One Year To Rio:Olympics Will Mark a New Chapter For Golf

Golfers already have their eye on the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro,Brazil.Three of them,Henrik Stenson of Sweden,American Matt Kuchar and South Korean Ben An,plus PGA executive vice president Ty Votaw,gathered for a press conference at the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational in Akron,Ohio to mark the year away milestone.The Games open on 5 August 2016 and run through 21 August;while the golf competition begins on 17 August.
The new Olympic golf course in Rio had a good growing season,Mr.Votaw pointed out,and seems to be on track for a successful opening next year.Designed by architect Gil Hanse of Hanse Golf Course Design,Inc. in Malvern,Pennsylvania,the course was constructed with a high degree of care for the environmentally sensitive site,including a selective logging technique the firm hadn't used before.It will host a test event by prominent male and female golfers in March 2016.The golf world will have to deal with an altered calendar to accommodate the Olympics,as well as the prospect of top golfers skipping certain annual tournaments in order to prepare or rest for the Olympics.*
I'm excited about the Olympics,said Matt Kuchar.I know most of the other players are excited.*
To compete there and hopefully win a medal for Sweden would be very special,Henrik Stenson added.It's going to be a strong achievement and something you would be remembered for the rest of your life.It's been good for golf.We've seen a lot of support in the developing countries.Golf being in the Olympics is very important in some of these countries.*
Ben An,23,whose Korean name is Byeong-Hun An,has been having a breakout year on the European Tour,winning the BMW PGA Championship in Wentworth,England,and placing in the top ten in several other tournaments.
If it weren't for the Olympics,I wouldn't even be here,An joked,referring to the fact that his parents,both Olympic medal-winners in table tennis,his father for South Korea and his mother for China,got acquainted at the Olympics.*
The three players posed with the silver trophy that was won in 1904 by the last Olympic golf champion,Canadian George Seymour Lyon (1858-1938),a very successful amateur of his day.The sport was then excluded from the Olympics for well over a century.We applied to return eight years ago,Mr.Votaw recalled.

Searching For Yield:Bank Loans,Gold and IBM

We think ultimately rates are going to be heading higher,said Mark Kiesel,PIMCO CIO and co-manager of the firm's iconic income fund,the Total Return Fund.You're better off investing in bank loans at 4-5% yield.You're not going to get that with bonds today.It's also a sign of global disinflation.With bank loans,you're investing in a structure that protects you.MGM and Hilton are offering 4-5% on bank loans.
As of 9-26,we've outperformed about 90% internationally at the Total Return Fund.TIPS,or Treasury Inflation-Protected Securities,are very cheap,favouring international markets like Brazil and Mexico.We have a great story at Total Return Fund.
Morningstar Associates gives the Total Return Fund three out of four stars and considers it to be world class.
Bank loans in the form of mortgage-backed securities are commonly in the portfolios of income funds,including the Total Return Fund.*
Most of the damage done by the Swiss central bank,which of a sudden lifted a three-year-old cap on the Swiss franc, probably occurred in retail debts.I don't think there will be anything untoward that happened to US banks.I think it just causes greater disrespect for central banks generally,said Dennis Gartman,editor of The Gartman Letter.
I've been long gold and short euros,and that's been very beneficial.I see no reason to think that strong gold's going to change.The Swiss move is going to be detrimental to their currencies and strong to gold.*
IBM reported earnings per share of 5.81,in line with the estimate.Revenue was 24.11 billion,falling a bit short of the 24.77 billion estimate.Currency fluctuations and divestitures hurt their revenue.I think it's a step in the right direction,said Daniel Ives of FBR Capital Markets.Can this company succeed in the cloud?The outlook going forward is really the elephant in the room for investors.Given the playbook,it's about IBM giving investors comfort in the cloud transition.*
PIMCO Total Return Fund Class A(PTTAX),International Business Machines(IBM),Market Vectors Gold Miners ETF(GDX)

Publicis-Omnicom:the Meaning of the Merger

The merger of Publicis and Omnicom is a big,bold move,strategically counterculture and structurally a bit clunky,said Sir Martin Sorrell,CEO of advertising and public relations firm WPP Group.They have to jump regualtory hurdles.There will be impacts on clients and their people.We're already seeing a certain degree of disruption,which we will seek to capitalise on.*There will be two large companies-ourselves and Publicis Omnicom Group.It makes you a little more energetic.We've done five or six deals in Brazil,in the UK,and two in Asia.I wanted to signal to our people that we want to be a little more energetic.We have 165,000 people in 110 countries.Size for size's sake,I'm not sure there's anything in that.*Our clients probably lowered their earnings estimates.They're getting there by cost-cutting,small leaps-a focus on cost,finance and procurement that shows in the lack of top line growth.It can't continue forever.*Western Europe,the UK and Germany are stronger than people realise.July surprised us a little on the upside,Sir Martin Sorrel noted.

