When everyone else was waiting for the outcome of Trump-Xi meeting later today, guess what I was doing for most of this week … Yes, I was still selling (the title gave it away).
I sold more Singtel shares this week at $3.50 while trying to keep the holding of Singtel in my portfolio to below 10%. I also sold small lots of some blue chips which were at their 52 weeks high to take some profits and replenish my war-chest. I was just a bit kia-si ….. but I am still heavily invested.
STI was up 0.5% this week. Not bad considering that there was really no catalyst either way. This is interesting that despite all these trade war talks, S&P-500 actually hit the record level. So, for those invested in US stocks, where is the trade war? LOL … Maybe it will come on Monday if they don’t like the outcome later today.
I was a bit afraid on last Monday that share price of Eagle Hospitality Trust would collapse. Well, it did go down to 68.5 cents but it then slowly gained strength in the course of the week to close at 71.5 cents this evening. Heng ah! … It wasn’t such a disaster after DBS stopped its stabilising actions. Hope it will continue to climb.
Back to the Trump-Xi meeting, I am not optimistic that a significant breakthrough will emerge.
The two leaders will probably create a win-win facade to calm investors and stabilise the stock markets. But in reality, it is just kicking the can down the road. In my view, the trade-scene between US and China has changed completely.
It is very difficult to go back to the “good old days” (from the perspective of China :-)) especially when US has put national security on the table. US has even gone to the extent of banning specific companies (like Huawei) to do business with US companies. And this is not just Trump alone. In fact, Trump was told by some US Senators not to use Huawei as a bargaining chip with China and trade it for national security. Trying to score some brownies points you may say, but Trump will have to explain if he ever reverses the decision on Huawei.
I haven’t seen anything like that in the last 20-30 years of my investment “career”.
I think we should just prepare for this new business environment. As we all know, businesses are in general adaptive and will respond to changes and even major shocks. Those that can’t will be eliminated anyway. Its the fittest that will survive in the business world. So, as investors, while we are concerned about the state of politics, it is not within our control. Worrying and reacting to it is just a knee jerk response and won’t help us win in the Long run.
Ultimately, to be a successful investor, I believe it is still down to hard work – do our homework well, research the companies thoroughly and make sure our investments are reasonably safe and sufficiently diversified.
We cannot change what we cannot control but we can maximise the opportunities presented or mitigate damages caused by the change in environment.
If the stock market dives drastically on Monday, you know what I will do and I have been getting ready š
Have a great weekend.
Take care, Warriortan
Invest For Yourself 