Rich is bullish, and bullish is rich This is of course one of the âextremist theoriesâ subject to dispute. IBD reported today that among wealthy Americans (at least $5M net, excluding primary residences), total asset invested via hedge fund were 2.5% now via 1.7% last year; 17% of those with $5M-$25M said they invested in hedge fund, and number of American millionaire households has steadily increased from about 6 million in 2001 to about 9 millions in 2006, and total number of American household is 113.5 million in 2004. So, riches are âhedge happyâ, and hedge funds have to invest and compete with each other to make riches âhedge happyâ. Another one of Marxâs theories is that, in popular words, you often tend to think from where your butt sits. So, the neighbors of RUPERT MURDOCH may tend to think DJ is cheap at $37, while the friends of subprime borrower Joe may like to short CFC? Today major indexes all surged although on decreased volumes compared to yesterday. Still, market is very bullish. NYSE specialist short sale is at 8,10, vs. 3.81 of 11/17/06, and 13.15 of 03/16/07; Ratio of price premium in Puts vs. Calls is at 0.72, vs. 0.37 of 06/12/06, and 1.19 of 04/16/07.(IBD). Bears are somehow half way from either end. Chart wise, Dowâs upward moving is âtightâ, S&P a little bit âlooseâ, and Nasdaq gaps up and down here and there, even âlooserâ, creating more trading opportunities. Traditionally, WSâ summer starts as May starts. But if hedge funds guys donât want to go to vacation, who else would want to go? For the next few days, I would guess market will run the bullish âcatching upâ themes from sectors to sectors, as opposed to ârecord highâ everyday, which makes traders nervous. marketreflections.com
AAPL, the American idol not because Looprumers.com says Apple's iPhone could gain as much as 6% of the U.S. mobile market by next year. In a broader sense, Steve Jobs, together with Bill Gates, Michael Dell and Steve Case, all have charmed and fascinated American growth investors, and Steve Jobs in particular these days. Americans are risk takers, full of âanimal spiritsâ in Keynesâ term, not carrying very much âbaggageâ as European or Chinese do, with latterâs long history of culture, civilization, royal, imperial, thoughts and ideologies. Not incidentally, three out of four Nasdaq idols we just ânominatedâ are all college drop-outs. Another American investorsâ idol is, of course, Warren Buffet and just donât label Buffet as âconservativeâ. Buffet started accumulating PTR, one of CCP 200s, when it was traded around 20, a few years ago. He was not even afraid of the Chinese Communist Party back then. And he is still not these days. Seeing that, CalPERS, one of the largest institutional investors, decide to go stay with Buffet on PTR, and follow Bill Gates into Shanghai Indexes. We all want to be rich as investors. But how? Technicians love charting. Looking at the âchartsâ of our idols, I see one common thing: they all got rich in mind first, then in money. Pursuing richness in money may not be their life goals, but pursing richness in mind is. Bill Gates and warren buffet, in particular, should be âidolsâ for everybody, in a sense, particularly for those financial âtycoonsâ in Europe and China. As precious as money is, they decide to âlet it goâ, going back to society. That is Bill Gates and Warren Buffet, still challenging everybody, not only with their wealth, but also with their minds and spirits. If Marx and Keynes were to live to today, they would be just challenged as well. Speaking of Buffet, his purchase of rail carriersâ stock boosted Dow Transport, making âDow Theoryâ believers happy. Seeing Q1 productivity growth of 1.7% (annualized) vs. expected 0.5%, and Unit labor costs âs 0.6% vs. 3.9%., bulls and Fed are happy too. Still, it is and will be technicianâs show in market for a while. You play your FA bet when market âinflectsâ and âreflectsâ, as it did around March 15, 2007, but not now. Now, we all have to be chartists, as said in my previous posts. Marketreflections.com
