South Korea Demands "International Action" Against "Negative Impact" Of Abenomics

Nations are already in the midst of a currency war, but government officials won't admit to it.

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-06-02/south-korea-demands-international-action-against-negative-impact-abenomics

How The Fed Crushed China's Ability To Join The Ease-Fest

Aahhh, the unintended blowback, er...consequences of a currency war.  The Fed's uber easy monetary policies have made ALLIES of China and South Korea, as they look to diversify AWAY from the USDollar with bilateral trade.  This is yet another nail in the coffin of the USDollar as the global reserve currency.

In previous eras, when a country had the cojones to jawbone down the USDollar as the international trade settlement currency, US foreign policy dictated that said banana republic (or OPEC member, whichever was appropriate) would be declared a rogue terrorist country, and some incidental event would conveniently trigger justification for invasion.  The natives are getting restless?  Just declare them freedom fighters and help them overthrow whichever current evil regime is in place.

However, China is unabashedly signing bilateral trade agreements with US allies, as well as our enemies in every continent, which means, the US is powerless to do anything about the dollar's demise as the "petrodollar."

Sounds benign enough.  So what's the problem?  Ummm, if and when the USDollar were to lose said reserve currency status, every single country holding dollars will have no need for them, and will be dumping them en masse.  The result will be soaring consumer prices domestically, crushing the US economy in the process.

But hey, no big deal.  The NFL football referees are coming back.  All is well.

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2012-09-27/how-fed-crushed-chinas-ability-join-ease-fest

North Korea attacks South Korea

http://www.zerohedge.com/article/north-korea-attacks-south-korea-yellow-sea-island-south-korea-highest-non-wartime-alert-resp

Uuuummmm, let's see, now the US has to park sitting-duck aircraft carriers next to Korea as well as in the Strait of Hormuz to protect oil shipping lanes in the Middle East (and against that great scourge of Iran).

Anybody see a problem with this?  We don't have the money to fight two wars in Iraq and Afghanistan (never mind Iran), and now the US will be stretched even thinner.  I'm referring to our military forces and the US taxpayer.

The solution?  Print more dollars.  Only this time, no one will protest, because well, we're so patriotic.

All markets crashed today:  especially stocks, Euro bonds, commodities, energy.  All except for gold and silver, despite a surging USDollar as investors rushed into "safe" havens.

Happy Thanksgiving everybody.

Taking (partial) profits

Today is why we take partial profits, while letting the rest ride.

Sinovac Biotech (SVA) dropped $2 down to the $9's. A friend I helped sold out yesterday at the peak at $11.25--most of us sold out in the $9's Friday. Not bad given we bought in the $4's barely more than a month ago.

It is impossible to buy at the absolute low and sell at the absolute high--no one has a crystal ball (although my friend's fortuitous exit was near the peak). However, we can buy lower and sell higher. Now that we're playing with house money, we can focus on other opportunities without getting emotionally attached with one winner.

Having said that, this swine flu play is hardly over. Those of us who got in back in May are REALLY doing well, waiting for more breakouts to the upside--again, with house money.

On a related note, SVA received a commitment of orders from South Korea today, in addition to receiving approval for their flu vaccine from the Chinese State Food and Drug Administration (SFDA) yesterday.

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Sinovac-Announces-Supply-prnews-1032672347.html?x=0&.v=24