Oceanus to Buy 2 Companies, Spin Off Restaurant Unit

Jan. 11 (Bloomberg) -- Oceanus Group Ltd., the world’s largest operator of abalone farms, plans to buy two companies this year to expand its food business and sell shares of its restaurant unit as early as 2012.

Oceanus may buy a Taiwan food-packager by mid-2010 and an Australian company later in the year to boost its supply of wild abalones, Chairman Ng Cher Yew said. Ah Yat Tian Xia, its chain of restaurants, will sell shares in Taiwan or Hong Kong, he said. Oceanus stock rose by the daily limit in Taipei.

The company is expanding to ride on China’s growing consumer market as the central bank estimates the economy will grow 9 percent this year.

China Begins Stimulus Exit

Chinese policy makers will likely raise interest rates and allow the yuan to appreciate this year

China January 8, 2010, 8:50AM EST

(Bloomberg) — China's move to raise the cost of three-month bills will probably lead to the nation's first interest-rate increase in almost three years by September, a survey of economists showed.

The People's Bank of China will lift the benchmark one-year lending rate to 5.85 percent by year-end from 5.31 percent now, according to the median estimate of 15 economists surveyed by Bloomberg News today. The survey was after the central bank yesterday sold the bills at a higher interest rate for the first time in 19 weeks.

Premier Wen Jiabao's government may keep the increase in borrowing costs this year to less than 1 percentage point because it wants to ensure a sustained economic rebound. Policy makers need to support "relatively fast" growth while managing inflation expectations, the central bank said in a statement this week after an annual work meeting.

The Capricorn Effect

Are we experiencing the much talked about Capricorn effect with the market surging in the first few trading days of January?

What is the Capricorn effect?

Basically, the Capricorn or January effect refers to the tendency for stock prices to rise in the month of January. This is mainly due to the result of investors opting to sell their stocks before the year-end in order to claim capital loss for tax purposes. This happens in countries such as the United States where individuals are taxed for capital gains. Once the tax year passes, they will reinvest their money in the stock market again causing price to go up. Other than this, the Capricorn effect is also attributed to individuals investing their year-end bonuses in stocks in January.

More Stocks May Not Make a Portfolio Safer

By JASON ZWEIG NOVEMBER 21, 2009


Not putting all your eggs in one basket is the most basic principle of investing. It also may be the hardest to get right.

Investors have long been told by stockbrokers and financial planners that to have a properly diversified stock portfolio, you need shares in only 10 to 40 companies. Even the great investment analyst Benjamin Graham urged "adequate though not excessive diversification," which he defined as between 10 and about 30 securities.

As many studies have shown, at least 40% of the variability in returns can be reduced by moving from a single company to 20. Once a portfolio contains 20 or 30 stocks, adding more does little to damp the fluctuations in wealth over time.

Shop for Dividends in This Aging Bull Market

By BRETT ARENDS
NOVEMBER 22, 2009


Wall Street has rallied a long way since the dark days last winter. But there are still plenty of blue chips offering big dividend yields.

Screen the market for yields over 3% that are well-backed by earnings and a surprising number of big household names come up -- Kraft Foods, Clorox, Sara Lee, Sysco, Johnson & Johnson, Merck, BP, NStar, Verizon Communications and AT&T.

A lot of these steady Eddies have been left behind by this year's mad stampede for higher-risk, higher-excitement investments -- from China to the Cheesecake Factory.

It's a good time to remember that high-excitement stocks often end up providing investors with high drama and high blood pressure instead.