Daily Review. 30th August, 2007

On Thursday, Russian equities kicked off with gains across the board on the back of upbeat performances on global bourses. However, the expected release of another batch of US stats prompted investors to adopt a wait-and-see stance in afternoon trading, adding volatility to stock indexes. Additional pressure on the market came from the release of the US Department of Commerces forecast for Q207 GDR growth, which called for 4% on an annualized basis against the earlier 4.1% projection and also from the PCE Core Index (household consumer expenses minus food and energy) that jumped 1.3% in April-June, while a 1.4% advance was anticipated. By Thursdays final bell, the MICEX Index inched up 0.02% to 1,641.06 and the RTS Index fared better, up 0.48% to 1,880.43. Crude futures surged 2.5% after the release of the US mid-week inventory report, showing a steep decline in crude and gasoline stockpiles. However, during the session Brent contracts corrected down to $71.70 a barrel, pushing MICEX-listed O&G names lower: Tatneft tumbled 1.77%, Lukoil eased 0.26%, Rosneft pulled back 0.83%, Gazprom Neft ended 0.56% weaker and Gazprom closed down 0.22%. Surgutneftegaz emerged as the standout gainer, up 0.42%. Norilsk Nickel (+0.99%) headed north Thursday on MICEX on the strength of surging base metal prices. Other MICEX blue chips finished the day mixed: UES slipped 1%, Sberbank advanced 0.38%, Rostelecom rose 0.2%, MTS spiked 2.46%, VTB fell 0.17% and Polyus Gold was off 0.68%. Turnover dropped to $48.27 mln on benchmark RTS and came to $6,867.45 mln on MICEX.

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[Source: Russian Stock Market Blog]

In intraday market news, domestic equities have been on a rollercoaster ride for the second day in a row.

Russian stocks have been seeing a wide range of fluctuations for the second session in a row. While yesterday we witnessed a 2% pullback, today liquid names have posted 2% gains. The growing subprime market crisis in the US continues to impact other international markets and Russia is no exception. Todays star performers have so far been Surgutneftegaz (+1.9%) and Sberbank (+1.5%), whereas Tatneft (unchanged), Wednesdays top advancer, has been underperforming the market. The last month of the summer season is coming to a close and we are hopeful that the market will start looking up in autumn.

Sergey Dorogavtsev, Asset Manager, Finam Investment Company

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[Source: Russian Stock Market Blog]

Central Bank Ruble Exchange Rates

1 Australian Dollar 20.9325
1 British Pound Sterling 51.6784
1000 Belorussian Rouble 11.9244
10 Danish Krone 47.0165
1 US Dollar 25.6494
1 EURO 35.0114
100 Iceland Krona 40.2407
100 Kazakh Tenge 20.2971
1 Canadian Dollar 24.1338
10 China Yuan 33.9682
10 Norwegian Krone 43.9774
1 SDR 39.3105
1 Singapore Dollar 16.8303
1 New Turkey Lira 19.5038
10 Ukrainian Hryvnia 50.9989
10 Swedish Krona 37.3528
1 Swiss Franc 21.3834
100 Japanese Yen 22.2400

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[Source: Russian Stock Market Blog]

12,370- more improvement

The upside continued with the KSE-100 index making a high of 12,387 and clsoing up at 12,370. NBP was the volume leader of the day with 16.4 million shares traded and MCB is up by Rs.37 for the week. The close above 12,300 should lead to a test of 12,500 , unless the market starts [...]

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[Source: KARACHI STOCK MARKET NEWS]

Emotional Intelligence

Funny thing… life. Just when you think you have it all together it comes up with another challenge. I am recovering from a bout of the flu which has kept me from my work here which is to help guide you through understanding the basics of the US stock market with the [...]

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[Source: The Bullhunters Guide | Bullhunters Guide to the US Stock Market]

Vimpelcom reports 84% upsurge in Q207 net profit.

Vimpelcom has boosted its Q207 US GAAP net profit by a record 84.3% against the year-earlier period to $359.3 mln, outpacing analyst expectations. Analysts projected the wireless providers net profit to climb 67.9% to $327.4 mln in April-June 2007. According to the mobile companys quarterly financial statement, sales totaled $1,717 mln, up a hefty 53.1%, and OIBDA rocketed 59.7% to $896.8 mln. Average forecasts for revenue were $1,184.8 mln (a 50% increase) and $863.6 mln (a 53.7% spike) for OIBDA.

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[Source: Russian Stock Market Blog]

Vimpelcom reports 84% upsurge in Q207 net profit.

Vimpelcom has boosted its Q207 US GAAP net profit by a record 84.3% against the year-earlier period to $359.3 mln, outpacing analyst expectations. Analysts projected the wireless providers net profit to climb 67.9% to $327.4 mln in April-June 2007. According to the mobile companys quarterly financial statement, sales totaled $1,717 mln, up a hefty 53.1%, and OIBDA rocketed 59.7% to $896.8 mln. Average forecasts for revenue were $1,184.8 mln (a 50% increase) and $863.6 mln (a 53.7% spike) for OIBDA.

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[Source: Russian Stock Market Blog]

12,228 - minor pullback

There was some improvement in the KSE-100 index with a high of 12,264 and a close at 12,228. There seemed to be some buying across the board, esp. MCB which is up Rs.25 since yesterday. Lucky cement was the volume leader with 13 million shares traded. OGDC and BAFL are lagging in performance in comparison [...]

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[Source: KARACHI STOCK MARKET NEWS]

Central Bank Ruble Exchange Rates

1 Australian Dollar 20.8423
1 British Pound Sterling 51.5775
1000 Belorussian Rouble 11.9737
10 Danish Krone 46.9982
1 US Dollar 25.7630
1 EURO 35.0042
100 Iceland Krona 39.7700
100 Kazakh Tenge 20.4010
1 Canadian Dollar 24.1679
10 China Yuan 34.1051
10 Norwegian Krone 43.9319
1 SDR 39.5016
1 Singapore Dollar 16.8750
1 New Turkey Lira 19.1975
10 Ukrainian Hryvnia 51.2248
10 Swedish Krona 37.2405
1 Swiss Franc 21.4317
100 Japanese Yen 22.5418

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[Source: Russian Stock Market Blog]

In intraday market updates, domestic plays opened sharply down.

On Wednesday, Russian stocks kicked off deeply in the red on the back of yesterdays setback on the U.S. market. As of 12:00 noon Moscow time Surgutneftegaz (-2%) and Sberbank (-1.8%) commons were the worst performers, while Mosenergo (+0.1%) bucked the downtrend. The RTS Index is hovering around 1,855, i.e. 1.3% lower than Tuesdays close.

Sergey Belov, Asset Manager, Finam Investment Company

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[Source: Russian Stock Market Blog]

ESPO to run at full capacity, Putin is confident.

A high utilization ratio of the Eastern Siberia Pacific Ocean pipeline beyond doubt, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced. As regards keeping the ESPO project well supplied, as far as I understand, this pipeline will definitely be running at high rate Putin said at a meeting with Russian Natural Resources Minister Yury Trutnev. There is no room for doubt now the minister gave assurances on his part. All interested companies have confirmed their obligations, but it is quite clear that their activities will be more efficient if we provide more detailed geological information Trutnev added.

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[Source: Russian Stock Market Blog]

Investment fund Templeton has become a minority shareholder of VTB.

Investment fund Templeton Russia and East European Fund, which specializes in investments in Russian and East European companies bought a small equity stake in VTB in Q207. As of June 30, 2007 Templeton owned 335,500 GDRs on VTB shares with an aggregate market value of $3.7 mln, Templeton said in a statement.

During the reporting quarter Templeton also acquired the status of a shareholder at titanium manufacturer VSMPO-Avisma, having purchased 6,600 shares of the corporation which are worth $2 mln.

The largest investments in Templeton Russia and East European Funds portfolio are equity stakes in UES, Lukoil, Sberbank, Gazprom, Severstal, Norilsk Nickel, VolgaTelecom and Siberia Telecom. In Q207, the funds net assets dropped from $368.8 mln in Q107 to $349.5 mln.

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[Source: Russian Stock Market Blog]

Central Bank Ruble Exchange Rates

1 Australian Dollar 21.1410
1 British Pound Sterling 51.4944
1000 Belorussian Rouble 11.9361
10 Danish Krone 47.0020
1 US Dollar 25.6753
1 EURO 35.0006
100 Iceland Krona 39.9927
100 Kazakh Tenge 20.3402
1 Canadian Dollar 24.2655
10 China Yuan 33.9805
10 Norwegian Krone 43.9390
1 SDR 39.3279
1 Singapore Dollar 16.8606
1 New Turkey Lira 19.3995
10 Ukrainian Hryvnia 51.0372
10 Swedish Krona 37.2732
1 Swiss Franc 21.3374
100 Japanese Yen 22.2239

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[Source: Russian Stock Market Blog]

Daily Review. 27th August, 2007

The Russian stock market kicked off in the black Monday on a favorable external news flow and domestic demand for some stocks, especially Surgutneftegaz. Asian and European equity markets headed north following the US stock market after Fridays report on new home sales and durable goods orders was released. New homes sales in the US climbed 2.8% in July (while a 1.7% decline was projected) and durable goods orders rose 5.9% vs. a 1% forecast. Surgutneftegaz climbed further on news about the states possible intention to establish a national oil company into which Surgut is to be folded. Insufficient ruble liquidity on the domestic market remains a constraining factor. By the final bell, the RTS Index gained 1.66% to 1,895.71 and the MICEX Index rose 1.37% to 1,656.32. The price of Brent crude was around $70.50 a barrel, but eased to $69.80 by the final bell. However, Russian oil and gas shares closed in positive territory on MICEX. Gazprom rose 1.13%, Rosneft advanced 0.73%, Lukoil picked up 0.53%, Gazprom Neft expanded 0.21% and Tatneft inched up 0.02%. SurgutNG topped the list of advancers among MICEX blue chips (+6.77%) thanks to an ongoing news flow about possible restructuring of the national oil company into which Surgut is to be folded. Other liquid names also landed in the black on MICEX. Norilsk Nickel grew 1.29%, UES climbed 1.10%, Sberbank added 1.39%, VTB gained 0.58% and Rostelecom closed 0.40% higher. However, MTS closed flat. Market turnover stood at $57.62 mln on benchmark RTS and $7,164.67 mln on MICEX.

