EJ is the symbol for E-House China Holdings and it's an ADR, traded over the counter and as such is not fungible. ADR stands for American Depository Receipts and cannot be shorted in the market, unlike ordinary shares (provided you can borrow them to go short). I think that most of the China companies that are traded on the NYSE are ADRs.

Geoduck-- somebody is definitely in finance!!! Be careful in outing yourself!!!

Finance, that was another life ago. Glad I'm out of that now and doing something much more meaningful and not screwing people over which Investment Bankers tend to do or should I say, the firm dictates this.

[ Last edited by  geoduck at 16-5-2010 09:25 ]

wao, what meaningful thing are you doing now?

All I can say here is that it's something similar to what I used to do but provides people with lots of joy and rewarding financially at the same time.

are you a pimp?  From banker to pimp, or are those the same thing?

A banker can be a pimp but that's not my line of work and a pimp should not be posting here in the first place, that would be a conflict of interests and advertising is not allowed in this forum. What I do is very specialized and does not involve any harm or financial ruin to anyone. On that note, what is your line of work?

[ Last edited by  geoduck at 17-5-2010 10:37 ]

There is pressure to devalue the RMB but China doesn't want to do that. It will hurt China's economy too much. The RMB is undervalue 40%. If the RMB is brought closer to where the actual rate, it could generate some 1.2 million U.S. jobs. At 40% less, imagine the exchange rate was 4.5 RMB to 1 USD will do, but it will not happen because it will hurt China's economy too much. In my opinion, there might be a compromise of a downward trend to maybe 6 RMB to 1 USD.

For now, do expect the exchange rate to change soon. Don't expect it to fall from 6.8 to 1 soon.  What might happen is taxes tariffs and other measures on Chinese goods in the future if China doesn't devalue the RMB. This is just my opinion and I might be wrong.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Shanghai (AP)
"If the exchange rate changes, it will really eat into our profits. It's basic economics: our products will be more expensive overseas and less competitive," Li said.

After nearly two years of keeping its currency stable against the U.S. dollar to help exporters like Li weather the global financial crisis, hopes had revived overseas that Beijing might relax the dollar peg soon. But as the European debt crisis deepens, China is signaling it will hold back on any changes -- a stance likely to complicate high level talks next week with the U.S.

The latest, most authoritative comment on that came from Commerce Minister Chen Deming, who told reporters while visiting Austria this week that Beijing intends to keep the yuan stable. Meanwhile, U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner confirmed that the contentious currency issue is bound to be on next week's agenda.

"I think it is, of course, China's decision about what to do with the exchange rate -- they're a sovereign country," Geithner said. "But I think it's enormously in their interest to move, over time, to let the exchange rate reflect market forces, and I'm confident that they will do what's in their interest," he said while visiting Boeing and other exporters in Washington state.

China reported a $196 billion global trade surplus last year, adding to pressure to tilt its economy toward greater reliance on domestic demand.

To read further...

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/As ... 3433898561.html?x=0

[ Last edited by  Weelock at 24-5-2010 04:33 ]

As I had mentioned, the markets would topple, US$ will strengthen again and China will not devalue its currency (despite all the pleasantries that had gone on in Beijing). Think China will some time this year go another 1.5% adjustment just to give face the the delegation that had just visited Beijing. And so it begins....another broad base sell off in the equity markets. Fear vs Fundamentals. When this thread started, things still looked good but how very fragile it is in really.

[ Last edited by  geoduck at 25-5-2010 21:52 ]

When I see inflation and China together, all i get is, the rich are getting a lot richer while the poor are getting poorer, yes its the same everywhere but its hitting china more harder then anywhere else in the world, excluding SA and places like that..

Agreed this is why I see civil war in China as a distinct possibility.

In Thailand the riots were not caused by democracy or other bullshit they were caused by price fixing of rice and petrol.

In Asian societies it seems people are much more willing to pay the blood price for change, and the poorer people in China are getting the fuck exploited out of them, by developers who grab land as it is cheaper than paying for it. Factory owners who exploit their staff etc.

The PRC people have shown once they will stand and deliver in 1989 tank man was a side show Wangfujin was where it was at where people would stand and be gunned down, you can't oppress that kind of fortitude away.

I think inflation will be tamed from the Euro problem.  Europe really dug themselves into a hole they will not come out of for a long time by taking on close to a trillion dollars in debt (mostly borne by the wealthy nations).

A Civil War is quite impossible in China. You would need a well organized militia group and this would never get off the ground. Look what happened to Fulang Gong. They were very well organized, more than just a religious cult. The CCP saw them as a threat to the country's security and promptly banned the movement.

