Month: May 2009

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gadgets video

Some Nokia Smartphone deals from Dell

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Last Updated on May 26, 2009 by stlplace

(Update May 25) The offer expired on late night May 22 when I was comparing N85 with Nokia 5800. However, one can find lightly used ones at eBay for about $230 to $250.

Found this Nokia N85 Reviews from theNokiaBlog: Nokia N85 Review – Part 1 The Physical; Top 5 Reasons Why Nokia N85 Is Better Than Nokia N96; Nokia N85 After 3 months – Build Quality Results (video below).

(Original May 22) Saw it from dealsea, here is the %15 off stackable coupon at Dell Small Business: P1$6CFNN71F29L.

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Categories
Master Series

Exelon NRG Energy saga continues

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Last Updated on May 27, 2009 by stlplace

(Presentation May 27) NRG Energy at Deutsche Bank Securities Energy & Utilities Conference.

(Noise from OptionMonster May 27) Options prepare for drop in NRG. I am not expert in Options, but I think stock price should affect option (derivative) price, not the other way around (as the NRG options shown in Yahoo Finance). Maybe guys at OptionMonster make more money from writing articles (selling Ads) compared to trading options 😀

(Daily Herald May 26) Analyst: Exelon will need to increase its bid for NRG

(Business Wire May 21) Exelon Receives FERC Approval for Proposed NRG Acquisition. Notice this is one of many regulatory hurdles EXC needs to overcome before the acqusition going through.

(WSJ May 15) Exelon CEO: If NRG Energy Bid Fails, Will Look Elsewhere

Notice earlier this year Exelon won 51% NRG shareholder via. the tender offer (WSJ article).

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401k and Personal Finance Shanghai Composite

Investing in China: I

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Last Updated on May 28, 2009 by stlplace

I have talked about investing in China many times in this blog. Recently a good friend of my wife asked this question: how to protect her parents retirement (life style) now that they are near retirement?

I think this is a very good question, also a very common one. Recently I read Charlie Munger’s book Poor Charile’s Almanac, and he said three stocks are enought (diversified) if they are good stocks and the person trully understands it. I agree.

So, let me apply this three stocks approach and run a hypertheoritical portfolio for my wife’s friend (‘s parents 🙂

The first stock comes to mind is 601628.SS, China Life Insurance (NYSE: LFC; HKSE: 2628.HK). I talked China Life couple times, during its Shanghai IPO (secondary offering to be precise), and “Got Yuan” post. I believe China Life is uniquely positioned to take advantage of weakened competitors (China Ping’An and AIG China subsidiary), and this down market.

China Life Insurance logo

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gadgets video

Prepaid cell phone getting popular in the US?

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Last Updated on May 21, 2009 by stlplace

Did a google news search on this. From my own experience, prepaid phone card is very popular in China. I have used those from time to time when I visit China. I believe most of China Mobile (NYSE: CHL) subscribers are prepaid customers, which is opposite to the AT&T and Verizon Wireless customers in the US (where most customers have a calling plan and pay monthly).

T-mobile is doing a $25 prepaid card promotion on its prepaid phone. T-mobile is a distant 4th wireless carrier in the US, and it’s trying to take advantage of the recession to get more customers. Sprint is doing similar things with its boostmobile subsidiary.

Video below: one of the prepaid phone at T-mobile web site; source: YouTube.

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401k and Personal Finance video

New Credit Card Rules by NY Times

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Last Updated on May 28, 2009 by stlplace

Via YouTube.

It seems the card companies are not happy. Today I saw a big drop of stocks of American Express (NYSE: AXP), Capital One (NYSE: COF). Are the golden days of credit card industry over? We shall see.

Categories
Career

Employer review web sites

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Last Updated on May 27, 2009 by stlplace

Finding a job is hard these days, amid this global economy recession. But I think this does not mean we don’t evaluate our employers before accepting an offer. Here are two useful sites for job seekers: bewww.net (China) and glassdoor.com.

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Life Tips Saint Louis

Wifi hot spots and plan

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Last Updated on May 22, 2009 by stlplace

Mobile broadband (3G) is getting popular these days, but for most people (esp. consumers) that’s still a bit too expensive. At this time I think the good old Wifi is more suitable for me and many working from home (Starbucks, Panera Bread, Borders, Barnes Noble, or McDonald) type.

I used to use Free Wifi at Panera/St. Louis Bread Co. But “free” usually comes with a price, such as the new policy of “limit to 30 minutes use” between 11 AM to 2 PM. I have used two Wifi plan so far, T-mobile hotspot (Borders) and Boingo (many airports, Starbucks, McDonald). Let me compare those two plans:

Cost: T-mobile $19.99 per month for everyone ($9.99 for T-mobile wireless users, like me); Boingo costs $9.99 per month (US)

Coverage: Boingo wins this one because it is available in most Starbucks, McDonald, and airports. T-mobile hotspot is available in Borders bookstore, and it has a free roaming agreement with Starbucks (using AT&T Wifi), but I got some connection problem in one of my two visits to Starbucks. Of course the downside of Starbucks and McDonald is it’s more noisy than Borders (usually).

BTW, I found the iPhone Wifi Finder to be cool.

Categories
video

Buffett bets on Wells, US Bancorp

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Last Updated on May 18, 2009 by stlplace

From Yahoo Tech-ticker.

I don’t know about Wells, but I have US Bancorp shares (NYSE: USB). The stock appears expensive if you look at the price book ratio, which is a common metric to measure bank stocks. But USB is a very different bank compared to others, it’s a conservative lender. Since I opened my checking account with USB a few weeks ago, I had opportunity to visit the branch, it’s clean, and looks much sharp then the Bank of America branches I visited. Maybe, USB could get some deposit base from B of A, amid all the controversies around B of A. The USB stock was obviously knocked down last week due to secondary offering (raise money to repay TARP, or to get out of TRAP to be more precise). Today it got a nice bump from Buffett endorsement.

Reference: gurufocus Buffett buy.

Categories
earning IPO

Wuxi Apptec WX Q1 2009 update

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Last Updated on May 27, 2009 by stlplace

(Update 2, May 20) Bought it back, looks like it has more room to run 🙂

(Update May 19) Sold out my WX positions. I had a second thought on the stock.

(Original) Formerly Wuxi Pharma Tech, the name change was to reflect the US based Apptec acquisition a year ago.

I have bought and sold WX a few times since its IPO in 2007 (Wuxi Pharma Tech looking good; Got some WX again; Wuxi Pharma continues to drop). I sold out my WX position last Sept. (shortly before Lehman’s fall). I decided to got back some WX again about 10 days ago. A few things have changed since last update:

1) Since Wuxi cancelled the secondary offering last May, the selling shareholder UOB sold shares to private equity firm Warburg Pincus.

2) WX had to wrote down a large portion of good will because buying Apptec at the wrong time (pulled trigger too earlier).

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China video

Huntsman named new US ambassador to China

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Last Updated on May 22, 2009 by stlplace

I knew about Huntsman (the company) because of last year’s private equity back out from announced acquisition. And I knew Jon Huntsman Sr. found Huntsman Cancer Institute, besides founding the Huntsman chemical company. I didn’t know Jon Huntsman Jr. is a moderate (pragmatic) republican, and he and his wife has adopted a baby girl from China.

A good sign for China and US relationship.

Video from AP (via YouTube)

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