Lowyat.NET: Latest topics by Fenix98

Lgbt creeping into shopping platforms

Fenix98 — Tue, 01 Nov 2022 17:03:19 +0800

Lgbt creeping into shopping platforms...

https://s.lazada.com.my/s.4CKH6

Twtr

Fenix98 — Mon, 31 Oct 2022 22:55:36 +0800

Twtr.... Anyone still holding this....

Goodluck if you weren't reading the news...

Didnt notice it...

Oh mai....

META a failure

Fenix98 — Fri, 28 Oct 2022 21:24:45 +0800

Meta wipeout 700 billion lost....

Meta closing mutiple offices and queitly retrench 12000 of their work force....

Meta has failed on hardware level, platform lvl, failed back end lvl and front end lvl....

META FULLSTACK FAILURE....

discussions.....

EVIL must be destroyed.

"meet kevin" got wiped out

Fenix98 — Wed, 26 Oct 2022 01:46:06 +0800

[YOUTUBE]WoEjzHov0OQ[/YOUTUBE]

Self made millionaire got wiped out by crypto...

Just discovered it viewing jewtube....

Discuss...

Rishi sunak the hedge funds piyem

Fenix98 — Tue, 25 Oct 2022 17:22:13 +0800

The Middle class around the world esp in europe and americas better be prepared for a major squeeze on finances....

Banker jaga banker

Hedgefunds jaga hedgefun/bankers/elite.

Discussions.

BOJ Blowed 50 billion in futility

Fenix98 — Tue, 25 Oct 2022 02:05:20 +0800

MONDAY, OCT 24, 2022 - 08:45 PM
Sunday night's FX market open saw another 'interventionesque' surge in the yen relative to the dollar as Friday's 6 handle surge and purge rebounded.

However, 12 hours later this latest attempt to manipulate markets has already been erased.

That was Strike 4 and 5 for the Bank of Japan's efforts to save its ailing currency.

As a reminder Strike 1 was on September 22...

Strike 2 was just last week...

That is strike 3 for yentervention.

The choices before Japanese policy makers are stark:

either relax the yield-curve control framework;

or be willing to yen the weaken.

while there clearly have been interventions, their half-lives are measured in hours if not minutes.

Indeed, as Bloomberg's Ven Ram notes:

"there is no third choice really at a time when inflationary pressures in the US are likely to compel the Fed to keep going and causing inflation-adjusted yield differentials to move in favor of the dollar against the yen. "

And as Bloomberg reports this morning, the costs of these efforts are starting to add up.

The size of the suspected market action is estimated to be as much as 5.5 trillion yen ($36.8 billion), according to a basic calculation using the BOJ’s forecast for the change in its current account and the Central Tanshi projection for the balance assuming no intervention.

Add to that the likely magnitude of last night's Strike 5 intervention and one could easily argue The Bank of Japan has puke $50 billion in these attempts... and what have they achieved - a 3 handle increase in Yen relative to the dollar....

Nobuyasu Atago, chief economist at Ichiyoshi Securities and a former BOJ official, said his impression was the government spent more than 4 trillion yen on late Friday to support the yen and about 2 trillion yen this morning again to boost the yen.

“We have a system in place to monitor the market 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, truly 24/7, any time, any place and to carry out the necessary response,” against speculative trading, Masato Kanda, the top currency finance ministry official told reporters Monday.

“High volatility creates a serious problem for the Japanese economy, companies and households.”

Since the first intervention in September, things have not gone well.

Wasn't it Einstein that said the definition of insanity is trying the same thing again and expecting a different outcome?

It appears Japanese policymakers have confirmed what many market participants have long believed about their extreme actions...

Discussions

Ass De-Dollarization Accelerates

Fenix98 — Fri, 21 Oct 2022 00:39:29 +0800

Foreign Official Entities Dumped Stocks, TSYs In August As De-Dollarization Accelerates
Tyler Durden's Photo
BY TYLER DURDEN
WEDNESDAY, OCT 19, 2022 - 04:22 AM
Total Treasury International Capital Net Monthly inflows soared to $275.6bn in August - the latest data available from the Treasury - but we note that while private flows were a huge $292.95 billion, official entities saw net outflows of 17.3 billion...

