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Newswheel

Selected articles from HN (http://news.ycombinator.com/ )

Out of Our Brains By ANDY CLARK Andy Clark wonders: are devices like iPhones and Blackberries actually becoming extensions of our thinking selves?(OPINIONATOR HIGHLIGHTS NYT)

Review my app: ValueGrapher Value Grapher Is that monster project you're working on really worthwhile? Should you press onward or cut your losses? Are you spending too much time answering e-mail? Too little? How can you even begin to guess? That's where value grapher comes in. You tell it what you're working and on how valuable each task is, and it gives you back a graph of your productivity. The results may surprise you! Value Grapher helps you: See which tasks are giving you the most bang for your buck. Avoid costly time sinks.

10% Unemployment, Yet Every Startup in NYC is Struggling to Hire Unemployment stands at just under 10%, and even more striking, amongst college graduates it's 5%, the highest level since 1970, when records began to be kept. (So it's potentially the highest level since even further back.)  Despite all this unemployment, every startup I know needs to hire not only engineers, but also sales and operations team members.  And this is not just bubble seed startup dollars at work.  Most of this hiring demand, at least that I'm aware off, is Series A, B, and C startups that are throwing off lots of cash and could easily be profitable if they chose to move out of growth mode.

Selected articles from ZH (http://www.zerohedge.com/ )

Charting A Ridiculously Extreme Market, In Which The Dumb Money Is The Most Confident It Has Been In 5 Years Courtesy of www.sentimentrader.comwe can observe just how irrational the market has become... As to how much longer it can sustain this, feel free to address your questions to the Chairman.

Bespoke Finds S&P 500 Most Overbought Since November 2009 Following on our earlier observations courtesy of Sentiment Trader that the Nasdaq has hit its the most extreme bullish reading since 2005, and the dumb money confidence is the highest it has been in the same period of time, we now get confirmation from Bespoke that indeed stocks are now merely floating on a see of excess liquidity and nothing else

Secret Banking Derivative Cabal Redux, And Why HFT In CDS Has So Far Been A Failure In a 3,500 word oeuvre, the NYT's Louise Story has done an expose on some of the key development in the CDS market. For those who may not have the patience of reading the whole thing, we provide an abridged summary...

Who's Buying Corporate Bonds, And Why Did The Household Sector, Contrary To Expectations, End Up Dumping $130 Billion In Bonds In Q3? That is the question BofA's Hans Mikkelsen tries to answer looking at last week's Z.1 statement.

Some interesting graphs from the articles are found under:

Submitted by Administrator on Mon, 12/13/2010 - 09:30

Happiest workplaces in America

 

50 Happiest Companies To Work For In The US – 2011

Based on over 91,000 reviews by actual employees, working in many different types of organizations, from Johnson & Johnson, General Electric, The Walt Disney Company, to DTE Energy and Baker Hughes.CareerBliss compiled a list of the 50 Happiest Companies in America.And the winner once again is Google.

Submitted by Administrator on Mon, 12/13/2010 - 08:29

Partially illuminated

Santa Barbara

Submitted by Administrator on Sun, 12/12/2010 - 23:35

QE is pulling many commodities higher again

Copper still strong

Submitted by Administrator on Tue, 12/07/2010 - 16:36

The risk trade is on again

Being more prudent didn´t help the performance of many portfolio managers lately.

Submitted by Administrator on Tue, 12/07/2010 - 16:19

Hong Kong IPO update

Chongqing Rural Commercial Bank, which will trade under the listing code 3618, set a price range of HK$4.50-6.00 per share for its Hong Kong IPO, aiming to raise up to HK$12 billion (US$1.5 billion), according to a term sheet seen by Reuters.Chongqing Rural Commercial Bank planned to issue 2 billion shares, the term sheet said. Morgan Stanley and Nomura Holdings are handling the sale.

Huaneng Renewables Corporation priced its’ Hong Kong IPO at HK$2.98-3.98 per share to raise up to US$1.3 billion, according to its term sheet seen by Reuters.Huaneng Renewables plans to issue 2.486 billion shares, the term sheet said. Morgan Stanley is the sole global coordinator.