Donât fight the Fed, just ignore him Because we are all smarter than Bernanke, That is, of course, one of the most market participantsâ âbeliefsâ. In fact, Ben, and the Fed have been fairly correct, clear and consistent in their view of US economy, if âambiguousâ about their rate move, particularly since last summer when Fed stopped the rate hike, but most investors or traders had chosen not to listen. Jury is out now at least in financial market: Ben and Fed have been right, and the most market participants have been wrong, and they paid dearly for their mistakes. Ben and Fed basically see that US GDPâs growth is going to be âsub parâ, but not likely turning negative; inflation is stubbornly above their comfort zone of 1-2%, but not likely going above 2.5%, amid US economy âmid-cycleâ slowdown coupled with a housing recession, with Fed rate on hold for the foreseeable future. The ability of Fed, the veteran âbanker of the bankersâ, in âmacroâ evaluating US economy should never be underestimated. That said, Fedâs view of US economy is fairly straight forward and not difficult to understand. In a way, just like technicians and traders, Fed looks at and monitors closely the trends of a few key âgrowthâ (annualized) variables, âreal timeâ. Trend of US population growth: 1% Trend of US non-farm payroll growth: 1% So, whether suprime or prime borrowers, every Joe (âoldâ or ânewâ) has a job, with unemployment rate of 4.5% being the âfull employmentâ indicator. Trend of US productivity growth: around 2.5% And that is basically the jobs of âBill Gatesâ (businesses), and âWarren Buffetâ (stock market) and âBill Grossâ(bond market). Inflation: a bit of more complicated and âpoliticalâ. But basically, âinflation is always nightmare of bond market, and as growth is the day dream of stock marketâ, as said in my previous posts on marketreflections.com And it is Fedâs job to manage inflation, in addition to Fedâs other mantra of employment. Fed's forecast of inflation is 2% to 2.25% for 2007, and 1.75% to 2.0% for 2008. Of course, Fed has a few other âTAâ indicators as well, such as âflattened Phillips curveâ, capacity utilization rate (with historical average being 81%), and âspreadâ between rate of unemployment and the rate of nominal annual wage growth: if it is not greater than 50 base points, it will be out of Fedâs âcomfort gapâ, and âyield curveâ, etc. Fedâs âmacro modelâ is never a âcut and dryâ one, just like any other model, but it has been predicting an US economy cruising on a path closer to âgoldilocksâ than âstagnationâ, since last summerâs stock market correction. Fedâs model is not only straight forward, itâs free as well. Nevertheless, most market participants had chosen the âstagnation modelâ, and paid dearly for it by âselling at fear of stagnation and buying back at euphoria of goldilocksâ, since Feb 27, 2007. Not only Fedâs âintelligenceâ has been underestimated, but also Fedâs âpowerâ as a state institution. Being âgood studentsâ of Keynes and Marx in terms of capitalism economics and politics, Fed knows when and how to use its power. And I have repeatedly written about that in my past posts as well. Per Bloomberg.com âA US House panel voted to expand a federal agencyâs powers to help low-income borrowers at risk of losing their homes as Congress pushes legislative fixes for the sub-prime mortgage problemsâ. Why not ? âListen to the Party when playing stock marketâ Thatâs the popular saying in Shanghai stock market, the Party being CCP. Yes, there is âdonât fight Fedâ here in US, but some or most investors/traders somehow choose to âignore the fedâ repeatedly, with percentage of retail and institutions unknown. Not the smart guys, particularly the smart institutional guys, including those M&A players. I would think, that smart big players in stocks, knowing what they know, shorted the market big time before or around Feb 27, 2007, and then longed the market big time around March 15, 2007. TA wise, these smart big players all have proprietary models, like everybody (including retail ones) else. FA wise, I doubt their models would be âbetterâ than Fed model. Nevertheless, FA game is over for now, and itâs TA time, at least for today, as said in my previous posts. Marketreflections.com
050707 The âperfect twin enginesâ of global capitalism train US economic âmacrosâ: GDP real growth rate 3.9 2004 3.2 2005 3.3 2006 2.1 2007 (projected) Productivity: about 3.0%, 2000 â2005, about 2.5% 2005-2007 Inflation as measured by spread 10Y TIPS -T 267 base points 042005 254 base points 042006 244 base points 04022007 Theoretical value of 10Y yield (growth + inflation +term risk premium - CCP discount) 2005 =3.2+2.67+?-?= 5.8%+- 2006=3.3+2.54+?-?=5.8%+- 2007=2.1+2.44+?-?