Another cost of living post. I never had lychee before moving to China. They are an amazing fruit: sweet, juicy, soft flesh ... eating them is almost an erotic experience. These cost 25.80元 (US$4.13) a kilogram. There were 35 in this package, so they're about US9.5 cents a pop ... let's call it a dime a piece. Should pop these in the fridge first, they're best eaten chilled.
SPXL Set up on Tuesday
Another lesson on entry, target and initial stop. SPXL is Direxion's 3x S&P 500 fund ... good liquidity, draws a clean chart.
Intensifying Competition for Deposits
From an April 9, 2014 note from Macquarie:
95% of Yu E Bao’s money is invested in agreement deposits (协议存款), which are not subject to RRR (Required Reserve Ratio). The ultimate outcome of interest rate liberalization is for regulated interest rates to go up and unregulated interest rates (e.g., returns of private lending, Yu E Bao) to come down, implying better financial resource allocation and stabilized rates over the long term.
Yu E Bao products do not represent financial innovation by nature but take advantage of policy arbitrages by investing in interbank negotiated deposits. In comparison, US money market funds mostly invested in risky assets that are not involved in money creation in the banking system.
These Internet products in China, although limited in size (Rmb500bn vs. total deposit base of Rmb105tr), enjoyed rapid growth this year and posed pressure for banks to increase rates in the competition for deposits, thus pushing up the cost of capital in the whole system. The policymakers, therefore, suggest regulating the Internet Finance products by requiring deposit reserves. Assuming 20% of the Internet money market funds are submitted as reserves at the PBOC in exchange for a return of 1.62%, yields on the “Yu E Bao” will come down by at least one percentage point.
While interest rate liberalization will inevitably bring down NIMs, we believe the market has been overly bearish on the long-term impact on banks’ profitability. In addition, potential regulations on the Internet money market funds may help relieve some pressure for banks suffering from intensifying competition for deposits and high cost of capital.
If you read Chinese, this is of interest: 什么是存款准备金管理
Mad Men -- S07 E07
Peggy's pitch.
Beijing Food Prices -- Apples (1)
Another cost of living post. These are local apples, I think, though they say they're Fuji ... Fuji apples grown in China, I guess? ... anyway, 29.80元 (US$4.78) per kilogram means each apple is around US$1.20. Strikes me as pricey, but I'm really not that in touch with the market, haven't been paying attention for the last eight years.
Beijing Food Prices -- Oranges (1)
I thought I'd share some cost of living posts from Beijing. These are imported navel oranges from America, "Sun Pacific" brand. I have no idea what they cost in California. They cost 35.80元 (US$5.74) a kilogram here, which is almost exactly US$1.70 each. Not cheap, but affordable for China's new middle class. Maybe still a bit of a treat?
Most of Society Is Not Moving Up
A great New Normal piece, Golf Market Stuck in Bunker as Thousands Leave the Sport:
Once the go-to activity for corporate bonding, the sport is suffering from an exodus of players, a lack of interest among millennials and the mass closure of courses. ... About 400,000 players left the sport last year ... 'It’s a pretty high-price sport, and leisure time is getting crunched.' ... [Callaway] hasn’t reported an annual profit since 2008. ... 200,000 players under 35 abandoned the game last year. ... Only 14 new courses were built in the U.S. last year, while almost 160 shut down. ... 'Everybody’s hooked up to their handhelds, so it’s social networking instead of sports ... It’s something that’s associated with boom times. Most of society’s not moving up, and golf is associated with moving up.'
The great leveling ... standard of living on the decline in the US as it rises in Asia.
ETF Trading Portfolio Update -- May 23, 2014
Reversing the Q's and the small caps ... still hard to make money on the short side.
The Americans S02 E06
Remember her from Dexter? She is now a Russian spy.
Borgen S01 E03
The newsreader, looking at a different screen... her ultrasound.