Cory Diary : Performance Oct'19

Oei ! Too early lah. Still got a week leh. What's the hurry uncle ?

Next week uncle no feel good leh. Don't be so rigid can ? ( Uncle Cory cheated the time to report good result cannot meh....  )

Seriously why today ? ... All Time High ( ATH ) lah. Next week not sure can maintain or not. I don't want to miss the mountain ... so report first. Shiok right. Lucky Cory Portfolio is not listed else sure kenna ....

Why Cory worry  ? Let's look at STI first ....

STI Long Term Bull, Short Term Dunno !

Based on CoryLogics, STI approaching a resistance after bouncing off from multi-year support as expected else it will be major correction at minimum.  See link on last reasoning in Aug. i think which is basically a broad strategy this year on STI Performance in earlier articles as well. And well I am comfortable to have large stake in STI Index as a buffer for Reits profitability protection.

Finally cleared Facebook. Portfolio now all Singapore team. YTD Cory Xirr 19.1%. (updated for privacy). If we remove Bonds/Preference holdings, Portfolio would have been 23.1%. STI Index 3.81% (excluding dividend).

What's next ? Lack of ideas now. Thinking how should I further protect my profits but need to stay vested for rest of year and ensuring enough dividends for next year. So many asks. So little ideas.

On top of this I have different ideas coming up for next year.

1. Re-Balance some part of my portfolio to lower cost fees
2. Holding back purchases maybe to later part of next year
3. Key deliberation on Bank Stocks, Bonds and Preference Shares Strategy



Cory
2019-1025

Cory Diary : Telegram Craze

Have been trying out new channel of investment sharing. As above is called Telegram. For what it matters, it functions similar like an apps chat hosted by Telegram. You will need mobile number to register.

The advantage therefore we can have hundreds of people in the chat group. There are many different groups for different interests. Manage to get myself into a few Singapore investment groups. I have seen Foods, Jobs, .... but don't get yourself into trouble like Nasi Lemak Group which were in the News recently for spreading pornographic materials. For the political savvy, there is one by our Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong.

To join the private group they require "link" invitation but you can try search to get the public ones using keyword of interests. Ping me if you need specific investment groups for invites. There is a few SG Reits groups which are more align to my interests. However, there are others for knowledge.

Telegram Chat certainly moves faster than the traditional media channels that I am in use. And there is more responsive helps from others. The Apps is much lighter therefore faster to read, share, stored and communicate.

Few things in the news recently. Reits Reporting season. CMT DPU up 4.8% YoY Cheers, another strong quarter.  Keppel shares limited acquisition by Temasek, cheers because I have it in STI Index  .... . And one not so good which is Aims Apac Reit secondary listing which cause the share price to drop and hovers around $1.38.


Cory

2019-01021

Cory Diary : Asset Allocation Review 2019-1014

A month past since I last reviewed my asset allocation. Time really flies.  YTD Asset increased by 21% thanks to equity market in-addition to regular salary income. Manage to consolidate some of my cash to Fixed Deposits which provide quite good 1.4% returns to my surprise. I have been neglecting them .... . With reduced Cash level at 3.8% of Net Worth (see chart) this is probably the minimum I would go for now. There is some timing involves to support Housing Loan payments with added buffers of-course for emergency needs.

With Saving amount hits absolute base line level needs, near and mid term future funds from Salary and Portfolio probably can now be put more into active service or likely building up the warchest further as in Fixed Deposits.

Cory Investment Portfolio YTD increased by 18.4%. Which roughly tally with the profits recorded this year with a little cash injection to top it off. At this point, maybe I should let the fund runs.

Cory

2019-1014

Cory Diary : Why Dividend Investing is so "Exciting"

Remember in my younger days, RM will furnish us with the idea that investment  today, 10 years later sure Huat with annual 10% based on past 10 years track record. And they will show you the charts on why so. What they didn't tell you is not in the contract is not guaranteed and  the other is that they won't be around few years later to service you or you are't around anymore to bother (touch-wood). The key is don't sell in short term. Probably high sales charge or they will still be around and need to answer to you. lol

Fast forward today. Is there anyone really can guarantee good returns after 10 years ? If so, Banks wouldn't need to sell to us. They will be happy to do it themselves.  I am sure institutions will be happy to invest too. Why bother to grow an army of RMs to service thousands of retailers. 

