsoft decides. Also Firefox has a 38% share and climbing share of the browser pie. So you can forget Microsoft posing any kind of serious challenge to Google in the search market. All it can do is limit Google in other areas by aggressively investing in them.