The breakdown on the official entity side (reserve banks and sovereign funds) is as follows:

US Treasury Bonds & Notes -$7.689 billion

Long-term Agency Debt +$5.74 billion

US Corporate bonds +1.206 billion

US Equities -$9.009bn

That is the biggest equity sales since April 2020...

On the Treasury side, Japan was the biggest dumper of bonds (-$34.5billion), now down to iots lowest total holdings level since Dec 2019...

And the UK and Cayman Islands (hedge funds) were the biggest buyers (+$10.1bn and +$15.4bn respectively).

For the second straight month, China increased its holdings of US Treasuries in August (but the total holdings are still hovering at their lowest since mid-2010)...

Finally, we note that the trend of de-dollarization continues to accelerate globally with Treasury holdings falling and gold holdings steady...

Not a pretty picture amid Fed QT and Washington's largesse.

https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/foreign-o...ion-accelerates

Dubai Luxe poorpety market Boom

Fenix98 — Wed, 19 Oct 2022 20:36:41 +0800

Wealth
The Big Take
Dubai’s Luxury Property Market Is Cashing in on the Global Slowdown
The emirate’s property boom is attracting a wild assortment of super-rich buyers.

By
Zainab Fattah,

Nicolas Parasie,

Ben Bartenstein, and

Saritha Rai

October 19, 2022, 12:00 AM UTCUpdated onOctober 19, 2022, 9:08 AM UTC
Share this article
Indian billionaire Mukesh Ambani bought an $80 million mansion in Dubai for his youngest son in March, setting a new record for the city’s real-estate market. Weeks later, a mystery buyer shelled out 302.5 million dirhams ($82.4 million) for an eight-bedroom, 18 bathroom villa on the city’s artificial tree-shaped island of Palm Jumeirah.

That record, too, would be shattered within months. Ambani last week splashed out $163 million for another mansion on the palm-shaped island, people familiar with matter said, illustrating the relentless rise in demand for Dubai property.

Brokers and developers talk of swift transactions in the market, more than 70% of them in cash. And of a wild assortment of buyers — from rich Russians looking for a safe haven for their money after their country’s invasion of Ukraine to startup founders and investors from neighboring Gulf countries flush with cash after the surge in oil prices.

The emirate’s p rime real-estate prices surged 70.3% over the 12 months through September, making it the biggest gainer on Knight Frank’s global index, which focuses on a city’s most desirable and expensive homes, often the top 5% by market value. That far outstrips a 2.5% rise for London on the index, 8.9% in Paris and 7.3% in New York, where deals have been hampered by higher interest rates and energy-related economic slowdowns.

Dubai Luxury Property
A residential building complex construction site along the Dubai Water Canal in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
Photographer: Christopher Pike/Bloomberg
The turnaround has been spectacular. Just over a decade ago, the city’s property market collapsed. Now, Dubai — which is part of the United Arab Emirates — is at the heart of one of the world’s biggest luxury housing booms. Some developers still owe banks billions of dollars and a key international financial watchdog placed the UAE on its gray list this year, partly over concerns about allegedly illicit foreign money entering the property sector. The government has said it has made steady progress in monitoring inflows of money and it’s taken steps over the years to prevent a repeat of earlier price swings.

Still, Dubai’s property registry isn’t public and the Land Department doesn't typically provide access to information on the identities of buyers of specific properties. Some critics say the authorities have little incentive to increase oversight or transparency too much because of the economic benefits of the funds pouring into the housing market. “Dubai is an easy place to buy real estate relatively anonymously,” said Jodi Vittori, a non-resident scholar at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, who has researched the emirate’s property sector. “With each international crisis, money seems to flow in there, sometimes encouraged openly like during Covid, but sometimes not as with the Russian conflict. Either way, it will remain a key part of their economic development plan.”

Representatives for the UAE government and the Dubai Land Department didn’t respond to requests for comment.

Up to now, such concerns have not been enough to cool the property exuberance. The UAE will attract the biggest share of private wealth globally this year with a net inflow of 4,000 millionaires, according to the immigration consultancy Henley & Partners. Dubai’s government has offered foreigners 10-year visas and introduced reforms to make the emirate more socially liberal than it used to be.