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[Source: Russian Stock Market Blog]

Transneft is prepared to design the ESPO projects further route lines, while awaiting Cabinet decision.

Transneft is prepared to begin activities to engineer a further route of the ESPO pipeline, Transneft CEO Semen Vainshtok told the Russian President. Were currently waiting for the governments decision in order to take steps in this direction, but the company is already prepared to commence operations Vainshtok pointed out. As regards ESPO, we have already covered more than 1,130 km and work is in progress within all sections of the pipeline without any exceptions. These are the Republic of Yakutia, Amur and Irkutsk regions. So, things are looking good on this front the pipeline monopolys chief executive added.

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[Source: Russian Stock Market Blog]

In intraday market updates, liquid stories are trading marginally in the red after yesterdays rebound.

On Tuesday, blue-chip stories have been trading marginally in negative territory after a rebound Monday. Domestic plays dipped because of a modest contraction in U.S. stock indexes in Monday trading, with Surgutneftegaz (-1.2%), yesterdays darling, heading up the list of losers. Other names posted marginal losses, with Rostelecom easing 0.2%, UES giving up 0.6% and Norilsk Nickel pulling back 0.65%. All in all, the market looks uncertain. All eyes are on developments surrounding the American subprime market. It looks as though the market will not show any clear trend until the end of the week.

Sergey Dorogavtsev, Asset Manager, Finam Investment Company

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[Source: Russian Stock Market Blog]

Daily Review. 28th August, 2007

On Tuesday, Russian trading saw modest sell-offs, with volumes picking up a couple of hours before the final bell. This trend stems from renewed weakness on global equity markets: the day before U.S. markets closed out in the red following the release of soft data from the real estate markets, with European and Asian bourses following suit Tuesday. Second home sales in the United States dropped 0.2% to 5.75 mln homes on an annualized basis in July against expectations of a 0.9% decline. Meanwhile, last month the number of unsold homes rose 5.1% to 4.59 mln, a 16-month record high. US trading also kicked off with sell-offs, giving no chance for Russian indexes to win back losses. The RTS Index dropped 0.98% to settle at 1,877.10 and the MICEX Index eased 0.85% to 1,642.29.Brent spiked to the $71 mark Monday on expectations about a reduction in US oil products stockpiles. But on Tuesday oil futures drifted lower, reaching $70.40 a barrel. Domestic O&G names finished the day on MICEX as follows: Gazprom gave up 1%, Gazprom Neft added 0.47%, Rosneft dropped 0.25%, Lukoil tumbled 0.58%, Tatneft gained 0.80% and Surgutneftegaz plunged 2.51% on profit taking among market players after robust gains reaped on news about the companys possible merger with Rosneft. Norilsk Nickel (+0.13%) and Rostelecom (+0.20%) saw modest gains on MICEX. Other MICEX blue chip stories finished the day in the red: UES edged down 1.04%, Sberbank lost 0.75%, VTB gave up 1.33% and MTS closed out 0.62% lower. Turnover amounted to $6,970.79 mln on the ruble-denominated exchange and was recorded at $38.14 mln on the dollar-priced bourse.

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[Source: Russian Stock Market Blog]

UES: a stake in Power Machines is to be sold to a Russian strategic investor.

The UES Board of Directors is going to discuss at Fridays meeting the issue relating to the form, deadline and terms for the sale of an equity position in Power Machines, which is owned by the energy holding. We believe that the stake should be sold as part of tender procedures. The price will be discussed at the BoD meeting the energy holdings spokesman told Finam.ru. The UES representative pointed out that, as UES executives think, this block of shares should be divested in favor of a Russian strategic investor.

For the record, Russian electricity monopoly UES owns a blocking stake in Power Machines, German concern Siemens also owns 25% and 30.4% is in the hands of Interros. In late July Interros forwarded a notice to UES and Siemens of its aspiration to sell its 30.4% interest in Power Machines. In accordance with the earlier signed agreements, UES and Siemens enjoy the right of first refusal with regard to Interros interest in Power Machines. If no party exercises the pre-emptive right within the deadline prescribed by law, Interros will strike a transact with a third party.

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[Source: Russian Stock Market Blog]

Recent Dividends - II

Adamjee Insurance : 15% Cash/ EPS : 11.56Bank of Punjab : 10% Bonus / EPS : 4.74Pakistan Refinery : 33.33% Cash / EPS : 8.36National Bank : EPS : 11.05Bank Alfalah : EPS : 1.89MCB : 25% Cash / EPS : 12.20ICI Pakistan : 25% Cash / EPS : 5.34OGDC : 35% Cash / EPS [...]

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[Source: KARACHI STOCK MARKET NEWS]

12,040

After yesterday’s close at 11,955, the lowest since April 13th, the market dipped down further to a low of 11,852 and then recovered to close up at 12,040. There seems to be undue panic in the market at the moment and hopefully there will be some pullback soon as it is quite oversold and has [...]

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[Source: KARACHI STOCK MARKET NEWS]

In intraday market news, domestic equities kicked off the week to the upside.

On Monday, Russian issuers opened to the upside on the heels of upbeat performances in US stock indexes. As of 12:00 noon Moscow time Surgutneftegaz (+3.3%) and UES (+1.8%) commons emerged as the sessions top advancers, while Rostelecom (+0.4%) and AvtoVAZ (+0.3%) underperformed the market. Benchmark RTS is hovering around 1,891 or 1.4% higher than Fridays close.

Sergey Belov, Asset Manager, Finam Investment Company

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[Source: Russian Stock Market Blog]

Veropharm will release H107 IAS financials on September 3 and drugstore chain 36.6 on September 5.

Drug retailer 36.6 will announce its IAS financial statement for January-June 2007 on September 5, the company said in a press release. Meanwhile, Veroparm will report its H107 IAS financials on September 3, 2007.

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[Source: Russian Stock Market Blog]

Central Bank Ruble Exchange Rates

1 Australian Dollar 21.3752
1 British Pound Sterling 51.7834
1000 Belorussian Rouble 11.9267
10 Danish Krone 47.1276
1 US Dollar 25.6544
1 EURO 35.0773
100 Iceland Krona 39.7989
100 Kazakh Tenge 20.3109
1 Canadian Dollar 24.4467
10 China Yuan 33.9187
10 Norwegian Krone 44.1396
1 SDR 39.2361
1 Singapore Dollar 16.8912
1 New Turkey Lira 19.5090
10 Ukrainian Hryvnia 50.9896
10 Swedish Krona 37.5180
1 Swiss Franc 21.3555
100 Japanese Yen 22.0683

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[Source: Russian Stock Market Blog]

Daily Review. 24th August, 2007

Russian equities were hit with a wave of sell-offs in early trading Friday due to a decline in Asian indexes and uncertainty on the US stock market. However, in the afternoon, growth resumed on the market thanks to upbeat macroeconomic data from the US, which reduce fears of a slowdown in economic growth. Stronger durable goods orders in the US in July significantly outpaced the 1% estimate and amounted to 5.9%. Demand for Surgutneftegaz on news of the companys possible statalization also gave headwind to the market. By the final bell, stock indexes were back to their starting positions. The RTS Index inched up 0.01% to 1,864.74 and the MICEX Index closed flat at 1,634.01. The price of Brent crude climbed over $70 a barrel. Meanwhile, Russian O&G stocks landed in different directions on MICEX. Gazprom lost 0.76%, Rosneft declined 0.51% and Tatneft inched down 0.01%. However, Lukoil added 0.16% and Gazprom Neft grew 0.70%. Surgutneftegaz enjoyed investor demand (+2.38%) on news that a controlling interest in the company could be assigned to Rosneftegaz prior to the 2008 presidential elections. UES fell 0.21% on MICEX after the cut-off date for shareholders which will vote on the holdings further reorganization on October 26. On the second-tier front, WGC-5 shot up 11% on news that FAS permitted Italian concern Enel to acquire 70% in WGC-5. At present, Enel owns 29.99% in the genco and therefore, the decision of the antimonopoly authority paves the way for the company to raise its interest to 100%. If Enel consolidates over 30%, the Italian company will have to announce a buyout offer for minority shareholders at a price at least corresponding to the acquisition of a blocking stake from UES, which is over 10% up on the current valuations even after the recent gains. Other blue chips ended mixed on MICEX. NorNickel eased 0.02%, Sberbank inched down 0.49% and VTB lost 1.07%. However, Rostelecom rose 0.74% and MTS edged up 0.07%. Market turnover was thin at $23.21 mln on benchmark RTS and $8,036.51 mln on MICEX.

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[Source: Russian Stock Market Blog]

The Internet Is still Dead and Boring

I obviously hit a nerve with my last post. My index for quality of post has evolved to the number of "you suck", "broadcast.com sucks", "You got lucky", etc posts that are submitted but never confirmed. For this post it was off the charts. Good.

When people resort to personal comments. Its usually a good sign.

