Chinese reconfiguration of economy and preparation for cultural export

Chinese programmes and media corporations have greatly filled their coffers these past few years with their tremendously popular song competition programmes which have seen influence in South Asia.

take a look at the scale of these programmes

and these are done on weekly basis.

So recently, there has been a bit of restrictions from the authorities, clamping down on the impressions that these shows will make on the youths.

https://www.zhihu.com/question/50167758

去年7月，广电总局曾就发出了《关于加强真人秀节目管理的通知》，要求真人秀节目避免过度明星化，摒弃“靠明星博收视”的错误认识，不能把节目变成拼明星和炫富的场所，并提出真人秀节目应注意加强对未成年人的保护，尽量减少未成年人参与。

That's not all. Culture is one of the biggest export a country has. In fact, without cultural export, you can forget about Margin. This is also one of the reasons Japanese and Korean exports have reversed positions over the past 17 years.

Previously Japanese cultural export via their anime, manga, movies, songs has tremendous benefit and supports their exports of other products. In recent decades, they have been taken over by Korea. You can see this effect on your supermarket selves or cosmetic products.

China, it seems, realizes this:
http://baike.baidu.com/item/%E9%99%90%E9%9F%A9%E4%BB%A4

随着萨德系统的部署，传言中国政府限制韩国艺人和节目的举措全面开启，中国广电总局的禁令包含：禁止Bigbang、EXO等团体中国演出；停止新的韩国文化产业公司投资；停止韩国偶像团体面向1万名以上观众演出；禁止新签韩国电视剧、综艺节目合作项目；禁止韩国演员出演电视剧在电视台播放等多项规定的措施已经传达到各电视台，并要求在9月1日开始实施。
2016年11月，有韩国媒体不断炒作中国发布“限韩令”的消息。中国外交部发言人耿爽已在21日的例行记者会上表示，没有听说所谓的“限韩令”。[1] 2016年12月6日，上海市文化广播影视管理局日前批准韩国双人组合乐童音乐家在上海举办演唱会。这是自2016年10月以来中方首次批准韩国歌手在华举办演唱会

Is the Australia I once knew gone for good?

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When I first started writing about the Australian property bubble in 2003 I knew it was big. But even I didn’t think it would reach its current absurd proportions. The bubble has now engulfed not just our economy but our politics, our media, our social structure and entire strategic outlook. Not one of these is defensible in terms of the national interest but together they converge on Australian disintegration:

• The economy is now a hollowed out wasteland of finance, speculation and consumption. Other than dirt, we do nothing else.

• Politics is now warped completely around the bubble with elections won and lost on house prices alone. Policy is forgotten.

• The duopoly of Australian media is focused entirely on maximising for sale listings for Domain and realestate.com.au. It has become a bald-faced real estate propaganda machine.

• Multi-culturalism is being increasingly strained as immigration is sustained at economically destructive levels purely to support house prices.

• ANZUS is now fundamentally undermined by the “citizenship exports” sector that drives house prices and construction and brings with it a “hard-edged” Chinese soft power push.

The Australia that I grew up in was based upon the principle of the “fair go” balanced against a vibrant and mixed competitive market economy, of policy made in the national interest, of successful multi-culturalism within a liberal Anglosheric context, and of unshakable faith in the US as our strategic partner in the world.  Now, thanks to the bubble:

• The “fair go” is dead.

• The US alliance is dying.

• Multi-culturalism is under assault.

• Liberalism and the market economy have been subsumed by specufesting.

Regret Minimization Framework by Jeff Bezos

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Here’s the story as told by Brian Christian and Tom Griffiths, in their excellent book, Algorithms to Live By: The Computer Science of Human Decisions:

Regret can also be highly motivating. Before he decided to start Amazon.com, Jeff Bezos had a secure and well-paid position at the investment company D. E. Shaw & Co. in New York. Starting an online bookstore in Seattle was going to be a big leap — something that his boss (that’s D. E. Shaw) advised him to think about carefully. Says Bezos:

“The framework I found, which made the decision incredibly easy, was what I called — which only a nerd would call — a “regret minimization framework.” So I wanted to project myself forward to age 80 and say, “Okay, now I’m looking back on my life. I want to have minimized the number of regrets I have.” I knew that when I was 80 I was not going to regret having tried this. I was not going to regret trying to participate in this thing called the Internet that I thought was going to be a really big deal. I knew that if I failed I wouldn’t regret that, but I knew the one thing I might regret is not ever having tried. I knew that that would haunt me every day, and so, when I thought about it that way it was an incredibly easy decision.”