=4.5%+- Value of 2Y T is largely âimpactedâ by Fed Actual yields and spread: 10Y T yield 2Y T yield spread 2-10 yr 4.9, 072004 2.8 210 bp 3.9 072005 4.1 -20 bp 5.3 072006 5.25 +5 bp 4.64 05072007 4.68 -4 bp Approximately, corresponding to the slowing of growth rate, the whole yield curve âsinksâ on the long end, and has become more âinvertedâ than âsteepenedâ, reflecting 1) The reduced âterm premiumâ or increased CCP discount; particularly on the long end 2) The marketâs âdancing in steps with Fedâ , particularly on the front end. Equities S&P overseas sales % change 30% 2001 (â911â, China joined WTO Nov 2001, Uncle Sam and CCPâs comradeship started) 49% 2007, six years later S&P earnings (briefings.com) Very strong earnings growth through 2003, 2004, 2005, and 2006. Earnings grew at a double-digit rate through most of that period, and in many quarters was in excess of 20%. During the same time, the stock market rose, but not at as fast a rate as earnings. The S&P posted gains averaging about 9% in 2004, 2005, and 2006. Faster earnings growth than price (stock index) growth means that the P/E declines. That is what has happened the past few years. P/E on S&P: ranging from 15.6 Q22006 to 16.8 Q12007. So, what is in marketâs mind? Long bonds are âoverpricedâ, with yield below where it âshouldâ be, for whatever reasons. Equities are âunder pricedâ, see in Fedâs model of yield parity. So, why not sell bonds(borrow) and buy equities? Consequently, M&As and private LBOs have been on Monday AM news for too long to remember. Back to the global capitalism train US slowing down? Yes, but earnings will come more from the growing rest of world economy, which will hopefully bail US out eventually. So, whatâs in Fedâs mind? As long as Joes have jobs, as long as S&P earning grows, as long as spread of 10Y TIPs --10Y T is around 250 bp, as long as spread of German 10Y T and US 10T is around 40-50bp, and as long as USD moves in aâ managed channelâ, everybody is happy, then why change the rate? Long term prospect: Ben and Next president may count on USâs revival and growth in âmind powerâ business, to balance off the CCPâs manufacturing power, so US would not âtop outâ. For CCP, it is too busy with its manufacturing business in the foreseeable future and it has yet to think about âmind powerâ, particularly in terms of âreformingâ its political and social system. If you combine US and China into one economy, you donât see âimbalanceâ, but almost a âperfectâ twin engines of the global capitalism train, complementing each other in driving the train forward. I donât see any significant probabilities of this train getting off the track, âsabotagedâ or failing on its own, and I think that is what financial market sees as well. If this is the case, I see bond yield curve largely stay where it is, but to be more âinvertedâ. For equities, to be in yield parity with bonds as defined by Fed model, S&P has to further expand its PE to catch up. Commodities and gold should do well as well, why not? Relative rate of return I would guess the order would be equities, commodities (including gold), and bonds. marketreflections.com
When CCP discounts, Uncle Sam buys Marketreflections.com I have defined the CCP discount in my previous writing: since â911â and Chinaâs joining of WTO in Nov 2001, and the ever improving comradeship between Uncle Sam and Comrade CCP, the twin captains of global capitalism train, bond market sees significantly reduced future economic and political volatilities, or the âCCP discountâ, which largely balanced out the conventional term premium in long bondâs yield. Bond market Corresponding to the CCP discount, is the âyield conundrumâ. Conventionally, a bear market in bonds starts when the Fed funds target rate âbottoms outâ, and ends when the Fed stops raising rates. The most recent âbearâ market in bonds started Q3 2003, when the Fed funds rate was at 1%, and ended in mid-2006 with the Fed funds rate at 5.25%. Nevertheless, âdespite 17 increases in short-term rates, all segments of the bond market had positive returns from the third quarter of 2003 through the end of 2006, making that time period a very unusual âbearâ market. In fact, this was the first time that bonds posted positive returns across the board in a bear market cycle since 1972 through 1974.