Archive for May, 2006
Buffett Goes Borderless
After all that speculation about various U.S. takeover targets, Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway is buying 80% of Iscar Metalworking Cos, an Israeli firm. In WSJ, the Sage of Omaha says:
“We are delighted to partner with the Wertheimer family and IMC’s current management, led by Eitan Wertheimer and Jacob Harpaz,” Mr. Buffett said in a statement. [...]
International funds=yes, Commodity funds=no
Two interesting points from Morningstar’s Christine Benz who was just interviewed on CNBC.
First, she noted that the recent slew of new commodity-related ETFs is reminiscent of the launch of technology funds at the height of the bubble in the 1990s. I couldn’t agree more.
Second, the strong recent inflows into international stock funds appear to [...]
Lou’s Lessons
Plenty has already been written today in memory of Louis Rukeyser and I’m sure there will be a lot more tomorrow. I’m going to limit my thoughts to the top three things that I learned from watching Wall $treet Week. I can’t say that the show made me want to become a financial journalist, but [...]
3May2006 | JHC | 0 comments | ContinuedBlame Game
From the chatter on CNBC this morning, it seems like Ben Bernanke is getting most of the heat for not being as press-savvy or as “street smart” as his predecessor. This is nonsense. Ben can–and certainly will–improve in this area as time goes on.
Whispering things in Maria Bartiromo’s ear at a press dinner may [...]
Bolivia’s Blunder
FT’s Lex Live puts Bolivia’s gas nationalization in perspective:
The biggest loser, therefore, is probably Bolivia itself. Foreign capital and expertise have underpinned the seven-fold increase in the country’s gas reserves since 1997. Neither Venezuela since 2002’s strikes, nor Iran since its 1979 revolution, have regained pre-disruption production levels. Mr Morales may have one eye on [...]
Express Yourself
Ever wonder why ringtones are so popular in China? Reuters explains why here:
“Ringback tones are more popular in … China than in Western countries because, to a certain extent, they … provide a chance for people to express their personality freely,” said Alina Zhang, an analyst with UOB-Kay Hian in Shanghai.
Bolivian Gas
My guess is that most readers of this blog don’t have a whole lot invested in Bolivia. At least I hope not. The nationalization of its gas fields by the Morales government today is a sobering reminder that things can go wrong in emerging markets and when they do, they can be ugly. From WSJ [...]
1May2006 | JHC | 0 comments | ContinuedCurrency Confusion
Bloomberg’s wrap-up of last night’s Japan trading notes that exporters such as Canon and Sony fell as the yen strengthened vs. the dollar.
This seems perfectly reasonable. As Bloomberg explains:
A stronger yen makes Japanese exporters’ products less competitive and reduces the value of companies’ overseas earnings when converted back into local currency.
This is classic International Economics [...]
