In Search of the Perfect Investment

Negotiations with the Chinese are not going well.

Our beef is they steal our secrets.

The Administration believes that progressively ratcheting up pressure on the Chinese will bring them to the table.

The latest “ratchets” (also called bullying) are very disturbing. There’s talk of:

+ Limiting American investment in China, and

+ Not allowing Chinese companies to list on our stock exchanges, and

+ Delisting the ones already listed here.

At the start of 2019 there were 156 Chinese companies listed here with a total market capitalization of $1,200,000,000,000. That’s $1.2 trillion. After Bloomberg News broke the story on Friday of the Administration’s delisting thinking, Chinese stocks plunged. Here’s an example — Alibaba’s trading on Friday.

Others did also. Seeking Alpha ran this:

Chinese tech stocks have hit a sudden downdraft as part of the White House’s look at fund flows into China.

Prominent decliners include Alibaba (BABA -4.5%), JD.com (JD -3.8%), Baidu (BIDU -2.1%), iQiyi (IQ -3.1%), Weibo (WB -2.5%) and Sina (SINA -1.6%).

Updated noon: Vipshop (NYSE:VIPS) is now down 1.4% after a quick decline, and Momo (NASDAQ:MOMO) is off 2.4%. Baozun (NASDAQ:BZUN) is -3.2%. HUYA -6.8%. Autohome (NYSE:ATHM) -3.9%.

This is not good. American people,  American institutions and American pension funds own these stocks. They’re not going to be very happy when they find their portfolios have just taken a huge hit.

Americans are going to ask “For What?”

President Xi is president for life.

Trump isn’t.

Xi can sit Trump out. He also has the tools to counter the pressures Trump is applying. Xi can pump his economy with fiscal stimulus. He can drop his interest rates. China’s loan prime rate is 4.2%. He can help the 156 Chinese companies in many, many ways.

Trump’s aims with the China Trade Talks are — to my mind — vague, changing and hard — if not impossible —  to pin down. More access to their markets?  Less copying/stealing of our intellectual property? Lower tariffs? He’s not made his negotiations easier by telling American companies to pull out of China — which many have done and are doing. This costs China jobs and money. Trumps target seems to shift from one day to the next. Once they agree to one thing, Trump ratchets up his demands. This is classic bullying.

China is a success story. They’ve brought 400 million out of poverty. Their infrastructure is superb. Xi just opened the second airport in Beijing. It will handle 72 million passengers a year. It was built in fewer than five years for $17 billion. Meanwhile Kennedy Airport in New York is a third-world monstrosity. Much of our infrastructure is ailing. We can’t even build a badly-needed third railroad tunnel between Manhattan and New Jersey.

Our economy is slowing. The stockmarket is freaked by the uncertainty of this trade war. Who knows what crazy ideas, the Administration’s hardliners will think of next. Delisting Chinese companies is bordering on total insanity.

I feel for the people whose retirement is tied to pension funds which own Chinese stocks.

I suspect this is not a good time to be owning stocks.

Trump may be impeached but won’t be removed from office. He will be emboldened. He can continue to wreak havoc with China, the world’s second largest economy.  Contrary to all the sturm und drang, he actually hasn’t signed one significant trade agreement since he came into office. He has torn up a bunch, however. Such is The Art of the Deal!

This is not how I want to live my life or how I want my stocks to live through.

The NYTimes artcle: White House Weighs Blocking Chinese Companies From U.S. Exchanges. Click here..

How to Silence Unknown Callers

This is the greatest advance in cell phones, ever!

Go to Settings/Phone, scroll down and hit this:

If you can’t find this on your iPhone you don’t have the latest iOS 13.1.1.

Get it. Go to Settings//Software Update. Make sure your phone is plugged into power.

I buy an Apple Watch Series 5. Pluses:

+ Always on display. No wrist raise needed to tell time..

+ Much Longer battery life. A real blessing. A good two days.

+ Better health and wellness features. I’m just discovering them all now.

+ Faster chip. All things go faster.

+ You can make and receive phone calls. Speaking is as good as the iPhone itself.

+ The Watch is now more like a mini-iPhone than ever — replete with access to all your iPhone apps.

+ You can trade in your old Series 4 Apple Watch for $110. Hence the Series 5 will set you back only $319, which is a bargain.

Why would anyone buy a designer watch when the Apple Watch can be made to look like any designer watch…and yet do so much more. Including save your life if you fall and can’t get up.

Your laptop’s battery is flagging

To extend your laptop battery’s life on a trip:

+ Turn your screen’s brightness way down.

+ Turn on Airplane Mode

+ Use Task Manager to cut the number of programs that load when you start up.

+ If your battery is two years old, replace it. All batteries die over time. To check, hit Windows Button + X and select Command Prompt (Admin). Type in and enter: powercfg /batteryreport.  You can read the report using your browser. Some laptops have Power Manager software.

World’s worst pun

It’s harvest time in Columbia County

Look what Erika Johnson of West Ghent, New York grew just for me:

Thank you, Erika.

Grandkids Eleanor and Peter at a weekend harvest party in Oregon

 

Jewish New Year Rosh Hashanah began tonight. I wish all my readers “Shana Tova.” That means Good Year in Hebrew. — Harry Newton