â (calvert.com) And in1974, by the way, SF-88 Nike missile site stopped its operation, if you read my previous posts. Corresponding to the CCP discount and the consequent yield conundrum in bond market, is an inverted yield curve, putting a ghost of recession into the minds of many people. And technicians in stock market have been long chasing the ghost of 10% correction. Neither ghost has shown up yet. Stock market Perhaps still scared of the most recent bear market (Q12000-Q12003), the major indexes had been more or less crawling in a largely horizontal, or slightly upward sloping channel from beginning of 2004 to mid-2006. Since mid-2006, shrugging off the baggage of the last bear market, the fear of stagnation and global imbalances, and the most recent subprime, the major indexes have managed to crawl out of the âbottlesâ. Chartists would tell you that after the measured, compressed, and tight channel, the outcome would be a powerful âbreak outâ on upside, or âbreak downâ on downside, with a lot of âenergiesâ to be released. Further looking at charts, the tight upward slopes the major indexes built when battling out of the most recent corrections are even more âmeasuredâ, or âcompressedâ, and even more upwards slopping since March 15, 2007 One Chinese trader, commented on those charts: âFROM JUL 06 TO OCT 06, THAT WAS A MEASURED MOVE; FROM OCT TO FEB 07 THAT WAS ANOTHER MEASURED MOVE; AND FROM THE FEB LOW UP, WE ARE IN THE MIDDLE OF ANOTHER MEASURED MOVE AGAIN!! MEASURED MOVE IS A HUGE BULLISH PATTERN LIKE CUP AND HANDLE; FALLING WEDGE BREAK OUT; BUT, IT IS ALSO A STEALTH BULL MOVE, AND WILL SUCK THE MOST SHORTS IN ON ITS MOVE, WHICH WILL ONLY FUEL IT LAST LONGER AND GOES FUTHER AND MOVES HIGHER!!â Behind the wall of worries So, what the hell is going on? Yes, even Congress is going to help subprime borrowers a little bit, a lot of them, if not 2M out of 10M will still lose their houses; Yes, American consumers are still under the mountain of debt, and US financial market is supposed to attract $2B a work day to finance USâs trade deficit. Who are the lenders? An increasing amount of the funds comes from China. Per Henry Paulson: âChina's savers are earning about 2.5 percent on their roughly $2 trillion of assets, even as the economy advances at an annual rate of more than 10 percentâ, due to many reasons such as the lack of fully developed domestic financial market, the lack of social security system, etc. And the lack of âanimal spiritsâ, I would quote Keynes. Just look at Japan, people are still scared savers, even with fully developed financial markets and social security system. Capitalism is still largely new in Orient, and people needs time to get used to it. With the CCP discount, American borrowers canât complain, prime or subprime. Consequently, American household homeownership has increased from 67.8 in 2001 to 68.9 in 2005. Why not? While the CCP discount is still in the mortgage rates, while concrete, copper and other building materials are still not too expensive in world market, why not borrow and buy houses now? The about 10 million American subprime borrowers may not ever be able to realize their âAmerican dreamsâ otherwise. Now, most of them have houses they deserve and should be able to keep them, which will become appreciating asset again when the current housing âcorrectionâ is over. And for most of them, house may be their only important asset. I would think that Greenspan, Ben, and Congress all know about this. And largely because of the CCP discount on the long end of the yield curve, Fed is in no hurry now to cut the rate on the front end. CCP knows about this as well, and they are working hard in developing their domestic financial market, and buying all kind of resources from around world like there is no tomorrow. Tomorrow, the good deals may not be there any more. Knowing that, corporate America is busy with selling bonds and buying equities, with M&A deal, public or private, announced on every Monday. And Warren Buffet wants to jump in too. âWhen war is neither hot nor cold, money is bulletâ, as titled in one of my previous post. I would think that Iraq war may very likely be one of the last few wars of that nature for the foreseeable future. Both the name and the way of game have changed. For the on-going economic war, the money is bullet, and it has to be made of paper, not gold, not silver. Today, I would expect market to cheer up after Fed reads the same âbedside storyâ again at 2:15Pm. Marketreflections.com
