Foxconn’s Indonesia Plans May Hit Infrastructure Pothole

JAKARTA –While electronics giant Foxconn Technology Group is thinking of coming to Indonesia for the country’s inexpensive workforce, analysts say it will also have to consider the country’s outdated infrastructure before it starts making iPads and other gadgets here.


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Altera 2nd Quarter Results

Altera (ALTR +12.19% to $34.41) reported 2Q sales of $464.8M, up 21% QoQ and down 15% YoY. Net income was $162.7M or $0.50 per diluted share compared with net income of $115.8M or $0.35 per diluted share in the 1Q and $214.6M or $0.65 per diluted share in the 2Q of 2011.

IHH Stages Strong Trading Debut

KUALA LUMPUR—After raising $2 billion in the world's third-largest initial public offering this year, IHH Healthcare Bhd., Asia's largest hospital operator by market value, staged a solid trading debut in Malaysia and Singapore on Wednesday.

The hospital operator's shares opened at 3.07 ringgit (97 U.S. cents) on the Malaysian stock exchange, 9.6% above their the IPO price of 2.80 ringgit, as investors scrambled to buy into what is viewed as a recession-resistant business, and ahead of the stock's inclusion in the country's benchmark index expected as soon as Aug. 1.

With 390 million shares changing hands, they closed up 10% at 3.09 ringgit, valuing the company at US$7.8 billion, the world's second-largest health-care provider by market capitalization after HCA Holdings Inc. HCA +1.50% of the U.S. at US$11.7 billion. Malaysia's benchmark 30-share FTSE Bursa KLCI index ended up 0.2% at 1635.09.

The offering adds to Malaysia's reputation as a hot spot in a tepid global IPO market after another local firm, Felda Global Ventures Holdings Bhd., 5222.KU -0.94% raised $3.3 billion last month in 2012's second-biggest share offering. Facebook Inc.'sFB +1.93% $16 billion deal tops this year's list.

The gains by IHH, which runs hospitals in Singapore, India and Turkey, were partly due to its backing by the Malaysian government and strong demand from 22 cornerstone investors, which are guaranteed large allotments in an IPO in exchange for agreeing to hold the shares for a certain period. Such investors also boosted Felda's IPO, as their presence helps calm jittery investors in a weak global market.

The cornerstone investors in the IHH offering, including the sovereign-wealth funds of Kuwait and Singapore and the investment arm of the World Bank, collectively took up close to two-thirds of the total shares that were offered.

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McDonald : 2Q results

McDonald's (MCD -2.88% to $88.94) posted for its 2Q a diluted EPS of $1.32 down 2% YoY ($1.38 expected) with global comparable sales up 3.7% YoY to $6.9B. The Co pointed out: "McDonald's global comparable sales remained solid for the quarter while overall results reflected the slowing global economy, persistent economic headwinds and the investments we've made to enhance restaurant operations and provide customers the everyday value they have come to expect from McDonald's. (...) As we begin the third quarter, global comparable sales for July are expected to be positive, but less than second quarter".

Jim Rogers: Water is China's Biggest Problem

Olly Ludwig: So, you don't see grounds for arguing that the China juggernaut has played out? People talk about the water-shortage issue, for example, as an inherent impediment that could become profoundly problematic and slow the whole Chinese success story down.

Jim Rogers: I guess I didn't make myself clear: China will certainly have problems as we go forward.

Olly Ludwig: But is there anything going on beyond the scope of what happened in the United States, such that the game is over? It sounds like your answer is no.

Jim Rogers: The answer is "no." That's right. But they will have many of the same problems that countries rising have.

The only thing that worries me within the China story is the water problem. If they don't solve their water problem, then there is no China story. I've been around the world and I've seen whole countries and societies disappear because the water disappeared. So if China can't solve its water problem, then there is no China story. Now, they know this too, and they're spending hundreds of billions of Dollars trying to solve their water problem. Will they be successful? I don't know.

- in Goldnews interview 10 July 2012

Marc Faber @ July 2012: The Chinese Economy Growing by maximum 3% not The Official 7.8%

Marc Faber : When the Chinese economy was strong 2000-2008, it drove up commodity prices and that boosted growth rates in emerging economies such as Brazil, Argentina, and the oil-producing countries in the Middle East, and central Asia, Russia and of course also Africa and Australasia. When the Chinese economy slumps, then obviously the demand for commodities goes down and these countries have less money and so they buy less and so it has a very strong multiplier effect on the global economy. Whether the US contracts or grows at 2% has no impact on commodity demand or the service industry. If China grows at 12% or only at 3%, that will have a huge impact on commodity prices. I think that the slowdown in the Chinese economy – and believe me, the Chinese economy did not grow in the second quarter by 7.8% - in my view, maximum 3% - and we have very precise statistics. The two countries where the exports were predominantly China-geared – Taiwan and South Korea and where the statistics are more reliable than what the Chinese announced in GDP growth, these countries have negative export growth on a year-on-year bases in the last month in June. If these countries have declining exports, it tells you something about the Chinese economy. We have other reliable statistics like gaming revenues in Macau and so forth. The overall revenues are still up but the junkit turnover is down. These are middle men who bring the gamblers to Macau. Their growth rate has slowed down, luxury consumption has slowed down and electricity consumption is basically flat. Steel and cement production is up maximum 2-4% year-on year and so we have some reliable statistics. Macdonalds just reported that their sales in Asia year-on-year is down more than 1%. Believe me if in a growth region, where markets are not yet saturated and where shops like MacDonalds are like prestige things for families to go and where their sales are down believe me – something is not quite right. I can see it with my own eyes. I don’t think that in Asia at the present time there is any economic growth. - in Citywire