BUKIT LANJAN: The worst ever is coming for the equities market? It’s the end of the bull run?

Exposed: Congress Secretly Told To Sell Stocks Before 2008 Crash
October 28, 2015 Sean Adl-Tabatabai
Reports have emerged that less than two weeks before the economic collapse of 2008, several members of Congress were pre-warned to take their money out of the stock market. High ranking government officials were given a heads-up about the impending stock market crash in secret meetings with the Federal Reserve and the Treasury Department, and what followed in the weeks leading up to the crash amounted to insider trading. Activistpost.com reports:It was revealed that Senator Shelley Capito and her husband sold $350,000 worth of Citigroup stock at $83 per share, just one day before the stock dropped to $64 per share. Another shady trader was Congressman Jim Moran, who had his biggest trading day of the year days after the secret meeting, sellings stock in nearly 100 different companies … for more, go to http://yournewswire.com/exposed-congress-secretly-told-to-sell-stocks-before-2008-crash/ 

BUKIT LANJAN: The worst ever is coming for the equities market? It’s the end of the bull run?

Indeed it has been a horrifying see-saw volatile week for stock market players in Malaysia and globally. Panic was the order of the day for many.
The FBM KLCI lost 50.66 points, or 2.7% to 1,819.82 points ending last Friday (Feb 10), down from 1.870.48 points on Feb 2.
Friday and Monday (Feb 9 and Feb 5) saw the Dow Jones Industrial Average diving nearly 1,850 points!

“What is in store from tomorrow (Monday Feb 12) and next week is anybody’s guess. But the equities market outlook is certainly looking gloomy,” Gerakan Deputy Speaker Syed Abdul Razak Alsagoff said.

He said no one could say for certain when the global markets would stabilise but players who don’t have holding power would be in very risky positions.

Then and Now: The Stock Market Crashes of 1929 and 2008
Downton Abbey and the Inevitable
One of the most popular shows on TV right now is Downton Abbey, the BBC’s historical drama about the residents of a grand manor house in the English countryside from 1912-1924. Since the show first began the family and servants of Downton have been through the sinking of the Titanic, World War I, the Spanish Influenza epidemic, the Irish uprisings, and so many more historical upsets. At the end of each season viewers are left wondering what the poor family will endure next. Watching historical fiction can really take an emotional toll. With fiction set in modern times you can often imagine a life going forward for the characters that is untouched by hardship, but with historical fiction you know what’s coming. You know that the residents of Downton will be swept into the horrors of World War II, face the new excitement of women’s suffrage, be forced to cope with the rising of the middle class and the downsizing of their serving staff, and encounter the devastating stock market crash of 1929 … for more, go to http://federalnavigators.com/then-and-now-the-stock-market-crashes-of-1929-and-2008/

Syed Razak, who is Gerakan’s nominee to contest N.37 Bukit Lanjan in the coming 14th General Election (GE14), said two news report should capture the attention of equity playes.

One report quotes American veteran investor Jim Rogers, 75, as saying the next bear market in stocks will be more catastrophic than any other market downturn that he’s lived through.

And the other article poses the question: Are we seeing the end of the bull run?

Here are the two articles reproduced for the convenience of readers:

"Jim Rogers says next bear market will be worst in his life

CORPORATE NEWS
Friday, 9 Feb 2018
3:45 PM MYT

Jim Rogers is not surprised that US equities resumed their selloff Thursday and he expects the rout to continue.

JIM Rogers, 75, says the next bear market in stocks will be more catastrophic than any other market downturn that he’s lived through.

The veteran investor says that’s because even more debt has accumulated in the global economy since the financial crisis, especially in the U.S.

While Rogers isn’t saying that stocks are poised to enter bear territory now -- or making any claim to know when they will -- he says he’s not surprised that U.S. equities resumed their selloff Thursday and he expects the rout to continue.

“When we have a bear market again, and we are going to have a bear market again, it will be the worst in our lifetime,” Rogers, the chairman of Rogers Holdings Inc., said in a phone interview.

“Debt is everywhere, and it’s much, much higher now.”

The plunge in equity markets resumed Thursday, as the S&P 500 Index sank 3.8 percent, taking its rout since a Jan. 26 record past 10 percent and meeting the accepted definition of a correction.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average plunged more than 1,000 points, while the losses continued in early Asian trading Friday as the Nikkei 225 Stock Average dropped as much as 3.5 percent.

Rogers has seen severe bear markets before. Even this century, the Dow plunged more than 50 percent during the financial crisis, from a peak in October 2007 through a low in March 2009.

It sank 38 percent from its high during the IT bubble in 2000 through a low in 2002.

Rogers predicts the stock market will experience jitters until the Federal Reserve increases borrowing costs.

That, he says, will be the point when stocks go up again. He said he’ll buy an agriculture index today, reiterating his view that prices of such commodities have been depressed for some time.

