The Mercer quality of living survey has been published and we review the pros and cons of living in their top 10 rated cities in the world – in this article we cover the top 5 of Vienna, Zurich, Geneva, Vancouver and Auckland
May was a month where most investors saw “fear” return to the markets, the increased volatility and intra-day swings bringing back not so pleasant memories of September 2008. Major concerns in Europe as well as continued uncertainty on the stability of the US economic recovery resulted in the S&P500 going down 8.20% in the month of May.
In May, here at ActiveETFs | InFocus, we had some very insightful interviews with Bill Thomas, CEO of Grail Advisors focusing on the mutual fund … [visit site to read more]
Bruce Greenwald
Another great find by my friend sandesh trivedi of http://sandeshtrivedi2.blogspot.com/. Sandesh, like I is a big fan of Bruce Greenwald. Sandesh found a great interview that Greenwald gave when he visited India several years ago. Greenwald talks about moats, valuing growth, and many other themes that Greenwald writes about in his book Competition Demystified, which I plan on doing a book review of shortly.
Below is the interview in scribd format. For best viewing make … [visit site to read more]
Morning Highlights
There Are No Quick Picks For Today
Singapore Market started higher with STI up 15 points to open at 2754.70. We expect market to be choppy in the coming days, hence, we advise to stay on the sideline for the meantime. Market sentiment is biased on the upside and there is a good support at 2700.
Lookout for Economic News Release For Today: Japan May PMI Manufacturing numbers.
Corporate Announcements
Capitaland clinched the BCA Green Mark Platinum award for its Six … [visit site to read more]
It’s time for the federal government to put BP (NYSE:BP) under temporary receivership, which gives the government authority to take over BP’s operations in the Gulf of Mexico until the gusher is stopped. This is the only way the public know what’s going on, be confident enough resources are being put to stopping the gusher, ensure BP’s strategy is correct, know the government has enough clout to force BP to use a different one if necessary, and be sure the President is ultimately in … [visit site to read more]
“Sales of existing homes in Florida rose 27% in April, which means that sales activity has increased in the year-to-year comparison for 20 months, according to the latest housing data released by Florida Realtors. Another positive sign: Last month’s statewide existing-home median price of $140,100 was 1 percent higher than the statewide median price in April 2009.
Existing home sales rose 27% last month with a total of 16,781 homes sold statewide compared to 13,244 homes sold in April 2009 … [visit site to read more]
It’s been a very subdued start to the week due to UK and US public holidays; but the lack of movement in currency markets is perhaps surprising considering it’s been another weekend dogged by credit downgrades to Spain’s AAA status by Fitch, and indeed new worries about France’s resilience to dreaded ratings agency downgrades. With the underlying discontent in Europe still showing no credible signs of letting up, investors can expect EUR rallies to be labored, and whilst a positioning … [visit site to read more]
Our country is filled with heroes.
Today we remember those individuals who have given their lives so we could be free. These men and women are true heroes. Interestingly enough, though, these fallen brothers and sisters of ours would not see themselves as heroes but just as citizens of this great land who were called to duty and gave of themselves. They gave so much and made the ultimate sacrifice in the process. Does our nation as a whole fully appreciate and embrace their sacrifice? … [visit site to read more]
“The American Trucking Associations’ seasonally adjusted (SA) Truck Tonnage Index increased for the sixth time in the last seven months, gaining another 0.9% in April. This followed a 0.4% increase in March. The latest improvement put the SA index at 110.2, which is the highest level since September 2008 (see chart above).
Compared with April 2009, SA tonnage surged 9.4 percent, which was the fifth consecutive year-over-year gain and the largest increase since January 2005. … [visit site to read more]
The United States is one of the only countries in the world with 30-year fixed rates for mortgages, and Arnold Kling suggests that this is “an artifact of government intervention, and that without it we would have a simpler, safer mortgage finance system.” For example, Canadian mortgages carry a fixed interest rate for a maximum of five years, and rates are then re-negotiated for the next five years, similar to a five-year adjustable rate. That type of five-year … [visit site to read more]
