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Corliss Group Online Financial Mag: 6 investing dos and don’ts

 

Successful investing depends a lot on timing. You want your money to be in the right place at the right time in order to obtain the best results.

 

Take Japan for example. For years, the Tokyo market was a backwater for investors. Money just sloshed around and profits were few and far between. Then last year Prime Minister Shinzo Abe introduced a policy of aggressive economic reform and the Nikkei took off, gaining more than 50 per cent. Anyone who invested in Japanese funds did exceedingly well.

 

The profits on Wall Street weren’t quite as spectacular but gains of more than 30 per cent for Nasdaq and over 25 per cent for the S&P 500 were more than most investors expected.

 

So where should you be putting your money in 2014? Here’s a list of dos and don’ts for the coming year that may get you on the right track.

 

Don’t keep too much at home. The Toronto Stock Exchange lagged well behind its New York counterparts last year, in large part because of the dismal showing of the mining sector, particularly gold producers. The outlook for resources in the coming year isn’t much brighter. We aren’t likely to see such heavy losses but the chances of a huge upside turnaround aren’t very good either. Without that, the TSX will continue to sputter. We may beat last year’s advance of 9.6 per cent, but not by much. Best bet: Industrial stocks, such as auto parts makers, which will benefit from the lower dollar.

 

Do have some money in the U.S. The American economy appears to be gaining momentum, albeit on a two steps forward, one step back basis. After their strong performance last year, the major U.S. indexes are due for a correction and that could come at any time. When it does — and be assured, it will — take advantage of the retreat. Best bet: Buy sound U.S. blue-chip stocks or units of funds that invest in them.

 

Don’t buy hedged funds or ETFs. Hedging works in your favour when the Canadian dollar is rising. It diminishes your returns when the loonie is retreating, as it has been for the past year. Economists disagree about where our dollar will settle against the greenback but most believe there is more downside left. In that case, unhedged funds will work to your advantage by allowing you to capture the currency gain. Best bet: U.S.-based exchange-traded funds (ETFs) which not only are unhedged but generally have lower fees than their Canadian counterparts.

 

Do diversify globally. Japan wasn’t the only overseas market to do well last year. Surprisingly, the major European markets all scored double-digit gains and frontier markets — the new leading edge of investing — gained 25 per cent. So expand your horizons. Best bets: Conservative investors should stick with funds that invest in developed markets. If you’re more aggressive, put a little cash in an emerging markets fund. They had a bad year in 2013 and are due for a rebound.

 

Don’t overweight bonds. Everyone should own some bonds or bond funds for stability and protection against the effects of a 2008-style market crash. But don’t overdo it. The long bull market in bonds came to a screeching end last May and our DEX Universe Bond Index actually lost ground in 2013, the first time that’s happened in several years. This year may not be as bad, but it won’t be great either. Best bets: For conservative investors, short-term bonds or funds. More aggressive investors may be able to squeeze some extra profit out of high-yield bonds or funds.

 

Don’t buy gold. Worries about a double-dip recession, the printing of billions of dollars a month in new money by the Federal Reserve Board, and the Eurozone crisis should have given gold a boost in 2013. It didn’t. Now, with recession fears fading and quantitative easing tapering, there’s not much to propel the price of the precious metal. There will be a time for bullion again — this just isn’t it. Best bet: If you really feel you must own some gold, buy a few shares in a royalty company such as Franco-Nevada (TSX: FNV). They carry much less risk than the miners and the stocks have stood up better as a result.

Corliss Group Online Financial Mag: Japan's Abe suffers setback

 

A city mayor opposed to a plan to relocate a controversial U.S. airbase on Japan's Okinawa island was re-elected on Sunday, Kyodo news agency said, creating a political headache for Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and threatening friction with Washington.

 

Delays in relocating the U.S. Marines' Futenma air base, a move first agreed between Tokyo and Washington in 1996, have long been an irritant in U.S.-Japan ties and Abe is keen to make progress on the project as he seeks tighter ties with the United States in the face of an assertive China.