Among those I respect, there were a lot of great responses. Let me first say, my position on this has nothing to do with HDNet. I've not abandoned the net. In fact i have more than 100 RSS feeds and untold other sites Im involved with.

Ive been inundated with spam on Myspace. Used flicker. Used Digg for sourcing news and laughed at the unending ridiculousness of its posters. Used and posted to Youtube, Google Video, DailyMotion, Veoh, Flickr, Slideshare, used every bittorrent client, got bored with twitter after 7 minutes, signed up for other findme, find you, this is where I am, this is where you are, type app I could find, and the lists go on and on. I read techmeme, techcrunch, extremetech, and tons of other tech sites and I make a point to try every and any new site that seems the least bit plausible or interesting. I spend far far too much time on the net just to make sure I keep up and know whats going on.

Honestly, its just a bigger, more time consuming version on CompuServe Forums from back in the day (Find someone who participated in the OS/2 forums if you want to know about social networks). Only back then you didn't call People friends, they were just forum members.

I have a ton of Internet investments that you dont and wont know about.

i have loaded and used facebook apps and I have downloaded the API documentation and actually read it. I'm such an exciting guy, I downloaded Ruby on Rails and read the documentation as well. That's what Saturday Nights are for.

I have bought installed and integrated every imaginable wireless device in my house. I think its fun.

I have invested in and gotten involved with application development on Facebook. Had a serious discussion with Facebook about the revenue opportunities they could achieve if they would license their API for full scale commercial applications on other websites. For example, to me, it would be an interesting and potentially explosive business move for Yahoo to license the Facebook API for their Panama platform. I think the beauty of Facebook is that people for the first time have defined and opened up the "database of their lives". Which if integrated into an advertising platform like Panama would allow advertisers to truly personalize ads, rather than algorithmically present ads. To me it was an interesting conversation.

I think it could change the way advertising is handled on the net. Each user could have the option to publish certain fields/objects which could be replicated/peered to the licensees of the API and then integrated Into the ad serving application. When the user showed up on the licensee site, say Yahoo Finance, the ad server could present a contextual ad chosen based on the published objects within the context of the Yahoo content.

Its one of many good or bad ideas that are feasible because the net is the plain vanilla boring, never really changing platform that it is.

Guess what. When things go from exciting to stable and boring in the technology world, that's a good thing.

Call me a cynic. I feel the same way about Personal Computers. Faster processors dint do it for me. Installing Vista was a disaster till I read a copy of CPU magazine and used the OS mods they had in there to clean the junk up. Its sad but true that a 25 year old platform is more volatile than the Internet. It still takes so long to boot that for the first time since I had a Mac in 1990 I bought a Macbook and junked my Vista Laptop. My time is at a premium. The days of being concerned that if I bought a Mac there might be some apps that I could use but the wouldn't run on the Mac are long gone. Not because the Mac has an Intel processor, but because I cant really think of any new off the shelf software that I would get excited to buy.

Beyond Office and email, I spend a ton of time on the net. That boring platform that ain't gonna change and is dead in the excitement category.

What do I get excited about ?
I'm excited about Virtual Machines, as I have written before, and the changes and impact they could have on all of us. I get fired up about the continuing decline in flash and hard drive prices. Its amazing to me after all these years of watching drive prices fall that I can buy more than 500gigs of drive for under 100 bucks. That i can buy a 16gig flash drive for not much more. and it still pisses me off that i have to deal with file size limits that require me to manage my email files when I back them up.

And of course I'm excited about the HDTV space and whats happening there. Maybe some people dont think peoples media consumption patterns change when 70" HDTVs are installed in their homes, I do.

Which brings me to why I said that "The Net is Dead and Boring"

The best way to sum up how I feel about the excitement and opportunities on the net compared to the many other personal and corporate technology options out there is to use a Yogi Berra quote.

"Nobody goes there anymore. It's too crowded"

When everyone is looking for gold in the same river, the best opportunities are somewhere else.

But hey, that's just me.

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[Source: Blog Maverick]

The Internet is Dead and Boring

A lot of people are all up and upset about my comments that the Internet is dead and boring. Well guess what, it is. Every new technological, mechanical or intellectual breakthrough has its day, days, months and years. But they don't rule forever. That's the reality.

Every generation has its defining breakthrough. Cars, TV, Radio, Planes,highways, the wheel, the printing press, the list goes on forever. I'm sure in each generation to whom the invention was a breakthrough it may have been heretical to consider those inventions "dead and boring". The reality is that at some point they stop changing. They stop evolving. They become utilities or utilitarian and are taken for granted.

Some of you may not want to admit it, but that's exactly what the net has become. A utility. It has stopped evolving. Your Internet experience today is not much different than it was 5 years ago.

That's not to say the impact of the Internet on the entire planet hasn't been off the charts. It has been. It has changed the lives of billions of people and it will continue to be a utility to billions of people. Just like cars, TVs, Radio, Planes, Highways, you get the point.

Some people have tried to make the point that Web 2.0 is proof that the Internet is evolving. Actually it is the exact opposite. Web 2.0 is proof that the Internet has stopped evolving and stabilized as a platform. Its very very difficult to develop applications on a platform that is ever changing. Things stop working in that environment. Internet 1.0 wasn't the most stable development environment. To days Internet is stable specifically because its now boring.(easy to avoid browser and script differences excluded)

Applications like Myspace, Facebook, Youtube, etc were able to explode in popularity because they worked. No one had to worry about their ISP making a change and things not working. The days of walled gardens like AOL, Prodigy and others were gone. The days of always on connections were not only upon us, but in sufficient numbers at home, work and school, that the applications ran fast enough to hold our interest and compel us to participate. In other words, the Internet stabilized. Great software was developed to run on the software.

Just as a reminder to some, Myspace, Facebook, Youtube, etc are not "the Internet". They are software applications that run on the Internet. Just like MicroSoft Excel is a software application that runs on MicroSoft and Apple operating systems.


The days of the Internet creating explosively exciting ideas are dead. They are dead until bandwidth throughput to the home reaches far higher numbers than the vast majority of broadband users get today.

Few people's actual throughput to their homes have increased more than 5mbs in the past 5 years, and few people's throughput (if you dint understand the difference between throughput and the marketed downstream speeds your read from your ISP, you should) to their homes will increase more than 10mbs in the next 5 years. That's not enough to define a platform that allows really smart people to come up with groundbreaking ideas.

In fact, if you index the expected growth in bandwidth consumption by applications that are heavy LAST MILE bandwidth users (as opposed to the Internet backbone where there is plenty of bandwidth but consumers cant get to it) vs the actual increase in LAST MILE bandwidth available to the home, our net effective throughput to the home could decline over the next few years. The Internet is like a highway. There is plenty of room for everyone to go as fast as the throughput will let you go, that is until the traffic forces everyone to slow down.

For some reason a lot of people don't understand that concept.

So, let me repeat, The days of the Internet creating explosively exciting ideas are dead for the foreseeable future..

The Internet is boring. That is not a bad thing. In fact its easy to make the argument that its a great thing. That it has become the utility that the people who worked to get it started firmly believed it would. That it finally is the platform for any number of mundane applications that are easy to write and that anyone can use and trust.

Just like wheels, printing presses, cars, TV, radio, electricity, water.....

When we reach a point

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[Source: Blog Maverick]

Aeroflot has wrapped up 2006 dividend payouts.

Aeroflot Russian Airlines has finalized the payout of 2006 dividends, the air carrier said in a press release. All in all, the air company paid out Rub 1,394.2 mln from the accrued dividends of Rub 1,429.3 mln. The reason why Rub 35.1 mln did not reach the air carriers shareholders is the lack of banking details for dividend transfer. According to news wires, at a June 23 AGM Aeroflot shareholders approved 2006 dividends of Rub 1.287 per share or 50% higher than a year ago. As of January 1, 2007 Aeroflot ramped up passenger transportation 8.7% to 7.2 mln, FY06 RAS net profit came to Rub 7.9 bln and surged 36% to $258.1 mln under IAS.

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[Source: Russian Stock Market Blog]

Central Bank Ruble Exchange Rates

1 Australian Dollar 21.1523
1 British Pound Sterling 51.5939
1000 Belorussian Rouble 11.9790
10 Danish Krone 46.9481
1 US Dollar 25.7609
1 EURO 34.9344
100 Iceland Krona 39.3597
100 Kazakh Tenge 20.4538
1 Canadian Dollar 24.4249
10 China Yuan 34.0437
10 Norwegian Krone 43.9343
1 SDR 39.3485
1 Singapore Dollar 16.8968
1 New Turkey Lira 19.3545
10 Ukrainian Hryvnia 51.2145
10 Swedish Krona 37.2294
1 Swiss Franc 21.3553
100 Japanese Yen 22.2192

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[Source: Russian Stock Market Blog]

In intraday market updates, blue chips opened with mild losses.

On Friday, domestic names kicked off slightly in negative territory, but gains were mixed in the first hour of trading. As of 12:00 noon Moscow time Surgutneftegaz (+2.7%) was the days lead advancer, while Gazprom (-1%) and Sberbank (-1.4%) were the weakest issuers. The RTS Index is hovering around 1,855, i.e. 0.7% below Thursdays close.

