Morning all,

Complacency has left the building…big falls overnight as the prop holding up the US markets are looking less and less solid.325 points off the Dow so expect our market to hit 5100 as I have been suggesting for some time…reporting season in the US has not been good enough to overcome the Fed taper!Its a bit like riding a bike..it’s really easy with the training wheels on but when you take them off it’s a lot harder than it looks and you tend to fall over a  lot before you get the hang of it..bit like the market…

Anyway I have been bearish for a while now and have been suggesting 5100 is the time to start nibbling…haven’t changed my view…2014 is going to be a tougher year..the good will be very good and the bad will be very bad…and as we stumble through reporting season we will start to focus on what Uncle Joe has in store for us in the budget…I suspect it will not be nice at all…

Today we get the RBA decision on rates…no change despite the turmoil  on International markets…in fact I reckon we will have no change for a while…but then where’s the fun in that…

Idea of the Day

This one doesn’t pay  I am afraid but it’s the right thing to do!!

Things to make me go mmmmm!

 

Country Road: has flagged strong growth in its full-year result after its first-half profit soared to an all-time high. The company’s net profit was a record $37.95 million in the six months to December 28, up 72 per cent from $22.1m on the same period in 2012.

Stirling Early Education: A group of former Study Group executives is preparing childcare roll-up Stirling Early Education for an IPO, which is scheduled for the June quarter and aims to raise more than $200 million from new investors. It is seeking north of $200 million equity to fund a childcare centre roll-up, similar to recently listed Affinity Education and darling G8 Education.

Woodside Petroleum: Expectations are growing that Woodside Petroleum is closing in on a multi-billion dollar entry into Israel’s largest natural gas venture as talks on the deal resume this week in Australia. But reports from Israel suggest the price for Woodside’s acquisition of a 30 per cent stake in the Leviathan field will rise to $US3 billion ($3.4 billion), from about $US2.5 billion, reports The Australian Financial Review.

 

Directors and Chairman at DJs should be under extreme pressure to go following the diabolical corporate governance issues that seem to be the norm here…don’t wish to go on about it but.. ASIC come on!!

Now remind me how the World got into this mess in the first place…wasn’t it through bad lending practices ,too much debt and low interest rates fuelling excess…so…in the US “Domestic banks, on balance, reported having eased their lending standards on many types of business and consumer loans and having experienced increases in loan demand, on average, over the past three months,” the Fed said today in its quarterly survey of senior loan officers

 

The Chicago Board Options Exchange Volatility Index jumped 15 percent today to 21.22, the highest level since December 2012. The gauge of S&P 500 options known as the VIX is up 54 percent this year.

Factories expanded in January at the weakest pace in eight months as orders slumped, a sign manufacturing cooled at the start of the year along with the weather.The Institute for Supply Management’s factory index decreased to 51.3 from 56.5 the prior month.

Economists at Citigroup Inc. and Nomura International Plc say the strongest growth since 2007 will prompt the U.K. to lift its benchmark from 0.5 percent as soon as this year. Money-market futures show an increase in early 2015.

And finally…..

There was a knock on the door this past Saturday morning. I opened it to find a young, well-dressed man standing there who said: “Hello sir, I’m a Jehovah’s Witness.

So I said, “Come in and sit down.”

I offered him a fresh cup of coffee and asked, “What do you want to talk about?”

He said, “Beats the shit out of me. Nobody ever let me in before.”

Have a great 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.