Sapwraia

4 Comments

    • Three CEFs Offering Assets on the Cheap [view article]
      I would challenge the long term attributes of these CEF's - just chart them against the S&P 500 this decade.

      For a good benchmark of a globally diversified large cap CEF that really performs just look at ticker RCP on the London exchange - it's the Rothschild Investment Trust and is a security which can comfortably be one's largest holding (it actually carries a premium - for good reason ! )       Jun 27 11:49 AM
    • Switzerland ETF Getting Ready to Rebound [view article]
      I've been in and out of EWL on a number of occasions (and currently live in Dubai and prior to that in Singapore). EWL is potentially a high quality "get rich slowly" ETF, however some thoughts :

      1. Dubai & Singapore are key regional hubs, dominating their neighbours in developmental terms, supply of capital and "hustle factor" etc hence the "magnetism" and rapid growth.

      2. EWL appears to be strongly correlated (but less diversified) to the many broader European ETF's (whether incl/excl UK, EMU countries etc) - iShares UK has a particularly good selection of these

      3. Whilst EWL has concentrations in Pharma & Financials the majority of names are so international that the aggregate performance of EWL has little to do with Switzerland per se (nor the defensiveness of the Swiss Franc as most underlying cash flows of the larger companies are actually USD and EUR)       Feb 12 10:21 AM
    • Wachovia's Unique Path to Overseas Expansion [view article]
      Wachovia has done very well with "non-presence country" business but high margin (emerging market) countries are being aggressively attacked by on-the-ground international banks with USD clearing functionality such as HSBC and Standard Chartered (who recently acquired the AMEX FI business) Feb 02 02:53 PM
    • Currency Analysts Expect Dollar To Strengthen [view article]
      There is certainly no consensus on this - from today's Financial Times which highlights the dollar's dependency on Russia, Saudi, Iran, Qatar etc continuing to price their oil & gas exports in dollars :

      The Short View: Falling dollar
      By John Authers, Investment Editor



      As of midday on Thursday in New York, one US dollar would only buy you 99.99 Canadian cents. It is more than 30 years since the Canadian and US dollars were last at parity.

      But it is only a symptom of the fall-out from this week’s sharp Federal Reserve rate cut to 4.75 per cent. That sparked some life into the money and credit markets, as can be seen in the return of high-yield bond issuance and sharp falls in US interbank lending rates.

      A further sharp contraction in the commercial paper that US companies issued this week combines with stubbornly high interbank lending rates in Europe to suggest that the squeeze is not over. But it looks likely the rate cut will succeed in its aim of getting the world financial system through its short-term crisis.

      The dollar’s travails illustrate the possible long-term consequences. An unexpected rate cut weakens a currency – it lowers interest rate differentials, making dollar assets less attractive for foreigners, and it increases risks of inflation.

      But the dollar is caught up in deeper dynamics. The news that pushed it lower on Thursday came from Saudi Arabia, where the central bank, which has pegged its currency to the dollar, decided not to follow the Fed by cutting by 50 basis points. That prompted speculation that the Saudis no longer want to peg to a currency in freefall.

      Further, a long-term link between the dollar and the oil price has broken down. A high oil price used to mean a strong dollar as oil exporters put their money in dollars. But now we have record crude prices and the weakest dollar in decades.

      ABN Amro shows that oil exporters’ imports from the US are falling, as is the share of their reserves in dollar- denominated assets. Rising oil prices give petrodollars ever more weight. The measures taken to get through the money market squeeze may hasten their move away from the dollar.
      Sep 21 01:03 AM
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