051707 Has Bill Gross's clock slowed? Marketreflections.com Between an ideologue and a chartist, as one of my postings titled, I struggle everyday. But, let start with Bill Gross first. Bill Gross, uneasily sitting on the rising front end of the yield curve, with his huge bet on 2Y T to go up in price as Fed cut rate per his ideology, is now asking âMnestroâ Greenspan for a little help, with cost unknown(reuters.com). An admirer but not a believer of Bill Gross on his almost 2 year old bet, I nevertheless often make my own ideology-based and money-losing trades, and I am going back to Professor Gedanken for help, free, revisiting âmoving light clockâ (see my previous postings). Please assume I actually understand it and correct me. http://www-atlas.lbl.gov/QuarkNet/Wo...#300,13,Moving Light Clockâ Assume Bill Gross is doing the well-known elevator âthought experimentâ: Bill stands inside of an elevator in a free-fall or accelerating upward, holds two mirrors with his two hands, perpendicular to direction of motion of light pulse, and observes light pulse bouncing between those two mirrors, with light speed=c, the distance between the two mirrors=d, the time light pulse moves from one mirror to another (one way) =t. To Bill Gross, and in his reference frame as he stands inside of the moving elevator, t=d/c. To an observer outside of elevator in a different reference frame, light travels actually a LONGER PATH between the two mirrors (still one way), because gravity warps space resulting light traveling in a CURVED path (D), opposite to the straight line (d) as observed by Bill Gross inside of elevator. Whether inside or outside of elevator, light speed is still constant at c, but T =D/c for the observer outside of the elevator, and t=d/c for Bill Gross inside of the elevator. Since D>d, T>t, Bill's time clock has slowed significantly to the observer outside of the elevator. Back to Bill Grossâs bet on Fedâs rate cut. Standing inside of his âhousing and debtâ elevator and thinking in his reference of frame, bonds yield =< growth rate of GDP, GDP growth rate =< 2%, Fed rate <5.25%, with CPI=2-2.5%, almost for 2 years. For the Mr. market standing outside of Billâs âhousing and debtâ elevator, Fedâs rate may or may not go below 5.25%, depending on the âcurving â of GDP growth path obviously, among other things. And as far as Mr. market and almost everybody else in the world of reality and outside of Bill Grossâs world of ideology can see now, Fed probably would not cut the rate for the foreseeable future. Has Bill Gross's clock slowed? Betting on that, wolfs jumped on with huge short positions built up recently on 2Y T (see my previous postings). They always do and like that. One of the differences between an ideologue, very often of bears and bulls, and a chartist, very often of wolf types is: Bears and bulls often lock themselves inside of their own world of ideology or FA and refuse to come out, wolfs travels between and visits those two worlds, and the marketplace, with only one ideology in mind: pursuing profit. I better write this on the wall of my computer room.
051707 What is the next elevator for wolfs to shoot down? marketreflections.com âNo absolute reference frameâ, Einstein said. Wolfs probably understand that very well. Once they find that market participants have a fixation on an âabsolute reference frameâ, whether it is about a âmacroâ, an industry, or an company, they will analyze it thoroughly, FA and TA wise, then short the âover pricedâ and long the âunder pricedâ. If market participants have not got one fancy âabsolute reference frameâ to fantasize with , wolfs would try to find one for them. Subjectively, wolfs do that for a profit. Objectively, that is the way market functions as a mechanism of information and risk processing, capital allocation and income re-distribution. Stock market has started working that way, ever since Dutch established Amsterdam Beurs in the early in the early 17th century. The Dutch "pioneered short selling, option trading, debt-equity swaps, merchant banking, unit trusts and other speculative instruments, much as we know them" (wikipedia.org). Sometimes, I wonder why the stock market had âescapedâ Marxâs thought experiment, which may be one of the fatal errors in his otherwise great work on capitalism. Now, with capitulation of Gross, Russell and Roach to the bullsâ âinternational decoupling thesisâ, the stock indexes may actually be directionless for a while, if the rising of wall of worries slows down. Nevertheless, with the ever-growing financial markets encompassing all regions and sectors of modern capitalist economy on a âflatâ earth, with market participants getting âsuckedâ in from every corner of the global village, there are plenty of âelevators of absolute reference framesâ around. Which one would wolfs start to shoot down next? Would that be gold and other PMs? Just guessing.