With Reits that is strong and growing, DPU management has become an expected norm. This will last as long interest rates are low or to be better said, borrowing cost is low relative to earning. Hence the term we hear about Income Ratio (ICR).  It has become a performance metric to drive managers too. That's not easy in execution. 


Why Maintain or Growing DPU is so important ?

So when someone tells me DPU YoY only up 1%, I am smiling till my teeth drop already. Why ? Ascendas Reit has run up significantly for a number of years. This year "just" 23% YTD excluding dividend. See chart below of Ascendas Reit with Dividend Effects !

To grow DPU or maintain for 10 years are not that difficult to find nowadays as long we have Good and Credible Managers however this is not given though. The thing to overcome is Price Anchoring. Will we pay for something that is 23% more expensive from a year ago  ?

Seriously, if I have spare money, I would. Reason being Retailers ask is, "Show me the Money - Sustain-ably". The logic is quite simple. Think of the investment as long term. DPU maintain or increase. This is better than bond already. The cash flow generated covers living expenses. If there is reduction in stock price, we need to look at it in context. Is there fundamental change in the business ?

Next, Trump announced Preliminary Phase 1 deal. Probably due to Biden presidential bid took a hit. The Chinese probably feels a little shaken from it. However, this is far from a complete deals. I doubt it will ever till Trump gets re-elected. What this mean is interest rate will remains low for foreseeable future.

So someone asked. Can I buy MCT today ? Very hard to answer. 7 years of dividends from this year stock price increase. One thing I feel that is never late to invest. Break up our purchases just to be vested some and then see whether we need to average down or up much later. Maybe choose other Reits ( lol ). Don't fall into yield traps. Not all Reits the same. Who knows MCT share price can take another 7 years of dividends leap again. Realistically, the key is how low a yield we are willingly to accept. SSB is like 1.7% range for 10 years. Your take ?

Cory

2019-1012

Cory Diary : Reits Investment Logics

When Recession comes, most investments will be affected. This applies to Correction as well.
Interestingly, this are one of the best time to buy. The question is what stock to buy and will we buy ?

In the last recession, Reit stocks price like many other non-reit investments are badly hit. STI Index reflects the poor situation too. If we are to use today thinking, and understand how the mechanics of how Reits work, one would wonder how can things can go so bad in stock prices.

Basically, Cash or the lack of it as everyone "Hides" them when is one of the best time to invest. Many is taught about the gearing lesson and the dilution of it. Buying during this period do goes against Human Nature of trying to run away from the problem. Trying to do the opposite differentiates the man from the boys. Cory froze in Year 2008. Not that bad. :)

In 2008, many stock prices cut into half easily. Will this happen in next recession ? Never say never. However, with ample liquidity today. And better understanding by investment communities on Reits. Chances are we won't be able to see such deep cut for the next ... next ... (never mind... Cory no crystal ball). There will always be exceptions.

In essence, the DPU of Reits or in another relative term with current price such as yield, say 5% as an example provides the cash flow to one financials as dividend. Multiply it with say 5 year periods will be 25%. That's a recession depth. To be more precise, there are compounded effect and the gearing component especially on properties. And the growth factor which cannot be ignored as it can double dividend gains over the 5 years period too if we pick our stock carefully, and safely to optimize our chance.  


Recession Survival Recipe

1. Able to Survive : Gearing, Loans, Occupancy, 
2. Able to perform "V-Shape" Recovery preferred in stock price : Stock Price
3. Continue to profit from the business during this bad days : DPU
4. Strong Sponsor

Not all Reits the same. Cory want to avoid bad surprises and knives cut. The Gem in Reits are not the Yield but the Growth and Stability that it can perform. Yield is the extras.


