Skip to main content

USA Debt Limit Drama !

It has been few weeks since I got chance to write my blog. Lot has happened since I wrote about summer blues market was going thru. I was busy taking kids around. Just came back from Alaska cruise vacation - got nice break !

Markets have gone nowhere in last few weeks. It went up due to some optimism on earnings reports and came down hard last week due to all drama in Washington. I am sure markets did not wish for kind of grid-lock they saw last week. Be careful what you wish for ! Tea-party politicians were acting all crazy not even listening to their own GOP leadership. No wonder their un-popularity has gone from 22% last year to 47% this year. GOP leadership should learn from last week's events and be careful whom they put on ballot in 2012.

After hectic back-door negotiations, finally Washington has come to an agreement on debt-limit and spending cuts. At this time, any deal is good deal since it would save AAA rating for US debt. Futures are reacting positively and we should see up day in markets tomorrow. However be careful in putting new money in markets since this drama would continue till next year.

Right now, I am looking at some of the Chinese and Indian Internet companies to find some value. Check these out for potential reward/risk: RENN ($10), DANG ($11), REDF ($9) and SIFY ($4). Almost all of these are mini-versions of some companies in USA. e.g. RENN is Chinese FB, DANG is Chinese Amazon and so on. Hopefully these companies would provide same type of returns in what Baidu did. However wait till results for their first quarter as public companies are out.

That's all for now. Have exciting week !

/Shyam

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

2025 = Is it going to be 1997 or 2000?

Happy Holidays... After 5 months of hibernation with no real reason than writing block, I decided to use quiet morning of Christmas day to start writing again. Lot has happened in last 5 months - in particular release of Animal Spirits with Fed starting interest rate reduction cycle and historic victory of President Trump for 2nd term. As the year turns into 2025 and stock markets at all time high, one would wonder, what's next?  To answer this, one needs to look back at 1920s and 1990s to give us some context on where markets may be headed. 1920s saw invention of televisions, radio, wider adoption of cars, vacuums, penicillin and many other which we consider household items now. These inventions created roaring 20s with markets going up by 500% eventually leading to crash of 1929. However during mid-20s, markets keep going up due to excitement of these inventions and end of World War-1 and Spanish Flu Pandemic. 1990s also saw many inventions - the key being launch of Netscape in 1...

And the Oscar goes to...

It's Oscar Sunday and time for predictions for few categories - before I digress into talking about drama in DC or markets.  First of all, I want to recognize the damage LA fires have done to the beloved areas of Los Angeles and impacted families across all spectrums. My heart goes out to them and wish them recovery and rebuilding of their lives... This year's Oscar nominees and post nomination period had been interesting to say the least. Due to this, the field is wide open in almost all categories and that's what makes prediction game so interesting. Just to set expectations, I would consider a win if I get even 50% predictions correct given the dynamics of nominees this year. So here are my predictions - "And the Oscar goes to..." Best Picture - Anora (surprise could be "The Brutalist") Best Director - Sean Baker for "Anora" (Surprise could be Brady Corbet for "The Brutalist") Best Actor - Adrien Brody for "The Brutalist"...

The Politics and Gamesmanship of TikTok!

TikTok is less than 3 hours from going dark on USA's east coast if TikTok owner Bytedance (and Chinese Government) follows thru its "bluff" to honor the law " Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act" which goes into effect on Jan 19, 2025. And suddenly there is lots of politics and gamesmanship around TikTok.. Let's look at the players and their positions US Congress: The " TikTok Ban" law was passed by congress with bipartisan support and coincidently it goes into effect one day before new administration takes charge. Everyone knew the exact date and time of oath taking ceremony of new President...but maybe the congress did not think that there would be change of President and did not bother to put effective date post new government taking charge...that created a window of 36 hours of "law being in effect" unless... President Biden: Biden himself did not think that he won't be President for 2nd term. S...