Japanese Elections

The Japanese elections have just concluded yesterday, and a major political change has taken place there. The ruling party: Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), which has been ruling for the last 50 years or so (except for a brief period in 1993) has been defeated by the main opposition: Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ).

DPJ won quite easily scoring 302 out of 480 seats in the lower house, and this comes at the back of a 70% voter turnout, which is the highest in the last two decades.

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Whom Does Ben S. Bernanke Really Work For?

This is a guest post from Taipan Publishing.

Before we get into today’s topic, a quick comment on the state of the market here and now.

There is a bit of debate going round as to whether traders should be anticipating the demise of the epic 2009 market rally… washing their hands of the nutty action entirely… or jumping back in, jack-be-nimble style, to catch a piece of the last hurrah.

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Economy and Your Finances Carnival August 30 2009

Globus Spirits IPO

IPO Open and Close Date

Globus Spirits IPO opens on the August 31st 2009, and will remain open till September 2nd.

IPO Grading

This IPO has been graded 3 out of 5 by CARE, which denotes average fundamentals.

Price Band: Globus Spirits

The issue is priced between Rs. 90 and Rs.100, and the face value of a share is Rs.10.

Business of Globus Spirits

Globus Spirits manufactures, markets and sells country liquor, Indian Made Foreign Liquor, and Industrial alcohol comprising of rectified spirit and extra – neutral alcohol. It was incorporated in 1993, and its registered office is in New Delhi.

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Interesting Reads 29 August 2009

Here are some great reads from the blogosphere this week:

What are your guilty pleasures @ MoneyNing

How to sell your house fast @ Moolanomy

Are financial planners just good salespeople or also good planners? @ Vilkri

401 (k) Limits to Decrease in 2010 @ Five Cent Nickel

Repair bad credit , avoid the scams @ The Digerati Life

Lending Club Review @ The Smarter Wallet

Can you afford to stay at home @ Jessie’s Money

Carnival

Money Hacks Carnival

SBI Mutual Fund

Here is a brief of various equity mutual funds from SBI.

Open Ended SBI  Mutual Fund

SBI Magnum COMMA Fund: This an open ended mutual fund which primarily invests in stocks of companies that invest in the commodity business like oil and gas, metals, materials and agriculture.

SBI Magnum Equity Fund: This is an open ended mutual fund that looks at getting investors capital appreciation by primarily investing in stocks of high growth companies.

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NHPC IPO allotment details are out

NHPC IPO allotment details are out, and can be found on Karvy’s website.

Business Line has good data on the application to allotment ratio. This story has a table that shows you how many shares were allotted to you given your application. But, the table in the story is just indicative, and you should check your allotment against your own application number.

NHPC IPO’s listing is expected in the first week of September. It will be listed on 1st September.

Peter Lynch: Cocktail Theory

Peter Lynch has been one of the most successful investors and fund managers of all times and his book: ONE UP ON WALL STREET is a terrific and delightful book. Not only is the book a fine example of the wit, experience and knowledge; it is an easy read, and you can breeze through it.

Anyone who is serious about investing and can spare the cash must read it. This post discusses one delightful theory that Peter Lynch discusses, and I am sure if we look hard enough we can find similar examples from our daily life and relate to what he is saying.

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Asia ETF List

Last week’s post on Sri Lanka brought in some comments and emails about ways to invest in Sri Lanka and other Asian countries.

While I couldn’t find any ETFs that invest in Sri Lanka; here are a few ETFs that invest in other Asian countries. This list doesn’t include Japan and China because I plan to do a post on them separately.

Asia ETFs

These are ETFs that invest in Asia as a category:

iShares S&P 50 Asia Index Fund (AIA): This fund invests in stocks belonging to the S&P Asia 50 Index.

iShares MSCI All Asia Country ex Japan Index Fund (AAXJ): As the name suggests, this Asia ETF invests in stocks of the index that is composed of stocks from across Asia, but exclude Japan.

Vietnam ETF

Vaneck Vietnam ETF (VNM): This is an ETF that gives you exposure to stocks that are publicly listed in Vietnam or generate at least 50% of their revenues from Vietnam.

Hong Kong ETF

iShares MSCI Hong Kong (EWH): This Asia ETF invests in publicly traded companies in Hong Kong.

Malaysia ETF

iShares MSCI Malaysia Index Fund (EWM): EWM Malaysia ETF invests in publicly traded companies in Malaysia.

South Korea ETF

iSharse MSCI South Korea Index Fund (EWY): EWY lets you take positions in South Korea by investing in publicly traded companies in South Korea.

Singapore ETF

iShares MSCI Singapore Index ETF (EWS): This ETF invests in publicly listed companies in Singapore.

Taiwan ETF

iShares MSCI Taiwan Index Fund (EWT): EWT invests in publicly listed companies in Taiwan.

Thailand ETF

iShares MSCI Thailand Investible Market Index (THD): THD seeks to measure the performance of the Thai equity index, and is a capitalization weighted index.

Indonesia ETF

Indonesia Index ETF (IDX): This is a Van Eck ETF that has been launched recently. It invests in companies that are domiciled and primarily listed in Indonesia, or generate at least 50% of their revenues from Indonesia.

Indonesia Close Ended Fund

Credit Suisse Indonesia Fund (IF): This is a close ended fund that invests in Indonesia, by taking positions in the public equity markets of Indonesia.

Russia ETF

Vaneck Russia ETF (RSX): RSX invests in stocks that are domiciled in Russia or get the majority of their revenue from Russia.

India ETFs are listed here.

Will you ask a question that shows your ignorance?

My friend is looking to rent an apartment, and I went with him to check out a new place last Sunday. His new rent is 633 dollars, and they promised him 300 dollars off the first month’s rent, when he inquired over the phone. He is planning to move in the new place on October 1st, because his current lease ends on the 30th September.

When we went to check out the place on Sunday, the lady there said that they had another special going, and if he moved by September 12th; the first month’s rent will be free.

We tried to calculate which option would work out cheaper in our heads; but couldn’t. The nice lady said that she will do the math for us, and then went to her computer, ran some numbers, and came out with two print outs.

What I saw next completely amazed me. The print outs had detailed calculation of what he’d need to pay for the next couple of months, which included a security deposit, processing fee and one or two other items.

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