Hello Arthur, I am sitting in client's office in Beijing and have been here every Monday to Thursday, and always back in HK for the weekend. I adore my wife, my home, my friends, and my broadband games, and thus I adore HK.
Here in Beijing, my job is to help the client wrap up their involvement in this land and return to England as whole as possible. Images of Dunkirk 1941 and a fat cow crossing the flesh-eating fish infested Amazon River comes easily to mind. The client has a constant-on internet connection and I can get to most internet sites except the obviously not popular ones such as www.cnn.com (but I can get to www.cnnfn.com). This China-wide intranet really works, spottily, blocking www.penthouse.com but letting through www.fujiyamagallery.com. Just testing the China security features and checking to see if the general population need another round of mind scrubbing to purify their baser thoughts. Anyway, the local staff and I were pretty delinquent at work yesterday, preferring to follow the drama in Florida, and place our wagers. The local staff will all be laid off December 31st and thus the humor in the office is real, but of the dark variety.
On my MO position, as I had mentioned (or should have mentioned) I had closed out my short Put position (strike 20) and am only waiting to have my shares taken away from me at 20 via my short call position. As I bought the shares at 19.5, and had shorted the put/call for combined 8, plus the odd dollar and cents for dividends, I should book 100% return when called. In similar fashion, I should book 150% return on my Conseco position.
I have turned maximally conservative sometime ago, fearful, terrified, cowered and otherwise in fear for my financial equilibrium and well being. I have retreated to 9% equity and short a bunch of NEM and SWC puts (strike 12.5 and 25 respectively). I had newly bought some Sinopec (386.hk) and PetroChina (857.hk) shares, and added to China Mobile (941.hk, or CHL in US) but only in my lightening rod account, more properly named my wife's account. My wife wanted me to buy something, anything, during this down draft, and so I picked two new stocks and added to one existing position. My mom had insisted on buying the dips, and so for each dollar of shares she has bought in her account, I have sold a dollar of shares in a joint account. I am hoping that the women folks instinct turn out to be right.
On the bond side, I have been eyeing the capital gains made in Asian bonds and bond funds since the last storm, and I am of two schizo minds - sell now and buy back later, or buy more now. I feel like a skipper of a sailboat in the midst of a storm, with wife wanting to rush to the next harbour, mom wanting to return to previous harbour, and me wanting to seek out a cove, store the sail, drop anchors of gold and platinum, and take on some oil for the marine engine.
I am enjoying it all. 2000 has been a real rush and may there be another MO and CNC for us all in 2001. Cigarette and broken insurance company helping to save the year is a mind boggling concept.
AOL bought Time Warner. PCCW bought HK Telecom. Amazon should have bought Philip Morris, and VerticalNet should have bought RJR, and Softbank should have bought Conseco, but I suppose NCB will do as well.
Cash is not king. Cash will be everything.
I have just bought the first three of many funny business books and they have arrived promptly via Amazon. WHEN GENIUS FAILED, PUZZLES OF FINANCE, and THE POWER OF GOLD. After each manic phase, one can always look forward to the types of books like DEN OF THIEVES, BARBARIANS AT THE GATE, KKR STORY, INSIDE STORY, MONEY CULTURE, etc. |
