After all the chicken Little people crying out recession (the damn media sensationalizing bad news), official GDP figures released on Monday (30 April) shows that the US grew 0.6% in the first quarter, official confirming that there is no recession (to be in a recession, GDP must be negative for two consecutive quarters/6 months)…at least for now. That shows you cannot believe anything you read in the newspapers nowadays.

In fact, there was a series of surprising economic reports that shows a recession is not likely developing:

1) Consumer spending increased by 1%

2) Unemployment rate for April improved to 5%, down from the 5.1% figure in March

3) Nonfarm payrolls for April decreased by 20,000, much less than the 81,000 reported in March, and less than the 75,000 decline that economist predicted

4) Factory orders for March climbed 1.4%

5) US Dollar is showing more strength while commodity prices are beginning to come down (as a result of the FED signaling an end to interest rate cuts). This should reduce inflation and improve consumer’s disposable income further.

Not Bad…But Not Good Either

Note that the data coming out is NOT good, it’s just not as bad as what everything has been saying. The US is unlikely to go into a recession, but growth will remain sluggish and flat, at least for the next quarter. The good news is that the fiscal stimulus package and the aggressive interest rate cuts HAS NOT even taken any effect Yet. Once the FEDs actions start taking effect in the second quarter, economy is likely to start growing again by the second half of the year.

The Market Update

The S&P 500 managed to stay on an uptrend above it’s 20 & 50 day MA and breaking through and stay above the 1400 resistance, while the Dow broke through the 13,000 resistance and has stayed above. On the Singapore front, the STI progressed through the 3,000 point barrier to close at 3200 points.

My Wealth Academy Portfolio is finally in the green, with my Singapore stocks up +7.32% for the last 4 months and US stocks up just +0.43%, powered mainly by the strong gains in Apple (+41.8%), Google (+12.37%) and Visa (+38.1%)

If you want to learn how to massively profit from the markets, join me at the next Wealth Academy Live Training in Singapore 15-18 May! Call 62740105 and speak to Wandy/ Terence before all the seats are sold out

I just received this question from a reader of mine, Alan:

Hi Alan,

Well, like I keep on saying NOBODY can predict the market! If you attempt to do so, you are gambling. What is important is to know the true value of the companies you want to buy AND whether the share price is at a big enough discount to give you a margin of safety. When you are in it for the short term, the market is unpredictable and volatile. 50% of the time you will make profits, and 50% of the time you will lose money. The important thing is to make more money from the 50% stocks that go up and cut loss on the 50% stocks that go down.

When you take a 2-3 year perspective, Read more »

Dear Investors

I have got really exciting news! For the last 24 months, My company CEO (Patrick) and I have literally traveled the world to find the top options traders and fund managers that we wanted to recruit to join the Wealth Academy Group of Programs in Singapore.

Right, now I am proud to say that Ron Ianieri, Chief Options Strategists of Options University is down in Singapore to conduct the Wealth Academy Options Seminar (3 Days). This seminar will only happen ONCE A YEAR. Why did I bring this guy down? Well, you know I have extremely high standards and will only work with the best in the business. After going through all his material and doing my research, I have found that he is indeed in a league of his own! All the current Options trainers are NOTHING compared to this guy.

Ron has been a hedge fund manager and a TRAINER of TOP WALL STREET FLOOR TRADERS for the last 20 years.He has made over US$10 million in profits for himself and his clients through trading options in the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE). (side info: having lunch with him yesterday, I also found out that he was a former Navy SEAL).

He will be conducting a FREE INTRODUCTORY workshop on 29th Aug (Wed) and 30 Aug (Thu) at 7pm. Venue is Adam Khoo Training Centre (10 Hoe Chiang Rd #01-01). You can register for this at workshop at www.optionsadvantageasia.com or call 62740105 and speak to Terence/ Fiona/Wandy.

If you are interested to trade options successfully and are committed to becoming a top investor or trader, you MUST grab this rare opportunity to learn from the very best!

For the last 3 weeks, fears of a global liquidity crisis have sent the US markets into a downtrend. The S&P 500 Index has fallen 148 points from a high of 1554 points to 1406 points currently, a drop of 10%. There is a great possibility that the market will probably correct at least another 4-5% downwards for the rest of the third quarter.

