Morning all,

As the Police once said following the theft of a lorry load of toilet rolls, we have nothing to go on!

Quiet times from the markets on Friday and so expect a sluggish start. We are still hovering around that 4400 level so its decision time. I am starting to favour the upside as risk money starts to return to the market..but its’ poised..very finely balanced…

However disagreement from ‘Zombieland’ on the timetable for greater banking integration is a negative. Lets face it the Zombies are a basket case and will be for some time. They continue to struggle to agree on anything and get some tangible results. We could be still here in five years at this rate. Even ten. Lost decade anyone? The meeting in an old castle was to commemorate the reconciliation of the two leading nations France and Germany. Not much reconciliation by all accounts these days.

The Chinese beige book. I thought it was red..Anyway is showing optimism is fading and things are not picking up. Their market is at a 43 month low! Whilst the Dow is at a 43 month high!!!Go figure, anyone would think China was in a mess and the US was once again the dominant economic power…The interesting thing for both these nations is that in the coming months leadership will be changing.I have a good friend who is just back from the Victorian Trade Mission to China..he says that the economy is still strong and that nothing will really happen until the change in leadership…everything else is noise!!But commodities will benefit from the move to hard assets..that and food!!

Back to our market and risk continues to be on the table..on Friday we had a tiddler going from 6 cents to 29 cents in a blink of an eye on good drill results and that helps sentiment. Investors will be looking for the next one.After Sirius Resources everyone is keen to find the next big thing.One of the previous big things SFR has done the unimaginable in this country ,brought in their project on time and on budget..congratulations guys and you will be rewarded ,if not already!

 

Idea of the day:Rex Minerals.

As a good friend of mine pointed out  they have just appointed a new man to take Hillside to the next stage..this is a positive and should help the stock..Buy at 66 cents Target price 85 cents ..Stop Loss 61.

 

Things to make me go all iphone 5!!

1.It’s a phone! Avoid updating your old phone software just yet…massive problems…has been all over the web!!

2.WBC latest bank to cut its fixed rate mortgages.. RBA WILL cut before Xmas.

3.And from our lovely friends in Greece…on Friday the Finance Ministry proudly announced its budget deficit for the first eight months was “just” €12.5 billion, versus a target of €15.2 billion, leading some to wonder how it was possible that a country that has suffered terminal economic collapse, and in which the tax collectors have now joined everyone in striking and thus not collecting any tax revenue, could have a better than expected budget deficit. Turns out the answer was quite simple. According to Spiegel, Greece was lying about everything all along, and instead of a €12.5 billion deficit, the real revenue shortfall is nearly double this, or €20 billion…….thanks to http://www.zerohedge.com for that gem!

 

4.Despite Quadruple Witching hour on the US markets they were little changed with better volumes in the last hour due to option and futures expiry. In fact little changed for the week with all eyes on Apple, which launched its iphone5 on Friday. Now I for one have been underwhelmed especially with the new software upgrade. I think Apple is getting toppy expect a backlash from customers. All my photos disappeared and that’s not all. Not Happy Jan!

 

5.The Shanghai Composite fell 4.6% this week, the biggest weekly loss since late October, as local sentiment was damaged by the ongoing island dispute between China and Japan, poor manufacturing data, and disappointment over the scale of the government’s recently announced infrastructure projects.

 

6.Poor old Bug Nath!Investment banker Mark Carnegie is believed to be pondering the prospect of giving embattled entrepreneur Nathan Tinkler a $17.5m loan to settle a dispute with property group Mirvac.

 

7.Macmahon Holdings is set to shake up its WA construction arm and stop chasing the big iron ore projects, with sections of its business to be cut, after a significant profit downgrade led to the chief executive’s departure last week.

And finally……for my Scottish friends

Jock & Jimmy were walking along a street in London.

Jock looked in one of the shop windows and saw a sign that caught his eye.

The sign read, “Suits £5.00 each, Shirts £2.00 each, trousers £2.50 per pair”.

Jock said to his pal, “Look at the prices! We could buy a whole lot of these and when we get back to Scotland we could make a fortune.

Now when we go in you stay quiet, okay? Let me do all the talking cause if they hear our accents, they might think we are cheap Scotsmen and try to screw us. I’ll put on my best London accent”.

“OK Jock, I’ll keep me mouth shut” said Jimmy

They go in and Jock said in a posh voice, “Hello my good man. I’ll take 50 suits at £5.00 each, 100 shirts at £2.00 each, and 50 pairs of trousers at £2.50 each. I’ll back up me truck ready to load them on, old chap!

The owner of the shop said quietly, “You’re from Scotland, aren’t you?”

“Well yes,” said a surprised Jock. “What gave it away?”

The owner replied, “This is a dry-cleaners……..” !

 

Have a good day

Clarence

XXXX

 

Any financial product advice contained in this email is general financial product advice only and does not take into account any one person’s objectives, financial situation or needs. Therefore, before acting on any financial product advice in this email, you should consider, with or without the assistance of an independent adviser, the appropriateness of the advice, having regard to your objectives, financial situation and needs.