“I’m very bad in market timing,” Rogers said. “But maybe there will be continued sloppiness until March when they raise interest rates, and it looks like the market will rally.” - Bloomberg/The Star Online

The end of the bull run?

MARKETS
Saturday, 10 Feb 2018
by fong min yuan - market trend

Review: Volatility and panic was the theme of the week’s equities landscape. Just as observers had cautioned on overheating and the overbought US equity market environment, the recent declines on Wall Street put a screeching halt to the bull trend.

As at the latest sell-off yesterday, analysts steadfastedly tried to soothe the nerves of fleeing investors, confident in the belief that strong economic fundamentals and corporate earnings will ensure the steady performance of markets.

The pullback was triggered by a US payroll report yesterday that saw wages rising and giving rise to expectations of higher inflation and more Fed hikes. The attendant result would be the shutting of the money taps and the end to an era of easy money.

It was the catalyst for a correction, long overdue some say. These are the same parties who tout the pullback as healthy for the market in the longer term as it establishes a more sustainable footing for share prices.



Over the course of two-day decline on Friday and Monday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped nearly 1,850 points. On Tuesday night, the index slipped as much as 567 points in intra-day trade, pushing cumulative losses across the 10% threshold and into correction mode.

The oversold conditions of the US markets meant a technical rebound was due. As selling continued at Tuesday’s US open, the markets dipped further into oversold territory, paving the way for prices to retrace losses by late afternoon.

In a wild swing to the upside, the Dow Jones finished 576 points or 2.33% higher.

The S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite followed suit, ending the day’s session 1.7% and 2.1% higher respectively.

On Bursa Malaysia, the start of the week saw furious selling by foreign investors. Monday displayed symptoms of a sharp retreat as overseas investors turned net sellers of RM268mil, but on Tuesday, the net withdrawal was palpable to the tune of RM868mil.

Immediate support levels on the benchmark FBM KLCI gave way in succession, and the index fell a total of 58 points over the course of two days. The 1,800 key support held, however, despite a brief dip into 1,796. It served as a platform for a positive bounce, ending Tuesday’s session at 1,812.

A sense of normalcy returned to the local market on Wednesday following the US’s Tuesday night rebound. The FBM KLCI followed suit by retracing losses, rising 24 points to 1,836.88.

Foreign investors also failed to return to the local market, registering another net outflow on Wednesday, suggesting that the keen interest in emerging markets had faded from the change in investment landscape.

Global markets continued to be jittery as evidenced by the unsteady performance in the wider regional markets. The rebound in Asia failed to hold any conviction and the results were mixed, with the strongest perfomers making slight retracements.

Wall Street proceeded with another slight dip into the red overnight but the local market held steady on Thursday. The FBM KLCI put in a positive performance, rising a modest 2.76 points to 1,839.44.

On Thursday night, Wall Street dashed Asia’s hopes of restarting the bulls. The Dow Jones skidded 4.15%; the S&P 500, 3.75%; and the Nasdaq, 3.9% to put the US market firmly into correction mode. On Friday, the FBM KLCI closed 19.62 points lower at 1,819.82.

During the course of the week, the US dollar mounted a march against global currencies. The US dollar index rose about 1.6% to 90.165.

The ringgit, while holding firm against other major currencies, weakened against the US dollar to 3.93 yesterday.

Oil prices suffered a double blow in the form of the rising US dollar and shale oil production levels. Brent crude headed towards US$64 a barrel while WTI dropped towards US$60.

Statistics: Week-on-week, the FBM KLCI lost 50.66 points, or 2.7%% to 1,819.82 points yesterday, versus 1.870.48 points on Feb 2. Total turnover for the week stood at 15.69 billion shares amounting to RM16.44bil, compared with the previous week’s three-day market volume of 8.87 billion units valued at RM8.64bil.

Overview: While the local market is tracking the corrective energy of Wall Street, it is holding within a range of 1,800 to 1,840, suggesting that the local market is moving towards a period of consolidation rather than correction. Stateside, analysts are sharing the belief that the Wall Street sell-off will lead to a rebound before things deteriorate into a bear market.

The technical indicators indicate a shift in momentum in the local index, but that a firm downtrend has not yet taken hold. The slow-stochastic has crossed into a “buy” signal. The daily moving average convergence/divergence, which signalled a bearish divergence preceding the week’s decline and crossed into a “sell” signal on Monday, remains afloat above the zero line.

The FBM KLCI will see resistance at the 1,825 mark and 1,840 above that. Despite the nervous energy that has taken over the equities markets, 1,800 has proven to be a reliable springboard against the negative retracement. Should it break on the downside, there is further support at 1,785. - The Star Online"

N.37 LET BUKIT LANJAN SOAR WITH SYED ABDUL RAZAK ALSAGOFF