Showing posts with label South Korea. Show all posts
Showing posts with label South Korea. Show all posts
Wednesday, August 3, 2011
Hi ho!
12:49 pm (Hawaii) A quiet day for me, mostly working on the road, off the computer. I did see silver pop in premarket. AGQ moved up from 223 to 227, sold off, then bounced back before the opening bell. Last I saw, it was at 230 before the closing bell. Quite a run for silver, not totally unexpected. I just didn't have the guts to step back into AGQ even though every indication told me that it was going higher. The late-March run after consolidation is very similar to this stretch, as I mentioned in an earlier post.
So, is AGQ poised for another run to 382? I can't say no. The fundamentals behind silver and gold are stronger than ever. The awareness of precious metals as a store of value and/or real money has spread to a greater audience. More and more central banks are, well, banking on gold as the US Dollar falls on its face. I am tempted more than ever to chase physical and paper gold and silver at higher levels.
Spot silver is 41.60 at last check and spot gold is off its 1674 all-time high, now at 1661. It needs a breather and time to consolidate, but as Brother Turd Ferguson noted, there's nothing to stop gold from soaring to 1700 and 1800 without a pit stop.
I thought about buying more gold two Sundays ago. Then again this past Sunday. But like a lot of people, I waited for a pullback and it never really came. There was a minor drop on Monday, but once the debt-ceiling deal was nearly official, that was it. The market hit skid row and PMs blasted higher. So, thumbs up to the dollar-cost averaging buyers of physical. When in doubt, average in, no worries about perfect timing. I could've added physical gold at 1600 and 1640 or so. I won't be shocked if it pulls back to 1625 at some point, but I really don't expect it.
Who knew that South Korea (and Thailand) would be the real catalyst? I say that only half in jest. Whatever margin requirement hike(s) may be coming from the CME mafia for gold, they will be utterly temporary, tiny speed bumps for hungry, pent up global forces that are sick and tired of weakass US debt (dollars). The lion has been unleashed.
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
Ah ha ...
Finally found the ETF for South Korea, which is EWY (42.20 -1.32 -3.03%). EWY traded 9.8 million shares, more than double its average. Shares also rallied after hours to 42.90. Still down from Monday's close (43.52).
Another South Korean stock — a bank — trading on the NYSE: Woori Finance Holdings (WF).
Kamsahmida!
Love Korean food. Kim chi, everyone knows, but taegu (right)? Great with hot rice. Oldest pals are Korean. Not much of a fan of those popular Korean drama shows, though. I know jack about Korean stocks, too. Something to keep an eye on as the Koreas near conflict (or resolution) in the coming days and weeks: South Korean stocks trading in the US.
• KB Financial (KB)
• Shinhan Financial Group (SHG)
• Korea Electric Power (KEP)
All three cratered today thanks to the intensifying dispute caused by North Korea. Fair? Probably not. On the bright side, if NK keeps a lid on it this week, the trio might rally back. If NK loses all its marbles, maybe this.
Always in 3's
Whether we believe it or not, the market has shown a propensity to completely go koo-koo when there are three or more global crises simultaneously peaking. This time around, we have: 1. Eurozone credit crisis, arrow now on Spain
2. Deepening environmental and Gulf economic crisis, re: Deepwater Horizon oil disaster
3. North Korea threat of war
Of the three, North Korea could be the most dangerous, yet the one that could be curtailed most quickly. China has been NK's best trading partner; if not for the People's Republic, NK would have likely fallen apart the past few years.
Where China will stand as the US and UN bear down on Kim Il Jong and the constant threats — and 46 dead South Korean sailors — will be quite interesting to see. In any event, these three issues have combined to send futures plummeting. VXX has traded at 36.70 already in premarket (the one I can't trade until 8 am Eastern) and is now at 35.95 (+2.83 +8.54%). FAZ is also up (17.48 +1.14 +6.98%). I backed away from a buy in afterhours yesterday at 16.25 or so.
With yesterday's selloff following Friday's bounce, today isn't looking rosy for bulls. Not at all. But that's sometimes when the market swallows all these nasty pills, barfs it all out and makes a surprising change of direction. I don't see it today, but caution is advised.
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