Tencent overtakes Alibaba, both probably still undervalued

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Brent Lewin | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Tencent, the owner of popular social messaging app WeChat, on Thursday overtook e-commerce giant Alibaba to become China's most valuable technology company after posting a strong set of earnings.
Data compiled by spreadbettor IG showed Tencent's market capitalization was at 1910.3 billion Hong Kong dollars ($246.35 billion) as of 10:40 a.m. HK/SIN, compared with Alibaba's market capitalization of $242.04 billion. 
The Chinese gaming and social network company announced its second quarter and first half 2016 earnings on Wednesday, reporting strong growth in mobile gaming and advertising.
Total revenue for the second quarter came in at 35.69 billion yuan ($5.38 billion), registering a 52 percent on-year increase. Operating profit was at 14.33 billion yuan, which was 43 percent higher from the same period a year earlier.
The bulk of revenue for the quarter came from online gaming, which grew by 32 percent on-year to 17.124 billion yuan, driven particularly by smartphone games. 
Monthly active user accounts on Tencent's social WeChat/Weixin platform were 806 million, registering a 34 percent on-year increase. 
In June, Tencent deepened its presence in the mobile gaming space by leading a consortium to acquire a majority equity stake in Finnish gamemaker Supercell, which produced popular titles such as Clash of Clans and Clash Royale. 
Hong Kong-listed shares of Tencent climbed 5.08 percent in morning trade on Thursday.
Representatives from Tencent and Alibaba did not immediately respond to CNBC's request for comments.

USO not the way to trade oil unless short term

stolen somewhere.

Spot Crude Oil: +26.2%

Crude ETF: -0.1%

see more: roll yield and more roll yield.

"The US Oil Fund (Ticker: USO) holds long positions in West Texas Intermediate crude oil futures contracts, and rolls these contracts forward each month. Like most futures traders, USO buys futures with leverage, putting up a small portion of the money to buy the contracts. The rest of the money is invested in Treasuries, which generates interest income for the fund.
Three factors play a role in determining the performance of USO: 1) changes in the spot price of crude oil, 2) interest income on un-invested cash, and 3) the 'roll yield'. The first two factors are easily understood, but the third factor, 'roll yield' should be examined further in order to determine the extent, if any, to which traders of USO will be surprised by its performance in relation to spot crude oil.
First some background: Oil futures are available for each month of the year, so you can buy a futures contract right now which gives you the right to buy oil in February 2009, March 2009, April 2009, and so on. Currently, the price of oil in February 2009 is less than the price of oil in April 2009, a condition which is referred to as 'contango'. (If the opposite were true, the market for crude oil would be in backwardation.) Most commodity funds, including the US Oil Fund (USO) buy what is called the 'near month' contract and, because they do not want to take physical delivery of the commodity, they sell the current month's contract before it expires and buy into next month's contract. This process is called 'rolling forward', and it can result in the ETF paying up if the forward month contract is higher than the current month (contango), or cashing out if the opposition condition exists (backwardation).
good read: http://www.marketfolly.com/2009/01/how-contango-affects-crude-oil-etfs-and.html#ixzz4HethZYLI

Inflection point in Gold?

there's been some transactions in gold holdings.