Sergey Belov, Asset Manager, Finam Investment Company

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[Source: Russian Stock Market Blog]

Daily Review. 23rd August, 2007

On Thursday, domestic issuers kicked off to the upside across the board. Upbeat news came from overseas, as the U.S. market rallied more than 1%Wednesday. European and Asian bourses viewed this development with optimism, which sends a signal the markets seem to be calming down. However, throughout the session most liquid names slipped back into the red, moving in stride with global stock indexes. US employment data, released in the second half of the day, fell in line with market expectations. By the final bell, the MICEX Index inched up 0.07% to 1,634.06 and the RTS Index fared a bit better, rising 0.58% to 1,864.59. Crude futures posted modest gains, but most oil plays pulled back: Tatneft grew 0.57%, Surgutneftegaz lost 1.48%, Rosneft tumbled 0.5%, Lukoil shed 0.26% and Gazprom Neft eased 1.42%. Russian gas monopoly Gazprom achieved a 0.24% advance. Norilsk Nickel (+1.97%) led the MICEX advancers, riding high on surging nickel futures. Buoyant investor sentiment about liquidity coming to the markets sparked a rally in financial names: Sberbank commons added 0.72% and prefs edged up 0.67%, while VTB stocks ended 1.26% higher. UES led the decliners: the energy holdings commons and prefs slid 1.44% and 0.58%, respectively, on MICEX. Thursday was the cut-off date for UES September 26 EGM that will address the second stage of the holdings restructuring. Shareholders who buy UES stocks starting August 24 will not be eligible to attend the EGM or present shares for a buyout offer if the utility concerns reorganization is voted down. Other liquid names performed as follows: MTS was 1.09% higher and Rostelecom notched up 0.32%. Turnover increased to $61.46 mln on benchmark RTS And dropped to $7,737.2 mln on MICEX

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[Source: Russian Stock Market Blog]

Central Bank Ruble Exchange Rates

1 Australian Dollar 20.9798
1 British Pound Sterling 51.3362
1000 Belorussian Rouble 11.9563
10 Danish Krone 46.8170
1 US Dollar 25.7105
1 EURO 34.8377
100 Iceland Krona 39.3850
100 Kazakh Tenge 20.4813
1 Canadian Dollar 24.2300
10 China Yuan 33.8943
10 Norwegian Krone 43.6585
1 SDR 39.1985
1 Singapore Dollar 16.8782
1 New Turkey Lira 19.4629
10 Ukrainian Hryvnia 51.1326
10 Swedish Krona 37.2438
1 Swiss Franc 21.3100
100 Japanese Yen 22.1738

Read More...

[Source: Russian Stock Market Blog]

In intraday market updates, blue chips kicked off to the upside.

On Thursday, domestic plays opened higher on the back of upbeat performances in the US. As of 12:00 noon in Moscow Norilsk Nickel (+1.1%) and Sberbank (+0.9%) led the advancers, while UES (-0.6%) and Surgutneftegaz (-1.3%) underperformed the market. The RTS Index is hovering around 1,870 or 0.9% above Wednesdays close.

Sergey Belov, Asset Manager, Finam Investment Company

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[Source: Russian Stock Market Blog]

12,326 - marginal improvement

The ‘’downslide'’ continued at the Karachi Stock Exchange today with the KSE-100 index dipping below 12k to a low of 11,957. The market then stabilized and finally closed up at 12,326, the first positive close in some days. The next upward resistance is 12,500. While volumes of Vaseline have been expended in the last 2 [...]

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[Source: KARACHI STOCK MARKET NEWS]

Deutsche UFG has upgraded Gazprom Neft to Buy, even as the oil producers stocks go down.

Deutsche UFG has lifted its rating on Gazprom Neft stocks from Hold to Buy, the investment banks analysts said in a note. The $4.20 target price of the stock, which Deutsche UFG analysts calculated, remained unaffected. Upside potential of Gazprom Neft stocks (that have eased in recent weeks) to the level projected by Deutsche UFG analysts reached 20%, corresponding to the Buy recommendation.

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[Source: Russian Stock Market Blog]

Daily Review. 22nd August, 2007

The Russian stock market regained Tuesdays losses on Wednesday and drifted north following an upturn on the international stock markets driven by stronger investor expectations of a possible interest rate cut at the Feds September meeting after Tuesdays meeting of the US monetary authorities devoted to the liquidity problem on lending markets. As a result of bullish investor sentiment, European stock markets climbed and the US equity market kicked off in the black which enabled the Russian stock market to resume modest growth, although crude prices retreated. The RTS Index climbed 1.82% to 1,853.77 and the MICEX Index advanced 1.64% to 1,632.99. The price of Brent crude dropped below $69 a barrel. However, an upward correction shaped up on Wednesday as a result of which Russian oil and gas shares closed in positive territory on MICEX. Surgutneftegaz rose 2.21%, Gazprom climbed 1.80%, Rosneft closed 1.71% higher, Lukoil added 1.71%, Tatneft grew 1.39% and Gazprom Neft gained 0.96%. The US mid-week inventory report was mixed. The US Department of Energy said in the weekly report released Wednesday that commercial crude stockpiles showed a build of 1.89 mln bbl and distillates rose by 1.36 mln bbl. Meanwhile, gasoline stockpiles plunged by 5.71 mln bbl. The data released depressed crude futures. However, oil prices regained losses further down the road. NorNickel was a top gainer on MICEX (+2.61%) on a 4% rise in nickel prices on the London Metal Exchange. On the second-tier front, Severstal surged 4.62% and MMK gained 2.87%. Bank shares posted gains, with Sberbank surging 2.41% and VTB soaring 3.46%. UES was among the top decliners on MICEX (-0.18%) on greater uncertainty about technicalities related to the power holdings restructuring. Other MICEX blue chips landed as follows: Rostelecom inched down 0.10% and MTS climbed 2.22%. Market turnover amounted to $46.45 mln on benchmark RTS and picked up to $7,902.87 mln on MICEX.

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[Source: Russian Stock Market Blog]

Central Bank Ruble Exchange Rates

1 Australian Dollar 20.7086
1 British Pound Sterling 51.2391
1000 Belorussian Rouble 12.0237
10 Danish Krone 46.7905
1 US Dollar 25.8405
1 EURO 34.8511
100 Iceland Krona 38.6892
100 Kazakh Tenge 20.6432
1 Canadian Dollar 24.2976
10 China Yuan 34.0096
10 Norwegian Krone 43.4112
1 SDR 39.4246
1 Singapore Dollar 16.9036
1 New Turkey Lira 19.0705
10 Ukrainian Hryvnia 51.3717
10 Swedish Krona 37.1726
1 Swiss Franc 21.4231
100 Japanese Yen 22.5406

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[Source: Russian Stock Market Blog]

In stock market updates, morning trading has brought no surprises.

No interesting developments emerged on the Russian equity market this morning. Blue chips kicked off flat on the day, but around noon players started selling, dragging liquid names down some 2% as of 1 pm Moscow time. Sberbank still leads the decliners, off 4%, while O&G plays look no less shaky: Lukoil tumbled 2.8%, Tatneft gave up 3.1% and Surgutneftegaz pulled back 2.6%. Aeroflot (+0.3%) has been the only stock bucking the downtrend. Last Fridays optimism has vanished into the air, with liquid names heading further south, and the 1,800 mark is seen as the nearest support level for the RTS Index.

Sergey Dorogavtsev, Asset Manager, Finam Investment Company

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[Source: Russian Stock Market Blog]

In stock market developments, domestic plays are back in the black.

On Wednesday, Russian equities have been heading north, with no negativity rolling in from the US. As of 12:00 noon Moscow time virtually all blue chips traded higher on yesterdays close, with the list of frontrunners headed up by Uralsvyazinform (+2%), Lukoil (+1.7%) and Surgutneftegaz (+1.5%). Rostelecom, todays underperformer, edged up only 0.3%, but lately it has been known to buck market trends. It looks as though the time is ripe for an upturn, as the market has been drifting south for a month already. It could be that we are seeing an uptrend take shape right now.

Sergey Dorogavtsev, Asset Manager, Finam Investment Company

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[Source: Russian Stock Market Blog]

12,245 - KSE-100 index gets slaughtered

The KSE-100 index got reamed out of shape with a drop of 446 points down at its close. What must have started as basic selling led to  snowball into panic as at one stage the market was down by 504 points !! With OGDC down by Rs.4.40 at 111 and many stocks across the board [...]

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[Source: KARACHI STOCK MARKET NEWS]

Russias industrial growth amounted to 7.8% in July.

Russias industrial growth stood at 7.8% in July and 7.7% in 7M07, Economic Development and Trade Minister German Gref said at a meeting of Russian President Vladimir with Russian ministers. Gref stressed that processing industries rose 12.5% and the extraction industries grew a mere 1.5%. Thus, the processing productions currently act as a growth driver for the national industry, he pointed out.

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[Source: Russian Stock Market Blog]

Don't Just Look At The Over 50s Savings Accounts - Better Interest Rates Are Available Elsewhere

Attn Silver Savers - Be careful with savings accounts targeted specifically at the 50+ aged bracket. Most of these accounts are substandard when compared with the current best buys in the savings market.

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[Source: LearnMoney.co.uk]

Sberbank increases 7M07 net profit 15% to Rub 58.4 bln.

During the first seven months of 2007 Sberbank generated Rub 58.4 bln in net profit under RAS. These figures were shown in the lenders turnover balance sheet posted on its website. In the year-earlier period net profit came to Rub 50.7 bln, i.e. the lending institutions net profit climbed 15.2%. Sberbanks pre-tax profit totaled Rub 74.8 bln in January-July 2007 or 17.2% more than a year ago (Rub 63.8 bln).

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[Source: Russian Stock Market Blog]

Credit Suisse raises Rosnefts target price 3.6%, reiterates Hold recommendation.