Cory
2019-1011

Cory Diary : All in Our Minds

There are many times I am asked to take profits. Reason being people has the conception that cash is the safe harbor. A rest point before we venture out again. This mindset is not wrong when one trades for a living especially speculative short trade.

Post today is I hope to share how Cory thinks from another perspective. Often we hear people make so and so $Xx,xxx but then lose it all or worst in negative. The angle I do is to treat profit earned as part of base capital in every new year.

Let's say I started with $500k in 2018 and ended with $580k. That's 80k profits. In Year 2019, I will treat $580k as my new cost structure (or base capital) thereby zero-out my profit. Why we do this is to overcome the human weakness of "Feeling Rich" and lose them back to the market.

When we do this long enough, for some reason cutting loss is more a mechanic nature rather than a pain-in-the-heart. Interestingly, we could also sell a stock at say $1.50 near end of Year 2018 but buy them back in Jan 2019 at much higher price sold earlier. Is like hyped on a Jan market trend trading mechanism. Fortunately, I do't this often ! Cory aren't crazy but it does happen sometimes .... ... ...

Since Cory Portfolio is ignited on every first day of new year, safe harbor has no meaning from previous year trades. Therefore, Cory result is often Year-to-date (YTD) meaning is the measure of Profit or Loss  from 1st Jan base to current date figure. This keeps Cory on toes and not feeling rich. Historical past year trades are just for "Glorification" use only, nothing else.

If Cory feels the market going to crash like 2008 GFC, he can relieve all his counters as he wanted but that's not because he has make enough profits. There is no relevancy between getting out-of-market and having make or loss enough.

Is all in our minds.


Cory

2019-1008

Cory Diary : Reits Comparison

Often we have a list of Reits in our radar. The more savvy one may probably just choose one. To mitigate risk, I tend to have them with different proportions. The question will be how do we apportion them. 

Here today I have 4 of them to think about. Namely, Ascendas Reit,  Mapletree Ind Trust, Frasers Com Trust & iReit Global.  As usual my investment decision is agar-agar. They are all quality reits in my opinion.

There are few key notes in my head. Singapore is near recession whereas US market are still relatively strong.  AR has weakening AUD earning - Australia exposure. MINT recently has rather good bargain on US Data Centers in-addition to what they have. Stronger USD helps too. Ascendas has future earning from Grab building and recent Australia acquisition. AR is largest locally. MINT may have impact from HP Inc downsizing concern as this maybe a risk depending on their BTS lease term with the company.

Overall, I would think MINT yield should be lower (correction) due to better quality earning. And I will be ok to pay more than A Reit. This thinking could change with time though.

How about Frasers Com Trust ? There is some concern in the market whether they can maintain their DPU. However their major was resolved with space able to be rented out to google. There is still risks from Microsoft. Overall the risk is reflected in their higher 6% yield compared to AR and MINT.

With recent blogged iReit in the limelight by famous blogger, the market was moved by it due to low trading volume. There are also other bloggers who are not so positive about it. Nevertheless at 7.6% yield there is some market concern. Is pure Germany play and rather concentrated in a tenant. I have 2.5% allocation currently.

Maybe ratio of AR 12%  :  MINT 9% :  FCOT 6% : iReit Global 3%. This will stagger my yields and risks in REITs.

Make sense ? Now wait for some correction to drive towards the percentage. Those that exceed probably I will put a hold instead.

Cory
2019-1006

Cory Diary: Importance of staying invested 2019-1005

Importance of staying invested to beat inflation is a psychological battle after GFC 2008. People tend to wait for the next major crisis or at least a correction. This is especially so when we have many headline news or risks and worries. 

While the concept is possible in theory, the timing or execution is not easy reason being because of the opportunity costs. Reits yield over the years have climbs down from double digits to 5% range. However, the cumulative capital gains and dividends are of considerable size. (See table)

The Gratification comes in when we go beyond inflation beating to actually profiteering from our investment. And to see our portfolio continuously growing in good years while mute in down. Overall, we just need to see more ups than downs to win the game.


