Blackrock assets under management 2018

PHUKET: I used to write about the trend-following sector. Many of the funds I still use went decades with the steadiest performance in the investment industry, while still giving investors above-average returns. Sadly, in the period of low interest rates and volatility following the financial crisis, the entire asset class has struggled. The steady year-after-year forward progress seemed to turn upside down and many funds were down three out of four years after having gone decades without a single bad year. This year, however, it seems that they are back in a big way and the recent volatility in oil prices appears to have been one of the biggest causes. It doesn’t matter if the underlying commodities go down or up for this style of fund to make a good return, but there does need to be movement, and there certainly has been just that in the oil market as of late. At the time of this writing, the two major benchmarks are were off by about 38% from the 2014 highs that hit in June. … [Read more...] about Finance: Oil volatility good for asset class

- A + A KUALA LUMPUR (May 26): Asset management and infrastructure solutions company UEM Edgenta Bhd saw its net profit jump 40.5% to RM9.4 million in the first quarter ended March 31, 2022 (1QFY22) from RM6.69 million a year ago, driven by its infrastructure solutions division. This resulted in a higher earnings per share of 1.13 sen for 1QFY22 compared with 0.8 sen for 1QFY21, the company’s bourse filing on Thursday (May 26) showed. Quarterly revenue rose 11.5% to RM539.21 million, from RM483.55 million in 1QFY21. “The result of the asset management segment shows a net decrease of RM70,000, resulting from higher profit before tax [PBT] for healthcare support from new contracts which is mitigated by lower PBT for property and facility solutions due to lesser ongoing contracts. “Infrastructure solutions posted better results of RM2.9 million, an increase of RM0.7 million compared to the preceding year's corresponding quarter. The increase is mainly due to higher … [Read more...] about UEM Edgenta’s 1Q net profit jumps 41% to RM9.4 mil

- A + A KUALA LUMPUR (May 26): Mulpha International Bhd is acquiring the Capri On Via Roma shopping centre and associated marina with a combined total built up area of 11,863 square metres in Queensland, Australia for a total cash consideration of A$65.5 million (RM204.69 million). In a bourse filing, Mulpha International via its indirect wholly-owned unit Pindari Capital Capri Retail Pty Limited (PCCR) — in its capacity as trustee for Capri Retail Trust — has entered into a contract of sale with Capri On Via Roma Pty Ltd (in its capacity as trustee for Capri Enterprises Unit Trust) for the exercise. This exercise is expected to enhance the group’s property investment portfolio, with the shopping centre having a well-established tenant mix, said Mulpha International. “It is expected to be synergistic to the group’s existing portfolio, as the group will be able to leverage on its expertise in the area of food and beverage, car parking, leisure and development. The … [Read more...] about Mulpha International to buy shopping centre, associated marina in Australia for A$65.5 mil

Hopes of a trade deal breakthrough between Washington and Beijing have played a major part in driving China's benchmark stock index, the SSE Composite (000001.SS), up over 17% year to date (YTD). Therefore, it's not surprising to see the key Asian index suffer its largest one-day drop since February 2016 on Monday – a fall of 5.6% – after U.S. President Donald Trump fired off a Sunday tweet indicating that he plans to raise tariffs on $200 billion of Chinese goods to 25% on Friday because trade talks are moving too slowly. "We felt we were on track to get somewhere. Over the course of last week, we have seen an erosion of commitments by China. That in our view is unacceptable," said U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer, elaborating further on the president's social media threat, per Bloomberg . Fears across financial markets were somewhat alleviated later in the global trading day when it emerged that a Chinese delegation still planned to visit Washington on Thursday … [Read more...] about Inverse China ETFs Stage Breakout After Tariff Threat Tweet

Despite U.S. natural gas stockpiles sitting below their five-year average, the commodity's price remained depressed over the winter months due to increased production and inter-regional flows that resulted in smaller-than-normal withdrawals from storage to supply the season's heating demand. Analysts expect storage builds to remain large until the end of May and don't anticipate a supply reduction until the onset of summer heat. "We don't see this occurring for at least several more weeks, forcing the markets to patiently wait out very large guilds, and where our data suggests the next four out of five are likely to print over 100 billion cubic feet of natural gas (Bcf)," NatGasWeather said, per fxexpire.com . Although the market looks well supplied in the intermediate term, natural gas futures rose in Wednesday's trading session, as the short-term outlook for hotter-than-normal weather conditions in the southern part of the country combined with a forecast for cooler … [Read more...] about Natural Gas ETFs Break Out From Falling Wedge

