STE's Stocks Investing Journey

OK, my “little bear” finally wake up after many years of hiding / hibernating in the jungle. Ah! You still can’t really see him “ roaming or running “ around as he was just “ peeping “ out from the woods once awhile. The market suddenly realize the “danger” and the impact of COVID-19 to our economy as a whole and some industries specifically. Demand for certain industries like hospitality, aviation, retail, transportation and oil will be severely impacted due to lockdown and quarantine measures taken to contain the virus. It was a terrible week for the US stock market ( and Asia Stocks markets to some extent). The three major stock indexes posted their worst weekly percentage drops since the financial crisis, as coronavirus fears mount. Dow drops more than -1000 points in few consecutive days.

image credit to newscientist.com There was no “January Effect“ for world stock markets as far as 2020 is concerned. Just as the world economy appeared to emerge from the uncertainty of trade-war after the signing of “phase one” trade deal between the US and China, the world economy has been hit by another crisis of new coronavirus outbreak started from Wuhan China which has already taken a heavy toll.     Coronavirus: China's stock market plummets as the country's death toll climb past 360 – live updates   <link> The WHO has made it official that this is a “ Global Health Emergency “ and many countries had also taken extra measures to contain or deter the virus from getting into their countries by restricting travellers from China or those been visiting China before.

I know we worry about a myriad of issues concerning stocks market because it affects our portfolio value day in day out. Our heartbeat increase when we look at the news headlines about “ trade war “, “Interest rate increase “, “ EM slow down”, “US Mid-term election”, “Sanction on Iran “ etc.. But should we press our panic button to “ buy or sell” every time we saw these news headlines which cause the market to fluctuate up and down? Read this before you make a hasty act on trading your stocks base on “ News Headlines “ . Buy American. I Am. By WARREN E. BUFFETT OCT. 16, 2008

Today mark the last trading day of Oct 2018, Yes! Indeed, it's a "choppy and volatile" month for STI and world markets. DJ could swing more than 600 points intra-day from positive to negative. Well, that is really the characteristic of "Mr Market", it swings like a pendulum. Again, many of my friends are asking me if I am selling my stock as the market seems very volatile and 'risky" ( for them ), but my answer to them is the same, "No", I am not selling but just do some "portfolio reshuffling " on some of my holdings ( which I will update more in my next Dividend and Portfolio Update).  In view of such "crazy market " , some might be thinking of getting out of the market and holding 100% in cash . I am not so sure if this is a wise move, of course, if one could avoid the "40 days with biggest losses" from the market, he/she could really achieve an "extraordinary" result, but in reality, can we rea...

image credit to steemkr.com Yes, this was what President Trump said after Federal Reserve’s recent rise in the interest rate   and signals for more to come which has caused the recent “ market rout” where world major indexes   dropped by more than 5-8% in two days including most of the Asian’s stock market.  I am sure you have been bombarded by all sort of news headlines on “Market Crash “ or even active discussion about share price dropped or portfolio value decreased among your chart group.     Dow plunges more than 800 points in worst drop since February, Amazon and tech shares lead the rout   ( from CNBC.com)

<image credit:CNNMoney.com> Do some months have significantly different stock market returns than others? I am not so sure, but many investors believe that October will be the bad month for stock markets and January will be better with higher than average return.  Is it true that we can time the market base on calendar months like “ Sell in May and go away “, buy-in December for Santa Claus Rally “ and   J anuary Effect etc… which sometimes may refer to as “ Calendar Effect”. (link)

Since the start of 2018, the stock market has experienced higher levels of volatility than we’ve seen before. The result has been in many headlines or news highlighting the downfall of a strong market and how much the market cap has been wiped out in such a short period of time. It’s left many people wondering if this is normal and healthy, or a sign of worse things to come ? For me, it is normal for the markets to experience a short-term drop in prices, typically followed by a long-term advance. Those are the facts. The complexity of available financial products is contributing to this unusual volatility. In recent years, the financial services industry innovates by creating new and complex products such as Options/ Future / CFD / DLC that track everything from market volatility to price speculative. These leverage products/derivatives  give “ investors or gambler “ entirely new ways to “trade or gamble” on the market. I am sure the market will tend to be more vol...

DJ falls more than 1000 points !! STI sinks more than 100 points !! Nikkei 225 plunges more than 1000 points . You will see such a news headline on every major financial news portal in the last 2 days. Well, finally the long-awaited market correction is here and is quite normal to have a market correction of -5 to -15% in any market cycle especially when we have experienced such long bull market since GFC in 2008. We must always remember that market is about “ psychology “ and full of “euphoria and panic “ from time to time…

European markets and Dow Futures seems to celebrate   on the news of today’s French Presidential Election result. FTSE, DAX and CAC 40 all up by 2-4% at the time writing and Dow Future also up by more than 200 points.  Recently, investors seem given more concerns to geopolitical issues  where it has dominated the market move base on their preliminary or final results, since BREXIT referendum on June 2016 and followed by US Presidential Election on Nov 2016.

image credit to TheBusinessTime.com On 19 th April, The Business Time published an article on issues related to ETF, “ Vanguard is growing faster than everybody else, combined !! “. No doubt, ETF which is tracking indexes from all over the world is getting so popular because of lower cost as compared to active management. “In the last three calendar years, investors sank USD$823 billion into Vanguard Funds, by any measure, these are staggering figures. Vanguard’s asset under management have skyrocketed to USD4.2 trillion from USD 1 trillion seven years ago. “ according to the company.

Will there be another market crash in 2017? The unlucky 7 Whenever there is a year ending with 7, the stock market will collapse and have a crisis. For example, the name for the   1987   stock market crisis is Black Monday. Interest parity arbitrage trading and currency war fueled the   Asian Crisis   in   1997 . It involves borrowing a cheap currency with low yields and investing in a stable currency with higher yields to earn spread income, known as  positive carry.  Hence the name,  carry trades.