No Free Lunch in Dividend Funds

May 30, 2014

No Free Lunch in Dividend Funds

JASON ZWEIG

There’s no such thing as a free lunch, but there is an inexhaustible supply of investors who will trip all over themselves in pursuit of it. Read more of this post

Thai General Maps Return to Democracy

May 30, 2014, 1:29 p.m. ET

Thai General Maps Return to Democracy

By Jake Maxwell Watts and Warangkana Chomchuen

BANGKOK–Thailand’s army chief Friday asked the international community for time to repair what he described as a flawed democratic system and laid out a tentative road-map for returning an elected government to power after last week’s coup.

Gen. Prayuth Chan-ocha has come under growing pressure to outline a return to democracy in this country of 66 million people following May 22’s putsch, which saw Thailand’s army briefly detain key leaders of rival protest groups, censor media and tear up its constitution. Read more of this post

How China Hides Its Tumbling Housing Market: It Simply Ignores It

How China Hides Its Tumbling Housing Market: It Simply Ignores It

Tyler Durden on 05/30/2014 17:12 -0400

Recently we showed that in order to goose its fading all-important housing market (to China housing is like the stock market to the US: both mission-critical bubbles designed to give a sense of comfort and boost the “wealth effect”), China has first resorted to zero money down mortgages across various markets, and secondly to such gimmicks as “buy one floor, get one free.” However, that’s only part of the story. Even worse is what is not being disclosed to the general public: such as the true state of the housing market in China. Because according to a recent report on Sina, quoted on Investing In Chinese Stocks, when it comes to revealing just how bad things are domestically, Chinese developers are simply pulling a page out of biotech ETF playbooks, and simply not reporting price drops greater than 15%! Read more of this post

FBI, SEC Probe Trading of Carl Icahn, Billy Walters, Phil Mickelson; Insider-Trading Investigation Began in 2011 With Unusual Trades in Clorox

FBI, SEC Probe Trading of Carl Icahn, Billy Walters, Phil Mickelson

Insider-Trading Investigation Began in 2011 With Unusual Trades in Clorox

SUSAN PULLIAM and MICHAEL ROTHFELD

Updated May 30, 2014 7:58 p.m. ET

Federal investigators are pursuing a major insider-trading probe involving finance, gambling and sports, examining the trading of investor Carl Icahn, golfer Phil Mickelson and Las Vegas bettor William “Billy” Walters. Read more of this post

Integrated resorts could be key to Japan’s economic strategy: Abe

Integrated resorts could be key to Japan’s economic strategy: Abe

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said casino resorts could become a pillar of his country’s future economic growth as he toured Singapore’s two integrated resorts yesterday.

MAY 31

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said casino resorts could become a pillar of his country’s future economic growth as he toured Singapore’s two integrated resorts yesterday.

Mr Abe, who until now has remained silent on the issue of casinos, gave a strong endorsement to legislation that would legalise casino gambling in Japan. Read more of this post

Chengguan are the most hated govt officials in China

Chengguan are the most hated govt officials in China

BEIJING — China’s urban management officers, or chengguan, regularly make the news, at home and abroad, usually for unpleasant encounters with members of the public. It is not especially surprising, then, that a new report ranks them as the country’s least popular officials.

MAY 31

BEIJING — China’s urban management officers, or chengguan, regularly make the news, at home and abroad, usually for unpleasant encounters with members of the public. It is not especially surprising, then, that a new report ranks them as the country’s least popular officials. Read more of this post

Value Investing in Sanrio vs the Hello Kitty Premium

Value Investing in Sanrio vs the Hello Kitty Premium

by Guest PostMay 29, 2014, 3:46 pm

Sanrio Company, Ltd. (TYO:8136) (OTCMKTS:SNROF) shares have taken a beating the past several months and really got hammered last week — “blame” Goldman Sachs Group Inc (NYSE:GS) for the latter, as it appears that its post-earnings report casting undue pessimism and uncertainty on Sanrio’s business model fueled the selloff and compelled Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) -MUFG Securities to publish a copycat note. (Sanrio’s statement emphasizing profit-focus and no plans to abandon lucrative licensing business.) Attracted to Sanrio’s high ROE, a weakening yen, and “Cool Japan” marketing in overseas markets that only solidifies the popularity and brand recognition of flagship character, Hello Kitty, I had the fortunate timing of building a position in Sanrio’s ordinary shares in Q4’12 ahead of a sizable run up in 2013. Following are some lessons learned from that profitable investment and the intraday 23% drop Sanrio’s shares suffered last Thursday.

