China

Last November, I announced my intention to create a portfolio of 10 companies that investors had effectively thrown away and given up on, in the hope of showing that deep-value investing, and contrarian thinking, can actually be a very successful investing method. I dubbed this the "One Person's Trash Is Another Person's Treasure" portfolio and, over a 10-week span, I highlighted companies that I thought fit this bill and would expect to drastically outperform the benchmark S&P 500 over the coming 12 months. If you're interested in the reasoning behind why I chose these companies, then I encourage you to review my synopsis of each portfolio selection: Now, let's get to the portfolio and see how it fared this week: Company Cost Basis Shares Total Value Return Exelon $31.25 31.68 $1,096.13 10.7% QLogic $11.46 86.39 $815.52 (17.6%) Dendreon $5.97 165.82 $654.99 (33.8%) Dell $13.37 74.05 $990.05 0% Staples $13.48 73.44 $1,114.08 12.5% Arkansas Best $10.83 91.41 $1,624.36 64.1% Arch Coal $7.03 140.83 $750.62 (24.2%) Skullcandy $6.71 147.54 $829.17 (16.2%) France Telecom $11.64 85.05 $891.32 (10%) Xerox $8.16 121.32 $1,068.83 8% Cash     $0.06   Dividends receivable     $42.56   Total commission     ($100.00)   Original investment     $10,000.00       S&P 500 performance       10.2% Performance relative to S&P 500       (11.4%) Source: Yahoo! Finance. This week's winner Supplanting trucking company Arkansas Best -- which has shot to the moon on takeover speculation and a resolution with its union -- was coal miner Arch Coal . Arch tacked on 7.5% this week following an article from Forbes on Monday that highlighted the company's attempt to forge export partnerships on the West Coast of the U.S. to Asia-Pacific nations like China that have a big demand for thermal coal for electricity-generating purposes. Both India and China are still very early in their industrialization process and the need for coal in these regions is expected to remain robust for at least the next decade, playing perfectly into Arch's strategy. This week's loser On the other side of the coin was networking equipment maker QLogic , which tanked 4.8% on the week after disclosing that its CEO, Simon Biddiscombe, had resigned on Friday. In the interim, QLogic's CFO, Jean Hu, will be the acting CEO. Anytime the management of a company changes, it provides a level of uncertainty that's bound to unnerve investors. I'd urge current shareholders (of which I'm one) to remember that QLogic has been consistently profitable for years, has $5 in net cash per share, and is poised to benefit from higher infrastructure spending. Patience will pay off here! Also in the news... In this week's episode of "Dells of our Lives," we were privy to the company's first-quarter earnings results -- and here's a hint: They weren't good. Revenue at Dell's laptop segment sank 16% while overall PC-related sales tumbled 9%. Somehow, thanks to growth in its IT segment, Dell was able to deliver a market-topping $14.1 billion in revenue; however, adjusted EPS was only $0.21, which was well below the $0.35 in EPS the Street was expecting. On the offer front, Dell has requested additional information about Carl Icahn's offer, but it certainly appears, following these results, that current shareholders may be more willing to "talk turkey" if it ensures that a buyout occurs. The story was somewhat similar for office supply chain Staples , which reported its first-quarter results on Tuesday. But, unlike with Dell, investors seem quite pleased with the company's progress in combating online competition. Even with weakness seen in Europe and Australia during the quarter, Staples held to its full-year EPS forecast and plans to utilize its direct-to-consumer operations as the backbone for its future growth prospects.

