Free Republic

China Evergrande, mainland China’s largest property developer by sales volume, has been under pressure lately from investors dumping its stocks and bonds on fears that the company—a bellwether for China’s real estate sector—is in dire financial straits.The developer is highly indebted, and its ongoing troubles could signal upcoming pain for other highly levered Chinese companies as the world’s No. 2 economy suffers from a prolonged economic growth slowdown.Evergrande’s woes—its common stock fell 9.5 percent and the price of its $1.2 billion offshore bond due June 28, 2021 dropped 4.1 percent to $87.51—on Sept. 25 were the result of a document...

Just sharing this with you because it is something I need to learn how to do more often. and more importantly, do it. If you don't have an account with Schwab or other zero commission broker, you need to get one. The pattern is basically this: (1) Watch a few (probably no more than 3 dozen) stocks which (a)trade a lot, (b)have some strong swings, (c)are basically good investments. (2) When news happens which causes a unusual swing (40% in this case, 5% in a more typical case), take the opposite position as the market because such swings are almost...

Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden’s plan to increase the capital gains tax could lead to a large-scale sell-off of stocks, according to economic analyses. As part of his $4 trillion tax plan, Biden has proposed increasing the top tax rate for capital gains for the highest earners to 39.6% from 23.8%, the largest real increase in capital gains rates in history. Economic analyses show that capital gains tax hikes cause a burst of stock-selling in advance of the increase, as investors look to lock in the lower existing tax rates before they rise. A research paper by Tim Dowd, a...

I like to stay abreast of prices. Looking at the Aircraft Sales Online website, I saw an asking price for a 2003 Cessna 172S of over $175,000 and only 16 172s for sale, usually there are dozens. On trade-a-plane, I see newer 172s going for over $400,000! Does anyone know why the vast and sudden increase in price and drop in the number of used GA aircraft for sale?

AAPL -0.12% SPX +0.20% DJIA +0.27% MSFT +0.30% Apple’s 4-for-1 stock split goes into effect at the close of trading Friday. In theory, stock splits like this one don’t mean much. If today you own 100 shares worth $500 each, on Monday you will have 400 shares worth $125 each. But it turns out that splits matter more than you’d logically think. The last Apple (ticker: AAPL) split was 7-for-1, in June 2014. There were 2-for-1 splits in February 2005, June 2000, and May 1987. Had Apple never split the stock, the current share price would be around $28,000. Apple...

FIRE (Financial Independence, Retire Early), a flourishing lifestyle movement, has crept its way into mainstream culture throughout the past decade. As we've seen the pandemic spark a renewed push for people to create more autonomy in their lives, there is continued debate about the most sensible way to invest if FIRE is your goal. Real estate proponents advocate for potentially robust monthly cash flow, price appreciation, and tax advantages, whereas index fund adherents cite minimal expenses, a lack of constant oversight, and efficient trading as reasons to invest. In reality, there are benefits to both strategies, which might lead you...

More than a dozen Chinese financial institutions, mainly trust companies, loaned 20 billion yuan ($2.8 billion) over the past five years to Wuhan Kingold Jewelry Inc. with pure gold as collateral and insurance policies to cover any losses. Kingold is the largest privately owned gold processor in central China's Hubei province. Its shares are listed on the Nasdaq stock exchange in New York. The company is led by Chairman Jia Zhihong, an intimidating ex-military man who is the controlling shareholder. What could go wrong? Well, plenty, as at least some of 83 tons of gold bars used as collateral turned...

Jeremy Grantham: ‘My confidence is rising quite rapidly that this is, in fact, becoming the fourth, real McCoy, bubble of my investment career. The great bubbles can go on a long time and inflict a lot of pain but at least I think we know now that we’re in one. And the chutzpah involved in having a bubble at a time of massive economic and financial uncertainty is substantial.’ "A market that may be the most bubblicious he’s seen in his storied career." "Grantham is worth paying attention to due to his prescient calls over the years. He said that...

given current uncertainties (in which one could include the potential for war with china over hk or tw), what should a prudent stock strategy be? givens: * recently invested in sp 500 index fund last december; currently hurting at -4.29%. perceived background: * lots of stimulus money sloshing around (?) where is all of that stimulus money ending up(?) * tensions with china and an apparent ongoing deep state aversion to trump's re-election asking for a friend

Twitter, Inc. (TWTR) shares fell more than 2% off of their reaction highs earlier this week after President Trump announced plans for an executive order that would enable regulators to rethink Section 230 – a law designed to protect tech companies from third-party content liability. The move comes shortly after Twitter flagged one of the president's tweets about mail-in voting fraud with a fact-checking label, drawing a bout of criticism. While the executive order would mark an escalation in Trump's war against tech companies, the implementation would be up to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and the Federal Trade Commission...