 

Abe's ties with Washington suffered after the United States expressed "disappointment" with his December 26 visit to Yasukuni Shrine, a pilgrimage that further strained relations with China and South Korea, which see the Tokyo shrine to Japan's war dead as a symbol of the country's past militarism.

 

Susumu Inamine - a staunch opponent of the relocation plan - was assured re-election as mayor of the Okinawa city of Nago, Kyodo said, citing projections shortly after the polls closed. An Okinawa newspaper also said Inamine's victory was certain.

 

Inamine has pledged to use his local authority block the relocation of the functions of Futenma from a populous part of central Okinawa to Nago's coastal Henoko area.

 

His main opponent had backed the plan and run with strong support from Abe's Liberal Democratic Party (LDP).

 

Last month, Okinawa Governor Hirokazu Nakaima approved a landfill project to implement the plan.

 

Futenma has long been a lightening rod for discontent among Okinawa residents, many of whom associate the concentration of U.S. bases with accidents, pollution and crime such as the 1995 rape of a Japanese schoolgirl by three U.S. servicemen.

 

Seeking to soothe discontent, Abe's government earmarked 348 billion yen ($3.34 billion)for Okinawa's economic development in the draft budget for the year from April and pledged about 300 billion yen per year through 2021/22.

 

Abe also promised to study whether the relocation plan could be speeded up and said the government would start talks with the United States on a deal that could allow for more oversight of environmental issues at U.S. bases.

 

Political analysts said Inamine's win, while likely to slow progress, might not be a death knell for the relocation plan.

 

"Mr. Inamine says he is totally opposed and may create obstacles, but the Abe government is trying hard to keep its promise to the United States," Seiichi Eto, an LDP lawmaker and aide to Abe, told Reuters late last week.

 

Analysts say Abe could risk denting voter support for his government, which came to power at the end of 2012 with promises to revive the economy, if he does push ahead with the relocation of the base in the face of local opposition.

 

"Inamine's victory will give momentum to the anti-base movement and the opposition campaign could spread," Takashi Kawakami, a professor at Takushoku University, said. "Abe will probably try to forge ahead but there will probably be an opposition movement ... and if this is reported in the media daily, Abe's support rates could fall."

 

 

Etihad tegn Air Baltic Codeshare og fordobler Jakarta flyrejser

 

Fuld artikel

 

 

Etihad udvide øst og nord som Jakarta fly sæt til dobbelt slutningen af oktober og lettiske handel links til at blive suppleret med Airbaltic's nye flyrejser fra December

 

UAE erhvervslivet vil snart have bedre adgang til Letland efter Etihad Airways underskrevet en codeshare aftale med airBaltic.

 

Den lettiske luftfartsselskab vil operere fire ugentlige returflyvninger til Abu Dhabi fra December 16 på 116-sæde A319 fly (14 businessclass og 102 økonomi klasse sæder) og billetter gå på salg i dag.

 

James Hogan, Etihad Airways' formand og CEO, sagde handel, kultur og fritid bånd mellem UAE og Letland "har aldrig været stærkere" og denne nye direkte fly, først mellem de to lande, vil understøtte fremtidige vækst. I 2012 nåede Letlands eksport til UAE 72 mio.

 

Tie-up muliggør Etihad større adgang til nordlige og østlige Europa via Airbaltic's Riga hub og tillader lettiske passagerer forbedret tilgængelighed til Mellemøsten og asiatiske markeder.

 

Etihad vil placere dens 'EY' flight kode på de nye Riga flyvninger, og regeringen godkendelser, ud over at 19 byer, herunder Billund, Copenhagen, Tallinn, Helsinki, Lappeenranta, Turku, Hamborg, Alesund, Bergen, Oslo, Stavanger, Vilnius, Warszawa, Stockholm, Kiev, Vienna, Prag, Barcelona og Istanbul.

 

Til gengæld vil airBaltic placere sin «BT» flykode på Etihad Airways flybilletter ud over Abu Dhabi til Cairo, Jakarta, Singapore, Bangkok, Amman og Muscat.

 

I en separat flytte, er Etihad stigende dens Jakarta flyvninger til dobbelt daglig fra oktober 27, giver 20 ugentlige flyvninger på ruten sammen med partner Garuda Indonesien.Sidste år blev samlede bilaterale handel mellem Indonesien og UAE vurderet på 3,3 milliarder dollars.

