Tiger Airways Disappoints, AGAIN!

Local Chinese medium reported that Tiger Airways cancelled its flights between Singapore and Macau TR2906 & TR2907 yesterday, without any explaination (虎航临时取消澳门班机 引起约60多乘客不满).  To make things worse, the airline didn't inform their customers in advance.  Instead, the passengers only found out the cancellation when they arrived at the airport.

In a separate report, it was reported that passengers lost their valuables in their check-in luggage after taking the same flight from Singapore to Shenzhen.  When Tiger Airways was contacted by the reporter, their response was that passengers are responsible for the safety of their own belongs.  They didn't start an internal investigation for the theft, instead, they simply put the blame on their passengers. 

Being a public-listed company in Singapore, Tiger Airways should provide at least the minimum standard to their passengers.  If they can't fill their seats, and they want to cancel the flight to cut costs, then they should at least inform the affected passengers at least 1 day in advance, and give the passengers other options.  In this particular case, they let the passengers have the choice of a refund, but the cost of other travel-related expenses, such as hotel and transportation, are not covered by Tiger.  This is a typical case of 'take it, or leave it' attitude. 

Four Pillars of Investing

Title: The Four Pillars of Investing
Author: William J. Bernstein
Publisher: McGraw-Hill 2002

As the title says, the author writes about the 4 pillars of investing, which are:

1. The Theory of Investing
2. The History of Investing
3. The Psychology of Investing
4. The Business of Investing

The general principles of the book are not bad, but then it does advocate something that I don't really agree.  The good points first.  The book condemns investment newsletters, the hype of mutual funds.  He points out the readers just how poorly most mutual funds perform and still get a fat pay check. 

Then the bad things about this book.

1. Basically it says you can't beat the market, seems like an advocate of 'efficient market' theory.
2. The way the author handles the investment psychology portion is not very good.  It lacks the depth and impact comparing with Dr. Van Tharp's 'Peak Performance Course'.  Maybe that accounts for the price difference between Dr Tharp's over US$1000 course and this book.

Personally, I will not recommend this book to my friends, especially people who are just embarking on their investment journey.

Winning the Trading Game

Title: Winning the Trading Game
Author: Noble Drakoln
Publisher: Wiley Trading

This is a book written for the futures and forex traders, however, it is a very useful book for all investors and traders, be it futures, forex or stocks.

The author listed 3 key factors to a successful trader:

1. Money management
2. Technical analysis
3. Risk management

All 3 factors are inter-related and they are all important to win the trading game.

It is a very useful book for any serious trader to read and keep for references. 

This book is also available for loan from National Library.  The call number is 332.6 DRA-[Biz]

The Orange Lantern @ Harbour Front

Had lunch with a friend the other day at The Orange Lantern @ Harbour Front for Vietnamese cusine.  The restaurant is tucked in one corner of the Harbour Front building, with travelers coming and going for cruises passing by with luggage.  The eating environment is ok, but a bit not so cosy.

In terms of food, it is not really that authentic Vietnamese.  The soup is not as tasty and the smell is also a bit different.  But they still retain the signiture of Vietnamese food, which is the side dishes with bean sprout and mint leaves.  Be a bit careful about the mint leaves.  They are not really that well-cleaned.  I have to turn over every leave before I eat to make sure I don't eat rubbish. 

My personal favour is actually their appetizer - Vietnamese Imperial Spring Rolls.  The 'skin' is very cripsy and I like it.  The filling inside consists of reddish, carrot, and some other vegies, so it is reasonably healthy.  But, my dining companion doesn't think there is anything special about this spring roll.  Just 'normal'.

My rating: 3.5/5

It is quite ok, but not outstanding. 

Don't Buy on Market Open?

Someone has said that don't buy at the market open, as you most probably will pay a higher price.  The reason is at market open, usually it is novice or retail investors who are coming in to buy based on yesterday's price. 

There are only three possibilities if you buy at the market open.  One, the closing price is higher than the market open price.  Two, the closing price is lower than the market open price.  Three, the closing price is the same as the market open price. 

I gave the theory a simple test, but only to find out that, if you know what you aiming for, then it doesn't really matter whether you buy at the market open or market close.  If you are aiming for dollars of profit per share, then you won't might a dime or two difference in price. 

In some cases, especially in a super up market, buying at the market open sometimes can give you some slight price advantage even. 

So, the conclusion is it doesn't matter whether you buy at the market open or close, as long as you know what you are doing and what you're aiming for.

Happy investing!

Pfizer: Strong Q2 Earnings Beat Analysts' Estimates

Today, Pfizer (NYSE: PFE) announced their 2Q 2010 earnings.  Earnings per share amounts to US$0.62, 10 cents higher than the expected 52 cents EPS.  It is also higher than the 48 cents EPS a year ago.  This is positive development for Pfizer after the inverted head & shoulders bullish chart pattern being observed at Pfizer's price chart in this blog entry.  

The stock price jumped 3.55% at US$16.05 at market open.  It is good development, but don't be overjoyed.  When a stock's price goes euphoric, it is time to keep your eyes wide open and find out ways to hedge against any adverse developments.

Happy investing!

Kreuz

I guess the hottest topic, the hottest counter in the Singapore Stock Exchange must be Kreuz, a small little company spun off from its parent Swiber, an oil & gas service company. 

Look at this chart, and you will understand why.  The company was only listed in Catalist on 29 July 2010, which was last Thursday.  The price has shot up from its IPO price of $0.27 to today's close of $0.44.  This is a whopping 63% gain over 3 trading days!  Whoever got the IPO shares are happy.  If you have sold your IPO shares early, on the first day, or second day of trading, don't feel sad either.  You have made your share of the money, let others make theirs.  Whatever goes up, will go down.  Whatever goes up fast, goes down fast too, so don't get upset of selling too early, or not getting any from the IPO allocation.

If you are still holding this counter, you may want to apply a much tighter trailing stop so that you will not turn a winning trading into a losing trade. 

Happy investing!

The Skill to Convince

I recently notice a skill that I am seriously lacking of.  What is that?  The skill to convince people.  I have a friend who is very easily convinced by sales people from insurance, land banking, and others.  She is the darling of all sales people, as she is so easily convinced into buying all kinds of insurance packages, and even some well-known trouble-some products, yet, I can't convince her to stop buying more insurance policies, as she is already way over insured (although her insurance agent would argue the other contrary). 

That left me wonder why I can't successfully convince people with my ideas.  Is it the skill?  The image I portrayed?  The tone?  My track record?  Or?  I don't know, and that will be one of my tasks to find out why.  The skill to convince is necessary for any successful person.  Great leaders always have the skill to convince.  One good example is Liu Bei.  He is no great master of martial arts, no great strategist, yet he managed to assemble a great team for his establishment. That's something I must learn.