Morning all,

Welcome to 2013 if you are just struggling back to the office.

We will see a sluggish start to the week with little to go on. Commodities were mixed with Iron Ore and Gold taking a hit and equity markets were slightly positive but lacklustre. It’s Monday so it’s always hard to get going. Expect a small rise today after the euphoria wears off!

I am optimistic about our market at the momenta and am expecting a move towards 4950 before an autumn slow down. Now the market is not going to be a whoosh kind of market but a slow and steady grind with Banks in demand as Basel III requirements ease and Resource stocks continue to firm on better Chinese numbers. Of course there are sceptics out there who do not believe in the Chinese numbers at all and think they are as fake as a Rolex I once bought in a Chang Mai night market..must be real cost me $20!

Idea of the Day

 

I remain a fan of BRU at these levels and suggest those risk happy investors continue to accumulate this one at these bargain levels!I am hopeful of a move back up to 280 in the next month or so..I also remain a fan of LYC…I believe that as production ramps up and real material is produced shipped and sold this one will emerge from the Dog House and environmental concerns will ease..not for the faint hearted but under 70c worth a look.

Few things to think about today

1.The Fed and the Treasury in the US have pooh poohed the ‘Trillion Dollar Coin” idea. So in the spirit of Blackadder I am not going to pooh pooh a pooh pooh..but really was this a real solution to the debt ceiling!!!

2.Few problems for the French in Mali as Islamist rebels appear to have come out on top….botched hostage rescue and they even left a man behind!!Only the French..not bullish for West African Golds though with PIR the main worry..

3. BlueScope Steel will sack about 170 contractors within months as it reconfigures a Victorian steel production plant.

About 110 employees and 60 contractors from a workforce of 740 were expected to lose their jobs at the Western Port facility at Hastings, south east of Melbourne, over the next few months. BlueScope chief executive Mark Vassella said the decision was part of the steelmaker’s “intention to reconfigure its Australian cold rolling, metal coated and painted steel production”.

4.Zombieland is sorted according to German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble.He said Jan. 11 that the single currency is “over the worst of the crisis.” However Joachim Fels, chief economist at Morgan Stanley in London, warned that market improvement is inducing complacency among European policy makers as it has in the past, slowing efforts to overhaul the euro-area institutions.I suspect that Fels is right and the Zombieland woes will continue for some time to come…

5.In Japan news of the next stimulus package have sent the Nikkei soaring to 27 month highs…Japan is never going to get itself out of its current hole…they have no growth and a massively aging population and their industrial might,innovation and electronic wizardry is being overrun by Korea and China not to mention other Asia economies..say Sayonara baby…the glory days of Japan are long gone and will remain so.

6. JPMORGAN Chase’s board will consider releasing an internal report this week that faults chief executive Jamie Dimon’s oversight of a division that lost more than $US6.2 billion ($A5.9 billion) on botched trades, according to two people with direct knowledge of the matter.

Few events this week to keep an eye out for

Making news this week:

Wednesday: Westpac consumer confidence for January, new car sales for December

Thursday: Melbourne Institute consumer inflation expectation, official employment data for December

Making news in the US this week:

Monday: US Fed boss Ben Bernanke speaks

Tuesday: US retail sales for December, producer price index for December

Wednesday: Consumer price index for December, industrial production for December, Fed Beige Book

Thursday: Housing starts for December, jobless claims

And finally….

How important does a person have to be before they are considered assassinated instead of just murdered?

Why do you have to ‘put your two cents in’… But it’s only a ‘penny for your thoughts’? Where’s that extra penny going to?

Once you’re in heaven, do you get stuck wearing the clothes you were buried in for eternity?

Why does a round pizza come in a square box?

What disease did cured ham actually have?

How is it that we put man on the moon before we figured out it would be a good idea to put wheels on luggage?

Have a good start to your week..

Clarence

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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.