US MARKET - S&P 500

This has created a knee jerk reaction to the Singapore market, represented by the Straits Times Index which has fallen 15% from a high of 3690 points to a current 3138 points, with probably a lot more downside to go. So when all the newspapers focus on people’s fears, losses and talk of doom and gloom, people are often surprised when they see me (and many of my Wealth Academy students) SMILING.

Singapore Market - Straits Times Index

So, why do I love downturns? Read more »

This post is dedicated to my friend and co-trainer Conrad Alvin Lim who made a profit of US$15,563.50 from 18th to 30th July (that;s just 8 trading days) trading in the US markets. The amazing thing is that this was during one of the biggest stock market declines in the last 6 years!

That’s the power of using options, you can make money whether the market goes up or goes down. Conrad is truly one of the best traders alive in SIngapore today, not because of these records he sets but because he is very CONSISTENT.

Here’s PROOF of his earnings:

Conrad’s Account Balance on Jul 18 - $34,105.26 USD

Conrad’s Account Balance on Jul 30 - $49,270.25 USD

Here’s how he did it…
Read more »

Its great to be back in Singapore! For those of you who did not know, I have been in Indonesia for the last 2.5 weeks doing a training tour in Medan and Jakarta. It was a great experiencing been able to empower and inspire over 450 Indonesian students to achieve success in school and for their life. I will be posting the pictures real soon for all to see.

A couple of weeks ago, my wife told me that she was planning to look around for some property to invest in since the property market has been booming and we had already made close to $1m in cash for a semi-D we bought two years ago.

Just as I was coming back from Indonesia, she sent me an sms saying ‘darling…I just bought a condo for $1400 psf, totally $1.3m’. I almost fell off my chair when I got the news! Read more »

During the last Wealth Academy, a couple of people asked whether property was a good investment, especially in Singapore. Well, I am no property expert, but I did make quite a handsome profit on a property (semi-D) I bought 2 years ago. Bought it for $1.7m and not just got the latest valuation of $2.5m (50% increase in 2 years). So will property continue to boom in the next 5-10 years?
Read more »

A few days ago, a middle-aged gentleman attended my Patterns of Excellence Introductory Seminar and signed up. He told me that he wanted to re-think and re-plan his life’s strategy as he felt like he wasn’t going anywhere in his career. What frustrated him was that he used to be very successful in school. He was the perfect student who studied hard, got top grades and went to Raffles Institution, Raffles Junior Colleges and to NUS, where he got a first class honors degree.

He did everything by the book and coudn’t understand why he had less success and money than some of his friends who were from lousier schools and had poorer grades. ‘Where did I go wrong?’, he asked me.
Read more »

Dear Investors

Last night was an exciting night for some and a nightmare for others. After rallying for a record 8 months, AT LAST!!!!!! The market has gone into the start of what I think is a major correction. Why? The S&P and Dow breached their short-term support levels as you can see from the 3 month chart below. (captured from optionsxpress.com)

3-4 months ago, I said that the markets (i.e. Dow and S&P) were due for a correction as they were already at the top of the 4-year resistance line. Many experts (in moneycentral.com) also made that prediction. However the markets just kept going up and up like nobody’s business.
Read more »

In Nov Archives, I wrote a posting on How Conrad Alvin Lim who went through 3 major business/career failures and was declared a bankrupt in 2001, now makes US$5,000- US$7,000 a month trading in the US markets.

Well, I am really happy to report that his trading profits have been increasing dramatically since then. In fact, he made US$14,852.25 in the month of January alone! You can read all the winning trades he has posted on his BLOg site ‘http://patterntrader.proboards106.com’. Well done Conrad! By the way, Conrad just attended my Patterns of Excellence Program in Feb and has set his goals to make his first US$ million really soon. I believe at the rate his going, its sure gonna be no time at all

As many of you know, I have invited Conrad to be my co-trainer at the next Wealth Academy Training from 26-29 April 2007 . You can meet us at our next FREE INTRODUCTORY SEMINAR on 27 Feb at 7pm. Go to www.akltg.com to book your seat now.