Corliss Online Financial Mag: Tokyo sijoittajien keskittyä Yhdysvaltain velkahuolien vuoksi

Tokyo investors to focus on US debt woes this week

 

Tokyo sijoittajat oleskelu keskittyi Yhdysvaltain hallituksen shutdown tällä viikolla pelot kasvaessa voisi johtaa tuhoisa velka default ja maailmantalouden valtava iskua. Nikkei's 0.94 prosenttia luistaa perjantai kuukauden alhainen päättyi viikossa, että näin menettää 4,98 prosenttia eli 735.76 pistettä, 14,024.31, niin juuttuneena Washington vertailuindeksi hallitsi otsikoita. Laajempi Topix indeksi ensimmäisen osan osakkeista laski 4.41 prosenttia eli 53.70 pistettä, viikolla 1,163.82. "Pelaajat pitää silmällä Yhdysvaltain talousarvion pattitilanne ensi viikolla," sanoi Kenzaburo Suwa, strategi Okasan Securities. "Mutta näemme pikainen loppu umpikujaan (presidentti Barack) Obama näyttää vakavia peruuttamalla keskeinen konferensseja ulkomailla" Suwa lisätty.

 

Obama lakkautettu aikoo osallistua Aasian Tyynenmeren taloudellisen yhteistyön (APEC) huippukokousta Balissa ja sekä East Asia Summitin Brunei tällä viikolla syyttää poliittisia halvaantuminen Washington peruutuksen. Vaikka shutdown on vauhdittanut hermostuneisuus sijoittajien keskuudessa, analyytikot ovat yleensä huolissaan yhä syvemmälle tammikuu määräaika nostaa Yhdysvaltain velka kattoon. Kansainvälisen valuuttarahaston toimitusjohtaja Christine Lagarde varoitti torstaina Yhdysvaltain epäonnistuminen nostaa luoton raja voisi aiheuttaa tuhoa globaalissa taloudessa, kun valtiovarainministeriö sanoi oletusarvoisesti voi olla "katastrofaalinen" vaikutus. Wall Street Dow päättyi 0,90 prosenttia vähemmän viime viikolla. "Yhdysvaltain hallitus shutdown viihtyisyydelle tuntuvat jo nyt," SMBC Nikko arvopapereiden pääjohtaja osakkeisiin Hiroichi Nishi kertoi Dow Jones Newswires.

 

"Pattitilanne näyttää yhtä hankala kuin koskaan ja sijoittajat jatkavat vetämään varoja dollari ja riski varoilla varmuuden vuoksi", hän sanoi. Japanin valtiovarainministeri Taro Aso perjantaina kehotti Washington budjettikriisin ratkaisemiseksi varoitus, se voi vakavasti vahingoittaa maailmantaloutta. "Minun tunne on... velan rajaa on kansainvälisesti merkittävä vaikutus. Ellei se ratkaistaan nopeasti, näemme erilaisia seurauksia,"hän kertoi Tokiossa. Tilanne oli todennäköisesti stoke enemmän ostaa safe haven jeniä, Aso lisätty, työntää yksikön arvo. Vahva jeni on huono ja japanilaisten viejien, koska se tekee niistä vähemmän kilpailukykyisiä ulkomailla ja kutistuu arvo palautettujen merentakaisten tuloja.

 

Perjantaina dollari laski 97.12 jeniä 97.27 jeniä New Yorkissa, jossa dollari laski väliaikaisesti alle 97-jeni merkki viime viikolla. "Markkinatoimijoiden keskittyy myös valuuttakurssien ensi viikolla kuin nykyinen riski-nurjamielinen näkemys on todennäköisesti siirtää rahaston virtaa jeniä," sanoi Suwa Okasan arvopapereita. Tokyo osake kaupankäynnin perjantaina Toyota laski 1,12 prosenttia 6,180 jeniä perjantaina edellisenä päivänä vaikka Sony menettäneet 1,75 prosenttia 2,017 jeniä.