Temasek Holdings offers a 3 year zero-coupon bond that can be exchanged into shares of Standard Chartered Bank at a premium of 27%. Is this a good investment? Here is my view.
Here is another person's view.
Here is another person's view.
Tuesday, October 18, 2011
Golden boy: Leyva caps sharp gym worlds for US (AP)
TOKYO ? Danell Leyva's parallel bars routine was practically flawless, certainly the best he'd ever done.
Now he had to wait to see if it would be good enough.
There were four gymnasts still to come Sunday, including all-around champion Kohei Uchimura. But the first brushed his backside against one of the rails, and the next two took hops, no matter how slight, on their landings.
"It was pretty crazy, to be honest," Leyva said. "I actually didn't think I was going to (win). Seeing everyone's score going up, it was like another heartbeat I was able to get. Like OK, OK."
When Uchimura's legs wobbled on a handstand, Leyva's heart went into a full-blooded pound. The 19-year-old from Miami had a gold medal, the first by an American man at the world championships since 2003.
"It's great to finish the way I did," Leyva said.
Capped a banner world championships for the entire U.S. team, too. All-around champion Jordyn Wieber and Aly Raisman added bronzes Sunday to give the Americans seven medals, four of them gold. Only China won more, with 12, and the U.S. matched the Chinese gold for gold.
The women claimed their third team gold, and Wieber became the sixth American woman to win the all-around. McKayla Maroney gave the U.S. its third straight vault title. The U.S. men won their first team medal since 2003, a bronze, and Leyva gave them multiple medals for the first time since Paul Hamm won three, also in 2003.
Oh, and the London Olympics are less than a year away.
"That sends a really huge message to other countries and judges that we're coming in really strong for next year and the Olympics," said Wieber, who missed a fourth medal on uneven bars by about three-tenths of a point. "It shows that we're really working hard and we're going to be back even stronger next year."
China rounded out its medal haul with Zou Kai and Zhang Chenglong going 1-2 on high bar, and Sui Lu and Yao Jinnan taking the gold and silver on balance beam. Yang Hak-seon of South Korea won the men's vault title with the hardest vault ever attempted, and Kseniia Afanaseva of Russia claimed the floor title after being a late replacement for teammate Viktoria Komova.
Kohei Uchimura didn't win any more golds Sunday, but a bronze on high bar gave the Japanese star a complete set. He won golds in the all-around and floor exercise, and a silver in the team competition.
"I don't think about winning the gold medals or having the gold medals," said Uchimura, the first man to win three all-around titles. "I'm just concerned about the performance, a good performance. And as a result, it's been good to win golds."
Leyva had hoped to give Uchimura a run for his gold medal in the all-around. But the American sat down on his vault landing, then took a nasty-looking fall off the high bar that left him in last place.
Though Leyva's head quickly cleared, his pride did not.
"To be able to finish in a high point is good ? especially after trying to take a chunk out of the bar with my teeth," Leyva said. "It's great to be able to come back and show the world we're not wimps. USA, that's what it's about."
Leyva has all of the difficult tricks ? his high bar routine would make Shaun White's palms sweat ? but it's his polish and precision that have caught the rest of the world's attention.
His parallel bars routine was filled with intricate combinations, yet they were done with the precision of an artist ? which he is ? and the rhythm of a musician. He did a spin into a handstand that any dancer would envy, his legs ruler-straight and his toes perfectly pointed. When he flipped into another handstand, he came to a dead stop, looking like a statue as he held the pose.
His dismount was the stuff gymnastics coaches dream off. He landed full-force without so much as a wiggle, his only movement the raising of his arms in triumph.
"Danell has worked so hard on that routine, and in particular on his dismount," said Kevin Mazeika, men's team coordinator. "He's been working on that all year, trying to improve that and working on sticking the landings. It all paid off at just the right time. A beautiful routine with a stuck dismount."
As the crowd cheered, Leyva let loose with a roar and pumped his fists. His stepfather and coach, Yin Alvarez, who is excitable just getting off the bus, charged toward the podium like a bull in Pamplona, wrapping Leyva in a bearhug.
It's only the third parallel bars title for a U.S. man, following Sean Townsend (2001) and Bart Conner (1979).
"I didn't think anything was going to hit me until the world championships was over and it's hitting me now," said Leyva, who won his first U.S. title in August. "It was a great year. It was a phenomenal year."
And next year, the Americans hope, will be even better.