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最近投资大佬减持黄金ETF或黄金股的消息不断出现，杜肯资本（Duquesne Capital）创始人亿万富翁德鲁肯米勒（Stanley Druckenmiller）已经清空他所有在黄金ETF SPDR Gold的仓位；索罗斯基金公司也大幅减持巴里克黄金公司股份，高位套现。全球最大黄金ETF--SPDR GOLD TRUST周三持仓较上日下降4.45吨，当前持仓量为957.78吨。
凯投宏观分析师Simona Gambarini表示你所看见的波动是基于对美联储加息的投机性，这已成为金价的主要驱动力。

奥德伊称，目前现存的黄金储量有30万吨，每年开采的量大约在2700吨，也就是说少于1%。Odey继续看好黄金，尤其是在低利率和大量刺激的环境下。他称，这最终会制造通胀，利好黄金。

Druckenmiller still owns just over 1.82 million shares of Barrick Gold (ABX), a position he opened in the first quarter of 2016. Shares of Barrick Gold have soared 198% in the first half of 2016.
Meanwhile, George Soros, the legendary hedge fund manager who runs his name-sake family-office Soros Fund Management, also closed a position on the SPDR Gold ETF that he had bought in the first quarter in the form of call options on 1,050,000 shares, the filing shows.That said, during the second quarter, Soros did buy 240,000 shares of the SPDR Gold ETF, a position valued at $30,365,000 at the end of the second quarter, the filing shows.Soros also massively pared back his stake in Barrick Gold, selling 18,348,235 shares in the second quarter. He last held 1,071,074 million shares of Barrick Gold, a position worth just over $22.8 million at the end of the quarter. Soros had been invested in Barrick Gold since the first quarter of 2016. 

As a reminder, hedge funds of a certain size are required to disclose their long stock holdings in filings known as 13-Fs. Of course, the filings only provide a partial picture since they do not show short positions or wagers on commodities, currencies, or fixed income. What’s more is these filings come out 45 days after the end of each quarter, so it’s possible they could have traded in and out of the position. Still, it does provide a glimpse into where some of the top money managers have been placing money in the stock market.

Keep going for the wins until you get the experience to make it easier the next time around

you have to keep going for the wins until you get them.

then it becomes easier. because you did it before.

http://joefahmy.com/2011/09/28/michael-jordan-on-tiger-woods/

The following is an article from ESPN the Magazine written by Michael Jordan back in May 2001. He talks about Tiger Woods, the killer instinct, and performing in the clutch. When I read this, I find so many similarities to stock trading. I hope that you also see the correlations, as we all strive to become better traders.

The ability to perform in the clutch comes from having the confidence to know that you can. Where does that confidence come from? From having done it in the past. Of course, you have to do it that first time, but after that, you’ve got a model you can always relate back to. It gives you comfort doing something you’ve done before.The athlete today with more of that kind of confidence than anyone is Tiger Woods. Look at his record. If he’s got a lead, he keeps it. If he needs a big shot, he makes it. And the more he does it—the more he comes through when he has to—the more confident he is he can do it again.Of course, Tiger’s an athlete for golf, nothing else. I can take him to a basketball court and bet him I can beat him 7 out of 10 times shooting left-handed, and he wouldn’t have a chance. That’s because my confidence is so strong. I wouldn’t feel any pressure.Golf? It’s the other way around. One time we played, he spotted me 5 shots a side. I go out and shoot 75. Guess what he shoots? 65. He didn’t beat me, be he didn’t lose. I’m pretty sure if he’d given me 12 strokes he’d have shot a 63. Fifteen strokes? I don’t know. I think I’d win that bet. But I’m not sure.The key to hitting a golf ball is the same as for shooting a jump shot. You just do something repetitively, until it works consistently. A golf swing or a basketball shot doesn’t have to be technically perfect to work for you. There are guys on the Tour who don’t have perfect swings like Tiger, guys with big loops in their swings, or somebody like Jim Furyk. But their swings work for them.Putting is not too far from a free throw. Just you and the technique. Very comparable. You’re doing something you’ve done a million times before. But you have to block everybody and everything from your mind. If you let yourself think “What if?” as you’re doing it, you won’t.What it gets down to is confidence and pride. Confidence is based on having done it before. Tiger’s confidence is so high because of his work ethic and his past success. And he performs the way he does in the clutch today because he has such confidence. If he wants to hook it around the damn tree, he’ll do it. The rest of us don’t have that confidence, or that past success, so when we hook the stupid ball, it hits the tree.Tiger’s pride is such that he won’t allow himself to be caught off guard. He always has to stay two or three steps ahead of his competitors. That’s why he won’t take a day off. I was that way too. There were days when I didn’t want to work out, practice, whatever, but I did it because I didn’t want that next guy catching me.That’s why, if the game is tied in the last two minutes or down the stretch, I feel I have an advantage over everyone. Tiger feels the same way. But if you fail in the closing minutes, if you’re unable to make the big play, it can work against you in the future. The funny thing is, I don’t remember ever failing.