Recession Fear as we are on our 11 years of economic growths since Year 2008. 2020 could be mute or small increase in profitability. What I could do is to continuously apportion my portfolio to more "Fixed returns" by percentage while in absolute number can still be larger in non-fixed investment. This could protect my down side while continuously to have larger growth in portfolio size through re-balancing. That's the strategy.

Cory

2019-1005

Cory Diary : Expenses 2019

This year is quite special .... I have a lot of one-off items ...for example baby expenses. However we know that to bring a baby to adult, there is probably a string of one-off expenses over many years. Maybe "amortization" probably is a fairer way to deal with it. We need to recognize it as regular cost of business ! 

There are many other one-off items such as Renovation, Alter, Cremation Niches, Medical Surgery, Hospitalization, Medical checks, Confinement  ... this are debatable. Nevertheless they can be big ticket items or summation in total. Ignore them at your perils.

And we have the regular ones like Taxes, Nanny, Parent Allowances, Installments, Holidays, Baby Misc ...

If one plans to retire, make sure we plan them into our annual expense plan with good buffers. Don't simply jump into FIRE through hard core saving. You will be surprise like I do this year on how bad it can goes on how expenses blow up. After totaling up major items that i could find, the expenses YTD is S$117 K... ( ouch ). 

The fortunate thing is that my Liquid asset and Net worth are still trending up. The first is due to Stock Market and Regular Job, and the later with added Property Valuation Growth (Cashless by the way).

Anyone like to retire now ?

Cheers

Cory
2019-1003

Cory Diary : Portfolio Sector Allocation Report

Has been away for a week long family holiday .... ( Fretting ). Expenses are like shooting star right now. Original plan today is to write something on expenses but 10/1 comes up and probably is more exciting to update how is Cory Portfolio so far first.

Cory Top 7 Equity Investments

1. STI ETF

2. Ascendas Reit

3. Frasers Bond

4. Frasers Com Trust

5. Ascendas-h Trust

6. VICOM

7. Mapletree Ind Trust

Cory Portfolio has Bond/Pref to calm his porcelain heart. He can't take much stress. The index do their numbers too which totaled with Fixed investment hits 33.7% allocation. To calm further, Cory has SSB outside Equity Portfolio which is use to support Housing Loan (Emergency). This damped investment returns but is done deliberately.

Telco allocation is actually Netlink BNB Trust. The position is relatively small after taking profits. Telco stocks are struggling a little so is better to avoid for now. Of similar size is the Banks which provide a little upside volatility.

Particularly excited about Ascendas Reit because as previously reported scope more on higher low.  Managed to buy some MINT back as well though is net negative. VICOM has been a cool winner considering Cory is late in the game on this one. Is better to be late than never. Key is to size our position appropriately so that we can average down nicely or enjoy the ride up.

Cheers

Cory

2019-1001

Cory Diary : Trades - 2019-0920

First time staying late like 30 mins (2.30 am) to watch FED Announcement this week and learned something called a dot plot. Find it interesting but don't call me a dinosaur as I learned that it is getting less relevant today.

The market is very big with different interest groups. Personally to me is the required right step to meet broader market expectation and do a cut though how market perceive them later is another matter. A hike would certainly put the market to a major downward spin. A neutral will be bad on trade front as everyone is cutting rates. This lead to a few trades thereafter.

One of them is Wells Fargo & Co (WFC). With the increasing Banks allocation in SGX market, I see not much value now to have WFC with much lower dividends. One counter reduced. Glad to receive in strong USD term. However, net-net is neutral so is a year plus of opportunity cost though I wouldn't say is wasted as is a hedge against my local dividend counters.

This week we have good news on DC acquisitions by Mapletree Industrial Trust (MINT). The terms look good and rewarded with almost 7% up. That's a far cry from Keppel DC Reit acquisition though but I am glad to get 2nd prize as MINT is one of my  key position. Did some trades to take some capital profit off the table while still 60% vested as I believe now there is possible room for growth vs Ascendas Reit. To-date MINT has floated about Ascendas Reit in my Bubble Chart though smaller in size. Here's the previously reported chart.