Investment bank Credit Suisse has lifted its target price for Rosnefts equities from $9.75 to $10.10, the banks analysts said in a note. The Hold recommendation on the stock was reiterated. CS analysts adjusted their valuation model of Rosneft taking into account their new forecasts for this oil producer that reflect the assets it acquired from Yukos. CS experts raised their forecast for Rosnefts EBITDA 5% to $10,341 mln in 2007 and 12% to $12,484 mln in 2008. Meanwhile, Rosnefts EPS (earnings per share) forecast was lowered 5% to $0.49 in 2007 and upgraded 10% to $0.67 in 2008. Notwithstanding that Rosnefts upside potential to the level targeted by CS analysts is currently around 30%, experts reiterated their Hold recommendation. They believe that right now top picks are Novatek and Lukoil. The target price for Lukoil shares is $112.00 and $7.90 for Novatek securities. Both issuers are rated as a Buy.

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[Source: Russian Stock Market Blog]

Daily Review. 21st August, 2007

Blue chips kicked off in the black on Monday after the US Fed unexpectedly cut the discount rate from 6.25% to 5.75% on Friday. However, most gains were erased by the final bell, since market players opted for profit-taking and liquid names closed in negative territory. The Feds policy makers opted to take necessary measures to mitigate the negative impact of the mortgage crisis on the US economy which increases the likelihood of a reduction in the base interest rate from the current 5.25% at the September meeting. As a result, European and Asian markets drifted north on Monday. However, the domestic equity market did not follow suit and landed in the red. A downturn was also attributable to lower crude prices on expectations that Hurricane Dean will pass by the main oil producing regions in the Gulf of Mexico. The RTS Index lost 0.46% to close at 1,852.15 and the MICEX Index eased 0.97% to 1,621.98. The price of Brent crude fell to $69.70 a barrel which pushed down Russian oil and gas stocks on MICEX. Tatneft lost 2.32%, SurgutNG tumbled 1.59%, Gazprom receded 0.95%, Lukoil eased 0.84%, Rosneft dipped 0.63% and Gazprom Neft inched down 0.22%. Other blue chips largely landed in the red on MICEX. NorNickel lost 0.24%, Sberbank dipped 1.70%, UES declined 0.96% and Rostelecom eased 0.52%. However, MTS inched up 0.20%. Market turnover amounted to $43.11 mln on benchmark RTS and $6,154.77 mln on MICEX.

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[Source: Russian Stock Market Blog]

Central Bank Ruble Exchange Rates

1 Australian Dollar 20.7958
1 British Pound Sterling 51.2361
1000 Belorussian Rouble 12.0074
10 Danish Krone 46.7787
1 US Dollar 25.8429
1 EURO 34.8259
100 Iceland Krona 38.1727
100 Kazakh Tenge 20.6386
1 Canadian Dollar 24.4331
10 China Yuan 34.0374
10 Norwegian Krone 43.5946
1 SDR 39.3928
1 Singapore Dollar 16.9262
1 New Turkey Lira 18.9812
10 Ukrainian Hryvnia 51.3775
10 Swedish Krona 37.2081
1 Swiss Franc 21.4500
100 Japanese Yen 22.4916

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[Source: Russian Stock Market Blog]

MTS could take over Armenias biggest mobile operator.

As Finam.ru learned, Mobile TeleSystems (MTS), Russias No. 1 wireless company, is in takeover talks with K-Telecom, Armenias largest cellular company. Representatives of the Russian wireless operators press service have neither confirmed nor denied reports about the negotiations. We are interested in the Armenian market and a number of other regions, but we make no comments on this specific asset MTS spokesmen told Finam.ru. However, a source close to the talks told the news agency that the transaction is at the advanced stage. No parameters of the deal have been disclosed so far.

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[Source: Russian Stock Market Blog]

US Stock Market

Bullhunters GuideWell Bullhunters… we have come a long way in the short time since the Bullhunters Guide blog started and I wanted to re-cap for you as there have been many new learnings in the understanding of how the US Stock Market works.Firstly there was the fictional account of Wal-Mart’s founding which showed us how [...]

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[Source: The Bullhunters Guide | Bullhunters Guide to the US Stock Market]

In equity market news, Monday morning trading looks uneventful.

Russian equities kicked off the new week in a lackluster fashion so far. Off 0.5% at the open, blue chips seem to be flatlining, without any moves up or down. Lukoil (+0.5%) and Norilsk Nickel (+0.3%) are the strongest plays today, while Tatneft and Uralsvyazinform (-1%) have been underperforming the market. Right now its not possible to make any forecasts, as many factors will depend on the ability of the United States to cope with subprime market problems. The market will be the most sensitive to news from this front in the coming days.

Sergey Dorogavtsev, Asset Manager, Finam Investment Company

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[Source: Russian Stock Market Blog]

FESCO has agreed to purchase 100% of Vladivostok Commercial Port.

Far East Shipping Company (FESCO) and the Vladivostok Sea Commercial Port (VSCP) have entered into an agreement whereby the shipping company will acquire 100% of the charter capital in M-port, the ports managing company, VSCP CEO Siman Povarenkin told reporters in Moscow on Monday.

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[Source: Russian Stock Market Blog]

Credit Suisse initiates coverage of WBD and Lebedyansky, rating WBD ADRs as Buy.

Investment bank Credit Suisse has initiated coverage of Wimm-Bill-Dann Food Products (WBD) and Lebedyansky, the banks analysts Vladimir Savov and Victoria Petrova said in a note. The primary recommendation on WBDs ADRs is Buy and Hold for Lebedyansky shares. The target price calculated by Credit Suisse analysts for ADRs issued by WBD is $119.50 and $107.00 for Lebedyansky securities. The banks experts prefer WBD stocks, as this company holds firm positions on the dairy products market which is marked by fiercer competition and broader segmentation than the juice market.

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[Source: Russian Stock Market Blog]

12,693

The KSE-100 index opened up at 12,804 , the high of the day and then dwindled downwards to finally close at 12,693. If the index consolidates at these levels , it could test 12,860 heading for 12,950. Dividends : Nishat Mills : 25% Cash . EPS : 10.48Upper Cap : Sui South Gas Market Low [...]

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[Source: KARACHI STOCK MARKET NEWS]

In late intraday equity trading updates, uncertainty prevails on the market.

Blue chips kicked off in the black thanks to significant gains on US and Asian stock markets. However, the upturn was short-lived and liquid names drifted south in the afternoon. Uncertainty prevails on the market. Losses are around 0.5% so far. However, in the event of stabilization on the international equity markets, domestic shares could climb further. Sberbank and UES have outperformed the market. On the second-tier front, TGC-13, TGC-8 and TGC-1 look appealing.

Alexei Butenko, Asset Manager, Finam Investment Company

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[Source: Russian Stock Market Blog]

Daily Review. 20th August, 2007

Blue chips kicked off in the black on Monday after the US Fed unexpectedly cut the discount rate from 6.25% to 5.75% on Friday. However, most gains were erased by the final bell, since market players opted for profit-taking and liquid names closed in negative territory. The Feds policy makers opted for taking necessary measures to mitigate the negative impact of the mortgage crisis on the US economy which increases the likelihood of a reduction in the base interest rate from the current 5.25% at the September meeting. As a result, European and Asian markets drifted north on Monday. However, the domestic equity market did not follow suit and landed in the red. A downturn was also attributable to lower crude prices on expectations that Hurricane Dean will pass by the main oil producing regions in the Gulf of Mexico. The RTS Index lost 0.46% to close at 1,852.15 and the MICEX Index eased 0.97% to 1,621.98. The price of Brent crude fell to $69.70 a barrel which pushed down Russian oil and gas stocks on MICEX. Tatneft lost 2.32%, SurgutNG tumbled 1.59%, Gazprom receded 0.95%, Lukoil eased 0.84%, Rosneft dipped 0.63% and Gazprom Neft inched down 0.22%. Other blue chips largely landed in the red on MICEX. NorNickel lost 0.24%, Sberbank dipped 1.70%, UES declined 0.96% and Rostelecom eased 0.52%. However, MTS inched up 0.20%. Market turnover amounted to $43.11 mln on benchmark RTS and $6,154.77 mln on MICEX.

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[Source: Russian Stock Market Blog]

Central Bank Ruble Exchange Rates

1 Australian Dollar 20.5231
1 British Pound Sterling 51.0852
1000 Belorussian Rouble 11.9727
10 Danish Krone 46.6902
1 US Dollar 25.7408
1 EURO 34.7372
100 Iceland Krona 37.7155
100 Kazakh Tenge 20.5836
1 Canadian Dollar 24.3159
10 China Yuan 33.8886
10 Norwegian Krone 43.4253
1 SDR 39.2354
1 Singapore Dollar 16.8737
1 New Turkey Lira 19.2096
10 Ukrainian Hryvnia 51.1298
10 Swedish Krona 37.2861
1 Swiss Franc 21.3227
100 Japanese Yen 22.4340

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[Source: Russian Stock Market Blog]

Bank Al-falah result expectations

Bank Alfalah (BAFL) is expected to have posted profit after tax of Rs 1.342 billion in first half of 2007, showing an increase of 65 percent from Rs 813 million in the same period of last year…The bank is due to announce its financial results for the first half of 2007 on August 23, 2007. [...]