Fear is rising again in debt-plagued Europe. After signs of optimism had grown around European markets, this week's renewed concerns of a global slowdown have hit Europe's stocks hard. Germany's DAX fell sharply on Thursday, finishing out the week down more than 1% despite strong gains on Wednesday. Germany's economy has managed to pull ahead of its contracting European neighbors, but even Europe's industrial heart has felt a blow from the recession still lingering across the continent. Economic concerns spread across businessesGermany's Bundesbank sounded optimistic earlier in the week, predicting a potential turnaround in construction and consumption later in the year that could spark a recovery in Europe's largest economy, which grew just 0.1% in the first quarter. However, German leadership still sees business investment as elusive, and even the Bundesbank estimates that the country's economy will grow just 0.5% this year. That's better than most economies on the continent, but hardly a sign of a long-term rise on the way. Fear over slowing export growth has businesses holding back on investing more. The country's DIHK commerce chamber revealed that thousands of German businesses polled were concerned that export demand would fall, particularly as the Euro has remained strong against other depreciating currencies such as the yen. While the yen's rapid decline has already fueled export growth, German exports are predicted to rise just 2% this year -- a slower rate than in previous years. Until businesses are confident, investment will be limited, and Germany's economic turnaround will continue to creep forward at a snail's pace. Those concerns -- as well as fears over a global economic slowdown after China released poor manufacturing data and U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke hinted at the possibility of reduced Fed bond-buying soon -- sparked a retreat in Germany's financial sector on Friday. Shares of Commerzbank fell 2.4%, hurt even more when JPMorgan downgraded shares of the German bank to "neutral" and cut its price target. Commerzbank recently launched a plan to raise another 2.5 billion euros in capital in response to regulatory pressure to pay back an 18 billion euro bailout granted in 2009. However, Commerzbank and many of its fellow European financial institutions are still exposed to risky holdings in unstable economies such as Spain and Greece. Deutsche Bank also dropped with Germany's financial sector, with shares falling 3.2%. The firm posted a strong first quarter that saw net income rise year over year, but like Commerzbank, Deutsche Bank is still on the lookout to increase capital in order to guard against exactly the kind of slowdown investors panicked about earlier in the week. The firm's leadership said at its annual meeting this week that the bank is on pace with cost-cutting measures, but so long as Europe remains mired in a slump, Deutsche Bank and other European financial institutions will be vulnerable. It was a better week for German stocks outside the financial sphere. German chemical and pharmaceutical maker Bayer rose 0.8% after it received good news from a late-stage trial of its riociguat therapy for treating high blood pressure. Bayer predicts the drug could hit peak sales of nearly $650 million, and the firm has already submitted it to European and American regulators for approval. Are American companies the best overseas investments?Are you looking to diversify your portfolio geographically but unsure where to start? Profiting from our increasingly global economy can be as easy as investing in the U.S. of A. The Motley Fool's free report "3 American Companies Set to Dominate the World" shows you how. Click here to get your free copy before it's gone.

Just a few weeks ago we gave readers news about some leaked specs and an image of the Huawei Ascend P6. Today we have a leaked official photo of the Ascend P6 to show you and it’s looking like a very stylishly designed handset that we think many people could be tempted by. There have been claims this will be the world’s thinnest smartphone but we seem to hear news all of the time latest about the ‘world’s thinnest.’ For example the Ascend P6 is supposedly 6.18mm thick but we recently heard about the UMeox X5 that’s currently being developed and is supposed to be only 5.6mm thick. We’re not sure the title of ‘world’s thinnest smartphone’ is that important as either way this is a very sleek and extremely slim device. You can see the official render of the Huawei P6 phone here in the pink or black color options and it will also be available in white. It’s anticipated that it will be officially introduced at a Huawei press conference taking place in London on June 18, so not too much longer to wait. Specs are said to include a 1.5GHz Hisilicon K3V2 quad-core processor, a 4.7-inch display with resolution of 1280 x 720 and 312 ppi, 2GB of RAM and 32GB of internal storage. There’s also an 8-megapixel rear camera and a 2-megapixel front-facing camera and it runs the Android 4.1.2 Jelly Bean operating system. Dimensions we’ve already seen leaked are 132.6mm x 65.5mm x 6.18mm and it weighs 120g. Although Huawei hasn’t yet officially announced the Huawei P6 the leaked image came from Evleaks and this source has come up with a lot of genuine leaked images lately. It also ties in with earlier leaked images so it does look likely to be the real deal. Hopefully we’ll learn more about the Huawei Ascend P6 at the London event and we’ll pass that news on to you as we hear it. Are you hoping the Huawei Ascend P6 will release in your region? What is it about this phone that most appeals to you? Let us know by sending us your comments. Via: Engadget China (Google Translated)

By Julie Hammond, CFA In 300 BCE, Euclid developed the concept of mathematical “proofs” using deductive reasoning to uncover truth. Several thousand years later, in his search for economic truth, Grant Williams, portfolio manager and strategy adviser for Singapore-based Vulpes Investment Management, laid out four mathematical “proofs” at the 66th CFA Institute Annual Conference that address the disconnects and incongruities between financial markets and the global economy. Problem #1 : If we have a global economy that is barely growing, why are major equity markets hitting all-time highs? With the global economy limping along at 1.4% growth, Williams identified the disconnects between the underlying fundamentals and equity prices in major countries. Manufacturing and trade indicators (in the United States, the eurozone, United Kingdom, Japan and China) are stalling, including the Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI), the Baltic Dry Index, and the U.S. Macro Index. About 25% of

