June 2005 Archives

TORONTO, June 30 /CNW/ - A study prepared for Bullion Marketing Services
Inc. by Ibbotson Associates has determined that the addition of precious
metals bullion to a portfolio of traditional asset classes enhanced
diversification and improved the reward-to-risk ratio in conservative,
moderate and aggressive asset allocations.

SEOUL, June 28 Asia Pulse - Foreign investors have poured a total of US$8.9 billion into South Korea through countries offering very favorable tax laws for foreign businesses and individuals, according to the country's tax authorities Tuesday.

In a report to the National Assembly, the National Tax Service (NTS) said about $6.6 billion of the investments came from Labuan, a small East Malaysian island declared a tax haven in 1990 as the first step toward developing it into Malaysia's own offshore financial center.

By John Spence -

Barclays trust would be based on gold ETF model

BOSTON (MarketWatch) -- Barclays Global Investors filed an initial prospectus for the first exchange-traded fund to reflect the price of silver bullion.

If approved by the Securities and Exchange Commission, the ETF's shares would trade on the American Stock Exchange under the symbol "SLV."

By David A. Andelman -

NEW YORK - Look out below. Here comes China.

Before we can turn around, suddenly China, or at least Chinese companies--and is there a real difference?--may wind up owning some large swaths of corporate America. A Chinese company, Lenovo, bought IBM's entire PC business last month. Now, Chinese companies may be in the thick of the bidding for more big U.S. assets.

By Jonathan Hoenig -

IT'S BOTH AMAZING AND a little bit bizarre that the same mainstream media that told folks to stick it out for the long haul while the market melted in 2000 and 2001 are now writing smear pieces about hedge funds simply because they're not minting money this year. Indeed, we're now in the golden age of hedge fund hysteria, with each passing day delivering new negative charges against an industry that by almost every yardstick should be celebrated, not demonized.

By Clyde Harrison -

CHICAGO (ResourceInvestor.com) -- Leo Malamed is known as the Father of the derivatives market. I started in the investment business in 1968, so I was around when the baby was born. In 1968, the Mercantile Exchange wasn’t well known as they only traded eggs and pork bellies. The Exchange being made up of capitalists, were willing to try to trade anything. They tried to trade potatoes and they tried to trade turkeys. Neither one flew.

by Larry Kudlow -

Dick Fisher is the spanking new president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas and a voting member of the Fed’s open market committee policy arm. A terribly bright guy, he is somebody who reads the research memos and looks at the data. He may be a Democrat -- he served as deputy trade representative in the Clinton administration -- but he’s my kind of Democrat. In short, he’s a pro-market, pro-business free-trader who doesn’t think profit is a dirty word.

By Ray Mathis and Robert McMillan -

So far in 2005, real estate investment trusts (REITs) -- entities that manage portfolios of real property -- have generally seen firming fundamentals in all property types, from office buildings and shopping malls to apartments and hotels. And those favorable conditions appear to have been noticed by investors: This year through May, the total return (capital appreciation plus dividends) of the S&P REIT index was 1.26%, vs. a loss of 0.95% for the S&P 500 index.

By John Spence -

BOSTON (MarketWatch) -- Rydex Investments has filed an application with the Securities and Exchange Commission for the first currency exchange-traded fund that would provide exposure to the euro.

Called the Euro Currency Trust, if approved the fund would trade on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol "FXE," according to a Tuesday filing.

By Barry Critchley -

Real return bonds -- a security that offers holders inflation protection for both the interest and principal components -- is the newest fixed income asset class to make its way into a structured product.

Connor, Clark & Lunn Capital Markets Inc. -- a unit of Vancouver-headquartered Connor Clark & Lunn Financial Group -- is behind the recently filed Connor, Clark & Lunn Real Return Income Fund. The fund has a straightforward objective -- to generate monthly tax efficient distributions -- through investing most of the proceeds from the issue in AAA-rated real return bonds.

By Paul Hansen -

Are some South African investors developing an inverse relationship with offshore markets? Could some of us be subject to a strange, contrarian compulsion to get into markets just as the smart money gets out? Or perhaps we ring the changes by coming onshore just as the smart money goes off?

The questions are prompted by intriguing investor behaviour in late May, but symptoms go back at least six years.

June 2 (Bloomberg) -- Persian Gulf monarchies, flush with record oil revenue, are betting that a $7.5 billion theme park with an indoor ski slope, a $1.2 billion power grid and a $1.2 billion cargo shipper will shield them from the next energy bust.

Gulf investors have announced $8 billion of overseas acquisitions in the past 18 months, including the purchase of wax museum owner Tussauds Group. A Kuwaiti company agreed to pay $3.4 billion for African phone company Celtel International BV, resorts are springing up in the United Arab Emirates, and Qatar is investing $7 billion to host the 2006 Asian Games.

From the Christian Science Monitor -

Americans so love the latest, inexpensive "Made in China" products - cars are coming soon - that Chinese firms are flush with export profits. One might think, however, that those companies could easily export that wealth as well, investing the money made in America back into US companies, as the Japanese and Europeans do.

Not so. And therein lies a flaw in China's economic juggernaut, a basic unfairness in its commercial ties, and a major reason for the huge trade imbalance with the US.