is it a breakout?

When the index finally woke up from its sideward slumber, did it indicate that it was ready to trend upwards?

I'll leave that answer to the technical experts. See tsupitero.com.

What tickles me now is that the good numbers of our index are inebriating the investing community. Will it trend up? I don't know, but they're saying there's good chance.

when will it end?

The index may as well be a straight line. The trend has been sideways for so long, it's getting boring.

I guess we can just be glad we're not seeing the market values plunge like it is for most of the developed world.

"This will not be a good year but it will be more stable than 2008 and there will be occasional substantial bear rallies. Inflation is declining and another interest rate cut by the central bank is expected. " -Ron Nathan inquirer's "bearbull"

U.S. indeces take a tiny drop while Japan takes a beating

While U.S. market indeces took a few steps down, Japan's market dropped a whopping 4.8%.

The PSEi inched down and settled a mere 1.79 points from yesterday's close after ever so briefly punching past the psychological 2000 level at around eleven this morning. 

The dow was down 1.46%, the nasdaq by 2.09%, the s&p by 2.26%.

fuel for thought

A blogger named Steve Austin (of oilprice.net) wrote:

"It took only 5 months for the price of oil to plummet from $150 to under $40 in the second part of the year. Meanwhile oil consumption did not even decrease 10%."

If he has his facts straight, then the oil price will be back with a mighty vengeance. The low price is necessarily negatively affecting production capacity. Supply will keep going down at these low price levels.

He also said that oil is now being sold below the cost of production. That adds another dimension to the bad news for oil consumers. This means that many of the relatively small players will close down and the ones that survive will have less competition. Less competition puts less downward pressure on the price.

Let's enjoy this happy breather while we can. :) Hopefully by the time oil starts to surge we'll have more energy options at our disposal.

PSEi
As energy prices affect the outlook for stock prices, we should be mindful that the current strength seen in the PSEi is still very vulnerable. The low oil price is one of the factors that has allowed the market to climb back ever so close to the 2000 level. Let's not forget how devastating the oil price can be.

Oil was traded recently at $42.30 (January, Friday 9 2009 - 03:20:17).

Fitch keeps RP's outlook at 'stable'

Another reason to bet on the Philippine Economy

The Philippines along with China and Indonesia were singled out by Fitch managing director James McCormak as the only countries that were not on Fitch Ratings' negative watch. 

watch of for these long weekends in 2009

The stock market loves its long weekends. Here are some to watch of for in 2009.


Araw ng Kagitingan  April         4-6       3 days
Holy Week                 April        9-12      4 days
Labor Day                   May         1-3        3 days
Independence Day     June       12-14      3 days
National Heroes         August    21-24       4 days
All Saints/Souls        October   31-Nov 2 3 days
Bonifacio Day            November 28-30   3 days