Citigroup:Growth and Reallocation

Citigroup is looking to double or triple the number of branches in China over the next few years.We think China will grow about 7%,transitioning from exports to a domestic-led economy,said Citigroup CEO Michael Corbat.That transition seems to be going well.
I'm excited to go to Japan.Their officials and executives are quite excited.It's gonna take some time to play out.They've got to try Abenomics to reflate the economy.
Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is jump-starting the economy through monetary easing and asset purchases.
We've identified 21 countries where we can get more out of the resources we have there.We'll move those resources to where we can get more out of them.It's a rebalancing,shifting them to places our customers and clients want to grow.The emerging markets, in particular the Asia Pacific,has been a big recipient of those shifted resources,Mr.Corbat noted.
Brazilian bank Itau has purchased Citigroup's Brazilian credit card unit for 1.37 billion dollars.
Citigroup(C)

Dell's Big Shift Means Profits

Dell Computer has shifted to being an end to end solutions provider of enterprise solutions and services,founder and CEO Michael Dell noted.As a result,cash flow rose to 5.5 billion dollars last year,and the company was able to initiate its first dividend of .08 a quarter.It also continues share buybacks.The steady cash flow and the shift we made should allow us to pay a dividend in perpetuity.IT is still the area where companies get productivity.The areas we can grow in are servers;storage;networking;and security.Our business is 80% commercial.The vast majority of our profits come from businesses,institutions and governments,with 19% from consumers.It's a split similar to that for the overall industry.
We're constantly introducing new products.The enormous amount of data needs to be secured and protected.We feel confident in our ability to grow the enterprise side of our business.We're investing organically and acquiring.The amount of data being stored is doubling every 18 months,and is expected to continue for the next five years.
You see a general kind of pause and caution now.Controlling cost is exactly the kind of thing we're focused on,Mr.Dell pointed out.
Founded in 1984,Dell's first international subsidiary was opened in the U.K. in 1987.In 1990,a manufacturing center was set up in Limerick,Ireland.International sales were growing exponentially by the late 1980s.Today there are manufacturing and solutions centers from Brazil to Malaysia and China.
Dell Computer(DELL)

Indonesia Earns High Marks

Indonesia has been called the next Brazil,the next BRIC nation.As trade minister Mari Pangestu points out,they've seen a robust export growth,increasingly with Asia-up 30% this year.There is much more trade with Vietnam,Thailand and Korea.
Indonesia could grow at 8%,once they address infrastructure bottlenecks.They are growing at 6.5% now.Medium term,many infrastructure projects are coming on stream.
Indonesia has become a lot more prudent since the financial crisis.It is on the right path to weed out corruption.People are getting it,as far as becoming more hospitable,Ms.Pangestu believes.
President Barack Obama spent four years of his childhood in Indonesia.He is regarded by the Indonesian people in a special way,as being one of them.Mr.Obama visited Indonesia in November 2010,after a two year delay.
Indonesia's students are actively recruited by U.S. colleges and universities.They are seen as intellectual assets who add diversity to the campus environment.
iShares MSCI Indonesia Investable Market Index Fund(EIDO)

Where Sam Zell Invests

Sam Zell,Chairman of Equity Group Investments,says that Brazil is his number one country in the world for investing.It's energy and commodity self-sufficient.China isn't as transparent,but I'm just as enthusiastic about it,Mr.Zell professed,adding that they have a few companies there.As for The Tribune Company,publisher of The Chicago Tribune,The Los Angeles Times and The Orlando Sentinel,which Mr.Zell also owns,he said he thinks it will solve its problems without destroying itself.Sometime between now and the end of the year,it will emerge from bankruptcy.It's naive to think that the print business as we know it will disappear completely,Sam Zell believes.