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[Source: KARACHI STOCK MARKET NEWS]

Daily Review. 17th August, 2007

Blue chips again kicked off in the red on Friday. This time around, Asian stock markets dragged domestic equities down. The Japanese Nikkei 225 Index plunged over 5%. In the afternoon, Russian shares posted robust gains on news that the US Fed unexpectedly cut the discount rate by 0.5%. By the final bell, the RTS Index gained 2.22% to 1,860.70 and the MICEX Index rose 2.40% to 1,637.81. Crude futures gained 2%, which drove up oil stocks. Tatneft shot up 4.63%, Rosneft jumped 2.12%, Lukoil gained 2.05%, Gazprom advanced 1.95% and Gazprom Neft closed 1.33% higher. Sberbank shares spiked 4.74% on news of the Feds discount rate cut. However, VTB lost 0.34%. UES underperformed the market, with commons inching up a mere 0.33% on MICEX and prefs tumbling 0.16%, since these stocks have seen moderate losses compared to other domestic equities in recent days. Other liquid names closed in the black on MICEX. MTS climbed 1.49%, Rostelecom surged 4.25% and NorNickel rose 1.37%. Market turnover picked up to $74.32 mln on benchmark RTS and $8,741.46 mln on MICEX.

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[Source: Russian Stock Market Blog]

12,698

The first half saw the KSE-100 index down to 12,600. In the second session, the index made a quick recovery and raced up to about 12,760 and closed down at 12,698. (The last time the market closed at these levels was May 26th 2007.) World markets have recovered since yesterdays bashing, due to the Federal [...]

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[Source: KARACHI STOCK MARKET NEWS]

Central Bank Ruble Exchange Rates

1 Australian Dollar 20.1175
1 British Pound Sterling 50.9887
1000 Belorussian Rouble 11.9887
10 Danish Krone 46.4889
1 US Dollar 25.7818
1 EURO 34.5502
100 Iceland Krona 37.3271
100 Kazakh Tenge 20.6271
1 Canadian Dollar 23.9474
10 China Yuan 33.8967
10 Norwegian Krone 42.9883
1 SDR 39.2164
1 Singapore Dollar 16.7393
1 New Turkey Lira 18.2759
10 Ukrainian Hryvnia 51.2489
10 Swedish Krona 36.8259
1 Swiss Franc 21.2318
100 Japanese Yen 22.9090

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[Source: Russian Stock Market Blog]

Daily Review. 16th August, 2007

On Thursday, domestic plays extended their losses on growing concerns about the scope of the crisis on the US mortgage market. All stock exchanges across the board were hit by heavy waves of sell-offs. Specifically, Wednesday the Dow gave up over 1.5%, dragging all liquid names down 1.5-2% at the opening bell. Throughout the session losses deepened on the back of the weakness in global stock indexes. US new home data released in the second half of the day missed consensus forecast, sending a signal about a possible escalation of the crisis. By Thursdays final bell, the MICEX Index retreated 2.46%, falling below the 1,600 mark (1,599.39), while the RTS Index dropped as much as 3.53%, finishing at 1,820.30.Crude futures declined on expectations of an emerging economic slowdown in the US. However, O&G plays tumbled as deep as some benchmarks: Gazprom Neft sank 3.95%, Lukoil pulled back 2.47%, Surgutneftegaz eased 2.1%, Gazprom dipped 1.82%, Tatneft ended 1.75% lower and Rosneft sagged 1.61%. Financial stocks headed south for a third consecutive day, as they are primarily sensitive to the problems faced by the American mortgage market and insufficient liquidity on global financial markets. Sberbank commons tumbled a hefty 4.22% and prefs sank 3.07%, whereas VTB ended 3.43% lower, trading 13% below the IPO price. UES stocks outperformed the market: commons gained 1.53% and prefs edged up 0.53% on MICEX. UES shares have approached the price levels, at which the holding will be buying stocks from shareholders who object to its restructuring and their subsequent downside potential looks extremely limited. Other liquid stories performed as follows on MICEX: MTS lost 3.92%, Rostelecom was off 1.32% and Norilsk Nickel decreased 3.16%. The decline in the metal majors equities deepened on falling nickel prices. Turnover climbed to $8,431.87 mln on MICEX and dropped to $69.29 mln on RTS.

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[Source: Russian Stock Market Blog]

Gazprom poised to spend Rub 1 bln on stock buyback, thinking to start in October-November.

Russian gas holding Gazprom intends to commence work to buy back its stocks on the open market in October-November 2007. On Friday the gas giant released relevant explanations to a tender to select a broker as to buy back its shares. We plan to start work with the broker in October-November 2007. Gazprom will spend around Rub 1 bln on stock buyback procedures. Meanwhile, the number of equities to be purchased will depend on their market value at the time of acquisition the gas holding said in a press release.

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[Source: Russian Stock Market Blog]

12,708

Given the fact that world markets continue to tumble perhaps we should consider ourselves lucky that the KSE-100 index closed down by only 77 points. While the Dow Jones index staged a recovery towards its close today, the FTSE-100 got buggered senseless closing down by 4.10%, its biggest fall since March 2003 . While the [...]

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[Source: KARACHI STOCK MARKET NEWS]

August Newsletter Emailed to Subscribers

Articles include - Is The Stockmarket Bull Market About To End - Gold, where's it heading - Investors, Consider Marchex (MCHX) It Offers Great Value - Let's Have Some Negative Google News, and websites and software we like.

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[Source: LearnMoney.co.uk]

In stock market news, the downturn has slowed down.

On Friday, the decrease in domestic stocks, which weve witnessed throughout the week, has slowed down. For the record, since mid-July, i.e. within just a month, the RTS Index has given up around 13% and there is only one reason for this the crisis on the US subprime mortgage market, which is gradually spilling over into the global financial world.

Todays top advancers have been Rostelecom (+2.3%) and Surgutneftegaz (+1.2%), with bank shares still underperforming the market. Today Sberbank took another 0.8% drop. Right now its not possible to predict how things will unfold in coming days, as all eyes are on the US and its problems. The future of other financial markets will depend on how fast American authorities will manage to cope with the imminent crisis.

Sergey Dorogavtsev, Asset Manager, Finam Investment Company

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[Source: Russian Stock Market Blog]

Hydro WGC Groups FY06 IFRS net profit rocketed 8.5-fold.

Net profit at Hydro WGC Group, drafted to IFRS, skyrocketed 8.5 times to Rub 17,288 mln in 2006, the company said in a financial statement posted on its website. The utility groups 2006 sales shot up 36.1% to Rub 20,564 mln, while the cost side spiked 60% to Rub 23,336 mln. Notwithstanding, the groups net profit took a sharp rise due to the restoration of a reserve for the depreciation of the groups fixed assets (Rub 28,315 mln). Hydro WGCs operating profit soared 7.6-fold to Rub 29,447 mln and pre-tax profit jumped more than 7.7 times, reaching Rub 29,267 mln.

For the record, Hydro WGC that was incorporated in the course of utility industry reform for the purpose of consolidating UES hydropower generating assets is currently a 100% subsidiary of UES. After its spin-off from UES in mid-2008 the state will gain at least a 50%+1 share interest in Hydro WGC, while shareholders of its subsidiaries (regional HPPs) will get some 16-18% as a whole.

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[Source: Russian Stock Market Blog]

My Last Fist Fight

You know how things just pop in your mind from time to time that just make you crack up ? You could be doing anything. Working. Working out. Talking to someon. Eating. When all of the sudden it hits you. Some moment from your past.

I don't know what triggered it, but all of the sudden I was remembering the last time I got into a fight. A fight where real punches were thrown. It was hysterical....

It probably was 15 years ago. I was in Dallas and we went down to the West End. A part of town that at the time had some fun bars and places to hang out.

It was about 4pm or so. I was with my buddies Ron and Scott and we were getting an early start on happy hour. We pulled up to what I remember as a bar with bar stools that looked out on the open court of the Mall area of the building. Me, Scott, Ron at the corner of the bar. I was sitting, they were standing.

Just off to the side where I guess the Mall part started, there was one of those old recording booths. You remember those booths they would have around malls where you could go in and basically do your own personal karaoke and they would record it and give you a tape of it ?

Well to our delight, there was a guy in one of the booths who decided he was going to sing and record Elvis tunes. Not only was he going to sing Elvis tunes, but he decided he needed to keep the door to the booth open so that a couple girls sitting by us could watch him sing.

As I remember it, he wasn't that bad. But he was playing to these girls in a big way. Which we had no problem with. In fact we thought it was hysterical. THe more he sang and tried to impress these women with his Elvis voice and his Elvis facial contortions, the more we laughed. The longer he went , the more we couldn't stop laughing.

Then it happened.

No, he didnt run out and throw a punch. I remember it vividly. He turned his attention away from the girls and looked directly at me and sang to me:
"I challenge you to a sing off, I challenge you to a sing off "

Yep, the guy singing Elvis in the cassette tape recording booth was looking me right in the eye, giving me the crooked lip and singing an Elvis singoff challenge to me. We couldn't help ourselves. We were laughing so hard we were near convulsions. Then it happened.

There was a guy sitting to my right that I hadn't really noticed. I guess I glanced over towards him to see if he was laughing as hard as we were. He wasn't. What he was doing was in the process of standing and throwing a punch (i couldnt tell if it were jab, roundhouse or ?). The dude sucker-punched me. While i was laughing my ass off. Right in the midst of an Elvis Singoff Challenge.

My buddy Ron saw it coming before I did and was up and pushed him back off balance just enough for me to stand and start throwing those wild bar fight type punches. All the while we are still laughing trying to figure out what was going on.

Im swinging. Im laughing. Ron and Scott are laughing. I remember landing a punch and him stumbling but not going down. He had to be pissed that some guy was laughing and hitting him at the same time

It probably wasnt 30 seconds into it that the Cops showed up and had pulled me away.. At which point having to explain to the cops what had just happened caused us all to start laughing again.

Turns out the guy who suckerpunched me was a buddy of the guy singing. I guess he took his Elvis far more seriously than we did.

At the suggestion of the Police Officers, who by that time were trying not to laugh, the 3 of us left via the back elevator...

