Salient to Investors: Indian policies to lure foreign investors are driving the nation’s largest money managers to buy automakers, property companies and metal producers that stand to benefit most from a recovery. Overseas investors bought a net $24.2 billion of Indian stocks in 2012, the most among 10 Asian markets excluding
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: Gold traders are the most bullish in four months, investors bought 60 percent more this year through gold-backed ETPs versus with 2011. Gold is headed for a 12th consecutive annual gain, the longest run in at least nine decades. Nations from Brazil to Iraq to Russia are buying gold
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: Just 3 of the Immortals’ 103 direct descendants and their spouses led or still run state-owned companies with combined assets of $1.6 trillion in 2011, the equivalent of more than a fifth of China’s GDP. At least 18 own or run entities linked to companies registered offshore, many
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: The Nikkei 225 is poised to gain 23 percent in 2012, its biggest annual gain since 2005, while the Topix is headed for an 18 percent increase. The Topix trades at book value versus 2.1 times book for the S&P 500. Juichi Wako at Nomura says we’ve entered a positive cycle
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: US government securities have returned 2 percent in 2012 versus 17 percent for the MSCI All-Country World Index including reinvested dividends. Hiroki Shimazu at SMBC Nikko Securities expects investors to shift money from the bond market to the stock market in 2013 as the economy becomes much stronger. Economists expect 10-yr yields to rise
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: Bill Gross at Pimco has more than doubled holdings of municipal debt sold in New York to give his fund its biggest investment in local securities in 6 years. Joe Deane at Pimco said New York’s pension system is one of the nation’s healthiest, with 94 percent of the assets needed to
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: Neil Dutta at Renaissance Macro Research said the economy is holding up just fine with no feared year-end cataclysmic economic shock, and the steady housing recovery will continue. Dutta said we’re in the early stages of a positive feedback loop of cheap credit, tight inventory and rising prices. John Ryding at RDQ Economics
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: Joseph Brusuelas at Bloomberg said households are increasingly confident about their finances, which will sustain the improvement in consumer sentiment in 2013, albeit at low levels. Lynn Franco at the Conference Board said consumers are quite negative short-term, but more upbeat about current business and labor market conditions. Read the full
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: William Pesek writes: Woodward-and-Bernstein style tactics are helping to unearth the rot that has taken hold in China – princelings that are reaping outsized benefits from China’s growth, causing inequality levels at pre-Communist levels. One of modern history’s greatest wealth grabs is delaying the reforms needed – of the
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: Global M & A in Q4 rose to the highest level since Q3 2008. Gene Sykes at Goldman Sachs said the pickup may extend into 2013 once the fiscal cliff and euro crises find a solution, with driven by continuing consolidation in natural resources, industrials, technology and financial services. Corporations sit
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