"Hide brightness, nourish obscurity" ________________________________________ 060107 Tao Guang Yang Hui (躹âÃø»Ã), or "Hide brightness, nourish obscurity" Marketreflections.com Watching today¡¯s wresting of bears and bulls with each other, particularly on those mega caps, made me thinking of the 1970¡¯s MAD between USA and USSR. The bears and bulls today largely respected each other¡¯s ¡°neckline¡±, so the wrestling is ¡°polite¡±, basically between resistance and support, if you will, for a lot of stocks. Do they want to break the necks of each other? I am sure they want to. That is all the game is about. However, the super traders and computers of MMs on those mega caps use both teeth and brain when in fight. They are not just "adrenaline junkies" as they are perceived. Today, they must have been watching and thinking thought about the ¡°bottom lines¡± carefully. If time is not right and everything else are not ready yet, you don¡¯t want to launch a full-scale assault prematurely, wasting your gun power. Let¡¯s just eat the ¡°little guys¡± in between us for today, the head of bears and the head of bulls must have ¡°talked¡± to each other. This way, they had a ¡°detente¡± today, although bulls still managed to have ¡°record high¡± for indexes today. The current ¡°detente¡± is fragile though, for bears, and the more so as time goes forward. Still, today¡¯s ¡°detente¡± reminds me of the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962. The Russian bear kind of crossed the ¡°line¡± and the American bull was ready to fight a full scale of MAD, and that MAD did not happen. The Russian bear retreated out of Caribbean, the America¡¯s ¡°back yard¡±. About 20 years later, the ¡°cow boy¡± Reagan came up with a way to suck the ¡°economic blood¡± out of the Russian bear, and it worked. USSR started its capitulation around 1985, when Gobi came to power after the last few old ¡°red army¡± soldiers finally died out of the political arena. Deng, one of the few Mao¡¯s ¡°comrades¡± who survived Mao¡¯s periodical ¡°political purges¡±, and a tough political ¡°animal¡± of ¡°Mao breed¡± himself, quickly figured out that Uncle Sam would do the same ¡°Reagan trick¡± to CCP. And worst than that, CCP can¡¯t play USSR ¡°hedge¡± card anymore. Instead, Deng used the famous ¡°Deng¡¯s Cat trick¡±, and transformed CCP into a ¡°humongous¡± capitalist almost overnight, a capitalist no other capitalists have ever ¡°traded¡± with. And everything after that is history. Today, Deng and other Mao¡¯s ¡°comrades¡± have long left, with CCP in the hands of a few ¡°Red Young Guard¡± type politicians, like Mr. Hu. As smart and strong as Hu has proven himself, he is not comparable to Deng. But Deng¡¯s trick has managed to construct a MAD between USA and PRC, secured by both missiles and US Government Bonds, among other things. The ¡°pivot point¡± to kick off USA-PRC MAD is actually 911 event in 2001, which turned CCP into a ¡°comrade¡± for Uncle Sam, from a ¡°competition¡±, if not enemy. Soon after that CCP entered into WTO, among other things. With that ¡°pivot point¡± , ¡°resistance¡± atop CCP broke, ¡°resistance¡± atop US bond broke. If you look at 10Y US T, the rally actually started in Jan 2000, ahead of CCP¡¯s entry into WTO in Nov 2001. Nevertheless, it is still a cross-market confirmation of CCP¡¯s breakout. The US stock market¡¯s confirmation came around in Jan 2004, and the Chinese own stock market¡¯s confirmation kind of just ¡°started¡±. The core of Deng¡¯s tactics is ¡°Tao Guang Yang Hui (躹âÃø»Ã), or "Hide brightness, nourish obscurity". It worked and it is still working, fooling a lot of people a around, including those perm bears in stock market today, possibly. TA wise, the "Hide brightness, nourish obscurity" is often the ¡°cup¡± part of the ¡°cup with handle¡±. After that, ¡°pivot point¡± often shows up, with or without handle, depending how impatient the herds are. Capitalism have made ¡°fuses¡± or "handle" shorter, for all of us, weather we like it or not. Nobody wants to wait, or can¡¯t afford waiting. For those bears who have not yet covered short positions, rest well in the weekend. The wresting coming up in the next week could be very challenging. Marketreflections.com¡¯s daily market commentary http://www.itulip.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1289
