At an investors conference call yesterday, Indira Nooyi, the chief executive of PepsiCo, said she expects the ‘age of thrift’ in consumer spending to continue into next year. As consumers in the developed world are placing value at the top of their agendas, the company’s efforts in the future will be on developing lower priced […]
Asian Chemical Connections
Chemical execs go long on realism
Offsetting the risk of being over-optimistic? Source of picture: thetradingpit.net MAYBE there should futures contracts in realism versus recklessness. That way any senior company executive who wants to take a punt on next year being better than 2009 can offset the risk by going “realistic” on the futures markets – and, of course, vice […]
China’s Renewed Deflation Threat
“THIS IS RIDICULOUS. I WAS SITTING AROUND UNSOLD FOR MONTHS AND THEN WAS FORCED TO JOIN A SANTA FLEET-HIRE SCHEME. HOW HUMILIATING” Source of picture: www.diytrade.com BEWARE the prophets of recovery in exports of Chinese manufactured goods during the current Christmas buying season. Labour markets in the key export-processing provinces, such as Guangdong, are reported […]
A Generational Shift In Attitudes To Debt?
Britain’s last generational shift: The 1980s Miners Strike: Source of picture: www.wsws.org My late parents hated even the concept of debt – let alone the insanely irresponsible error of actually borrowing money. This is not surprising as my father could remember, when he was a boy, queuing for free food handouts during the Great Depression. My […]
Waiting for the cheques to clear….
…..and a January collapse PERHAPS commodity and equity markets will continue to keep denying the weak fundamentals until bonus cheques for fund managers etc have been signed and are in the bank. Fund managers, because of the way they are benchmarked, will be desperate to stick close to the performance of stock market indices, said […]
Thai project delays good news for markets, but…..
….what do these environmental issues mean for Thailand as an investment destination? The Map Ta Phut refinery-petrochemicals complex Source of picture: Pattaya News By Malini Hariharan (Malini is now joint blogger for Asian Chemical Connections) Here’s yet another unexpected project delay that could prop up markets in the fourth quarter. […]
Challenges for chemicals trading in Q4
The views of two Singapore-based chemicals traders explain some of the fundamental shifts in production, logistics and demand since the economic crisis began. “I have done reasonable business this year and made quite good returns, but volumes are way down,” said the first of these two traders, who deals in toluene and mixed xylenes (MX). “Cracker-based […]
Is the risk of staying long worth it?
Source of picture: Time.com Yesterday I talked about lack of willingness by western banks to lend money because their focus was on rebuilding reserves. But Steven Major, Global Head of HSBC’s Fixed Income Strategy Team, puts a different spin on the problem. In the Fragile Recovery video from the Financial Times’ View […]
“It’s the level, stupid – it’s not the growth rates….”
…..said Mervyn King, governor of the Bank of England Source of picture: northbriton45blogspot.com ANY excitement over US house-price figures for July – which showed the biggest monthly gain for years when they were released yesterday – has to be put into the kind of context that undermines a lot of recent positive economic numbers. The […]
We are heading for $45 a barrel crude this year
SWIMMING IN OIL? Source of Picture: fashionfunky.com The threat posed by Iran test-firing its Shahab-3 missiles and a rally in US equities on increased M& activity in the drug and technology industries pushed crude slightly higher yesterday after last week’s steep declines. This is yet further evidence that the oil market is […]
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