Wednesday, December 5, 2012

Oddly Relevant Dec-5-2012


US CLO market booming: CLO issuance hit a new post-2007 record in November. 2012 volume will likely climb to about $51-52 billion, versus $12.5 billion in 2011. That’s a giant leap for a market that produced just $15 billion of new vehicles during the extremely lean years of 2008-2010. With CLO AAA tranches currently priced in the LIBOR+130-140 range (~A/BBB unsecured), investors look to pile in. [Note: Complements the piece yesterday pretty well]…Source: http://oddlyrelevant.blogspot.com/

Bullish on Amazon? Long UPS: While USPS fails to compete (this is no news) and racked up $15.9 bn annual loss, UPS and FedEx are “the modern-day equivalents of the pick-and-shovel sellers to the old California gold rush” (Paul Price). In particular, UPS is trading at its 2nd lowest valuation in 2 decades; and if one were to believe the oligopolistic nature of the business as well as continuous secular growth in eCommerce, the runway remains long and upward sloping. [Note: A scalable, hard-to-replicate business indeed]…Source: http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2012-12-05/amazons-holiday-run-helps-put-ups-in-prime-position

Old rivalries stir in Japan and Korea: The 2 countries will pick their new leaders within 3 days of each other with a strong presence (and support) of independent candidates. Here’s the difference: (1) Japan has a harking to the old days and is tempted to look back, while Korea feels the need to forge forward; (2) Korea is concerned about how to spread wealth more evenly, while Japan is primarily worried about producing growth of any kind. (3) Foreign issues have little impact to South Korea’s election but quite a bit (of China) to Japan. [Note: Korean culture is the hip thing in Asia, somewhat indicative of future potentials]…Source: http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/0358c796-3e24-11e2-93cb-00144feabdc0.html#axzz2E8tXTHGU

Putin’s isolated battle against corruption: Between 2005 and 2012, corruption rose from 10th to 3rd in the concerns of ordinary Russians, while bureaucratic corruption has gone widely prevalent and amorphous in Putin’s 12 year reign. Working in isolation at his Novo-Ogaryovo residence, this time Putin decides to take on graft in his own circle. [Note: A bold and wise move—and the right direction for the country]…Source: http://www.economist.com/news/europe/21567384-vladimir-putin-has-initiated-some-high-profile-battles-against-corruption-many-he-seems

What’s on Malcolm Gladwell’s bookshelf? [Note: Lots of books about prisoner/criminal psychology, law and order, and novels.]…Source; http://www.farnamstreetblog.com/2012/11/whats-on-malcolm-gladwells-bookshelf/

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