The Hangover Part III Director: Todd Phillips Screenwriters: Todd Phillips, Craig Mazin Cast: Bradley Cooper, Ed Helms, Zach Galifianakis, Ken Jeong, Heather Graham, Justin Bartha, John Goodman, Mike Epps Warner Bros. Pictures Rated R | 100 Minutes Release Date: May 24, 2013 Directed by Todd Phillips, The Hangover Part III picks up two years after the events of Part II. Phil (Bradley Cooper), Stu (Ed Helms), and Doug (Justin Bartha) are living peaceful lives at home with their families. As for Alan (Zach Galifianakis), the Wolfpack's own personal Fat Jesus is in need of an intervention after the sudden death of his father (Jeffrey Tambor). Who better than his three best friends to take him to New Horizons, a mental health treatment facility in Arizona, to get his life together. Meanwhile, Leslie "Chinese Nuts" Chow (Ken Jeong) escapes from a Thai prison in a scene straight out of Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol. The Wolfpack's trip to Arizona is derailed by a run-in with a drug kingpin named Marshall (John Goodman) and his henchmen, including “Black Doug” (Mike Epps) from the first film. Marshall demands the guys find and bring him Mr. Chow, who double-crossed him, keeping "White Doug" as collateral [...]

...Review: "Strange Stones: Dispatches from the East and West," by Peter Hessler

59% of those polled view Germany positively, with 55% having warm fuzzies when they think of Canada or the UK. Everyone hates Iran, North Korea and Pakistan. The USA sits mid-table, more liked than not. China, India and Japan are the big slumpers, for some reason, compared to previous polls. [BBC]

Happy Friday! There are more good news articles, commentaries, and analyst reports on the Web every week than anyone could read in a month. Here are eight fascinating ones I read this week. Good work if you can get itBason Asset Management discusses the curious fees of financial advisors: The business of investment advice is a strange one. The leading model of advisor fees results in high net worth investors paying high fees simply based on their ability to pay, and not related to the services they receive. An investor with $5,000,000 who meets with his advisor once a year will pay ten times as much as a demanding investor with $500,000 who sees an advisor every quarter. InsightJosh Brown shares his notes from a conference with Mohamed El-Erian of Pimco: When you watch CNBC, what you hear most of the day is to buy this investment because relatively speaking it is cheaper than that one." Everyone seems to be playing this same relative game and "you almost never hear someone recommending something because it is strong on its own." [El-Erian] talks about the central bank liquidity trade as though it's a massive wave that everyone is surfing... "As investors, there are two types of mistakes we can make. Type 1 is we wait in the water for the perfect wave, which never appears and we miss a lot of other waves go by without us. Type 2 is jump on this central bank wave and we don't think about what happens when this wave breaks or crashes over us." PIMCO is more comfortable making the Type 1 error is the point. Fooling yourselfBarry Ritholtz analyzes investor biases around market moves: Bears see the intraday reversal such as Wednesday as a very significant change in tone; Bulls see a comeback such as Thursday as proof of a Japanese overreaction to weak China economic news, that was not applicable to the U.S. ... My key takeaway is that the cognitive bias is immense. Most of the attempts we see to interpret short or even intermediate term market action are often overwhelmingly filled with rationalizations of existing positions. Be aware of the tendency to let Narratives obscure the data. Friends in the right placesThe Financial Times breaks down Apple's tax structure: One of Apple's Irish subsidiaries paid a tax rate of just 0.05 per cent in 2011, according to the committee. Yet other offshore entities did not even pay that much. A unit called Apple Operations International, which has had no employees in its 30-year history and funnelled $30bn of payments between Apple units in 2009-2012, filed no corporation tax returns at all over the past five years. The anomaly was due to a loophole that enabled it to claim not to be resident in any country for tax purposes, since it was incorporated in Ireland but managed from the US, avoiding the need to file in either country. We don't need no educationThe Wall Street Journal looks at the sad state of public education: U.S. public-education spending per student fell in 2011 for the first time in more than three decades, according to new U.S. Census Bureau data issued Tuesday. Spending for elementary and high schools across the 50 states and Washington, D.C. averaged $10,560 per pupil in the fiscal year ended June 30, 2011. That was down 0.4% from 2010, the first drop since the bureau began collecting the data on an annual basis in 1977, the agency said Tuesday. Looking upFed chairman Ben Bernanke talks about the future: First, innovation, almost by definition, involves ideas that no one has yet had, which means that forecasts of future technological change can be, and often are, wildly wrong. A safe prediction, I think, is that human innovation and creativity will continue; it is part of our very nature. Another prediction, just as safe, is that people will nevertheless continue to forecast the end of innovation. The famous British economist John Maynard Keynes observed as much in the midst of the Great Depression more than 80 years ago. He wrote then, "We are suffering just no