And here i sit years later , with a big smile on my face, memorializing my last fist fight

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[Source: Blog Maverick]

Fitch has affirmed Russias sovereign ratings at BBB+.

Fitch Ratings has affirmed the Russian Federations issuer default foreign and national currency ratings at BBB+, with a stable outlook. At the same time, the agency confirmed Russias short-term rating at F2 and country ceiling rating of A-.

The favorable rating factor for the Russian Federation is stable state finances. Based on Fitch estimates, this year budget surplus will be equal to some 5% of GDP. This should enable Russia to cut its sovereign debt to only 9% of GDP (this figure is much lower than the average (31%) for BBB-rated countries) and increase the stabilization funds assets to approximately 14% of GDP by the end of 2007. The tangible weakening of the fiscal and budget policy, which is currently seen, could result in Russia running no budget surplus in 2008. At the same time, fiscal and budgetary initiatives and those involving the stabilization funds structure should tighten money management discipline in the future.

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[Source: Russian Stock Market Blog]

Morgan Stanley upgrades Russian stocks to Outperform.

Investors need to pick up Russian stocks, such as Mobile TeleSystems and Norilsk Nickel, as they have become cheaper compared to their EM peers, Morgan Stanley analysts believe, Bloomberg news agency reported. MS experts raised their recommendations on Russian businesses to Outperform from Market Perform. This year Russias stock benchmark RTS dropped 4.8%, while the global index MSCI EM advanced 3.2%.

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[Source: Russian Stock Market Blog]

Bullhunter Discussion

Hello fellow BullhuntersThis post will be the final excerpt from The Bullhunters Guide to the US Stock Market so I would like to hear your thoughts and what you have learned from this experience. I know for myself that it has been very helpful in understanding the stock market in a bit more [...]

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[Source: The Bullhunters Guide | Bullhunters Guide to the US Stock Market]

In intraday market updates, the downturn continues.

Russian equities have continued their descend Thursday, with losses averaging 2%. Sberbank (-3.2%) and Norilsk Nickel (-3%) head up the list of decliners. Uralsvyazinform (+0.3%) is one of few issuers that still manage to buck the trend. It looks as though the situation surrounding the US mortgage lending market is escalating and has begun to affect the global financial market. The bears seem to have steam to power ahead.

Sergey Dorogavtsev, Asset Manager, Finam Investment Company

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[Source: Russian Stock Market Blog]

Daily Review. 15th August, 2007

Most blue chips kicked off 1-1.5% down on Wednesday after the US stock indexes lost over 1% and the Asian stock markets declined over 2%. Liquid names saw modest fluctuations in intraday trading. The CPI report did not produce any tangible impact on the market, since it was in line with expectations. By the closing bell, the RTS Index lost 2.02% to 1,886.83 and the MICEX Index was down 2.22% to 1,639.68. Oil shares drifted south in line with the market. Even a 1% rise in crude futures failed to lend support to domestic stocks. Surgut lost 2.77%, Tatneft declined 2.6%, Lukoil eased 2.43%, Gazprom receded 1.96%, Gazprom Neft tumbled 1.62% and Rosneft closed 1.29% lower. Bank shares again underperformed the market, since this sector is the hardest hit as a result of problems on the US mortgage lending market and a lack of liquidity on global financial markets. Sberbank commons lost 2.43% and prefs receded 3.42%. VTB fell 2.7%. UES outperformed the market, commons lost 1.17% and prefs fell 0.89%. UES shares were hovering around the buyback prices for shareholders which oppose the restructuring. Other liquid names closed in the red on MICEX. MTS lost 1.5%, Rostelecom dipped 1.65% and NorNickel eased 2.15%. Market turnover grew to $104.27 mln on benchmark RTS and picked up to $8,060.00 mln on MICEX.

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[Source: Russian Stock Market Blog]

Central Bank Ruble Exchange Rates

1 Australian Dollar 20.7293
1 British Pound Sterling 51.0897
1000 Belorussian Rouble 11.9697
10 Danish Krone 46.4382
1 US Dollar 25.7379
1 EURO 34.5480
100 Iceland Krona 38.3176
100 Kazakh Tenge 20.5711
1 Canadian Dollar 23.7720
10 China Yuan 33.8746
10 Norwegian Krone 43.3116
1 SDR 39.1708
1 Singapore Dollar 16.7238
1 New Turkey Lira 18.8763
10 Ukrainian Hryvnia 51.1749
10 Swedish Krona 36.7916
1 Swiss Franc 21.1088
100 Japanese Yen 22.1630

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[Source: Russian Stock Market Blog]

Dan Rather Reports Impact Begins, the FEAC steps in

From a wired blog just posted here

ES&S Failed to Disclose Manila Manufacturer to Fed Agency

By Kim Zetter August 14, 2007 | 3:33:21 PMCategories: E-Voting, Election '08, Glitches and Bugs

Per the previous post about a manufacturing facility in the Philippines that has been assembling voting machines for Election Systems & Software, it appears that ES&S failed to disclose the foreign facility's role in assembling its voting machines to the Federal Election Assistance Commission.

The EAC is newly in charge of overseeing the testing and certification of voting machines. As part of that process, voting machine companies are required to disclose the names and locations of all of their manufacturing and assembling facilities. But, according to a letter the EAC sent to ES&S today (pdf), ES&S failed to disclose the existence of the Manila sweatshop that has been assembling its machines for several years, although the company did submit a list of other manufacturing facilities involved in making its machines.

read the rest on wired

In addition, the inquiries from election boards have started.

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[Source: Blog Maverick]

Central Bank Ruble Exchange Rates

1 Australian Dollar 21.2426
1 British Pound Sterling 50.9991
1000 Belorussian Rouble 11.9157
10 Danish Krone 46.4938
1 US Dollar 25.6367
1 EURO 34.5813
100 Iceland Krona 38.6328
100 Kazakh Tenge 20.4859
1 Canadian Dollar 23.9015
10 China Yuan 33.8014
10 Norwegian Krone 43.2308
1 SDR 39.0906
1 Singapore Dollar 16.7276
1 New Turkey Lira 19.1978
10 Ukrainian Hryvnia 50.9676
10 Swedish Krona 36.9463
1 Swiss Franc 21.1315
100 Japanese Yen 21.8949

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[Source: Russian Stock Market Blog]

Daily Review. 14th August, 2007

On Tuesday, most liquid names kicked off with a 0.5-1% downturn, although no negative external news, except for a modest drop in crude futures, reached the market. Throughout the session domestic plays posted mild gains, looking at the performances of global exchanges. The release of US macroeconomic data on inflation produced no impact on the market, as the reaction to these data is mixed. The Producer Price Index (PPI) gained 0.6% in July against expectations of a 0.2% increase. PPI, excluding food and energy prices, inched up only 0.1%, while the market expected 0.2% growth. By Tuesdays final bell, the MICEX Index retreated 0.19% to 1,676.85 and the RTS Index edged down 0.1% to 1,925.79.In the blue-chip market, VTB emerged as the days top decliner, off 1.64% and trading 7.35% below the placement price. As crude contracts traded without any significant fluctuations throughout the session in Russia, O&G plays looked mixed. Surgutneftegaz (+1.79%) has posted healthy gains for the third session in a row. The oil producers stocks are in demand on the back of rumors about the massive buying of its securities. Other oil and gas issuers performed as follows on MICEX: Gazprom tumbled 0.67%, Lukoil lost 0.54%, Tatneft jumped 0.87%, Rosneft dropped 0.94% and Gazprom Neft added on 1.47%. Norilsk Nickel achieved a 1.81% gain on MICEX, as the market positively reacted to the news that the metals major managed to collect 97.7% of LionOre stocks. This will enable Norilsk Nickel to launch forced stock buyout procedures. In addition, nickel contracts advanced throughout the session. Other liquid stories ended the day as follows on MICEX: Sberbank eased 0.55%, UES declined 0.93%, MTS slipped 0.44% and Rostelecom inched down 0.04%.Turnover fell to $6,338.15 mln on MICEX and jumped to $61.80 mln on benchmark RTS.

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[Source: Russian Stock Market Blog]

In intraday equity market news, blue chips kicked off 1.5% to the downside.

On Wednesday, Russian stocks opened 1.5% in the red, with panic sentiments of investors sparked by a retreat in crude futures and fresh all-time lows hit by US benchmarks. As of 1:00 pm Moscow time Sberbank (-2.4%) was the days lead decliner, with oil plays also looking shaky: Lukoil lost 2.2%, Surgutneftegaz tumbled 1.8% and Tatneft dropped 1.7%. As Wednesday is a traditional bearish day in Russia, a rebound is hardly expected. It looks as though liquid names will trade at the current price levels.

Sergey Dorogavtsev, Asset Manager, Finam Investment Company

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[Source: Russian Stock Market Blog]

Watch Dan Rather Tonight on HDNet 8pm EST

I have to say I'm incredibly proud of the work we do at HDNet .

We have great people who work hard to make great shows. Tonight's Dan Rather Reports is another great example. You can catch a Sneak Preview of the show here You can read Frazier Moore's AP story on the show here

This is not your basic "look what we found" 12 minute segment. This is exactly what we set out to do with Dan Rather Reports. We wanted to find stories, uncover the news and report it in the best way possible. Dan's show is normally 1 hour long. Not only will this story take up the full hour, but Dan asked for and got another 15 minutes to make sure we covered the entire story.

Fans of foes of Dan's, or of any story related to politics will assume there was some political motivation behind the story. There isn't. I will show you exactly where the story started with the following . There was nothing new to say until the following happened:

"A CRITICAL LEGAL DOCUMENT IN THE BATTLE OVER FLORIDA'S TOUCHSCREENS WAS FILED FAR FROM SARASOTA, HERE AT THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT IN MINNEAPOLIS, IN A CASE THAT ALMOST ONE EVEN KNOWS ABOUT.

