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Alekbaylee

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Posts posted by Alekbaylee

  1. By Sean B. Pasternak - Apr 20, 2011 10:51 AM ET Tweet inShare.0More

    Business ExchangeBuzz up!DiggPrint Email .Prem Watsa, chief executive officer of Fairfax Financial Holdings Ltd. (FFH), recommends shares of Wells Fargo & Co. (WFC), Johnson & Johnson (JNJ), Kraft Foods Inc. (KFT) and US Bancorp. (USB) The Canadian insurer holds a combined $1.9 billion in the four U.S. company shares. Watsa spoke at the insurer’s annual meeting today in Toronto.

     

     

  2. I don't know much about China, but here's an interesting comment that suggests RE there is like a casino...

     

    This article is misleading. MarketNews stated that prices plunged suddenly in Beijing due to government curbs. This was then reposted as China’s bubble popped by someone who may not be familiar with the way things work over here in China. RE is pretty much treated like a stock market, the herd gets in, prices jump by like 40%, some crackdown is announced, people jump to the sides and observe, very few deals happen in that period. Some people start panicking and cut prices 10-20%. This correction can happen within a very short. But that doesn’t mean that cash isn’t ready to buy back in as soon as the first uptick appears. I think Melster gave a good description of the mentality above. A bubble usually pops when all credit is exhausted and there is no more money to prop up the market. I don’t believe this is happening in China.

     

    This is very unusual for a Canadian observer where most people buy houses to live in their homes and prices remain fairly stable over the short to medium term. I think Vancouver is one of the few places where Chinese buy in higher numbers, so it does have it share of volatility as could be seen during 2009.

     

     

    This is crazy/scary altogether though...

  3. US inability to raise rates without blowing the recovery.

     

    That, in my mind, applies equally to Canada.

     

    I agree with Cardboard on the insanity of the RE market in Canada. Pure speculation everywhere IMO. And you still get headlines like this :

     

    More young Canadians looking to buy homes in next two years: RBC study

     

    The Canadian Press, On Thursday April 7, 2011, 7:24 am

    By The Canadian Press

     

    TORONTO - More younger Canadians, between the ages of 18 and 34, likely to buy a home over the next two years. About 43 per cent say they are looking to buy in that period, compared to a national average of 29 per cent, says RBC Homeownership Study.

     

    ... that keeps encouraging the bubble... ::)

     

    stumbled across this recently :

     

    “A cup of coffee at the Subway on Bank Street cost me $25,000,” moaned one investor, who found the lineup at the sales centre backed up along Gladstone halfway to O’Connor Street by the time he arrived back in line Thursday at 5:45 p.m., coffee cup in hand.

     

    “They gave me a number and told me to come back Saturday,” said the middle-aged technology professional, who is investing in real estate to bolster his retirement nest egg.

     

    He did return to buy an 855-square-foot Madrid, which boasts a modest den, one bedroom, two bathrooms, a large terrace and a smaller balcony overlooking Bank Street.

     

    On Thursday, his condo was priced at $299,900, plus $27,500 for a parking spot and $3,500 for a locker to stash a bike or artificial Christmas tree. By Saturday morning, prices had been upped by two to three per cent on all of Central’s condo plans, pushing his basic investment to $324,000.

     

    http://www.centralottawa.com/

     

     

    Mind boggling!

     

     

  4. "We expect softwood pulp prices to remain near record levels until mid-2013," he said in reports on Mercer International and Canfor Pulp.

     

    That would be great!

     

    Wonder how long before a Chinese Co starts shopping mills and/or pulp Cos in NA though?

  5. Just came back from Costco. They now sell bags for compost bins (small kitchen containers and big green boxes). Looks like it's made from recycled paper (RBK?). Anyway, compost is now mandatory in most Canadian cities. So I guess the demand will not falter as people have been complaining about how those containers smell in summer (hot weather). And it's not cheap too : roughly $12 for a few of these bags.

     

    Long FBK...

  6. Well said, Al. I'm not a selling a single share.

    This one should finally start to reward our patience.

     

    US NBSKP – Shipments on pulp to the North American market were fairly weak in February, reflecting the declines seen in paper shipments. The PPPC data showed shipments of paper grades market pulp down by as much as 9.6% against February 2010. Supported by good demand elsewhere – and by the approaching high season for paper and maintenance downtime period for pulp – the US BSKP market has remained tight. Price increases have been announced separately by several major producers, typically by 30 USD/ton from April 1. If fully successful, the attempted hike would bring the gross contract price up to 1020 USD/ton. The data reported was again in a range between 960 and 990 USD, with 990 USD clearly the most common individual quote. Our PIX NBSKP US index moved up by 83 cents, or by 0.1%, and closed at 985.19 USD/ton.