To boost my dividends, Ascendas Reit has been increased from recent lows. Pretty happy about it. This filled my dividend gaps nicely but just as I did, MINT opened another due above. With much investment cash still available, I will probably be prudent this time to prepare for year end and be more conservative. One action I did is to increase my bond holding a little bit more.

Lastly, thanks to recent upswing in Reits again and... the idea of ever lowering yield in the market seems to take a stronger root. Cory Portfolio hit a high in profit with Xirr reaching 18% of range last seen in 5th July. However, this time is different because we are leaving STI quite far behind due to Bank components. Almost want to do a further average down on Banks but froze.


Cheers

Cory

2019-0920

Cory Diary : Cory Portfolio Re-balance - aftermath of MNACT sale

Cory Portfolio Re-balance

Mapletree NACT is one of Cory Striker and Dividend producer. One of Cory Core position in the portfolio. However the Black Swan event in Hong Kong provides some jittery to Cory fragile heart. After a black eye, decided to release it for better nights and securing profits. The pain is felt as not only Cory needs to look for growth compensation but also dividend support. At the same time to mitigate the risk.

To cover the gap, four new / add positions are made. Namely,

Sph Reit - Average Dividends Stability
iReit Global - Strong Yield with high level risk. Small position.
Vicom - Average Dividend Stability and Strong Defensive (expanded significantly)
Aims Apac Reit - Good Dividends with slightly higher risk

follow by sale of Sheng Siong. Long time lover who provided 5 years of good returns.

What an exercise ! Thank you Hong Kong ! I will be back when time is ripe.

Further investment is made to further expand existing STI ETF and DBS allocation for longer term investment on lows. This significantly protects the portfolio when dividend stocks slowed down and STI ignited recently.

Lastly, further expanded Ascendas Reit to the right proportion to other Reits lifting the theoretical dividends to $51k for Year 2020 positioning. Yes, is time to prepare. Have you ?


Cory

2019-0914

Cory Diary : Asset Allocation Review 2019-0913

The Asset grows about 1.6% from a month ago. Last reviewed asset allocation - here. This is an update with recent changes. Incorporated some feedback from fellow investors and did some adjustments. Now my Asset is a more effective team ! 

Saving segment % wise has come down despite moving dividends to it.

Equity seen larger percentage increases due to growing portfolio from returns and some cash injection. MMF no longer grouped here.

Fixed Deposits increased markedly from more placements and with MMF addition as it is earning reasonable returns. 

Cory

2019-0913

Cory Diary : All Time High !

6th Sept 2019 is a bit special in the morning hours. Cory Portfolio reached an All Time high (ATH) profits (updated for privacy)  when just recently reported returns. Another 12.8% gain. This is the result of a few key stocks reaching all time high (ATH) as well. Before we start congratulating, as soon portfolio hits ATH, the market turns for the worst and ended up lower than it started .... sian ... ....

With funds still available, I am browsing through 5 stocks of interests in which 3 has hit ATH that day. The other two I may mention them some other times due to limited time. So for today, they are namely FCOT, Ascendas Reit and Mapletree Ind Tr.


FCOT - Hit $1.7 but ended lower $1.64. A -3.5% down swing for the day. Seldom we see such movement as large as that day. One of the key reason is the 1.7 psychological level. The other is ATH. As is Friday, people starts to take profit.

The fundamental of FCOT has improved with Google on-board. And with other facility ready for contributions, we could see growing DPU. There are few concerns on the sustainability of the DPU. I have optimistic view. Even in t he event of reduction, the yield is good in this time of market. The only area i need to manage is exposure. Cory portfolio has 7.8% holding.

Ascendas Reit - Another ATH counter that day. Hits $3.21 before coming down $3.14. Swing of 7 cents is quite a lot in absolute figure but not really for a 3 dollar plus stock in percentage term. -2.18% from opening. The volume looks alright.

Year 2019 we see a good trajectory of the stock price due to it's size and stability in returns. Since GFC the stock price has been on a tear. One way up. A 3 baggers excluding dividends. A sure bet so far. The yield is about 5% and Cory Portfolio has 7% exposure.