Read more of this post

Truthful top lines: New global rules aim to make it harder for firms to fib about their revenues

Truthful top lines: New global rules aim to make it harder for firms to fib about their revenues

May 31st 2014 | NEW YORK | From the print edition

WHEN companies should recognise revenues on their books is one of the most contentious and consequential issues in the staid profession of accounting. For simple sales of goods the timing is usually straightforward, but in the areas of services and long-term contracts it gets murky fast. Companies may manipulate the “top line” of their accounts—their revenues—say, by booking sales they are not yet sure of (to boost their reported profits) or not booking sales that they are certain of (to postpone profits, and the taxes on them). Read more of this post

SABMiller in Africa: A long-established African firm went global, only to find the fastest-growing market was on its doorstep

SABMiller in Africa: A long-established African firm went global, only to find the fastest-growing market was on its doorstep

May 31st 2014 | KITWE AND ONITSHA | From the print edition

ON A Friday evening in Onitsha, as the beer market is closing, a man carefully straps six cases of Hero lager and two cases of Pepsi to the pannier of his moped. Another rolls away his purchases by wheelbarrow. Coaches parked nearby will soon be filled with day-trippers and their cases of booze. Each day a vast quantity of beer is sold from this closely packed warren of stores. It is part of a sprawl of specialist markets in the city, a commercial hub on the Niger river, which draws in traders from across southern Nigeria.

It was the bustle of Onitsha that persuaded SABMiller, the world’s second-largest beer company, to set up a brewery here. The market takes a slice of SAB’s local production and sells it on to small traders who are otherwise hard to reach. The company had been late in coming to Nigeria. First it acquired a rundown brewery in Port Harcourt in 2009 and then another in Ilesha before it built a brand-new plant in Onitsha in 2012. Already, its capacity is being increased, to slake locals’ ever-growing thirst. Read more of this post

The impossible dream: The surprisingly successful president of the Philippines

The impossible dream: The surprisingly successful president of the Philippines

May 31st 2014 | From the print edition

IN 1987, when he was 27, Benigno “NoyNoy” Aquino was in Manila when plotters attempted a coup against the president, his mother Corazon Aquino. Recalling a promise to his late father to look after his mother and sisters, he rushed towards Malacanang, the presidential palace, to join them. He and his four guards were ambushed. Three were killed and one lost his eyesight. Mr Aquino himself still carries a bullet, along with his guilt. Read more of this post

Thailand’s coup: In for the long haul; As crackdown follows coup, the generals may stick around for as long as they think it takes to restructure politics and the economy, and manage the royal succession

Thailand’s coup: In for the long haul; As crackdown follows coup, the generals may stick around for as long as they think it takes to restructure politics and the economy, and manage the royal succession

May 31st 2014 | BANGKOK | From the print edition

IT IS official. On May 26th General Prayuth Chan-ocha secured the royal imprimatur for his coup four days earlier. Dressed in a white army uniform, sword at his side, General Prayuth knelt before a portrait of King Bhumibol Adulyadej as he formally took up his royal appointment as head of the National Council for Peace and Order, the junta that now runs the country. That the frail 86-year-old king was not there in person hinted at anxieties over the royal succession that have played their part in recent political ructions as well as in the coup itself. Read more of this post

Tiananmen Square: Ageing rebels, bitter victims; Twenty-five years after the bloodshed in Beijing, new details keep emerging

Tiananmen Square: Ageing rebels, bitter victims; Twenty-five years after the bloodshed in Beijing, new details keep emerging

May 31st 2014 | From the print edition

The People’s Republic of Amnesia: Tiananmen Revisited. By Louisa Lim. Oxford University Press; 248 pages; $24.95. Buy from Amazon.com, Amazon.co.uk

ON THE night of June 3rd-4th 1989 the Chinese army unleashed its tanks in the centre of Beijing to crush a protest that had begun seven weeks earlier against the Communist Party’s autocratic rule. Ever since, Chinese officials grow nervous in the run-up to the anniversary of the crackdown. This year they are especially jittery, fearful that the symbolic passage of a quarter of a century might encourage some dissidents to be more daring than usual in their public remembrance of the hundreds, perhaps thousands, who were killed. Security forces around the country are on heightened alert, particularly in Tiananmen Square, the plaza that has become synonymous with the unrest. Read more of this post

South Korea’s household debt: Hole in won; Korean households are struggling under mounting debt

South Korea’s household debt: Hole in won; Korean households are struggling under mounting debt

May 31st 2014 | From the print edition

THE Asian financial crisis of 1997 hit Mr Lee hard. His interior-design firm folded and he was officially branded a bad debtor. But the ensuing boom in household credit hit him harder. As banks were newly deterred from lending to businesses, they turned to individuals instead. Credit cards were peddled everywhere, on televisions and from street corners, and to everyone—including Mrs Lee. She racked up a debt of 7m won ($6,900), much of it interest owed. When she divorced him, Mr Lee, jobless, was left to foot the bill. Read more of this post

Picking holes in Piketty: The latest controversy around Thomas Piketty’s blockbuster book concerns its statistics

Picking holes in Piketty: The latest controversy around Thomas Piketty’s blockbuster book concerns its statistics

May 31st 2014 | From the print edition

FEW economics books have been as popular or as controversial as “Capital in the Twenty-First Century”. The blockbuster analysis of wealth and income distribution has been a publishing sensation, turning its French author, Thomas Piketty, into a household name. The book’s thesis, that wealth concentrates because the returns to capital are consistently higher than economic growth, has spawned furious debate. Mr Piketty’s preferred remedy (a progressive wealth tax) even more so. But amid the argument most commentators have agreed on one thing: “Capital” is an impressive piece of scholarship. Read more of this post