The shot I made to win the NBA Championship against the Jazz in 1998—the shot people think was my last one ever—is probably my best-known clutch moment. But the biggest shot I ever made, the one I always go back to, the one that started it all, was in the NCAA Finals in 1982. The game-winner against Georgetown. And the truth is, I didn’t realize the magnitude of taking it, because I’d never had the experience before.

You see, I’d never taken the big shot. High school? Shoot, my team never got out of the sectionals. I can’t remember any really big shots or big plays early in my career. None. The only thing that was close was in the 1981 McDonald’s All-American Game at Wichita State, when I think I made a late steal or a free throw to win. But I don’t put that on the same page with real clutch.In that Georgetown game, I had no time to think. The play was designed for James Worthy, not me. We’d called time-out and Coach Smith said, “We’re going to try to get the ball into James. But James, if you can’t get it up, swing it around. Michael should have a wide-open shot.” I knew I was the second option, so it wasn’t as if the weight was on me. By the time the ball got to me, I just had to react. Maybe that helped.If we’d had a different play set up, or if I’d thought about it in the time-out? I don’t know, maybe things would have turned out different. I imagine I would have tried to stay calm and say to myself, “Hey Mike, it’s not the end of life,” and hope for the best. I know that at really clutch times, some people try to con themselves into thinking none of it matters. But I also know that’s just a rationalization, because it does matter.My whole NBA career I always thought back on 1982. I’m not saying you can’t be confident in the clutch if you’ve never made the big play before—obviously, I was already confident before that shot. But that one moment initiated so much. Every shot after that, I felt I could make. I responded so well in those situations because I had such positive thoughts. I thrived on last-second shots. It became a trait for me.Against Cleveland in the playoffs in 1989, we could have finished the first round in Game 4, but I missed a free throw with nine seconds left. Now everybody expected us to lose Game 5 and the series. But all I wanted was another opportunity, and when we had the chance to finish them off, I did, hitting that shot over Craig Ehlo.

Why did I miss that free throw in the first place? I think I didn’t focus. I may have let negative thoughts creep in. It’s not the only time I didn’t come through. In Game 1 against the Lakers in the 1991 Finals, our first title year, we fought back to go up by two. Then Sam Perkins hit a three-pointer to put them up by one. I took what I knew was the game-winning shot—I was sure I made it, but it went in and out. It’s in the IMAX movie. The shot goes all the way down and then comes out. We lost Game 1 but swept the next four. Why did the shot come out? It wasn’t meant to be.What happens to clutch guys in the big moments is that everything slows down. You have time to evaluate the situation, and you can clearly see every move you need to make. You’re in the moment, in complete control. It’s hard to get there, something has to have you thinking that you can do no wrong. But once you do get there, you can just come out at the start of a game and generate the feeling.Being the best means winning. In college, I never averaged more than 20 points a game. If I got hot, the other team would go to a zone and take away my individual performance. But we’d find a way to win, so who cares?So many young kids in the NBA don’t think that way. Now, as the Wizards president, when I look at some of the young guys out there, I’m not sure I’d draft them, because they haven’t developed that winning attitude. A kid like Kobe? In hindsight, yeah, I’d take him. But when he first came out, I can’t say that I would have.If we have the first pick this year, I may trade it instead of running the risk with some kid who still needs so much more education, so much more experience. There are no shortcuts. You can’t just “think” you can be clutch.My comeback…well, it may not even be a comeback. But here’s the thing: You’re a great player, you’re going to play the game you love—somewhere, somehow. I know the media isn’t going to leave me alone until I decide about my comeback. But for now, right now, I wish that kid Tiger would keep everybody off my back.Just watch him win.

Risk on into EM etfs and high yields, less into money market and treasuries

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-funds-baml-flows-idUSKCN10N0ZC

Equity funds attracted $6.5 billion of inflows this week, the first inflows into global stocks in a month, as investors returned to U.S. markets and continued to pile into emerging assets, Bank of America Merrill Lynch (BAML) said on Friday.

