Tuesday, September 28, 2010

Bahrain's Approach To Business

Bahrain seeks to be an oasis of calm in the Gulf region and the global economy.Iran is its very big neighbor,and Bahrain's view is that for the region to remain stable,Iran must remain engaged with the world.
Because Bahrain's financial sector was diversified,it actually added jobs during the financial crisis.It focuses on insurance,not just banking.
Bahrain is building upon what successes it has:oil,financial services and manufacturing.Tourism,health care and so on fill in the gap.
Bahrain thinks it provides the best value proposition for your business.They live in an environment that is competitive.A steady,stable,prudent approach is better for them than a flash in the pan.
The ratings agencies have reaffirmed their support for what Bahrain is doing.Real estate prices have stabilized there.They are O.K. in Bahrain,according to the Crown Prince,Shaikh Salam bin Hamad al Khalifa.

Tuesday, September 21, 2010

Which Markets To Favor

With regard to the stock market,YCMNET Advisors thinks break-out talk is a little premature.Michael Yoshikami,President and Chief Investment Strategist of the firm,is not excited,but cautiously optimistic.He thinks we should start throwing out the idea that certain months are good ones for the market.In 2011,Dr.Yoshikami thinks equities will outperform fixed income.
He does think we're gonna see us in the midst of a very sluggish,slow recovery.YCMNET is looking at Indonesia,Malaysia,Singapore and China-with caution toward China because of valuation.They also favor U.S. companies active in those markets.
YCMNET Advisors was named by Barron's magazine as one of their Top 100 Independent Financial Advisors for 2010.President Michael Yoshikami,PhD,CFP,is a frequent guest on business television.His firm is located in Walnut Creek,California.

Tuesday, September 14, 2010

A Chinese Angel Investor

Lee Kai-Fu is founder of Innovation Works,an incubator concentrating on start-up firms in the mobile internet and cloud computing spheres.About 800 million Chinese use cell phones-the largest market for the devices in the world.There are few profitable mobile phone companies in China yet,Mr.Lee points out;everybody is just starting out.He thinks that's the perfect time for his group to get involved.
Mr.Lee,49,is the former head of GoogleChina,having left before Google's recent squabble with the Chinese authorities.He feels there are plenty of opportunities in China,and few restrictions.There are probably certain areas that his group chooses not to get into,but those are only a small percentage.
Mr.Lee speaks perfect English,having studied and taught computer science in America.He saw that there were few options for Chinese companies to secure venture capital.Through his efforts,115 billion dollars has been raised to assist the new firms.

Tuesday, September 7, 2010

Indonesia and East Asia

Indonesia's bonds are selling well,based on the country's economic growth and market access.Its longer term bonds won't be affected even if interest rates are raised.Q2 growth was 6.2,up from 5.7.They're optimistic of reaching 6.3% in 2011.The main driver of August inflation was electricity rates.They're confident of about 5% inflation by maintaining food stocks and so on.
They think inflation is manageable,once food prices can be stabilized.Indonesia favors growth over inflation worries.They continue to see Asia as the growth market:China,Korea and other ASEAN neighbors and India-also Russia and the Middle East as new markets.The East Asia region,including Australia and New Zealand,is growing together.It's a complementary growth pattern based on agreements,Indonesia's trade minister,Mari Pangesta,pointed out.