Awfully quiet, or rather, awfully and quiet, or maybe just awfully and soon to be quiet. The screaming in the Arena is starting once more; apparently not all combatants were silenced for Unreal during March-May.
My 70+ year old mom buys into Nokia on the dip. My 30 year old wife starts to take an interest in Human Genome and Celera. Tom.com laid off 25% of its workforce, having not so long ago IPOed to a frenzied crowd that amazed the world. 36.com goes IPO in Hong Kong, and two of its principals make a trade with each other over afternoon tea to support the price in thin market, and the price dropped like gold bar.
Perfect Storm, the movie, is about to go premier in Hong Kong. Perfect Storm, the financial tsunami, got voted number one by investors in most of Asia. No panic detectable in Hong Kong. Do not know about Tokyo (can the Japan based folks please comment?). Many market indices (Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, Indonesia) seem to be headed for Financial Crisis lows. Hong Kong is way high over the days of October 1997, looking down the abyss, thinking. We are expecting a rocketing upward of Mainland China related shares, at least those with a real business; the days of Red Chip Concept and Connection/Cronyism plays are still too fresh in the minds of the humbled.
Great Hong Kong gossip site www.icered.com. Under Work, this was a typical post by financial industry pros … quote: “I met a rubbish dotcom deal maker today. He's from.....one of the fuxx shxx 4 property families, teaching us how to "cook" the dotcom like the way they do their business in the property market...and that's why people look down the HK dotcoms...” … and then the discussion goes on from there. There is also a listing of troubled i.com and e.nets, many posted by insiders.
Trying to figure out where money is to be made, easily, without stress, and am looking at my blank reflection on the PC screen. The days of 100% return in 14 days seem to be over, and am trying to remember how money was made before the euphoria. Do not feel that brilliant anymore.
Days should be good for the business that 9984 is in, namely the incubation of businesses invested in at sensible valuations and nursed through to revenue earning stage based on meeting real client needs, with services supplied at sensible prices. But of course, 9984 will be affected along with all incubators, when the first incubator goes belly up, with belly exposed to the sky and innards for all to view. Some HK incubators are busy siphoning cash from the listed shells to pay down parent debts incurred during the glory days of the real estate mania. Money recycles.
I am wondering whether friends' Christmas parties will be catered by Japanese restaurants or we will be fed with broiled turkeys. |