Emerging debt funds extended their bull run, pulling in $1.6 billion in the week to Wednesday, as investors frustrated with the zero or negative interest rates on offer in developed government bond markets hunted for returns.

The swing into global equities was driven by investors moving into exchange-traded funds (ETFs), where inflows of $10 billion more than offset the $3.5 billion that fled mutual funds.

Emerging bond funds have now taken $18 billion over six weeks - the largest on record, and equivalent to 6 percent of assets under management - in what BAML described as an "EM melt up".

Even markets such as Malaysia, tainted by the 1MDB scandal, are pulling in cash as interest rates fall in Britain, Japan, New Zealand and Australia.

High yield bond funds attracted $1.7 billion and investment grade bond funds pulled in $5.3 billion. Government and Treasury bond funds suffered $800 million in outflows, racking up five straight weeks of redemptions.

Investors also dumped money market funds, withdrawing $3.6 billion, the largest outflows in seven weeks.

Commodity exports as percentage of GDP - top countries

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Facebook ARPU

Source: Re/code

Fail More, Fail Faster, Fail Better & Uniqlo Boss Tadashi Yanai

Don't be afraid to fail. Fail More, Fail Faster, Fail Better.

http://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/asiapacific/i-understand-failure/3034912.html

When asked why he was not satisfied with being second or third, Mr Yanai retorted: “There's no option for us to say that at the Olympics, we're just aiming for the bronze medal. We don’t say that.

“We want to do our very best to get the gold medal,” he added. 

 Citing the UK as an example, Mr Yanai said that the 10 Uniqlo stores in London now have been doing “exceptionally well” and are “all making profits”. He points to Asia’s economic boom as the greatest stimulator for the company’s growth, adding: “What the Chinese (did) could also happen in Southeast Asia.”  

 “Right now, I don't need a successor who is like me,”
Mr Yanai said. “A job like this can't be done alone. Therefore, ideally, I would want to form a team to split all this work up with a good CEO, and this person will continue to direct operations,” he added.
And he is anxious to get them started working as a team. “I want to know if my team of successors can do a good job as soon as possible. I hope they could assume the role of protecting the company's interests.”

The Yuan Anniversary that Really Matters Is 2005, Not 2015 and Yuan joining the basket on Oct 1

keeping an eye.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-08-12/the-yuan-anniversary-that-really-matters-it-s-2005-not-2015

Back in July of 2005, China’s central bank broke a decade-long peg to the dollar. It’s an anniversary that attracted far less attention, but the move 11 years ago helped set the stage for China’s emergence as an economic superpower.
Authorities pegged the currency back in the mid 1990s to stoke exports and economic growth, shortly after abandoning a dual exchange-rate system for imports and exports. Governments in the U.S. and Europe criticized China for running up a huge trade balance by keeping its currency artificially undervalued in their view. 

"In 2005, we were in a global supercycle, helped by an unsustainable credit boom in the west and China’s industrialisation and urbanization," Mann said. "In the last few years we have been seeing policy makers coming to terms with sluggish growth in the post credit boom west and east. China is easily the most dominant driver of global growth, accounting for a third of world growth even as it slows and transitions towards services and consumption."  

The yuan is set to join the International Monetary Fund’s elite basket of reserve currencies on Oct. 1. That entry could attract as much as $1 trillion of buying by global reserves managers. China also has opened a network of yuan clearing-banks around the world. 

But for all the hype, the yuan remains some distance from being viewed as a global reserve asset in the way that the dollar or euro is. While authorities preach liberalization, at the same time they have enforced strict rules on moving money out of the country after a record exodus in 2015. And some analysts still fear a steepdevaluation. 

For now, the lesson from 2005 is that shock currency events are ultimately just growing pains for a rapidly changing economy. With the passing of time, 2015 can be viewed in the same way, Bloomberg Intelligence economists Fielding Chen and Tom Orlik wrote in a note. 

"A year on, the PBOC’s surprise move is looking less like a disastrous misstep, and more like a necessary evil on the path to a more flexible exchange rate regime," they wrote.
"Significant progress has been made."

