U.S. investors fear volatility but remain steadfast

NEW YORK: Investors are worried the U.S. stock market has rallied for six months without significant correction but they're not ready to call it quits, according to a Reuters report on Friday, Feb 18.

The CBOE Volatility Index VIX, Wall Street's so-called "fear gauge", was on track to end the week about 5 percent higher even as the S&P 500 index rose to twice its value from just two years ago. The index is usually inversely correlated to the S&P and a rise in the VIX typically means a drop in the stock market.

"There is definitely high anxiety because everyday it looks like the market is at the top and it's going to have to correct," said James Dailey, portfolio manger of TEAM Asset Strategy Funds in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.

"Are we due for a pullback? Yes. When? that's the big question. Money just keeps flowing into equities."

The VIX's overall level of 16.51 is still historically low but substantially higher than recent volatility. That suggests investors see more share gyrations in the weeks ahead.

BIGGER CORRECTION?

"The 3-5 percent correction that the market had anticipated might now turn into a 5-10 percent one."

A Change for Delta Petroleum

Troubled oil company Delta Petroleum (Nasdaq: DPTR) is now walking the proverbial tightrope after it recently began trading on Nasdaq’s Capital Market rather than the exchange’s Global Market. The company’s recent relisting at the hands of Nasdaq means that shareholders in Delta may be witnessing just the first of several punitive actions against the company. Like its name, Delta is at a clear crossroads.

In English, please
Nasdaq’s relisting means that the company’s outstanding shares have been transferred from the big swimming pool with the slides and diving boards down to the baby pool, where swimmers need to have water-wings and their mother’s undivided attention in order to dip their toes in. This is a bad thing.

As of Feb. 1, the company received an additional 180 days from Nasdaq to regain compliance in order to requalify for play in the deep end. In the short term, this is a good thing of course. But, ultimately, one can’t argue this is anything other than yet another major set-back for the company.

Those are the rules
According to Nasdaq listing rules, the minimum price of a company’s common stock cannot be less than $1.00 per share for 30 consecutive business days. Delta’s shares are currently trading at $0.74. Of course, it wouldn’t take much for a volatile company like this one to muster a rally (especially considering the extremely volatile nature of energy prices), but for the time being, the company will have to operate per normal under the looming threat of a complete de-listing. This is something that should concern investors.

Delta’s underperformance is certainly not a recent phenomenon, either. Share prices have steadily declined from $4.67 in February 2009 to its current status well below a dollar.

A last-ditch effort
Delta had hoped to catalyze a turnaround after selling some of its working assets and being aided by a simultaneous increase in gas prices, but bad days didn’t end there. Hitting dry wells and surviving on cash tapped through the equity markets is no way to run an oil company. No doubt, they have put in a lot of effort to delve into unproven areas, but that strategy clearly continues to backfire. Without a proper asset base from which they can generate revenue, it wouldn’t make sense to keep digging with investors’ hard-earned money.

Of course, Delta had its days under the sun, and it would be nice to see a turnaround. There have been other reasonably similar success stories like Talisman Energy (NYSE: TLM), but it would be wise to take a closer look at the underlying business fundamentals of companies like Delta that are riding on such a volatile lifeline. Leaving everything to fate sounds pretty un-Foolish, especially in this sink-or-swim sector.

KUB Malaysia Berhad (6874)

The stock found it support at RM0.80. and it will try go above the resistant level RM0.95 soon.

Hubline Berhad (7013)

Hubline Berhad (7013) - major break up from it down trend line. Resistant RM0.25.
Target RM0.35

FKLI - Spot

Resistant : 1540
Support : 1530

Stocks fall modestly as China lifts rates

8 Feb 2011 - Stocks fell modestly Tuesday after China's central bank raised interest rates for the second time in just over a month in a bid to dampen high inflation.

In a widely expected move, the People's Bank of China announced Tuesday on its website that the benchmark 1-year deposit rate would rise by a quarter percentage point to 3 percent and the 1-year lending rate would increase by the same amount to 6.06 percent.

"The announcement may cause jitters about the impact tightening will have on Chinese growth but these should not be overplayed," said Mark Williams, senior China economist at Capital Economics. "The latest increases are in line with the gradual policy tightening that has been underway over the last few months and will not do much to slow growth."

Genting’s Resorts World Sentosa signs $4.2b of loans

Resorts World Sentosa, a unit of Genting Singapore Plc, Asia’s biggest casino operator by market value, borrowed $4.2 billion to refinance debt, including $3.5 billion in term loans and $500 million in revolving credit facilities, according to a Feb. 1 company statement. Nineteen lenders helped arrange the loans while a $192.5 million banker’s guarantee facility was provided by DBS Bank and Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp.

Delta Petroleum Corporation Announces Its Transfer to The NASDAQ Capital Market

DENVER, Jan. 31, 2011 -- Delta Petroleum Corporation (the "Company" or "Delta") , an independent oil and gas exploration and development company, announced today that NASDAQ has approved its request to transfer to The NASDAQ Capital Market from The NASDAQ Global Market. The transfer will take effect at the opening of business on February 1, 2011.

The transfer of Delta's common stock to the NASDAQ Capital Market from The NASDAQ Global Market should not have any effect on a shareholder's ability to buy or sell its shares of Delta.

In transferring to the Capital Market, it is expected that Delta will have an additional 180 days to regain compliance with NASDAQ's requirement that its minimum bid price be at least $1.00.

FAJARBARU BUILDER GROUP BHD (7047.KL)

Bob Doll: Ten predictions for 2011

AFTER A REWARDING but volatile year for stock investors, our expected gains for the equity markets for 2011 are not much different from what we expected for 2010. What’s different for 2011 is that market risk will be more to the upside than was the case in 2010. Indeed, US stocks in 2011 will record a third straight year of double-digit percentage returns, the first time this has occurred in more than a decade. By the close of 2011, the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index will be at 1,350-plus, a target that implies that the market will appreciate at least in line with corporate earnings. It is with this backdrop that we venture forward with our predictions for 2011:

1. US growth accelerates as US real GDP reaches a new all time high

2. The US economy creates two to three million jobs in 2011 as unemployment falls to 9%

3. US stocks experience a third year of double-digit percentage returns for the first time in over a decade as earnings reach a new all time high

4. Stocks outperform bonds and cash

5. The US stock market outperforms the MSCI World Index

6. The US, Germany and Brazil outperform Japan, Spain and China

7. Commodities and emerging market currencies outperform a basket of the US dollar, euro and yen

8. Strong balance sheets and free cash flow lead to significant increases in dividends, share buybacks, mergers and acquisitions and business reinvestment

9. Investor flows move from bond funds to equity funds

10. The 2012 US presidential campaign sees a plethora of Republican candidates while President Barack Obama continues to move to the centre