My colleague Dan Caplinger noted this morning that the markets are trading lower on little negative news, but the fresh memory of Ben Bernanke's testimony and the prospect of reduced Fed bond-buying are weighing on investors' minds. The fear that cheap money will soon be a thing of the past is likely what's causing the markets to drop today. As of 12:45 p.m. EDT the Dow Jones Industrial Average has fallen 31 points, or 0.2%, to 15,263. The S&P 500 is down by 0.36%, and the NASDAQ has fallen 0.3%. Let's take a look at a few of the Dow's biggest losers today. Shares of Hewlett-Packard are down 2.3% this afternoon. Shares rose 17.1% yesterday after the company announced expectation-beating quarterly earnings, and today's decline likely owes to nothing more than profit-taking. Yesterday's jump was enough to make many market participants consider selling, but because the stock is up 70.9% year to date, the move to lock in profits is a no-brainer for investors who are in it for short-term gains. For long-term buy-and-hold investors, today's move lower should be of no concern. So long as the quarterly report met your expectations, continue to hold on, because this stock will likely be in for a bumpy ride the next few quarters.  Despite announcing a $0.77 per-share quarterly dividend yesterday, McDonald's is down 1% today. However, shares could be moving lower because of news from yesterday: During the company's annual shareholder meeting, CEO Don Thompson had to defend his company against comments that McDonald's food is contributing to the obesity problem in America. Some critics have even pointed out that the company's marketing strategy -- including its mascot, Ronald McDonald -- has contributed to childhood obesity.  Caterpillar may still be on investors' bad side: Shares have fallen 0.9% today, even though the Department of Commerce reported a 3.3% increase in orders for manufactured goods. Although today's report indicates the U.S. economy is growing stronger, yesterday's Chinese industrial-purchasing numbers were weak, and in order for Caterpillar grow, the company needs a number of major markets to be healthy. Investors already have low expectations for Europe, but now that China is weakening, projections for Caterpillar's revenue and profit may soon decline More on McDonald'sMcDonald's turned in a dismal year in 2012, underperforming the broader market by 25%. Looking ahead, can the Golden Arches reclaim its throne atop the restaurant industry, or will this unsettling trend continue? Our top analyst weighs in on McDonald's future in a recent premium report on the company. Click here now to find out whether a buying opportunity has emerged for this global juggernaut.

.ra1-pw.ra1-pw-classicWidget.ra1-pw_size_large.ra1-pw-vertical { position: fixed !important; left: 5px !important; top: 40% !important; } @media only screen and (max-width : 1024px) { .ra1-pw.ra1-pw-classicWidget.ra1-pw_size_large.ra1-pw-vertical { display: none !important; } } Been to China lately? I have. Although the Shanghai Auto Show was a bit dull, the real story was on the streets of smaller cities throughout China that are dominated by factories, constant building of high-rises, and a crazy mix of everything automotive from junk to gems. With over one billion people, you would expect a large array of car choices. That would be correct for the rising middle class, plenty of VWs and the like to go around. For the bosses and factory owners however, the choices are considerably narrower due to effective advertising and a dose of peer pressure. Will you see a gold wrapped Lamborghini like you would in Dubai? No, not yet at least. You will see however, a convoy of Benzes, Bimmers, and a Bentley. You will see a Rolls Royce parked next to a Yaris. You will see a Ferrari next to a fake Ferrari. How could I tell them apart you may ask? The fake one had an enormous wing on the back that was also riveted on – backwards no less. The question is, which was more disturbing, that the real one was next to a horrible fake, or that the onlookers looked at them as equals. Road conditions of highways outside of major cities such as Shanghai or Beijing are smooth and occasionally traffic-free which would bode well for an owner that wanted to stretch the legs of a piece of European iron. The local roads are a mixture of potholes, scooter riders that do not seem to understand the laws of physics, trucks of all shapes and sizes that are all equally overloaded, and as a whole all are involved in a complete disregard for the rules of the road. On the upside, if you’re a manufacturer all you need to do is advertise that your piece of iron is a car for owners and not workers – you’ll sell more than you can make. If you sell cars like Buick or Toyota, there are lots of takers as well, for middle managers and people dreaming of life in an enclosed vehicle. There are so many interesting things to write about, I could dedicate the rest of my life to the subject and never cover the same ground twice. For me it’s the little things that make the difference (the Royale with cheese, if you will). For example, luxury cars (I will not single anyone out) are not the same as you know and love in other parts of the world. Suspensions are cheaper and stiffer, interiors that are sold as leather are more leatherette in look and feel, fit and finish is miles better than Chinese domestic product but horrifying compared to the normal production European or USA product. Droopy headliners – check, mismatched interiors – check, window tint with logos in the line of sight and also upside down – check. Here are some cars that I found on the street that I thought you might find cool and educational. What I find interesting is a Chinese McDonalds parking lot that was filled with enough high priced-iron to make it resemble a Beverly Hills car dealership. On the other side of the spectrum is a small sample of some domestic product that includes a three-wheeled micro pickup truck and a minivan that lives up to its name. Originally posted on Automoblog.net - A Car Blog for Auto Enthusiasts