Chinese stock surges due to property companies takeover play

Keeping an eye.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-08-12/china-stocks-set-for-biggest-gain-in-a-month-as-developers-rally-irrepp6g

Chinese stocks rallied the most in a month as stake purchases by China Evergrande Group fueled optimism that the pace of merger activity in the property industry will accelerate. The Shanghai Composite Index closed 1.6 percent higher, with almost all the gains coming after the midday break. The benchmark gauge of real estate companies surged 4.7 percent, the most since March 2, as Langfang Development Co. and China Vanke Co., both targets of billionaire Hui Ka Yan’s Evergrande, jumped by the daily 10 percent limit.

The Shanghai Composite ended the day at 3,050.67. The Shenzhen Composite Index rose 1.2 percent, while the ChiNext gauge of small-cap companies added 1 percent. Poly Real Estate Group Co. climbed 7.7 percent in Shanghai and Gemdale Corp. surged by the 10 percent daily limit. Greenland Holdings Group Corp. jumped 10 percent. 

China Film Co., the nation’s largest distributor of movies, jumped by the 10 percent limit in Shanghai. The stock has surged 91 percent following its debut this week, pushing its market value to $4.8 billion and making it bigger than the likes of DreamWorks Animation SKG and Lions Gate Entertainment Corp. 

China’s broadest measure of new credit increased less than expected. Aggregate financing was 487.9 billion yuan ($73.4 billion) in July, compared with the median estimate of 1 trillion yuan in a Bloomberg survey of economists. New yuan loans were at 463.6 billion yuan, versus a projected 850 billion yuan, People’s Bank of China data showed Friday after close of markets. 

China banks being bailed out

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-08-11/ubs-china-s-already-started-bailing-out-its-banks

US treasuries yields turn negative for Japanese buyers on carry trade

can more rate cuts save this fixed income play?

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-08-07/bond-market-s-big-illusion-revealed-as-u-s-yields-turn-negative

Last month, yields on U.S. 10-year notes turned negative for Japanese buyers who pay to eliminate currency fluctuations from their returns, something that hasn’t happened since the financial crisis. It’s even worse for euro-based investors, who are locking in sub-zero returns on Treasuries for the first time in history. 

Ten-year yields in the U.S. are currently 0.23 percentage point below a basket of bonds from Australia, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Spain and Switzerland on a hedged basis, versus 1.4 percentage points above on an unhedged basis, according to data compiled by BlackRock. At the start of the year, hedged Treasuries yielded over a half-percentage point more.

In Japan, where 10-year government bonds yield less than zero, the advantage for Treasuries has dwindled from a percentage point at the start of the year to less than 0.1 percentage point now. Without much added value for overseas investors, it’s harder to see foreign demand driving Treasuries to new records, especially as the Federal Reserve moves toward gradually raising rates.

But now, because the rate has turned negative, they’re effectively paying interest to lend the yen, which eats into their bond returns. That’s on top of the Libor rate they’ll need to pay for borrowing the dollars, which currently stands at 0.79 percent over three months. The basis, as it’s known, is currently minus 0.62 percentage point for yen-based investors, which is close to the most expensive in five years. For those with euros, the basis is minus 0.42 percentage point. That’s more than twice as costly as the average over the past three years.

China's jittery retail investors need a rally - a big one

China's jittery retail investors need a rally - a big one.

love that last quote.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-08-07/china-s-small-time-stock-investors-aren-t-buying-this-rebound

When Frank Chen sees China’s stocks rise, he thinks of how he can reduce his investments.
"I’ve already given up on this market,” said Chen, a 38-year-old accountant in Shanghai who’s liquidated more than half his 100,000 yuan ($15,050) of shareholdings in the past six months as shares rebounded. “If my stocks rise to levels that erase all my paper losses, I won’t be hesitate to choose to cash out immediately.”
Overseas traders have also turned more bullish on the nation’s shares traded in Hong Kong. The Hang Seng China Enterprises Index has rallied 22 percent from a February low to reduce its loss this year to 5.5 percent, while the premium of mainland shares over their Hong Kong peers has narrowed to near the least in 10 months. The Shanghai Composite is still down 16 percent, one of the world’s worst declines.
“The economic environment isn’t good and sound. I haven’t seen any chance that stocks will have a major comeback in the near future," he said.