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has committed millions of dollars to research treatments and vaccines for COVID-19 as the pandemic continues to spread across the globe. Those endeavors are now fueling a lot of conspiracy theories. Of course even Bill Gates made some strange comments that fueled those conspiracy theories. Back in March he said, the country needs to go much further with a longer, coordinate shutdown to effectively turn back the spread of the disease. “We’re entering to a tough period that if we do it right we’ll only have to do it once, for six to 10...

The U.S. Senate approved legislation Wednesday that would require companies listed on stock exchanges to certify they aren’t under the control of a foreign government.It specifically takes aim at companies based in China that could be working under the influence of the Communist government in Beijing.The news sent shares of Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. (NYSE: BABA) tumbling Wednesday. Shares were down another 3% through afternoon trading Thursday.Lawmakers have expressed concern that American money is funding Chinese efforts to dominate fields from artificial intelligence to internet data collection.“I do not want to get into a new Cold War,”...

Leading Trump administration officials on May 11 moved to block further investment by U.S. federal retirement funds into Chinese equities that “present significant national security and humanitarian concerns,” reported FOX Business. National Economic Council Chair Larry Kudlow and National Security Adviser Robert O’Brien addressed a letter to U.S. Labor Secretary Eugene Scalia on Monday detailing the Trump administration’s wishes. The letter obtained by FOX Business outlined the Trump administration’s objections to the Thrift Savings Plan (TSP)—the federal government’s retirement savings fund—investing in Chinese companies. According to the news outlet, the funds total some $4 billion in assets. The letter stated,...

Are we near the bottom or on a ledge? I put a few thousand into each of 10 Fidelity mutual funds but still have about ¾ of my 'gambling money' sitting idle. After one week I'm up about 5%, but DANG are the knees ever shaking. C'mon steely-eyed gamblers, give your FRiends some advice!

embers of the United States military are inadvertently funding the rise of their biggest 21st Century adversary — China — through their retirement savings, Army Green Beret and Congressman Mike Waltz (R-FL) warned in an interview this week. About $50 billion from the 401k-style plan that U.S. troops put their savings into is invested in an index that includes Chinese firms, some of which build weapons systems for the Chinese military, he said in an interview with Breitbart News on Wednesday. “It’s insane,” he said. “This is the most dangerous adversary we have ever faced.”Waltz said in a video he...

Military pensions are important, and it's natural that the agencies investing them would want to get them the best possible returns. But a new report from John Solomon's JustTheNews site suggests that something a little disturbing is going on: U.S. military and other federal pensions are apparently going to be invested Chinese entities if a new investment setup goes through. Christine Dolan of JustTheNews writes: In November 2017, FRTIB Chairman Michael Kennedy, who is Managing Director of Korn/Ferry International, and his board decided to change $50 billion in U.S. government retirement funds to a new global investment index known...

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and her husband are cashing in already on $5 million of Amazon stock purchased during the time frame that closed-door coronavirus meetings were being conducted in Congress. As of Tuesday morning, the Pelosi stock purchase had already earned the couple $1.1 million in less than 10 weeks. The Amazon share price climbed close to $2,000 on Tuesday. Paul Pelosi, the speaker’s husband, got in at a price of $1,600 per share and grabbed 3,000 shares on Jan. 17, according to financial disclosure filings. Additionally, Paul Pelosi held 40 additional call options on Amazon stock...

WASHINGTON - “Like grave robbers opening King Tut’s tomb, Congress can’t wait to get its hands on America’s retirement account assets,” the Wall Street Journal warned taxpayers last year. The warning was contained in an article written by Philip DeMuth, author of “The Overtaxed Investor: Slash Your Tax Bill and Be a Tax Alpha Dog.” He was writing about the House-passed Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement Act, known by its less than honest acronym, “SECURE.” If you have laid aside investment funds for your kids to inherit to help them out after you’ve passed away, there will be...

The coronavirus pandemic is shutting down entire sectors of the economy and putting millions of Americans out of work, but one corner of Wall Street may find opportunity amid the carnage: private equity. Private equity firms have been stockpiling cash in recent years as rising markets made it harder for them to invest, accumulating a record pile of “dry powder” for deals. The industry typically buys undervalued companies with borrowed money, taking them private to spruce up operations for an eventual sale. The high company valuations that kept them at bay collapsed this month amid widespread business closures and quarantines...

Rep. Jim Banks (R-Ind.) on Thursday said that he has written a letter to California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) to voice concerns over the state's public pension fund chief and his connections with China. The Indiana congressman is calling out the California Public Employees' Retirement System (CalPERS), the largest state pension fund in the U.S., for allegedly investing in numerous select blacklisted Chinese companies that manufacture military products. The California-based fund invested $3.1 billion into 172 different Chinese companies, Banks said in an appearance on Fox Business Network. He said that some of the companies invested in have been blacklisted...