Mapletree Ind Tr - Yes, this is another ATH stock. High $2.39 and close $2.34. The plus of this is the growth and US Data centers. If we think is at high price, the stock is also on one way up since IPO 2010.  While we could see correction in any stock hitting 1 year of DPU, it will likely takes a bad market for 2 Years of DPU. During this period, a year could have gone by buffering the capital loss. This can applies to all above mentioned stocks. Cory Portfolio has 8.4% exposure in it.


Are you ready to hoot or go for another waiting game ? For Cory now, question is whether he is happy with the yield for the risk. Most importantly to treat it always as a new purchase and overall portfolio view.

The risk is from the angle we need to look at whether the STI and Banks will be on a new uptrend as they are quite resilient that day. 



Cory
2019-0907

Cory Diary : Retail Investor Returns for 2019

The local SGX market as mentioned previously has been dynamic swings. If we have invested in just STI Index, we would probably next to zero returns excluding dividends for 2019. However, what about a community of local keen investors do in this market so far ?

Here's the survey result for Retailer Investors from keen group of stock investors.

Below is how the survey is framed.

The distribution is really interesting because of the extreme ends of the returns have much higher votes. Is not like the normal distribution we often see where we have the mountain shaped or maybe skewed of it. The survey reflects inverted result. Do note there is only 57 votes.

How do you do ?


Cheers

2019-0905

Cory Diary : Dividends Shortfall

For those who miss my Aug Performance Report. Here you are.

Cory Portfolio Resilience


With the recent sales of Singtel and Mapletree NAC Tr, estimated dividends by year end will be reduced (updated for privacy) . This means potentially Cory Equity Portfolio may collect slightly lesser than Year 2018 despite bull year for Cory portfolio. Alamak ! Without saying it will be some distance from expected (updated for privacy)  target..... sigh !

Portfolio yield is at 4.6%. This is mainly due to STI ETF and Bonds/ Preference shares holding the values down which has seen significant expansion as I try to lock my happy returns to safer harbor. Another possible reason is that there are additional stakes in some counters which do not have dividends for the remainder of the year. One for yield, the other speculation.

Will gather some bullets and re-balancing. Hopefully I can do some magics to fix the issue.


Cheers

Cory
2019-0901

Cory Diary : Portfolio Resilience August Report

STI Index has major roller coaster rides this year. The most recent one is just this month when it erases all it this year winning and then creep back up a little to end at +1.23% YTD. After dividends, probably +4% range.

How did Cory Portfolio performs ? If we are to use the relative perform chart against STI, End Jun report is Here and Early Aug in Here. Iran conflict did not happen. I was trying to secure the widened gap. Let's look how it goes.

Year-to-Date

(updated for privacy) 

Cory Portfolio  : 15.8% which came down from 18.x% range 
excluding fixed instruments (ie bond)  : 19.2%.  This is mainly due to weakness in Banks, STI ETF and lastly Mapletree NAC Tr (Black-swan - HK Riots/RMB Depreciation).

(updated for privacy) 

Overall portfolio outperforms STI by 11.x% so far this year. There are some changes in portfolio mix which I will elaborate in later blogging.


Cory
2019-0830

Cory Diary : Trades - 2019-0829

Early morning today, dear wife lined me .... "Armoured cars rolling into Hong Kong" which kind of shocked me as I find this possibility remote. But after reading in detail, it was a "Routine" so to speak. We both agree .... is more of trying to intimidate. However, this is enough. 

Decided to clear my Mapletree NAC Tr which registered two years of dividends. Could have been three years have it not the riots. We can't win it all can we ? This sale is quite painful because it has hit 6% yield. Decided SPH Reit despite 5% yield is the one I am comfortable to replace with. Obviously larger capital needed if I am to lock in similar dividends size.

