Jul

30

Merrill Lynch Not Out of the Woods Yet

July 30, 2008 | Leave a Comment

Merrill Lynch has taken drastic steps to rescue its ailing balance sheet - most notably, a fire sale of $30 billion of risky debts to Lonestar. Merrill also revealed another $6 billion of mortgage write-downs this quarter, right after last week’s report of a $5 billion loss. That is already $40-billion of write-downs, and we […]

Jul

28

Downfall from Speculative Energy Trading

July 28, 2008 | Leave a Comment

Last week, energy trader SemGroup LP (the 12th-largest private U.S. company) filed for bankruptcy after sustaining $3.2 billion in losses on energy futures and derivatives trades.
Semgroup suffered as oil prices ramped up, undercutting their positions on short crude futures, used as a hedge against its physical 500,000 barrel-per-day trading business. Some analysts suspect that fraudulent […]

Jul

27

Singapore June Manufacturing Output Up 2.5%

July 27, 2008 | Leave a Comment

Our economy is showing some signs of softening. Growth was at its weakest in five years for the second quarter ending in June (1.9% as compared to 6.9% expansion in the first quarter), an indication that Singapore is not immune to high inflation and the global economic slowdown.
Manufacturing output in June rose 2.5 percent compared […]

Jul

25

Suicide From Home Foreclosure Woes

July 25, 2008 | 2 Comments

Have you read about this news where a 53-year-old lady shot herself dead soon after faxing a letter to her mortgage company? The suicide note said that by the time of foreclosure on her house, she would be dead.
It is very sad for the family to experience such a tragedy but what is the underlying […]

Jul

23

Pick Up Blue-Chip Stocks Incrementally

July 23, 2008 | 1 Comment

Wall Street continue to finish higher on Wednesday. Dow Jones ended up 0.3%, Nasdaq composite gained almost 1%, and the S&P 500 was 0.4% higher. Falling oil prices and the likely approval of a House bill which will stabilize the collapsing residential properties sector cheered the market.
Under the new legislation, $300 billion will be allocated […]

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