     

    http://www.paperage.com/foex/pulp.html

  7. $250,000 Exclusion on the Sale of a Main Home

     

    Individuals can exclude up to $250,000 in profit from the sale of a main home (or $500,000 for a married couple) as long as you have owned the home and lived in the home for a minimum of two years. Those two years do not need to be consecutive. In the 5 years prior to the sale of the house, you need to have lived in the house for at least 24 months in that 5-year period. In other words, the home must have been your principal residence.

    You can use this 2-out-of-5 year rule to exclude your profits each time you sell or exchange your main home. Generally, you can claim the exclusion only once every two years. Some exceptions do apply.

     

    Looks very appaling, but may have encouraged the speculation...

  8. Some fresh news for those considering buying in the US...

     

    http://ca.finance.yahoo.com/news/Home-prices-falling-19-major-capress-765065925.html;_ylt=Al0_Q92wfV2Nk9EX9e7nIGdyzJpG;_ylu=X3oDMTE4c3FwaGlrBHBvcwM3BHNlYwN5ZmlUb3BTdG9yaWVzBHNsawNob21lcHJpY2VzZmE-?x=0

     

    Home values in Atlanta, Las Vegas , Detroit and Cleveland are now below January 2000 levels. A majority of the metro areas tracked by the index now have home prices at levels dating back to 2003, just as the housing boom began

  9. Now Mercer has just completed a feasibility study on the cost to convert to "swing mills".  Ones that can produce either NBSK or DP. The idea is to be able to capitalize on the pricing of whatever output makes the most sense. Mercer suggests it's costs to convert the mills is likely $30M - $40M.

     

    Looks very smart to me!

     

  10. Yup and was up nicely this week.

     

    Wonder if and how the oil spike will impact their bottom line though (as well as their competitors's for that matter).

     

    Any comments/insight?

  11. Apologize if this has already been posted, but didn't see it...

     

    UBS Says U.S. Is Probing Possible Libor Rate Manipulation

     

    UBS AG (UBSN), Switzerland’s biggest bank, said it received subpoenas from U.S. authorities investigating possible attempts to manipulate the setting of the London interbank offered rate.

     

    The company received subpoenas from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission and the U.S. Justice Department, Zurich-based UBS said in its 2010 annual report. The bank also received an order to provide information to the Japan Financial Supervisory Agency concerning “similar matters,” it said.

     

    “UBS understands that the investigations focus on whether there were improper attempts by UBS, either acting on its own or together with others, to manipulate Libor rates at certain times,” the bank said. “UBS is conducting an internal review and is cooperating with the investigations.”

     

    Libor rates are set daily by the British Bankers’ Association, based on data it gets from a panel of banks on what it would cost them to borrow funds for various periods of time and in different currencies.

     

    UBS didn’t say in yesterday’s report what time period the Libor investigation is focused on. A spokesman for the bank wasn’t immediately able to comment beyond the statement in the report. A BBA spokesman wasn’t immediately able to comment.

     

     

  12. Looks like insiders bought some shares recently :

     

    Mar 15/11  Mar 10/11  Young, Brian David  Direct Ownership  Subordinate Voting Shares  97 - Other  2,354   

    Mar 15/11  Mar 10/11  Wacek, Michael  Direct Ownership  Subordinate Voting Shares  97 - Other  1,108   

    Mar 15/11  Mar 10/11  Salvesen, James B.  Direct Ownership  Subordinate Voting Shares  97 - Other  277   

    Mar 15/11  Mar 10/11  Lovell, Peter H.  Direct Ownership  Subordinate Voting Shares  97 - Other  693   

    Mar 15/11  Mar 10/11  Christiansen, Jan  Direct Ownership  Subordinate Voting Shares  97 - Other  970   

    Mar 15/11  Mar 10/11  Bennett, Robert  Direct Ownership  Subordinate Voting Shares  97 - Other  1,108   

    Mar 15/11  Mar 10/11  Barnard, Andrew  Direct Ownership  Subordinate Voting Shares  97 - Other  3,461 

     

  13. I mean, who builds a reactor on the seashore and doesn't plan for tsunamis. 

     

    Precisely. And this time around, unlike the BP spill and other disasters, we can't blame the private sector...

     

    Anyway, let's hope that this teaches the whole world about the dangers of nuclear.

    After all, we're all concerned as there's no "spare planet" where to go.

  14. Alek, The Us prices you had hadn't been adjusted at the time.  a. 

     

    Tx Al. Loosing a bit of concentration with all this nuclear mess.

    Speaking of mess... they're gonna need a lot of (sponge) paper to clean this mess...  ::)

  15. A bit more up this week :

     

    Pulp NBSK USD USD 963.61 +1.80

    Pulp BHKP USD USD 848.27 +0.65

     

    With this interesting comment :

     

    Paper industry – A fairly large part (20% or so) of Japan’s pulp and paper capacity has been shut down due to the combined impact of the earthquake and tsunami. The full impact will only be known when the duration of the closures has been seen. It is obvious that the rest of the machines will run full, assuming that they will be able to get the energy needed. Imports of paper from outside may also increase.

     

    http://www.foex.fi/

     

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