The other key trade is I decided to sell my remaining Singtel shares. I took the opportunity when it hit a local spike to offload. One counter less as I decided to try iReit Global. Jio still on the hunt for market shares. Despite Airtel good defense, the battle will be prolonged hence my decision. Frankly, I feel some relief from the sale as I found later there is some mental stress hidden in the background. As I can sleep better, is a Good Choice !

A minor trade on some of my earlier Ascendas Reit shares failed. So I managed to bought back some shares in recent dip therefore boosting my dividends in the counter. I would consider this average up. I do average down on DBS.... which was my plan to align more towards STI for 2nd half of the year to benefit from it rise or rebound.... . Fortunately, the plan aren't so match and so much less impacted by STI Index recent banking segment poor performance.

Other than those key investment decision, I also remember attempting a speculative punt. Wish me luck on this one. Non-bank, non-reits and non-property. Is dangerous feeling rich .... All I could say.


Cory
2019-0829

Cory Diary : How far can capital appreciation go for yield stocks ?

Take a peek in latest chart ... link.

In case link broken in the future .... here's the chart which show an excellent chart on forward dividend yield.

Using Indonesia, Singapore has 47% capital appreciation to go. 38% using Japan yield as a reference. In a market of overflowing cash, ever lowering yield is way to go.

Of-course this is still dependent on which stock we choose as the data is broad average. Some companies can still perform major screw-up. Will you be net buyer today ?

Reits hold very well so far in the market.

Cory

2019-0826

Cory Diary : A War that shouldn't have started ...

Trump twittered to increase taxes to 15% on $300B and remaining ... etc. This is in response to Chinese PRC increase tariffs on American products.

Frankly, the import of American goods to China is far lesser than China exports. Any increase in tariffs now is like whipping a dead horse after several rounds of retaliations. In all it's purpose, China latest response is for local consumption mainly FACE and probably upholding President Xi power base. Unfortunately, President Trump aren't the type who can lose face either. Furthermore this help America interests and his voting base to provide reason to further isolate China from America Economy to prevent a China near term rise to challenge America power presumption.

( LKY has said before as long China has peaceful development provided The PRC Chinese holds their horses they would reach their Super Power status. What a wise word said so long long ago. The key meaning therefore is "Provided" which appears no longer able to uphold Economically in Trade and Militarily in South China Sea)

With Tariffs card played out, China only left with mainly Currency or Financial instruments to continue the game. They have chosen currency which is the start of RMB weakening. This will be a down slope trend. So anyone holding to Forex exposure could be at risk. In reality, there could be upheaval in the market. And selling US treasuries to protect will likely to happen. This is a dual sword as it will weaken USD and further improve American business competitiveness that Trump has been begging Fed for.

Meantime, in any MNC industries, after such a long period of tariffs gestation, most are ready to switch to alternate countries on the go. There will be some pain but it would help to spread the wealth to regional countries rather than consolidate manufacturing base to a single country to benefit from. This will happen as is not just intellectual protection and fair trade. Is about containing China rise and ensuring America continues to be the only super power.

Maybe if China has cooperated early in the game, the extend of the damage to Chinese economy could be managed. I think we could be at a point of no return now and any compromise will likely requires China to give up a lot more such as FaceBook, Google, Twitter, U-Tube, Whats app market access in-additions to all the original complains. Meanwhile America still have more cards in play. HK Special status, more Tariffs, Supply Chain Value-add percentage and controls, debt limits and lastly if Fed is to cooperate, Interest rates.

The damage is clear based on current DJIA vs Shanghai Index comparison. And this is before expected coming Monday slide in Asia time. But the pill will be very hard to swallow. Finally, the argument of American consumers pay more is irrelevant as this will only reduce consumption slightly as the cost delta to operate outside China is likely to be around 5% increase. This could translate higher in the market but is not going to be out-of-the-world pricing.

This probably explains why Trump is so willing to proactively engage in the trade battle for Supremacy. Even if China can wait till Oct'20 which appears more remote now with the elevated crisis on the economic impact,  Trump failure to be re-elected do not guaranteed any discontinuation in current policy for Trade War is probably the largest misnomer among the media today.


Cory

2019-0825