Dubai's Property Boom
Among those new arrivals are Israeli investors, crypto millionaires, and hedge fund executives. There were also bankers fleeing Covid restrictions in Asia and the fallout of Brexit in the City of London. Those moving to Dubai land in a city known for its low crime rates. Still, the UAE, like most other Gulf Arab states, is run by a monarchy that tolerates little political dissent. It’s also located in one of the planet’s hottest regions where summer temperatures can soar above 45 degrees celsius.

But property buyers have substantial tax benefits. Purchasing a luxury home in the UK could mean taxes of 15% or more, according to the research firm CBRE, while in Dubai a buyer pays a 4% transfer tax. The city does have VAT and corporate levies, but there are no income taxes.

“Our clients tend to be super wealthy. Recession and higher mortgage rates don’t change their lives,” said Murat Ayyildiz, chairman of Alpago Properties in Dubai, which is building several villas on Palm Jumeirah including the mansion with 18 bathrooms.

Previous boom times in Dubai have fueled a wave of flamboyant construction only to be followed by sudden downturns. In 2009, the crash drove prices down more than 50%. The emirate went on to stave off bankruptcy largely due to a $20 billion bailout from oil-rich neighbor Abu Dhabi. Prices started to rebound in 2011 when the Arab Spring broke out only to drop again in late 2014 as crude prices collapsed forcing governments around the Gulf into austerity drives.

The latest surge in the Persian Gulf emirate dates back more than a year, with the city attracting real-estate investments worth about $6.6 billion in August, the highest by volume and value in 12 years, according to HSBC Holdings Plc. The government has put in measures to prevent volatility, introducing requirements like larger down payments.

Also, with about 70% of transactions now done in cash, or without mortgages, any slowdown due to higher borrowing costs is likely to be limited, CBRE predicts.

Dubai Luxury Property
Murat Ayyildiz, chairman of Alpago Properties, right, alongside vice chairman Ridvan Ayyildiz, in one of their luxury developments.
Photographer: Christopher Pike/Bloomberg
The trend has been magnified by the war in Ukraine. Property broker BetterHomes says it saw purchases by Russians surging 164% in the first half of this year.

Some Russians now prefer to pay entire amounts upfront because of potential complexities in making currency transfers via the international SWIFT banking network, brokers said. “Our clients prefer to pay the cost of the property at once,” said Irina Mosheva, managing partner at Intermark Real Estate, which formerly operated in Russia under the Savills brand. “This is due to concerns about the extension of sanctions and further disconnection of banks from the SWIFT system.”

The UAE hasn’t sanctioned Russia even as the US, UK, and EU have. Some US officials have warned the UAE about the potential risks of sanctions being circumvented. However, the UAE has maintained that it respects international law but isn’t required to follow sanctions being implemented by specific jurisdictions like the US or EU.

Some of Mosheva’s clients are attracted to Dubai’s low taxes, while others are investing because it allows real-estate payments in cryptocurrency, another way to navigate international banking restrictions.

Dubai Boosts Spending With $16.3 Billion Budget for 2022
Tourists outside the Dubai Mall in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
Photographer: Christopher Pike/Bloomberg
Yet, the demand for Dubai property goes well beyond Russians. On the 2022 UBS Global Housing Bubble Index — which analyzes residential prices in 25 cities to highlight those with the greatest housing bubble risk — Dubai was ranked as fairly valued on the index in an updated evaluation this October, even as financial hubs like New York and London were marked as over valued and Toronto was in bubble territory. That highlights the city’s attraction for the wealthy around the world.

The $80 million mansion purchased by Ambani’s firm Reliance Industries Ltd. for his son was a beach-side villa on Palm Jumeirah, two people familiar with the matter said in August. Among other recent big-name investors in Dubai property is Indian-born billionaire Lakshmi Mittal, the executive chairman of steel giant ArcelorMittal SA, who bought a trio of residential plots in the city, according to people familiar with the matter. Representatives for Mittal declined to comment on the purchase.

Honey Deylami, an executive partner at the property agency Luxhabitat Sotheby’s International Realty said buyers from overseas — including Europe, the US and Canada — have been snapping up apartments and penthouses in a new glass tower. She recently sold a four-bedroom apartment in the building for 56 million dirhams ($15.3 million).