Major Moves Stocks were mixed today as investors prepared for the busiest week of first quarter earnings season . By the end of the week, more than 45% of the S&P 500 will have reported their earnings and we will have a good idea for the trend of corporate performance. Risks were somewhat compounded today following news that President Trump will make another move to curtail oil exports from Iran. Currently, some oil importers like China, South Korea and Turkey have a "waiver" from the U.S. that they will not face negative consequences for doing business with Iran. President Trump plans not to renew these waivers that expire on May 2. The administration has assumed that Iran's market share can be consolidated by Saudi Arabia and other Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) nations who will increase production. Clearly, the U.S. cannot dictate production levels to OPEC, but it is reasonable to assume that if Iranian exports are reduced, Saudi Arabia will want … [Read more...] about Junk Bonds Keep Dropping as Oil Spikes

Jack Ma - A + A (May 26): Billionaire Jack Ma’s Ant Group Co. saw profit inch up in the three months to December, despite setbacks from regulatory overhauls taming the country’s fintech industry. The Hangzhou-based company contributed 7.28 billion yuan ($1.1 billion) to Alibaba Group Holding Ltd.’s earnings, a filing showed Thursday. Based on Alibaba’s one-third stake in Ant, that translates to an estimated 22.05 billion yuan in profit for Ant’s December quarter, or an 1.3% increase from a year earlier. Ant’s earnings lag a quarter behind Alibaba’s. Ant in March declared a dividend of about 3.9 billion yuan to its backers. But shareholders -- including scores of employees -- of two entities that held 50.52% of Ant pledged to keep the dividend within the firms to “better support the company as it moves forward with its business rectification and facilitate its long term sustainable development,” a company spokesperson said in an e-mailed response. Jack Ma … [Read more...] about Jack Ma’s Ant ekes out profit rise as fintech overhaul advances

PHUKET: It’s natural to experience culture shock as an expat, but the real shock comes when expats consider just how complicated proper investment or financial planning becomes after they expatriate from their home countries. Here are some of the key areas expats will need to have a plan for and likely consult with knowledgeable experts about. EXCHANGE RATE AND REMITTANCE Expats whose income is largely fixed and denominated in a currency different from that used in the country in which they are living need to have a plan for dealing with exchange rate fluctuations as well as transactional costs of having their money remitted to them. In the worst case scenario, where the exchange rate makes a big and sustained movement not in the expats’ favor, they may have to plan on making major cutbacks in living expenses or even return home. INFLATION For most expats in Phuket, their home country has low inflation and low interest rates. Expats need to tie up cash in a much … [Read more...] about Phuket Finance: An expat’s guide to the inevitable

Share to Twitter Share to Linkedin Marc Rich, the legendary commodities trader, fled the United States for Europe in 1983 after being indicted for trading Iranian oil during the 1979 hostage crisis and evading $50 million in taxes. From Switzerland, Rich continued to operate Marc Rich & Co. until selling the trading house to his protégés in 1994. By the time President Bill Clinton pardoned Rich on his last day in office in 2001, the company had been renamed Glencore International. Rich died in 2013, age 79, a billionaire and a free man—an example that Glencore’s next generation of fat cats now seek to follow. Including Rich (and his longtime right hand Pincus Green, now retired with an estimated $900 million) the company has birthed at least nine billion-dollar fortunes. The richest of the Glencore gang is former CEO Ivan Glasenberg, at $8.9 billion, according to the Forbes Real-Time Billionaire rankings. Others include Daniel Maté, 58, a metals trader … [Read more...] about Bribery Scandal To Cost Glencore $1.1 Billion, While Billionaire Execs Avoid Blame—For Now

- A + A KUALA LUMPUR (May 26): EITA Resources Bhd’s 60%-unit TransSystem Continental Sdn Bhd (TSC) has secured an RM36.25 million contract to undertake the asset replacement and refurbishment of primary and combined equipment of a 275 kV substation in Kota Setar, Kedah. TSC, together with S A Continental Sdn Bhd, received a Letter of Acceptance from Tenaga Nasional Bhd for the contract on Thursday (May 26), EITA said. The contract spans nearly 2½ years from its effective date of May 26, it said. TSC's scope of works for the contract includes the execution, implementation, financing and management of the contract, while S A Continental is responsible for the civil works for the contract, it added. This is the third substation-related contract announced by EITA this year alone, with a total contract sum of RM94.59 million. On Jan 27, EITA announced two awards from Sarawak Energy Bhd to undertake substation extension and reinforcement of supply at two substations in … [Read more...] about EITA secures third substation work in 2022 for RM36 mil