061007 market next week: a world of 2 non-men and 2.5 men Marketreflections.com Disclaimer: marketreflections.com is not politically associated with any political organization, and often uses âpolitical incorrectâ language in its analysis. It is politically âneutralâ and provides views of a âpureâ investor and trader. Reagan basically disabled Russia into a âhalf manâ, and a âhalf manâ still has to be defended against with USâ missile defense line running cross Eastern Europe, now a part of ânon-manâ or NATO, and also with a possibly âindependentâ Kosovo. Why not? However, the US missile defense line may have a âgapâ in Asia. I am not sure the other ânon-manâ, Japan, who had long been âdisabledâ politically and militarily, and not long ago financially (âyen appreciation â) by US, will have enough guts to fill the gap with US, in terms of âdeveloping and deployingâ a missile defense system in Asia. Most likely, Japan will âplayâ it, rather than really doing it. Historically, 1989 is a critical year in world politics. USSR âpeakedâ as a world power, Japan âpeakedâ as a financial power, and a few âChinese intellectualsâ almost made CCP âpeakedâ. That year, although âsmiling from ear to earâ, Reagan had to leave the White House as US President. I would not say Reaganâs departure âsavedâ CCP, but it definitely made Dengâs job a lot of easier. Top politicians are not really âproducedâ by top colleges, such as Yale, Moscow Univ., etc. In the case of CCP, no matter what college you graduate from, if you can survive and prosper within CCP, a world-class political âmachineâ, you are most likely a good politician. Although not comparable to Mao and Deng, Jiang and Hu are actually very good, much better than people, including Uncle Sam, had thought. To hang on as a âmanâ and to compete with the other âmanâ, Uncle Sam, CCP knows it has to stay with Dengâs âcat trickâ, and maintain Chinaâs economic growth, relentlessly. China canât afford any significant slowing down, otherwise China will be disabled as well into a âhalf manâ, if not a ânon-manâ. Chinaâs DF-31A etc., Chinaâs financial, âmindâ and other âhighâ economic powers are not even comparable to those of US, currently. China is a âmanâ, largely because there is no other âmenâ left, except US, in the current world. That said, China will do whatever it could, economically and politically, domestically and internationally, to grow its economy, in the framework of US-CHINA MAD (âmutually assured developmentâ secured by ballistic missiles, US Treasuries, etc.) As long as US-China led high-speed global capitalism train keeps going forward, with everybody on board, willingly or unwillingly, there is no real and serious inflation to worry about, particulary in the non-service sectors, because the world economic boom is more likely a âdeflation boomâ. ST, bond yield may continue to adjust to a âhigh growthâ world, and stock market may have to adjust to a high âyield parityâ between bond and stocks, nothing more serious than that. And USD will be a world reserve currency for at least â100â years (Robert Mondell, supposedly), and âyen carry tradeâ will continue most likely. What do you expect a rich but a disabled and a non-man to do, in terms of his currency? I think more likely the current stock marketâs âdipâ (kind of âhalfâ of the last correction, in terms of %) will be done next week, if not already done. I would buy at dip big names of US ârunning dogsâ of DJI 30, and âgrowing puppiesâ such as GOOG. I actually like LFC, CAF, BIDU too, the CCPâs ârunning dogâ, None of them had dipped very much though. TA wise, more likely, we may not have many âbuy at dipsâ next week. Short-squeeze seemed to have already stared last Friday. Nothing on Marketreflections.com is intended or should be construed as investment advice. It is intended by for informational and entertainment purposes only. By using Marketreflections.com you agree that you understand the risks of trading, and are solely responsible for your own investment and trading decisions.