“For this kind of ticket size transaction, clients prefer not to go through the hassle of mortgage and all of them can easily afford these numbers,’’ she said. “So they don’t ask for finance or mortgages from banks.”

Dubai Luxury Property
New developments are drawing buyers from around the world
Photographer: Christopher Pike/Bloomberg
A 20-minute speedboat ride from the coast is The World, a man-made archipelago of some 300 islands created by Palm developer Nakheel to represent the shape of the world map. Little construction took off on them because of the global financial crisis and the near-bankruptcy of Nakheel in 2009 and most remain just a patch of sand.

But the recent influx of money has led to attempts to revive the stalled venture and in December, the luxury hotel chain Anantara opened a Maldives-style resort on one island. On another island, is the Heart of Europe project, which was initially centered around floating and partly underwater villas, and where now one of several hotels is set to open later this year. Nakheel went on to bounce back from the financial crisis by restructuring its debt and is attempting to construct yet another set of man-made islands called Dubai Islands, which will have beachfront apartments.

Other developers are building high rises along Dubai beaches. On the Palm, Alpago has started building an 11-storey tower designed to include nine penthouses with sky pools.

On Palm Jumeirah, a futuristic building called Atlantis The Royal Residences has sprung up with a giant jellyfish water tank and an infinity pool on the 22nd floor. The 231 ultra-luxury residences in the building are already sold, said Philippe Zuber, CEO of Kerzner International which developed the property. He has more investments planned for Dubai, including a resort called One & Only One Za’abeel, which will include private homes for purchase. That shows, “how much we believe Dubai will continue to attract the world,” Zuber said.

The broader Dubai housing market is also on a tear, with the average annual rent for a family home reaching 268,758 dirhams ($73,171) last month after rents jumped 26% in the year through September.

Yet there are pressures that might dampen Dubai’s outlook. Earlier this year, the global financial watchdog Financial Action Task Force placed an added spotlight on Dubai’s real-estate market, when it put the UAE on a gray list, partly over concerns about illicit cash in the property sector. After the warning, the UAE said it would work with FATF to continue to strengthen its efforts to fight financial crime and in a statement earlier this year, it said it had confiscated $625 million last year across various money-laundering crimes. While analysts have said that the FATF warning is likely to increase compliance costs for individual companies, the country’s broader resurgence has continued. The International Monetary Fund projects the UAE’s economy will expand 5.1% in 2022, compared with 3.8% last year.

Dubai Luxury Property
Atlantis The Royal Residences and resort in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
Photographer: Christopher Pike/Bloomberg
Controversial figures have bought property in the emirate in the past. In 2016, the Gupta family — which is at the center of a corruption scandal in South Africa — bought a $30 million property in Dubai, a family representative said at the time. More recently, the UAE has been in talks with South African authorities to extradite members of the family, who face international sanctions. The Guptas have always denied the allegations. The UAE government has said it has stepped up extradition agreements and arrested high profile figures involved in global financial scandals.

Still, in recent months, the UAE has raised interest rates in tandem with the US Federal Reserve. That’s a potential pressure because its developers, building companies and domestic banks continue to carry heavy debt loads on their books. Ratings agency Moody’s Investors Service said in a recent report that real-estate companies in the UAE are in a good position due to the strong economic rebound but “threats to this scenario are rising” due to risks including higher inflation, rising interest rates, and fears of recession in the US and Europe. High-profile projects that began before 2009 remain in limbo, and the research firm CORE predicts that rising interest rates have the potential to slow the rest of the housing market by deterring mid-income buyers.

But “the elephant in the room is the refinancing of debt which could be an issue for corporates including developers in UAE given the rising cost of borrowing,’’ Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Edmond Christou said. Real estate accounts for 19% of banks’ credit-risk exposure and that link could become a contagion risk, he said.

Such concerns aren’t deterring Dubai’s developers, and much like during previous booms, their construction drive is continuing relentlessly. “Do I worry about a tsunami or typhoon?” Ayyildiz, the luxury firm’s chairman, said about potential risks. “Well, it’s like the pandemic, no one saw it coming but it came. You can’t really worry about that.”