Source:Reuters,SCMP

Submitted by Administrator on Mon, 11/29/2010 - 11:09

Bill Gurley takes a closer look on Silicon Valley´s IPO´s

Silicon Valley's IPO Anxiety

Silicon Valley's IPO Anxiety, Part 2

by Bill Gurley

The Majority of Recent IPOs Are Outside of Silicon Valley

U.S. High Technology / VC Backed IPOs Since the Beginning of 2008 (XLS)

If you want current prices please click here

Submitted by Administrator on Mon, 11/29/2010 - 10:52

Chinese GDP Growth slowing next year?

Michael Pettis sees less than the average 8% GDP for China next year.Very long post but worth reading to the end.The most recent article draws some different scenarios from that outlook.QE2 and the TitanicNOV 10TH, 2010China reported a large trade surplus  for October.  This is a very big number and not one likely to soothe anger directed at China.  It will be very hard for China credibly to argue that it is trying to contribute to global growth while pulling in more and more foreign demand.   What happens if Chinese growth slows?NOV 18TH, 2010Slowly the consensus is shifting towards a recognition that Chinese growth may slow sharply in the next few years.  When I discuss this prospect with analysts and investors, however, they almost always worry about two things.  First, since China represents the largest component of global growth, it seems reasonable to [...] Update: July 2022Looking at the above writings and forecasts brings you some comfort an how long it sometimes take to be right. But in the meantime??? 

Submitted by Administrator on Tue, 11/23/2010 - 17:46

US Productivity Growth

Is the Recent Productivity Boom Over?

By Daniel Wilson

Productivity growth has been quite strong over the past 2½ years, despite a drop in the second quarter of 2010. Many analysts believe that productivity growth must slow sharply in order for the labor market to recover robustly. However, looking at the observable factors underlying recent productivity growth and the patterns of productivity over past recessions and recoveries, a sharp slowdown appears unlikely.FRBSF on US productivity.» Read this Economic Letter

Submitted by Administrator on Sun, 11/21/2010 - 22:00

On Brazil

CFA magazine asks some questions about the investment star over recent years.

Big income spreads,Chinas influence,mismanagement.

Careful selection of companies and industries are important.

 

Submitted by Administrator on Sun, 11/21/2010 - 18:05

Africa News Update

On Africa

Africa prospects lure investors, but is it ready

by noreply@blogger.com (Africa News Network) by Matthew Tostevin and Stuart Grudgings

Africa offers among the world's best investment prospects as emerging markets grow ever more important, although its economies risk being destabilized by the slew of capital they stand to attract in coming years.

Energy-producing continental giant Nigeria was identified as a top pick by some of the most influential figures in emerging markets finance who spoke to the Reuters Emerging Markets Summit in Sao Paulo in July.

Africa withstood the financial crisis better than many predicted, and the region's economic growth is forecast at 4.75 percent in 2010. Next year, half of the world's 10 fastest growing economies are expected to be in Africa, and it is now attracting more than just the most intrepid investors.

 

Why Africa won't be the next BRIC

by noreply@blogger.com (Africa News Network) by Barney Jopson

Prompted by the recent (August 2010) application from South Africa for Bric “membership,” the man who coined the acronym - Jim O’Neill of Goldman Sachs - asks in the Financial Times (August 27 2010)  whether Africa as a whole could become the next Bric.

"The latent interest in Africa is enormous," said Stephen Jennings, chief executive of Russian investment bank Renaissance Capital, speaking to the meeting by video link from Moscow. "Before the crisis there were probably 40 people or groups establishing Africa funds. In 3-4 years you'll have 100 Africa funds and the biggest one won't be $2 billion, it'll be $20 billion."

 

 

Angola stock exchange to rank 3rd in Sub-Saharan Africa market value

by noreply@blogger.com (Africa News Network) by Colin McClelland

A proposed stock market in Angola, which vies with Nigeria to be Africa’s top oil producer, will rank “at least third” in sub-Saharan African market capitalization, Imara Asset Managementsaid.

Angola’s stock exchange will trade shares in companies worth a total of $40.7 billion, a similar size to Nigeria’s stock market, Anthony Lopes Pinto, an analyst for Botswana-based Imara, said yesterday in an interview from Angola’s capital, Luanda.

“Based on the country’s GDP, we estimate that Angola has the potential to support a stock market ranking of at least third in sub-Saharan Africa,” Pinto said.

Submitted by Administrator on Sun, 11/21/2010 - 18:02

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