Sand not oil is the new gold

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-08-03/one-nook-of-america-s-shale-industry-is-eyeing-a-big-comeback

Amid the gloom and doom that’s set in all along America’s shale fields these past two years, there has been one small, but consistent, bright spot. Sand, it turns out, is a much greater tool in hydraulic fracking than drillers had understood it to be. Time and again, they’ve found that the more grit they pour into horizontal wells -- seemingly regardless of how extreme the amounts have become -- the more oil comes seeping out.
The message from drillers is “more, more, more sand,” said Sean Meakim, an oil-services analyst at JPMorgan Chase & Co. “All of the numbers are going up and they’re going up dramatically.”

U.S. Silica’s shares have more than doubled this year, while Fairmount Santrol Holdings Inc. tripled. Hi-Crush Partners LP rose 116 percent and Emerge Energy Services LP climbed 103 percent. In comparison, oil exploration and production companies in the S&P 500 rose 14 percent, while those in a broad oil-services index are little changed.
“People are uber uber bullish on sand,” said Matthew Johnston, an oil-services analyst at Nomura Securities. “I get it. I understand where all the euphoria is coming from.”

CPFIS investment schemes

https://www.cpf.gov.sg/Members/Schemes/schemes/optimising-my-cpf/cpf-investment-schemes

copied and pasted.

Understand

What is CPF Investment Scheme?

The CPF Investment Scheme (CPFIS) gives you an option to invest your Ordinary Account (OA) and Special Account (SA) savings in a wide range of investments to enhance your retirement nest egg.

If you are not confident of investing on your own, you should leave your money in your CPF account which earns risk-free interest.

Who can invest under CPFIS?

You can invest under CPFIS, if you:

• are at least 18 years old;
• are not an undischarged bankrupt;
• have more than $20,000 in your OA; and/or
• have more than $40,000 in your SA.

How much CPF savings can I invest?

You can invest your CPF savings under the CPF Investment Scheme – OA (CPFIS-OA) after setting aside $20,000 in your OA. Likewise for CPF Investment Scheme – SA (CPFIS-SA), you will need to set aside $40,000 in your SA.

In addition, you can only invest your OA savings up to 35% and 10% of your investible savings* in stock and gold respectively, also known as the stock and gold limits. You may refer to the example on the computation of the stock and gold limits.

To find out the amount of OA and SA savings you can use for investment, you can:

1. Login to CPF website using your SingPass to access my cpf Online Services – My Statement; or
2. Access CPF Tools on your iPhone using your SingPass; or
3. Visit any CPF Service Centres with your identity card.

*Investible savings refers to the sum of your OA balance and the amount of CPF you have withdrawn for investment and education.

What investment products can I invest in?

You can use your CPF savings to invest in the following investment products:

Investment products included under CPFIS	You can invest using your CPF savings from		Product Information	Product Providers
	OA	SA
Fixed Deposits	✔	✔	You can approach the fixed deposit banks for more information. Admission Criteria	Fixed Deposit Banks
Singapore Government Bonds	✔	✔	List of Singapore Government Bonds (SGB) List of 1-year T-bills (All Singapore Government Bonds and Treasury Bills are included under CPFIS.) Admission Criteria	Bond Dealers Brokers
Treasury Bills (T-bills)	✔	✔		Bond Dealers
Statutory Board Bonds	✔	✔	List of Statutory Board bonds an​d bonds guaranteed by Singapore Government (Bonds included under CPFIS are indicated by a ‘Y’ under “CPFIS” column) Admission Criteria	Bond Dealers Brokers
Bonds Guaranteed by Singapore Government	✔	✔		Brokers
Unit Trusts (UTs)	✔	✔ Funds that are of higher risk are not included under CPFIS-SA	List A UTs List of all UTs Performance Reports from 2nd quarter 1999 Admission Criteria	Fund Management Companies Investment Administrators
Investment-linked insurance products (ILPs)	✔	✔ Insurance products that are of higher risk are not included under CPFIS-SA	List A ILPs List of all ILPs Performance Reports from 2nd quarter 1999 Admission Criteria	Insurance Companies
Annuities	✔	✔
Endowment policies	✔	✔
Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs)	✔	✔	List of ETFs	Brokers
Up to 35% of investible savings can be invested in:
Shares	✔	✘	List of shares, property funds & corporate bonds (Shares, property funds and corporate bonds included under CPFIS are indicated by a ‘Y’ under “CPFIS” column) Admission Criteria: Shares Property funds Corporate Bonds	Brokers
Property funds	✔	✘
Corporate Bonds	✔	✘
Up to 10% of investible savings can be invested in Gold:
Gold ETFs	✔	✘	List of gold ETFs Admission Criteria For other gold products, you can approach UOB bank for more information as they are the only bank that offers new gold investments.	Brokers
Other Gold products (such as Gold certificates, Gold savings accounts, Physical Gold)	✔	✘		Agent Banks (However, if you wish to buy new gold investment, you may approach UOB as only UOB offers this currently)

