Category: Sector

Bold Calls: Jan 2017

On By Chen Yu YanIn Equity, Fundamental Analysis, Futures, Policy, Retail, Sector, Technical Analysis, TradingLeave a comment

Dear Uninformed Readers,

Wow… what a year. I made two calls last year and both were pretty good. I admit that gold came a bit short but come on, what’s $20 between friends (I don’t actually have friends, that’s why I blog). So to sum up, gold was slightly underwhelming stopping just pass $1380/oz whereas bitcoin did exactly what I anticipated and flew right through the big $1000 mark (I know it collapsed based on selling pressure from mainland China but hey, I never said it wouldn’t come back down).

I am once again aiming to do some decent analysis this year as well so here we go.

For 2016, I called on currencies. This year I’m calling on equity. Actually, equity markets to be precise. Because I live in Australia, I am going to start with the ASX S&P200 index. It is currently trading around 5650 as I write (it’s a Friday and markets closed around 4 hours ago so yeah… it’s 5654.80 to be precise). I am looking out for the big 6000 mark. That’s where it all went wrong early 2015 and I think we’re gonna go tempt fate again by trying to smash that ceiling. My reason is fairly simple. With tightened controls around foreign investment (property in particular), property prices are going to stall. Those seeking returns will be driven to the equity market (I know there are those seeking yield but come on, who seeks yield phft…). The money will flow into the equity space which hopefully drives the market past that 6000 mark.

And because I like the Shanghai market, I’m gonna go with the Shanghai composite on the next prediction. Shanghai stalled at 3123.14 and I honestly don’t see it moving much this year. However, I just have a good feeling about the technical patterns. On the fundamental side, we have a similar situation as in Australia. P2P lending has gone way too big in China to yield anything generous these days. Real estate is a big joke in all the major cities as things are simply getting too expensive for people to invest. Hence I anticipate a near 20% increase to the 3500-3600 level. This also happens to be a resistance level (technically) from 2015 so my eggs are certainly all in one basket this year.

To sum up for 2017, equity UP! Property not so much (in Australia and China at least).

Yours sincerely,

The Uninformed Trader

The unfortunate tale of shopping for Christmas Presents on Christmas Eve

On By Chen Yu YanIn Equity, Fundamental Analysis, Retail, Sector, TradingLeave a comment

Santa Claus doesn’t even count for small talk nowadays… is how I’d like to begin this segment. Unfortunately, I am almost sure that there will be copyright issues on the horizon if I did that so I’ll stop it there. I don’t plan on doing anything too heavy for this particular entry. Nor do I intend for this entry to have a point. I am just lamenting the fact that I have yet to buy Christmas gifts as life has been slightly busy lately. Somehow, the Christmas holiday atmosphere has made my days all the more hectic. As the title can possibly allow one to gather, I plan on ranting a bit about the retail sector today.

The fall of Lehman Brothers was so magnificent that it made me question whether I shall ever open a business with a sibling. What I want to say is, there are many factors and risks that are out of your control. One moment, the market is good, the next, your balance blows up in a fashion reminiscent of the 4th of July. It has always been my thoughts that the Australian retail sector is undergoing something similar. People are so desperate for profits that I feel that they are pushing sales for the sake of sales. It reminds of me an old retail joke that I heard while I was selling mattresses.

Sales A: “We’re making a loss on each unit we sell, what do we do?”

Sales Manager: “Don’t worry, we’ll make up for it with volume.”

The only thing I see saving this year’s Christmas figures is Star Wars. Hopefully, the ticket sales will be enough to create a positive effect and get people not only going out to watch the movies but also out shopping while they’re at it (and if you consider the drinks and popcorn sold, that’s just a bonus!).

Looking at the department stores, Westfields and Chases has never been so quiet so close to Christmas. I recall a few summers ago (I live in Australia) when I could barely move about while shopping. The perfume section at David Jones and Myers are full of eager sales people who are more than willing to spray and puff the latest scents and sell things while giving up gift bags, vouchers, future discounts, free samples, a foot massage, a tractor, a flamethrower etc. Along with the traditional Boxing Day sale where everybody everywhere simultaneously teleports to their nearest shopping center credit card in hand, it makes the pre Christmas season anything but festive.

I personally believe that there is a move away from giving Christmas presents on Christmas Day. As mentioned earlier, a fat man dressed in red who works very specific hours is too hard to believe even before you see your kindergarten teacher kissing him. So we intuitively understand that the presents are store bought and not made by elves captured and put to slave labor (unless by elves are what you call the Chinese). Delaying the purchases a bit can yield serious savings. If it’s possible to short the market value of goods, shorting between the 24th and the 27th would definitely yield profits higher than students at a college party. And they get pretty high.

This is it for now. I’ll probably have something for new years so look forward to that.

Merry Christmas,

The Uninformed Trader