This has the potential to be the strongest Olympic team the U.S. has ever had. The women won the title despite losing Beijing Olympic captain Alicia Sacramone to a torn Achilles tendon two days before prelims, and all five Americans finished in the top 12 in qualifying. There were two Americans in every event final but vault.
The guys had three of the top five spots in qualifying. They finished team finals only about two points behind China ? and that was with the Chinese being clean and the Americans counting a botched vault and some major execution deductions on still rings.
"It's the result of a lot of hard work," USA Gymnastics president Steve Penny said. "These kids have really set their sights higher than they've been before. They're just achieving more and more, so it's just really exciting to see that they want to keep the United States out front."
Oh, and get a load of who's back home. Olympic champion Nastia Liukin just announced her comeback, and Shawn Johnson will anchor the U.S. team at the Pan American Games. Hamm was close to competing at nationals after a shoulder injury, and 2005 world champion Chellsie Memmel is working out again after shoulder surgery.
A reduction in team size for London ? squads will have five gymnasts, not six ? could make the Americans even more formidable.
For the past few years, teams have taken two or three all-arounders and used the rest of their spots on event specialists to ensure big scores in team finals, where three gymnasts compete on each apparatus and all three scores count. With only five gymnasts, however, teams may not have that luxury.
The U.S. has the depth on both sides to adapt. So do the Russian women, and the German, British, Russian and Japanese men.
The Chinese are a big question mark, however, particularly on the men's side. They had only one all-arounder, Teng Haibin, and he was 18th.
"Look here what we had: Everybody did basically every event. We had five girls in here," women's national team coordinator Martha Karolyi said. "So it's not so extremely hard for us."
Indeed, the toughest task could be settling on the five members of each team.
"When you look at the depth that we have to choose from, if everybody comes back healthy and strong? Oh my gosh," Penny said. "It's just going to be an amazing year to watch what happens."
___
Follow Nancy Armour at http://www.twitter.com/nrarmour
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Employment rate of Singaporeans
Quote from Lucky Tan: For many years, the PAP govt has tried to paint a rosy picture to Singaporeans on employment when the real situation on the ground has deteriorated badly especially among older Singaporeans.
Thoughts of a contented Singaporean who has lived in Singapore for 40 years.
Booking an air ticket
I went to the Sri Lanka Airline website to book my air ticket to Colombo. I found this website to be well designed and easy to use - much better than Jetstar or Singapore Airlines. I got a good price. I asked my travel agent if they are able to match this price - but they cannot. I went to Expedia.com but could not find a comparable price (but the price was a good benchmark). It seemed that the best price can be obtained by booking directly with the airline.
How to Buy a Car With Bad Credit and No Down Payment - It's a Lot Easier Than You Think!
So your credit history is not what it should be but you want to buy a car with bad credit. Every dealer you visit seems to want a big down payment. If you're in the market for a new ride but don't want to deal with a huge down payment, then reading this article will help you to find out how to make this happen. Realistically dealers want a down payment for a couple of reasons:
First because it can help to increase the amount of profit they make on the deal. The second reason is to help to reduce the amount of money needed to have the deal financed through his personal lender. This could potentially have his lender approve your auto loan easier and have the deal go through and make sure the dealer makes a great commission for bringing his lender your business. Depending on the dealer to make the deal happen is usually going to cost you more than you expected.
We Buy Any Car
To buy a car with bad credit doesn't mean you need to use the lender's finance department to get your loan approved. If you believe your local bank will not approve a loan for you with no down payment, then I have some great news for you.
Here's a Secret the Dealer Doesn't Want You to Know:
Dealerships always increase the retail price of all their cars and trucks. We all know this to be true, but what you may not know is they also increase the interest rate in order to increase their commissions on the loans approved through their finance department. It's true! Dealerships will usually like to submit your applications with lenders they often do business with on a regular basis. Their lenders will make an offer for your specific deal for let's say at an 8% interest rate.
Because you're trying to buy a car with bad credit, the dealer knowing this in advance will try to convince you that the offer made by his lender was actually 11% or more depending on how much profit he is looking to make on your deal. Telling you that you have been approved for a higher rate auto loan is no surprise to you; so you may accept this offer and wind up paying thousands more for a car or truck you could have purchased for less money. The dealer gets a bigger commission for his efforts and you wind up paying more in the long run.
Now Here's the Truth No Car Dealer Wants You to Find Out:
You are able to buy a car with bad credit and with no down payment! You'll also be able to find lower interest rates by simply searching for your auto loan online. You'll often get multiple offers in less than 60 seconds and avoid dealing with the marked up rates the dealer's finance department will create in order to increase their commissions. By finding your own auto loan online you can walk into any dealership and pick out the car or truck you truly deserve.
