stlplaceThe Hangzhou bay bridge, the bridge connects Ningbo (my hometown) and Shanghai, got completed (the structure). This will cut the travel distance (and time) from Ningbo to Shanghai dramatically. Here is a picture taken at Ci’xi, the bridge starting point at Ningbo side. This is the longest sea crossing bridge on the world as of now (36km, or 22.5 miles). The new bridge will not open until next year (according to BBC).
Picture curtesy of AP.
From Associated Press: “Raise your glass and celebrate. A glass of tap water, that is.
The US Conference of Mayors says St. Louis has the best tasting city water in America. More than 90 American cities submitted tap water to be judged on taste, clarity and aroma.
The conference reduced the field to 15. Celebrity judges performed a blind taste test. And then hundreds of mayors chose from among five finalists.
St. Louis came out on top today, besting Toledo; Colorado Springs (in Colorado); Long Beach and Anaheim in California.”
Today marks another milestone for the search giant Google, its market capital (outstanding shares times the stock price) exceeded Warren Buffett’s good old Berkshire Hathaway’s market cap $165.71 B at one point (when Google stock hit today’s high at $534.99), GOOG closed at $527.42 (with a market cap of $164.32 B).
BRK.A is a holding companies of some well known companies, such as Geico and Diary Queen. Just think Wall Street values Google as valuable as all these (50?) very well managed traditional companies putting together, are we seeing another bubble here?
It appears they cut the secondary offering almost by half, amid the dropping of the stock price lately. (presumably there is a lack of interest by institutional buyers). Here is the amended SEC filing. They are going to sell 4.5 million shares instead of original 8 m shares. Now if they could find enough buyers for this.
Separately, I took some profits by selling half of my CROX.
Went to Chipotle Mexican Grill in my neighbourhood yesterday. I heard about it because of its stock (CMG) has done very well since IPO early last year (up 88%). I was curious about the food and the atmosphere so I went. It seems there are lots of young people, I mean people in 20s (Generation Y), which are generally younger than Panera crowd. At Panera, there are many older people in the morning. Also there are people working and gathering at Panera because of its free Wifi access and community feeling.
Brown Shoes goes to China (STLtoday): Brown Shoe Co. late Tuesday announced that it has entered a joint venture with a Chinese company to open more than 500 shoe stores in China by 2012.
MSFT modifies source for Vista (Reuters): Microsoft Corp. has agreed to modify its new Vista operating system in response to complaints that its desktop search function puts Google Inc. and other potential competitors at a disadvantage, a source familiar with the case told Reuters on Tuesday.
Retail woes: Both Circuit City and Best Buy reported disappointed earnings amid price wars on LCD TV etc.
Yang takes driver seat @Yahoo: Jerry Young, became the CEO of the company he co-founded 12 years ago.
You don’t have to be a stock junkie to know this one. Blackstone IPO generated so much buzz lately, from Chinese State Investment Co. take a significant stake (without voting power), to its high flying CEO cashing in billions of dollars in the IPO, and some congressman talking about impose the 33% tax rate rather than the 15% capital gain tax for private equity firms.
I briefly read its S1 prospectus today. I noticed a few things kind of interesting:
The stock got another hit today as its CFO says that: meeting the high end of the coffee shop chain’s 2007 earnings forecast will be “very challenging” due to rising dairy costs and slowing sales growth in its U.S. business,…
It seems high gas prices are really hurting them, in two ways. Some customers have to choose between a $4 latte between $3 gas, you can read this Dallas Monring News article if you are into the details. From cost side, the rising diary cost was passed on from higher corn (think ethanol) price. Also, keep in mind, the capital expenditure of new stores opened recently will take some time to bring returns. So, you can say they are facing a head wind. Wallstreet gave up on them because its growth has clearly slowed down in the US.
Some interesting numbers in 1997 and 2007:
Unlead Gas per gallon: 1997: $0.80 (Rolla, MO), 2007: $2.76 (St. Louis, as of today June 21), about 250% increase.
International call to China per minute: 1997: $0.76(LCI), 2007: $0.08 (AT&T Advantage, quote from ipevo), $0.02 (Skype or phone cards). Or you can use VoIP from iTalkBB $24.99 plan which offers unlimited calls to China and a few other countries. Anyway it’s about 90% drop of price.
Mittal is the largest steel maker in the world. I happened to watch the CNBC interview of its CEO this morning. I checked the chart (Google Finance) of Arcelor Mittal (MT), it went up 2129% in 5 years. I also happened to see the Nokia (NOK), a stock I traded in 2004, it went up 132% in 5 years.
So when I paid attention to all these latest fashion, trends, gadgets and cell phones, the old boring steel stock brought great return for its investors. I need to rethink my investing strategy now 🙂