China and Asia Stock Alert

The next Viagra?

Tony Sagami — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 10:02:11 +0000

Pfizer has made a fortune off Viagra. No surprise to me because sex has always been a big, big business.

Here’s another sex-based investment opportunity. Japan’s Shionogi Inc. has developed a treatment for premature ejaculation. The product incorporates two local anesthetics in an aerosol applied to the tip of the penis and has shown to prolong intercourse by as much as five times.

Before you laugh, premature ejaculation is estimated to affect as many as a third of American men aged 18 to 59 years old.

Shionogi is traded in Japan (4507.JP) and on the U.S. pink sheets (SGIOF.PK).

China GDP to be 2.5 times the size of US by 2030 How long does the China economic miracle have to go?...
Meet the new Japanese Prime Minister 68-year old Taro Aso is the new Prime Minister of...
Japan posts a rare trade deficit I keep waiting for Japan to bottom but this is...

Horrible! Sony to can’t deliver by Christmas

Tony Sagami — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 13:43:07 +0000

Sony was hoping for big sales for its e-book, the Daily Edition Reader, but said it can’t guarantee that it will be able to ship before Christmas. Somebody at Sony really screwed the pooch on this one.

Sony was getting so cheap that I was taking a close look at taking a position but this news is just horrible news for Sony. Stay away!

Moodys cuts rating on Sony debt Moodys cuts its rating on Sony debt from A2 to...
Sony beats profit forecast Quarterly profits at Sony more than tripled and beat expectations....
Sony reports first loss in 14 years The global demand for electronic doodads is falling fast. So...

American stockbrokers aren’t the only lazy brokers in the world

Tony Sagami — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 13:29:08 +0000

Ha! Officials at the main Indian stock exchange wanted to extend trading hours by another 2 hours and make it the longest trading market in the world. Sounds good to me, but the lazy stockbrokers hated the idea and are violently opposed to the plan.

Steady stream of Hong Kong IPO flops The last four stocks to go pubic on the Hong...
Chinese IPOs headed to London You don’t have to open a brokerage account in China...
How to invest in India China does seem to get all the headlines, but it...

Electricity prices rise in China

Tony Sagami — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 13:25:27 +0000

China has embraced free markets and capitalism…to a degree. The government of China still sets the price for many of the key consumer products, such as gasoline and cooking oil. It also controls electricity prices.

The National Development and Reform Commission of China, the central economic planning agency, raised the price of electricity for non-residential use by $0.4 cents per kilowatt hour.

China increases jet fuel price by 11% The National Development and Reform Commission of China raised jet...
Chinese real estate still red hot According to the China’s state planning agency, the National Development...
China boom will last until 2020 The Chinese economic boom will last until at least 2020...

China owns $799 billion of U.S. bonds

Tony Sagami — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 12:49:53 +0000

The number is almost hard to grasp. According to the U.S. Treasury Department, China owns $799 BILLION dollars worth of U.S. Treasury bonds.

When — not if — China decides to start dumping those U.S. bonds, the bottom is going to fall out of our bond market and our dollar. Owning long-term U.S. government bonds is going to be one of the worst investments you can own going forward.

China and Japan ditch U.S. bonds Foreign investors are getting sick of U.S. treasury bonds. The...
Chinese massive Treasury bond holdings The largest owner of Treasury bonds in the world is...
45% yield on China Properties bonds I would not buy them, but to give you an...

Obama visits Great Wall of China

Tony Sagami — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 12:43:32 +0000

I think the most gorgeous thing I’ve ever seen in my life is the Canadian Rockies, but the Great Wall of China was the most amazing man-made object I’ve ever seen.

Since Obama was in Beijing, he made the trek to the Great Wall of China.

Obama to meet with Dalai Lama Last week, Obama announced a stiff 35% tariff on Chinese...
Obama-Mao t-shirts One of the hottest selling t-shirts in China is one...
China wary of Obama During the campaign, Obama has regularly criticized China over trade...

Obama-Mao t-shirts

Tony Sagami — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 15:15:11 +0000

One of the hottest selling t-shirts in China is one with Obama dressed in Mao’s traditional communist uniform.

The Chinese government is not happy with the trade sanctions and rhetoric coming from the Obama administration, but the Chinese people love Obama because as they watch him embrace what they consider to be dear communist principles.

U.S.-China trade war picking up steam Remember when Obama placed a 30% tariffs on Chinese tires?...
Trade war with China? This is an interesting article from one of the U.K.’s...
North Korea removed from terror list After agreeing to disclose it nuclear weapons status, North Korea...

China fines Microsoft

Tony Sagami — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 15:11:23 +0000

Think this ruling is a coincidence with Obama’s arrival in China?

A Beijing court has ruled that Microsoft violated a Chinese company’s intellectual property rights in a case over fonts used in past Windows operating systems.

Microsoft, by the way, charges much, much, much less for Windows in China than it does in the U.S.

Head of Microsoft China carries Olympic torch Ya-Qin Zhang, the President of Microsoft of China, was one...
Another batch of Chinese IPOs coming Chinese regulators approved plans by six companies to go public...
Microsoft builds R&D center in Beijing Microsoft is spending $280 million to build a new R&D...

Iron ore imports fall 30% to China

Tony Sagami — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 14:26:52 +0000

Iron ore, used to make steel, imports into China dropped by 30% in October.

I have to admit, this data point isn’t consistent with the rest of the strong growth numbers I’ve seen out of China.

I pay attention to anomalous numbers like these because they are often an early warning sign of momentum changes.

Chinese economy gets ‘green light’ The National Bureau of Statistics of China (NBSC) said its...
Chinese steel production skyrockets Steel is one of those basic building blocks that a...
Oil imports drop in China Hmmm. China imported 4.37 million barrels of oil each day...

China gives 2 pandas to Singapore

Tony Sagami — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 14:22:42 +0000

China doesn’t hand out their precious panda bears without some serious relationship considerations. China announced today that it would loan two pandas to Singapore.

Singapore is rapidly becoming the financial center of Asia and this gift from China shows how important China considers the relationship with Singapore to be.

The last country to receive pandas was Taiwan.

You Obama will come home with some Chinese pandas? After kicking China in the groin with several tariffs on Chinese goods, Obama will be lucky to come home with some cheap Chinese trinkets.

Obama to visit Asia in November President Obama announced plans to visit Japan, China and South...
U.S.-China trade war picking up steam Remember when Obama placed a 30% tariffs on Chinese tires?...
Singapore: the model of successful health care If Obama is looking fora successful model to pattern his...