Reading Time: 2 minutes Stocks in review week of Dec 16 to Dec 22 1) I bought some MXB shares on Dec 19. After I read its prospectus more carefully, I found two things I don’t like: it will use the proceeds of the IPO ($225 m) and borrow some $425 m to pay the dividend to its parent,

Reading Time: 2 minutes For the mutual fund, besides being the leader in its category each year, one key performance measure is to beat the bench market index. For instance, if a fund is invested in emerging markets, one key bench mark is MSCI emerging market index (EFM, an ETF tracks this index). For reference, the index is up

Reading Time: 2 minutes 1) Why it quit the outsourcing biz? We know outsourcing is a typically low margin business. Interested readers can look at the VanceInfo (formerly WorkSoft), the first Chinese IT outsourcing company listed in Nasdaq. It did IPO recently. Longtop should not get into the oursourcing business to begin with. I suspect the VCs suggested the

Reading Time: < 1 minute It priced at $26, according to AP news. I did NOT bid on NetSuite IPO eventually. Two things: it raised price range from initial 13-16 to 16-19; and I noticed NetSuite is not profitable so far. On the other hand, when its bigger rival, the on-demand software provider SalesForce (CRM) did IPO in 2004, it

Reading Time: < 1 minute I bought some MSCI (company, stock:MXB) today. A month ago I heard about it from my friend StrengthTrader’s blog. But at that time I was a bit obsessed with my LFT and CROX, and did not have stomach for another IPO. In last few weeks when I was doing research for my new 401K plan

Reading Time: < 1 minute I picked the following funds (and their weight) for my Vanguard IRA yesterday. Vanguard International Value 50% (developed market large cap value) Vanguard Winsor II 25% (US large cap value) Vanguard Selected Value 25% (US mid cap value) The first two funds are in my current 401k plan, I found the Vanguard Selected Value through

Reading Time: 3 minutes All right, now the Chinese regulatory (People’s Bank, China banking regulatory commision, China Securities Regulatory Commission,…) got what they wished for this Christmas: after the cool down of the doemstic stock market, now housing market started take a turn (according to many experts including Vanke CEO Wang Shi). This is reflected in the sharp declining

Reading Time: < 1 minute Week in review 12-09 to 12-15 1) China central bank, along with China Banking Regulatory Commission, defined “what is second home” for the lending purpose: it will be measured against a family (husband and wife), not individual. See this NetEase news. 12月11日，央行、银监会联合发布《关于加强商业性房地产信贷管理的补充通知》明确规定，以借款人家庭为单位认定房贷次数。另外，如果首套住房人均面积低于当地平均水平，再贷款购房还是按照首套标准执行。业内人士解释，以家庭为单位来界定，就相当于夫妻双方无论任何一方有向银行申请房贷的记录，另外一方再贷款买房，都要按照房贷新政执行，即提高首付比例的同时，贷款利率按照现行贷款基准利率的1.1倍来计算。 For more info, check out Baidu. A smart move to contain the housing

Reading Time: 2 minutes Stock Price Shares of Vanke (sina, Google Finance) has gained more than 200% YTD, but it is taking a hit lately. A while ago I read these two interesting articles (21cbh, sina) about the valuation of Vanke share. The key question is whether it is over priced, considering its growth potential. Of course no one

Reading Time: 2 minutes I would like shift my focus away from the stock market, and dedicate this special day to Nanjing and Chinese people all over the world. Nanjing is the sister city of Saint Louis. Many Chinese people (e.g., my friend Wang Jianshuo) know the Nanjing Masasccre happened 70 years ago. Couple days ago I heard a