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Politics : Ask Michael Burke -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: geewiz who wrote (30457)	8/2/1998 12:57:00 PM
From: Knighty Tin	Respond to of 132070

Art, 13.5%? Are investors saying that I am a better credit risk than Venezuela? Even with my credit cards? Shoot, these guys would be better off signing up for a whole bunch of those low rate credit cards. "Your name is Vinnie What?" <G> People seem to forget that Worldcom is emerging from bankruptcy. Very well, mind you, but I hope they don't give this dog a great credit rating. North American Palladium has never impressed me. To put it bluntly, I don't think they know what they are doing. The metal roared up and the stock just sat there. It may be a buyout if supply gets real tight, but I wouldn't bet on them. Taking the risk that I will sound like a technician (better than a child molester, by a very small margin <G>), Japan is a strange marketplace. It has the distinction of being one of the few where stocks tend to go up as rates rise. There are logical, fundamental reasons for this, but they are not well understood by American investors. As a debtor nation that saves next to nothing, higher rates kick our economic butt. The same is not true of creditor nations that run trade surpluses and have high savings rates, of which Japan is the largest example. The savers in Japan are getting lousy rates. So, they have to save more/consume less as their baby boomers plan retirement. Higher rates allow them to save less and spend more, which would boost the economy and equities. I agree that I would like to buy Japanese bonds once the rates go up and stabilize. But we may have a long wait. However, once they start to rise, I want to own Japanese stocks and the yen. And, since I am risk averse, I would rather do this with options. Yes, I own the Japanese Webs, which are fairly risky, but when I make the big play, it will be in Japanese call options (JPN) and Yen options on the Merc. I own no yen options right now, but I do have a third of the JPN calls, Sept 130s, which look a little puny right now. However, I have made a bit of money, and I emphasize the bitty part of bit, on the calls, almost enough to cover my loss on the Webs. I am still waiting for the signal that the Japanese realize they have to raise rates before I bet the ranch. MB