— With assistance by Kamlesh Bhuckory

Share your feberit house genre(s) hits

Fenix98 — Mon, 10 Oct 2022 00:34:18 +0800

[YOUTUBE]HCfPhZQz2CE[/YOUTUBE]

US buying 290M of Anti Radiation drugs

Fenix98 — Fri, 07 Oct 2022 01:16:30 +0800

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2022...ussian-nuclear/

US Buying $290M Worth Of Anti-Radiation Drugs for Use In "Nuclear Emergency"
Tyler Durden's Photo
BY TYLER DURDEN
THURSDAY, OCT 06, 2022 - 08:19 PM
Authored by Chris Menahan via InformationLiberation.com,

The Biden regime is buying up $290 million in anti-radiation drugs for use in "nuclear emergencies" amid escalating tensions with Russia and heightened threats of a nuclear war.

Real sos tyler durden

Best antivirus for multi platforms

Fenix98 — Thu, 06 Oct 2022 20:34:14 +0800

My subscription to mcafee is cummin to an end...

Its been pretty rock solid no infection, phishing sites and malware, but i do use virustotal and hybird analysis before opening downloaded files.

Been considering norton or mcafee is teh better multi platform?

Will be running sub for windows, mac, android and ios devices across my family... Both subs for 2 years and 10 devices is rm 250 and Norton is the same price but for 5 devices.

34 inch 1080p monitor with potrait stand

Fenix98 — Wed, 05 Oct 2022 04:34:58 +0800

Any 34 inch 1080p budget/relatively good performance
monitor with its own stand that can be rotated to potrait?

Buy day....

Fenix98 — Tue, 04 Oct 2022 20:36:24 +0800

Is it finally the day to buy?

Tyme to rekt the retail shorts.....

VIX nearing 30

Fenix98 — Fri, 23 Sep 2022 23:34:15 +0800

Once it breaks 30 the bear party is gettin started ladies & gentlemen....

In God we Trust

Fenix98 — Fri, 23 Sep 2022 20:22:20 +0800

Do you trust God?

What pillows is grand lexis PD using

Fenix98 — Sun, 18 Sep 2022 02:07:32 +0800

Any idea what brand/supplier PD grandlexis uses for pillows!

Had quite good sleep while i was there.... And the concierge cant tell me what brand it is...

How do you stop feeling aroused

Fenix98 — Sat, 17 Sep 2022 20:02:08 +0800

Sometimes i felt aroused around certain ladies for no particular reason.... How do you stop your mind from wandering to your didi's brain.....

Discussion

When will the usd rampage stop

Fenix98 — Wed, 14 Sep 2022 11:48:26 +0800

Ayem seeing 4.8 ringgit the new base...

Sunway lagoon

Fenix98 — Wed, 07 Sep 2022 23:51:32 +0800

Skool holidays craze....

Anyone just bek from sunway lagoon?

Big crowd?

Inb4 TS is worried about kobid

Ma pren admittted and cost was almost 400k

World’s Second-Largest Steelmaker Closes European

Fenix98 — Tue, 06 Sep 2022 03:23:35 +0800

World’s Second-Largest Steelmaker Closes European Plant
By Tsvetana Paraskova - Sep 02, 2022, 11:30 AM CDT

The world’s second-largest steelmaker, ArcelorMittal, is the latest industrial company to announce a plant closure in Europe due to soaring gas and energy prices.

ArcelorMittal will shut one of its two blast furnaces at its steelworks site in Bremen, Germany, from the end of September until further notice, due to the “exorbitant rise in energy prices,” the company said in a statement on Friday.

The high energy prices are undermining the competitiveness of steel production and the company is taking this step in Germany because it cannot operate all plants economically, ArcelorMittal said.

The steel giant also cited weak market demand, a negative economic outlook, and persistently high CO2 costs in steel production as reasons for its decision.

“The high gas and electricity costs are putting a heavy strain on competitiveness. On top of that, from October onwards, there will be the German government's planned gas levy, which will further burden us,” ArcelorMittal Germany’s CEO Reiner Blaschek said.

Blaschek called on politicians to urgently take action to “get energy prices under control immediately”.

https://oilprice.com/Latest-Energy-News/Wor...pean-Plant.html