THE CASE, BERGQUIST VERSUS HARTFORD CASUALTY, BEGAN TWO YEARS AGO. IT SEEMS AT FIRST A SIMPLE DISPUTE BETWEEN A POLICYHOLDER AND INSURANCE COMPANY OVER COVERAGE AND LIABILITY. BERGQUIST, THE COMPANY THAT MANUFACTURED THE SCREENS USED IN THE ES&S IVOTRONIC WAS SEEKING REIMBURSEMENT FOR COSTS INCURRED IN RECALLING AND REPLACING THOUSANDS OF POTENTIALLY DEFECTIVE TOUCH SCREENS, MOST IN VOTING MACHINES IN FLORIDA.

AN AFFIDAVIT IN THE CASE, RECENTLY FILED, LOOKS LIKE JUST ONE MORE DOCUMENT IN A MOUNTAIN OF COURT PAPERS. BUT THE AFFIDAVIT OF DR. PATRICIA DUNN, A FORMER MATERIAL SCIENTIST FOR THE BERGQUIST COMPANY, WAS A BOMBSHELL.


PATRICIA DUNN'S EXPERIMENTS AT BERGQUIST SUGGESTED THAT MORE SCREENS WOULD GO OUT OF CALIBRATION OVER TIME, ESPECIALLY IN HUMID PLACES.... LIKE FLORIDA.

ACCORDING TO DUNN, IN 2002 SHE URGED A RECALL OF MANY BERGQUIST SCREENS FROM MANILA...BUT COURT EXHIBITS SUGGEST IT WAS REPORTS IN 2003 OF SCREEN PROBLEMS IN LEE COUNTY, FLORIDA THAT WAS THE TIPPING POINT FOR MANAGEMENT AT BERGQUIST, ES&S AND PIVOT.

Thats the start of it. From there Dan will take you to the factories in Manilla where voting machines were made to show you why and how there will problems. He interviews the people involved who raised the issues, to no avail. Then he follows the problems from Manilla to Minnesota and beyond.

And thats just the start of the story.

check it out tonight at 8pm or 11pm EST

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[Source: Blog Maverick]

12,787

After opening up, and making a high of 12,820, the KSE-100 index sagged to a low of 12,623 and finally closed up at 12,787. Lucky Cement was the volume leader of the day with 13 million shares traded. Volumes have been low recently and the market could be hitting its bottom with some pullback due [...]

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[Source: KARACHI STOCK MARKET NEWS]

13,000 breaks

The KSE-100 index got another fisting, and slowly and steadily went down to a low of 12,700 and closing at 12,750. It seems that there was a lot of selling as margin calls were being hit. The downturn of the world’s global markets hasn’t helped either. The Karachi Stock market has now lost about a  [...]

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[Source: KARACHI STOCK MARKET NEWS]

Seventh Continents H107 RAS net profit remained flat.

In the first half of 2007 Seventh Continents net profit compiled under RAS remained virtually unchanged against the same period a year ago, totaling Rub 970 mln vs. Rub 978 mln. Sales grew 8% to Rub 13,185 mln from Rub 12,218 mln, gross profit jumped 4% to Rub 3.87 bln from Rub 3.72 bln, operating profit sank 30% to Rub 909 mln compared to Rub 1,285 mln in January-June 2006. Pre-tax profit remained flat at Rub 1,319 mln against Rub 1,317 mln. Payables were cut from Rub 3.1 bln to Rub 3.1 bln. Long-term obligations soared to Rub 7 bln from Rub 50 mln as of the beginning of the reporting period. Short-term receivables reached Rub 724 mln vs. Rub 516 mln and long-term receivables totaled Rub 724 mln, up from Rub 516 mln, and long-term receivables rose to Rub 169 mln from Rub 151 mln as of January 1, 2007. As of July 1, 2007 the companys retail network consisted of 125 stores, including 119 supermarkets and 6 hypermarkets.

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[Source: Russian Stock Market Blog]

EU set to cancel silicon export duties for RusAl companies and return cash paid.

The European Union is to abolish the 22.7% duty imposed on silicon exports that is currently applied to the concerns that form United Company Russian Aluminum (UC RusAl). As the European Commission said in a statement, the antidumping duty imposed in 2003 against Sual Silicon Urals and Kremniy (that made up Sual Group at that time) is to be cancelled on the basis of a ruling issued on March 14, 2007 by a court of common jurisdiction that found the export duty as invalid. Now EU countries should return cash paid since the time when the export duty was imposed to Suals European importer, Aluminum Silicon Mill Products GmbH (Zug, Switzerland). At this juncture, Russian suppliers will be automatically released from the obligation to deliver products at the price below a specific threshold that was determined to avoid the effect of protective measures.

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[Source: Russian Stock Market Blog]

Solution for the Real Estate Market ? Take Your House Public ?

I'm far far from being a financial genius. i try to get partners who run the numbers and deal with details. My business strength is in understanding where technology is going (in the areas I pay attention to), what the business applications of that technology are and most importantly, how to sell them.

Thats a polite way of saying that I'm not a details guy.

I mention this because as they say, "The Devil is in the Details", and I have no idea how to make happen what I'm about to propose. Nor do I know if there are specific laws or common sense "rules of the marketplace" that make this idea just plain stupid. Who knows. What I do know is that I'm curious about whether this would work and there is no better way to open an idea to criticism or support than by posting it on my blog. So here goes.

In the residential real estate world, the concept of buying a house is simple. You pick the house, negotiate a price, then agree to a payment arrangement.

The payment arrangement options are pretty straightforward.

You can pay for it with cash.
You can borrow money to pay for whatever amount that you cant or choose not to pay on the house. The payment terms are then set between you and the lender

This has worked well for a long time. A successful purchase of the house can be quickly defined as being able to make the payments you have committed to make, under the terms you have agreed to, until the house is paid off, all while gaining the utility of living in the house.

The problem with this approach is that when things go wrong and you can't make the payments the "solutions" are very binary.
1. You find a way to make your lender happy.
2. Your house is sold in an effort to satisfy your debt to the lender.

The binary nature of residential real estate financing also lends itself to being an attractive market for "sharks". We dont call the houses we live in "assets", we call them homes. They are very personal and important to us. Which in turn clouds our judgement. People who are at risk of losing their homes get desperate and take measures that aren't necessarily in their best interests just to save their homes and their families from grief.

There has to be a better way to protect homebuyers on the downside.

Lets contrast the financing process of individual homebuyers with funding in the business world. Businesses have any number of ways of raising capital for corporate purposes but they basically can be boiled down to two:

They can raise money via debt.

They can raise money via equity sale.

Debt resolution in the business world is just as binary as it is in residential real estate. If you can't pay the debt, you get foreclosed on and everyone probably goes home unhappy.

Which is exactly why , rather than borrowing money, most startups and growing businesses turn to the equity sale of some percentage of their company to raise capital. Need confirmation of this ? Look at the number of bonds available on national exchanges vs the number of stocks for sale on exchanges . The number of stocks is far greater than bonds and thats on the listed exchanges. Throw in the OTC and Pink Sheet markets and the numbers dwarf debt offerings even more dramatically.

Which leads to the question of...

Why can't home owners sell some percentage of equity in their homes on a listed exchange ? Why can't I
"Take My House Public ?"

Why not create a market or exchange where homeowners can sell equity in their homes ?

The rules could be very eimple
1. The house is appraised by a company approved by the exchange that lists the houses.
2. "Shares" are set with a Par Value of 10pct of the appraised value. For a 100k dollar house, there are 10 shares potentially available. However at no point in time can more than 40pct of the "shares" in a home be sold. We dont want the opportunity for "hostile takeovers"
3. The price of the shares will of course be set by the market. In a hot market it will be set above par, in a tough market like today, it will sell below Par.
4. All Proceeds from the sale of shares MUST be used to pay down any debt on the home.

This is the key element of this approach. By selling equity in a home, the buyer gets an asset based security that will move up and down with the market. If this market is big enough, there should be enough liquidity to move in and out of positions.

The seller receives cash that can be used to pay down the debt and thereby reduce his/her monthly payments. The seller loses a part of the upside if the market for the home improves and prices go up, but thats a small price to pay for not going into foreclosure.

Beyond creating liquidity options for individuals in the housing market, which i think is a good thing, I think this will also reduce the volatility in the market. Despite the best efforts of the residential Real Estate industry, no one ever really knows what their house is worth until you try to sell it. This exchange listing approach will certainly make for better information available for the market, which in turn will also reduce the volatility.

It will also increase the options of homeowners who have paid off their homes to acquire capital for personal uses. If a homeowner has completely paid off his/her home and wants to raise money for whatever purpose, a vacation, a car, education, whatever, rather than taking on debt , they could get their home appraised, have the
option of selling equity in my home that I would not be obligated to pay back. An option that would create a significant flow of capital back into the hands of consumers

How can this actually come together ?

It wouldn't be easy. It would probably take the country's biggest banks working together to create an exchange that develops the public market for home equity one city or region at a time. They would have to identify a means to safely set values so that Post IPO price the share pricing was stable. There would have to be provisions set for what happened when a home was sold. Shareholders would have to be paid their share of the salesprice upon closing.

There are thousands of things that i haven't thought of that would make or break this idea, but I think at its most basic, the concept is sound. However one thing I am sure of, this approach would reduce the Boom Bust cycles of residential real estate and the dramatic impact they have on our economy

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[Source: Blog Maverick]