Stocks & Equities
Chinese shares listed in Hong Kong outperformed markets in the mainland and most of Asia ex-Japan on Friday, as strength in growth-sensitive stockshelped the H-share index have its biggest weekly gain in nearly two years.
The China Enterprises Index of the top Chinese listings finished up 1 percent on the day and up 7 percent on the week, its biggest weekly rise since early December 2011. H-shares are now trading at their biggest premium over A-shares in three years.
The Hang Seng Index was up 0.5 percent at 23,696.3 points and up 2.9 percent for the week, but was just shy of the year’s intra-day high at 23,944.7.
Shares of Fosun Pharmaceutical and its parent Fosun International tumbled on speculation the chairman of the parent company was under investigation, but their falls for the day were pared after Fosun International said the rumor was baseless.
Investors are pouring more money into U.S. stock mutual funds than they have in 13 years, enticed by a market nearing record highs and stung by bond losses that would deepen if interest rates rise further. Stock funds gained $172 billion in the year’s first 10 months, the largest amount since they netted $272 billion in all of 2000, according to Morningstar Inc. (MORN) estimates. With most of the cash going to international funds, domestic equity deposits are the highest since 2004. The move marks a reversal from the four years through 2012, when investors put $1 trillion into fixed income as the financial crisis drove many to redeem shares and miss out on profits as Standard & Poor’s 500 Index almost tripled from its low. Rare losses this year in core bond portfolios, coupled with a 25 percent gain in the S&P 500, spurred a switch back to equities that some professionals call risky performance chasing. “The timing of retail investors tends to be terrible,” said Jonathan Pond, an independent financial adviser in Newton, Mass. New fund deposits may be a contrarian indicator to show when a market is nearing a top, he said.
….more HERE
I mention alternative energy infrequently. Mostly because I’m not convinced much of the sector is investable.
One possible exception being geothermal.
Speakers at the GeoPower Latin America Conference this week in Santiago, Chile revealed some insights about the sector. Showing that it could be a viable source of baseload power. Almost.
Several industry presenters noted that geothermal plants work well once up and running. Power is available most of the time, at competitive operating costs.
The problem pointed to by all of these experts is development costs.
Drilling exploration test wells for a prospective geothermal project is expensive. These are wide-diameter holes, that require an array of specialized completions.
The whole process is somewhat akin to oil-well drilling. But unfortunately the geothermal drilling sector isn’t nearly as developed as its sister services industry in the petroleum business.
The reason is scale. Oil and gas is a big enough business that it attracts a lot of services companies. Creating intense competition and driving down costs.
But geothermal drilling is an incredibly small space. Especially today, when geothermal power is a completely new idea in many of the places globally where investors have been trying to establish projects.
This is a chicken-and-egg challenge. Geothermal developers need more services companies in order to make projects profitable. And services firms need enough projects to warrant setting up shop.
That’s a tough dilemma to solve. It may mean that geothermal will only take root in places with very high power prices–the type that can lure capital into project developments. Countries like Chile and South Africa might be candidates.
But until there are some definitive answers on this front, the sector will languish. We’ll see what the world comes up with.
Here’s to recognizing the barriers to entry,
Fiat SpA (F) is set to gain the upper hand in negotiations to buy a health-care trust’s holding in Chrysler Group LLC if the final value for the American carmaker remains around the level currently being discussed.
Bank advisers are considering a valuation of about $10 billion for Chrysler, people with knowledge of the matter said. That would make the 41.5 percent of Chrysler owned by theUnited Auto Workers trust worth $4.15 billion, less than what analysts have expected Fiat to pay.
The trust and Fiat — Chrysler’s majority shareholder — are disputing the company’s value as Sergio Marchionne, chief executive officer of both carmakers, seeks to buy the UAW’s stake. The trust is working to determine whether to sell its holding to Fiat directly or press forward with an initial public offering as soon as next month, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the information is private.
“It’s going in Marchionne’s direction,” said Sascha Gommel, a Frankfurt-based analyst at Commerzbank. “It’s in the interest of both parties to avoid an IPO. In the end, the most likely scenario is that Fiat takes the remaining stake.”
Fiat gained as much as 14 cents, or 2.3 percent, to 6.01 euros and was up 0.7 percent as of 11:45 a.m. in Milan trading today. The stock has climbed 56 percent this year, valuing the Italian automaker at 7.4 billion euros ($10 billion).
Investment banks working on the IPO have considered a range from $9 billion to $16 billion, said one of the people. The advisers are currently focusing on a range of about $10 billion to $11 billion for the IPO, said another person. Talks are fluid and the final number could change.
Valuations
…..more HERE