How to Buy a Car With Bad Credit and No Down Payment - It's a Lot Easier Than You Think!
Communique Issued By Finance Ministers And Central Bankers Of ...
You are here: Home / News Feed / Communique Issued By Finance Ministers And Central Bankers Of The Group Of 20 Major Economies After A Meeting In Paris On Saturday 15 October, 2011
Date 15/10/2011
- We, the G-20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors, met at a time of heightened tensions and significant downside risks for the global economy that need to be addressed decisively to restore confidence, financial stability and growth.
- We have progressed in delivering the commitments we made three weeks ago in Washington DC. In particular, we welcome the adoption of the ambitious reform of the European economic governance. We also welcome the completion by Euro area countries of the actions necessary to implement the decisions taken by Euro area Leaders on 21 July 2011 to increase the capacity and the flexibility of the EFSF. We look forward to further work to maximize the impact of the EFSF in order to avoid contagion, and to the outcome of the European Council on October 23 to decisively address the current challenges through a comprehensive plan. We made progress on our action plan of coordinated policies for consideration by our Leaders at the Cannes Summit. This action plan will encompass a set of measures to address immediate vulnerabilities and strengthen the foundations for a strong, sustainable and balanced growth whereby:
- Advanced economies, taking into account different national circumstances, will adopt policies to build confidence and support growth, and implement clear, credible and specific measures to achieve fiscal consolidation. Those with large current account surpluses will also implement policies to shift to growth based more on domestic demand. Those with large current account deficits will implement policies to increase national savings;
- Emerging market economies will adjust macroeconomic policies, where needed, to maintain growth momentum in the face of downside risks, contain inflationary pressures and endeavor to enhance resilience in the face of volatile capital flows; Surplus emerging market economies will accelerate the implementation of structural reforms to rebalance demand toward more domestic consumption, supported by continued efforts to move toward more market-determined exchange rate systems and achieve greater exchange rate flexibility to reflect economic fundamentals;
- All countries will undertake further structural reforms to raise potential growth;
- In all of our actions we will strive to foster growth, job creation and promote social inclusion.
We remain committed to take all necessary actions to preserve the stability of banking systems and financial markets. We will ensure that banks are adequately capitalized and have sufficient access to funding to deal with current risks. Central banks have recently taken decisive actions to this end and will continue to stand ready to provide liquidity to banks as required. Monetary policies will maintain price stability and continue to support economic recovery.
- We are taking concrete steps to build a more stable and resilient IMS to help both deal with the current stress and promote longer-term stability. We agreed on coherent conclusions to guide us in the management of capital flows in order to deal with the risks and reap the benefits from cross-border capital flows. To further reach these objectives, we agreed on an action plan to support the development and deepening of local currency bond markets. We welcomed the recent improvements to IMF surveillance and will review further progress by the Cannes Summit notably on enhancements towards a more integrated, even-handed and effective surveillance framework, particularly on financial sector coverage, fiscal, monetary and exchange rate policies.
We adopted common principles for cooperation between the IMF and Regional Financial Arrangements. As a contribution to a more structured approach, we called on the IMF to further consider new ways to provide on a case by case basis short-term liquidity to countries facing exogenous, including systemic, shocks building on existing instruments and facilities and called on the IMF to develop concrete proposals by the Cannes Summit. In addition, we recognize that central banks play a major role in addressing global liquidity shocks. We committed that the IMF must have adequate resources to fulfill its systemic responsibilities and look forward to a discussion of this in Cannes. We call for the full implementation of the 2010 quota and governance reform of the IMF, as agreed. We look forward to making progress by the Cannes Summit on a criteria-based path to broaden the SDR basket, as a contribution to the evolution of the IMS, based on the existing criteria. We will continue our work on assessing developments on global liquidity, country specific analysis of drivers of reserve accumulation, avoiding persistent exchange rates misalignments, and the role of the SDR.
We reaffirmed our shared interest in a strong and stable international financial system, and our support for market-determined exchange rates. We reiterate that excess volatility and disorderly movements in exchange rates have adverse implications for economic and financial stability.
