A great video I just watched from Davos is embeded below. It has some of the worlds most powerful leaders discussing the advice they would provide to the US President on Competitiveness. The leaders in this conference include:

• Ellen J. Kullman, Chief Executive Officer, DuPont, USA
• Rupert Murdoch, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, News Corporation, USA; Co-Chair of the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2009
• Duncan Niederauer, Chief Executive Officer, NYSE Euronext, USA
• David M. Rubenstein, Co-Founder and Managing Director, Carlyle Group, USA
• Ronald A. Williams, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Aetna, USA
• Moderated by Michael E. Porter, Bishop William Lawrence University Professor, Harvard Business School, USA

Some great points come out of their discussion regarding the state of the United States economy including – in brief summary – the following points:

• The panelists comment on the need to create new innovation in energy. Interestingly, they point out the correlation between high fuel costs and the spur for new innovation during the periods of increasing world oil prices but then as oil prices fall – this “urgency” for new innovation in energy subsides as oil falls. This time around, everyone on the panel indicated that lower fuel prices must not mean that innovation stops – all agreed that this time around it must continue.
• Increase the level of education at a junior level – a smarter population means that innovative solutions can be presented to problems that seem unsolvable. 
• Increase the level of consumer confidence by ensuring that the level of communication between the Presidential Office and the people in America and around the rest of the world is consistently transparent.
• Don’t rush solutions in the first 100 days but rather use the 1440 days remaining in office to fix so many of the issues – time is of the essence but it’s important to note that time is available.
• Tax gasoline usage in order to reduce the amount of corporate taxation in the United States so businesses remain in the US and don’t move offshore.

There are a lot of other point worth watching in the video so check it out below and get the rest of your people in the office and/or work place to listen.

I have a bit more time to add some more posts to Small Stocks over the next month or so – so I am looking for posts from you guys regarding the type of content that you want. Please let me know whether you want me to post more content relating specifically to educational articles or whether market commentary is more suitable.

Personally, it seems that so many sites comment on the market generally so I thought I would go down the road of providing educational resources and general trading tips – but please let me know if you want a specific article typed up and I’ll get onto it!

Send me your idea’s via a comment in this post or through the contact page.

Commsec is one of Australia’s largest brokers and offers a fully fledged service. Many of the features are integrated into their typical banking operations and therefore it is better to have your day-to-day banking with Commsec in order to utilize all the benefits. Again, you pay for the extra features they give you in trading costs.

 

 

The All Ors (AORD) is closing lower today after a strong start. It seems that market was shaken Financials and Health Care sectors which were down 43.1 and 368.3 respectively. The market was quite volatile on medium trading as many broker houses around Australia started pumping out more trades with the Xmas and New Year break over. At the time of writing, the Nikkei 225 Average was up around 2.4% to 9,070.42 as trading resumed for the first time in 2009, while the broader Topix Index gained 2.2% to 877.95. The Australian Dollar also was up as the Yen fell and so exporters in Japan were laughing all the way to bank, which was good news for the Car Industry and the Technology index. 

The ASX saw increases primarily in the Energy, Materials and Metals and Mining sectors which were all up marginally. Rio Tinto (RIO) rose $3.00 while a big loser for the day was Newcrest (NCM) which was pounded by investors and lost around $2.30. 

Further update after market close.

The All Ords (AORD) opened stronger in the morning session approximately up around  37.5 points at the time of writing. The (AUDUSD) is trading around 0.71 at the moment which is quite good compared to previous months where the dollar has been as low as 0.60 USD. 

In the news:

Israel-Gaza Ground War Heats up – Unfortunately, there is no letting up by Israel and so ground attacks continue on the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip as its sees fierce fighting between the two sides as they battle for control of Gaza. More than 500 Palestinians and give Israelis have been killed in the fighting as of Sunday and more are expected to die in the coming week. This may shake financial markets around the world if the war escalates.

Dow Jones Up for the New Year – After what was the worse performance on the market in decades, US Stocks were up around 258.30 points on Friday and finished around 6% higher for the week – breaking through the 9,000 barrier for the first time in since November. There was very light trading volume on the basis that most traders were still on holidays – so the real question is whether the New Year Cheer will remain on the return of the bulk of the investment bankers in the States this week or whether the plethora of new corporate and economic data that will flow across January will provide traders with more fear of the true extent of the U.S. recession and the credit crunch.

Another Aussie Killed in Afghanistan – Another Australian has been attached in the Afghanistan making this Aussie the 9th to have died since Australia committed troops to the war. It is believed that a rocket attack by Afghanistan Militants was the primary cause of the attack. Read more on the story here.