For fund management companies which offer fund management account services, you may refer to this list of fund management companies (marked with footnote 2 within the document).​

Evaluate

What should I consider before investing?

All investments are subject to risk. Risk refers to the possibility of losing part/all of your investments due to financial market changes.

By understanding the risks associated with the various investment options, you can better decide on investments that best match your risk tolerance and personal circumstances. Here are some factors you should consider:

a.	Risk Tolerance — Consider the amount of risk you are comfortable with and can afford to take. Are you able to handle temporary short-term losses in your investments? Do you have enough savings to absorb the investment risks? ​You can take the Risk Tolerance Questionnaire​ to better assess your risk tolerance.
b.	Investment Time Horizon — Consider the duration of your investments. Do remember that your CPF savings are meant for your retirement. Hence, they are generally for long term purposes unless you are nearing retirement or have a short-term investment time horizon for other reasons.
c.	Overall Financial Situation — Consider your financial commitments and the amount of money required to sustain your lifestyle during retirement. Do you have other assets set aside for retirement besides your CPF savings? How are these assets invested?

In addition, do consider the interest rates you earn on your CPF accounts. When investing your CPF savings, you should do so only if you are confident of earning more than the CPF interest.

Apply

How can I apply to use my CPF savings under CPFIS?

CPFIS-OA

Open a CPF Investment Account with one of the following CPFIS agent banks with your CPF statement if you wish to invest your OA savings:

- DBS Bank Ltd (DBS)
- Overseas-Chinese Banking Corporation Ltd (OCBC)
- United Overseas Bank Ltd (UOB)

CPFIS-SA

There is no need to open any CPF Investment Account if you wish to invest your SA savings.

Thereafter, you can approach the product providers directly to buy or sell your investments.

After reaching 55 years old, how can I apply to withdraw my CPFIS investments?

You can apply to the Board to withdraw your CPFIS-OA and CPFIS-SA investments as well as the cash balance in your Investment Account so long as you have set aside the Full Retirement Sum or the Basic Retirement Sum with sufficient property charge/pledge in the Retirement Account.

Online using my cpf

1. Login with your SingPass.
2. Submit an online application via My Requests.

Within one working day from the day of receipt, your application will be processed and your agent bank and/or product providers will be notified.

Mail

1. Download and fill up Application form for Withdrawal of Investment under CPF Investment Scheme.
2. Mail it to:
   Central Provident Fund Board
   Investment Schemes Department
   238B Thomson Road
   #08-00 Tower B Novena Square 
   Singapore 307685

Within three working days from the day of receipt, your application will be processed and your agent bank and/or product providers will be notified.

Your agent bank and/or product providers will contact you to get more information in order to transfer your investments to you.

Special Discounted Shares (SDS) Scheme

What is Special Discounted Shares (SDS) Scheme?

The Special Discounted Shares (SDS) Scheme is part of the Government’s asset enhancement programme to make Singapore a share-owning society, thus giving Singaporeans a greater stake in the country.

Singaporean CPF members were able to buy Discounted Singapore Telecom (SingTel) shares in 1993 (ST "A" shares) and 1996 (ST2 shares). Members who held on to their discounted SingTel shares were entitled to loyalty shares.

How to sell or apply for withdrawal of your discounted SingTel (ST) shares?

​You can read more details on the sale and withdrawal of your discounted SingTel (ST) shares.