- We are more determined than ever to reform the financial sector to better serve the needs of our economies. We reaffirm our commitment to implement fully, consistently and in a nondiscriminatory way agreed reforms on OTC derivatives, all Basel agreements on banking regulation within agreed timelines and reducing overreliance on external credit ratings. We endorsed a comprehensive framework to reduce the risks posed by SIFIs, including strengthened supervision, key attributes of effective resolution regimes, a framework for cross-border cooperation and recovery and resolution planning as well as additional loss absorbency requirements for those banks determined as SIFIs; now that the framework applicable to SIFIs is agreed we urge the FSB to define the modalities to extend expeditiously the framework to all SIFIs. We agreed on initial recommendations and a work plan to strengthen regulation and oversight of shadow banking; we welcomed the joint IMF/WB/FSB report on financial stability issues in emerging markets and developing economies; endorsed the FSB report and the common principles on financial consumer protection prepared by OECD with FSB and call for further work on implementation issues; endorsed the progress report of the FSB OTC derivatives working group to ensure proper coordination and sequencing, and agreed on the importance of the work to set margining standards on non-centrally cleared OTC derivatives; endorsed the IOSCO report on commodity derivatives markets and called IOSCO to report on implementation of its recommendations by end 2012. We endorsed first recommendations by IOSCO on market integrity and call for further work by mid-2012. We welcomed initial work by FSB/IMF/BIS on macroprudential policy and look forward to further work in 2012. We underscored our support for a global legal entity identifier system which uniquely identifies parties to financial transactions with an appropriate governance structure representing public interest. We reaffirmed our objective to achieve a single set of high quality global accounting standards. We look forward to discussion of progress made in tackling non-cooperative jurisdictions and tax havens in Cannes. We underlined in particular the importance of comprehensive tax information exchange and encourage competent authorities to continue their work in the Global Forum to assess and better define the means to improve it. We agreed on a coordinated framework for monitoring implementation of our financial regulation agenda, including enhanced monitoring of Basel II, II-5 and III implementation, setting up a peer review council for GSIFI policies, a coordination group on OTC derivatives complementing the OTC derivatives working group, and an ongoing monitoring and public reporting on compensation practices focused on remaining gaps and impediments to full implementation of FSB standards and principles on compensation, and also reviewed a scoreboard to track progress for our Leaders. To ensure that the FSB keeps pace with our ambitious financial regulation agenda, we commit to strengthen its capacity, resources and governance building on its Chair?s preliminary proposals and call for first steps to be implemented by the end of this year.
- The proper functioning of commodity markets is key for sustained global economic growth. We reaffirm our commitment to improve the timeliness, completeness and reliability of the JODI-Oil database and call on IEF, IEA and OPEC to regularly assess our progress. We commit to work on contributing to the JODI-Gas database, on the basis of the same principles, call for further work on gas and coal market transparency and will review progress in 2012. Building on the January 2011 Riyadh meeting, we call for annual symposiums on short, medium and long term outlook and forecasts for oil, gas and coal. We ask IOSCO, in collaboration with IEA, IEF and OPEC, to prepare recommendations to improve the functioning and oversight of Price Reporting Agencies for mid-2012. We reaffirm our commitment to rationalize and phase-out inefficient fossil fuel subsidies in the medium term, while providing targeted support for the poorest.
- We welcome the MDBs Infrastructure Action Plan and the HLP recommendations to be presented to our Leaders in Cannes for promoting enabling environment, diversifying sources of funding and identifying exemplary infrastructure investment projects. We call on the MDBs, working with countries involved to pursue implementation of transformational regional infrastructure projects following the criteria set by the HLP and to prioritize project preparation financing. We emphasize the importance of this agenda and welcome regular updates from MDBs on the progress achieved.
We welcome the GPFI progress report and encourage further efforts to achieve universal access to financial services. We call on MDBs to assist their clients scale up use of risk management tools that help mitigate the impact of food price volatility.
- We debated options for innovative financing, as well as a range of different financial taxes, and look forward to Bill Gates? report on financing for development. We discussed the World Bank-IMF-OECD-RDBs report on mobilizing climate finance and the recommendations of Trevor Manuel based on this report, taking into account the principles of UNFCCC. We call for further work by MDBs and UN organizations. We look forward to an effective design for the Green Climate Fund, based on the work of the Transitional Committee as an element of a balanced outcome of Durban.
- We thank France for hosting the Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors? meetings this year and welcome Mexico as chair in 2012.
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Real estate agents
There were 1,200 complaints against real estate agents for the first 9 months, or 5 each working day. The total fees paid for the transactions was $1.25 billion last year, or an average of $37,800 per registered agent (based on 33,000 registered agents, including those that are only partially active). http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/singaporelocalnews/view/1160085/1/.html
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