Founder of Shaw Brothers died at age 107

Run Run Shaw, the Hong Kong media mogul and philanthropist whose movie studio exported Chinese cinema to a global audience in the 1960s, has died.

The founder of Shaw Brothers (Hong Kong) Ltd. died at home at age 107 in the company of his family at 6:55 a.m. today, Television Broadcasts Ltd. said in a statement. Shaw was also a co-founder of Hong Kong’s biggest television company.

Singapore First Retirement Village

Marketing material describes the project, The Hillford, as a "retirement resort".

 It is expected to launch on Jan 10. 

The 281-unit project will boast 24-hour concierge service and 18 commercial units, such as food outlets, a convenience store, clinics and medical-related facilities.

Early price indications show a one-bedder of 398 to 431 sq ft could cost at least $400,000, or about $1,005 psf. 

A two-bedder of 506 to 560 sq ft could be at least $500,000, or about $988 psf. Prices of a 657 sq ft two-bedroom dual-key unit will start from $700,000, or at least $1,065 psf.

Mindful that it is only 60 year lease.

US market news: The 2014 year might be choppy?

This was the first time since 2008 that stocks opened with a drop. 

Investors are especially touchy about how stocks do in January since many feel it can be telling about the rest of the year. 

The last 40 times the S&P 500 has risen during its first five days, the market ended the year higher 34 times with an average gain of 13.6%, says Stock Trader's Almanac. 

Last January, the S&P rose 2.2% the first five days of what turned out to be best year for stocks in 16 years.

The market's worst first-five day period happened in 2008 when the S&P 500 lost 5.3%. And during that year, stocks fell 38.6%.

Beyond tax tactics, the first day of trading started off on a bad note after Wells Fargo downgraded its rating on electronic gadget maker Apple. 

That pushed Apple shares down 1.4% and weighed on the entire tech sector.

If anything, the choppy first day of trading is a reminder to investors that it's a new year and trading won't necessarily be as smooth as it was last year, says Ken Winans of Winans Investments. 

"It might be more of a trading market this year," he says. "The year might be very choppy."

Merry Christmas to all

Some analyst says Singapore market is finally seeing a bottom and bullish momentum is definitely growing. 

Judging by the analysis on the market, there might be good potential in mid cap and of course the dreaded penny stocks recently!

Do not think that it is not possible that Penny stocks might be coming back with a vengeance. Some stocks are brewing up.

With the QE tapering confusion episode over, the selling of STI stocks might be over. There might be a strong rally ahead before Chinese New Year next year.

I am doubtful but I do hope this is true.

US Fed trims stimulus by $10 billion

(From Article)

By Caroline Valetkevitch

NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. stocks staged an explosive rally on Wednesday, driving the Dow and the S&P 500 to all-time closing highs after the Federal Reserve announced it would start to unwind its historic stimulus.

While the Fed's move came as a surprise to many in the market, it confirmed that the U.S. economy was on firmer footing and put to rest the question of when the Fed would begin to scale back its bond-buying program, a relief to some investors, analysts said.

"This is a vote of confidence in the economy and represents the first step toward monetary policy normalization," said David Joy, chief market strategist at Ameriprise Financial, in Boston.

The central bank said it would reduce its monthly asset purchases by $10 billion to $75 billion, while it also indicated that its key interest rate would stay at rock bottom even longer than previously promised. It said it "likely will be appropriate" to keep overnight rates near zero "well past the time" that the U.S. jobless rate falls below 6.5 percent.

Yet the decision to move now rather than later pointed to better prospects for the U.S. economy and the labor market. It also marked a turning point for the largest monetary policy experiment ever.

Stocks extended losses just after the announcement, but quickly turned higher and began rallying. The day's move marked the biggest swing from the day's high to the low for the S&P 500 in two years. All 10 S&P 500 sector indexes ended higher, with all but information technology (.SPLRCT) gaining more than 1 percent, and the S&P 500 financial index (CME:^SPSY) rising 2.4 percent.

The Dow Jones industrial average (^DJI) surged 292.71 points or 1.84 percent, to end at 16,167.97, a record closing high. The S&P 500 (^GSPC) gained 29.65 points or 1.66 percent, to finish at 1,810.65, also a record closing high. The Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) climbed 46.384 points or 1.15 percent, to close at 4,070.064.

Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke began hinting at a reduction in the stimulus back in May. The issue of when the Fed would make its move had been a source of uncertainty for markets since then. The Fed surprised markets three months ago by choosing not to reduce its third round of quantitative easing.

Most surveys had forecast the move would occur after December, but recent strong economic data seemed to suggest that the timeline could be pushed up.

"Janet Yellen's imprint is on this move, and that's very good for the markets," said Quincy Krosby, market strategist at Prudential Financial, in Newark, New Jersey, in reference to the Fed's vice chair and President Barack Obama's nominee to succeed Bernanke in the Fed's top job. "It's clear from moves in bonds and equities that the markets discounted this in September."

Projected dividends for year 2014

(Personal Sharing)

Like my favorite blogger, Dividend Warrior, who reviews his earned dividends every year end in Dec, I think I should do that also.

Estimated dividends for year 2014:

1. Rickers Maritime: 1200

2. Hph trust: 736

3. Cache: 254

4. Sabana: 285

5. First state dividend advantage(unit trust): 360

Total dividends: 2835

Dividend warrior has divested sabana and hph trust. I should do that also when the price is right.

Hph trust is worst performer stock

(From Article)

Published on Dec 05, 2013, 3:05 PM, ST

SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Hutchison Port Holdings Trust dipped as much as 4.5 per cent to its lowest in nearly two years as a strong technical level was broken, leading losses on the Singapore benchmark index.

HPH Trust fell to as low as US$0.64, a level unseen since January 2012, after breaking below US$0.675 in the previous session, which had been a key technical support since mid-November.

Analysts said that the break of that key technical level, combined with the uncertainty over the US Federal Reserve's stance on monetary stimulus on the market, made HPH Trust the worst performer on the index on Thursday.