BTW, Kennich, hope you are no longer in the stock market. I've been out of stocks for over a year now. Last time I bought was when the HSI hit 11,0000 in October 2008. Got out two months later at nearly 16,000 points. Could not resist buying HSBC when it was below $40! I never bought again even though the HSI surged to above 22,000. The HSI would look appealing for me if it touches the 17,600 level. Good to get in for a technical rebound as there'll be plenty of short covering but then you still have to look at the external factors from day to day.

I had since invested all of my stock market profits into something much more interesting which have yielded nearly a 100% profit in 12 months but I am now unloading that too. Have been lucky. Need to make more money to keep mongering.

[ Last edited by  geoduck at 26-5-2010 08:30 ]

An insurrection doesn't have to be organised once you push people beyond a certain limit and the CCP is in China with wealth divides and severe unemployment as well as corruption.

It can just erupt if it catches the public feeling.

Have a look back in history about 1966 and 1967 Hong Kong, the 1966 riots started out of nowhere and caught the public mood and nearly turned into an insurrection. The people on the face of it were defeated but they came back the next year with bombs.

Granted the CCP controls the media and can crack down on such protests but this doesn't make the anger go away if anything it just puts a lid on it for it to come back another day.

But you can only crack down and oppress so far and cracking down many well remove the symptoms i.e. riots on the streets, but the seething anger remains underneath.


The well organised and armed aspect comes when infantry are asked to crack down on a protest or a riot and start to think this is wrong...this is why in 1989 it took several days for the protests to be broken up. The CCP were smart enough NOT to use the garrison outside Beijing to crack down on the protests as you too would be if you were asked to kill people you knew.

The 1967 Spring riots in HK were inspired by the Cultural Revolution. Think it all started at a plastic flowers factory when some workers clashed with management over Marxist ideals. It was a different world back then and if Mao did not stop the Red Guards from causing so much death and destruction in China, some HK leftist thought they could do the same and overthrow the Colonialist as well.

At the end, Mao called in the PLA to stop the Red Guards from causing further destruction in China. In HK the Royal HK Police raided the leftist headquarters in North Point located at the China Arts and Craft Building. The Scottish Guards regiment actually launched an airborne attack on the building with helicopters and soldiers entering the building heavily armed from the roof.

Insurrection can only happen if the Government allows it to continue. It could easily be stopped by the CCP. In HK, they only moved in at the  last moment because the British were worried that by attacking the leftist, the Red Guards may actually storm the border. The latest insurrection was the Fulang Gong. The Central Government never realized there were so many of them. This was put to an abrupt end and of course the world had condemned China for not allowing religious freedom  but the FG was much more than that.

I do not believe that the Central Government is that corrupt when compared to many of the developed countries, otherwise you would not be seeing nearly 200m wealthy people in China. Remember the Philippines and the Marcos era? That was blatant corruption as 60% of the country's GDP went to Marcos. Even then, the people did not stand up against him until he assassinated Aquino right on the airport tarmac in broad daylight. That was the last straw. Don't think the CCP will ever go that far.

[ Last edited by  geoduck at 26-5-2010 19:21 ]

Unrest is allowed to continue though, as greed and exploitation of the common man in China is continuing.

All of the bonds which glued together the people of China in the harshest of times like the great leap forward famine are disintegrating due to greed.

You see the odd story about land seizures where people are simply murdered for their land.

You see foxconn where workers are worked to death.

Is the CCP improving worker's rights ? are they hell... have they put any land rights to prevent developers hiring big gangs to force people off their land? No

You may find those 200million rich people are paper millionaires, in the UK we have 100000s of paper millionares, the recession hit, their assets devalued and many of them due to over leveraged positions went bust.

Well kennichi, in a sense you are correct. The worst corrupter is Capitalism when it is unchecked.

I agree with geoduck.  Now is a very tricky time.  You cannot hold anything for extended periods, but day traded also not a good idea.  I use technical analysis and double check with fundamental analysis.  Even that is not enough because right now things are dictated by polital events ( the two Korea's) and political policy.  I have about half my assets in RMB ( not real estate) and the other half in HK$, CDN$ and AUS$.  I also agree geoduck about HSI's direction.  I cleared out completely when HSI broke 20,000 level.  I think it will test 17,000 or below, but don't quote me on it   I still buy HSI stocks but never hold past weekends.
I would like to hear what others are doing to secure their punting fund.

Take a leaf out of Yip Kai Foon's book and buy yourself an AK47?