Week in Review Asian equities were mostly lower in the first full week of trading of 2025 though Korea and Mainland China managed gains while Pakistan and Hong Kong underperformed. The December Caixin Services PMI, released Monday, accelerated month over month to 52.2 from November’s 51.5 and beat expectations of 51.4. The US Department of Defense (DOD) added CATL and Tencent to its Blacklist, but it is important to note that without an executive order, there are no investment restrictions, and both companies have called the inclusion a “mistake” and are working with the DOD to reverse the decision. Mainland…

The company is at the forefront of the quantum computing industry, but it has a speculative stock valuation By Oliver Rodzianko Summary Rigetti, a top superconducting-qubit pioneer, traded at ~250 P/S, far exceeding rational valuations despite potential 50%+ annual revenue growth. Stock plummeted ~50% after NVIDIA’s CEO stressed quantum’s 20-year horizon, illustrating risk in overpaying for unproven near-term earnings. Quantum’s long-term value is huge, but Rigetti’s valuation is speculative; prudent investors demand more tangible fundamentals or a far lower P/S multiple. Rigetti Computing (RGTI) is at the forefront of the quantum computing industry and is also one of the only…

The Prudent Speculator follows an approach to investing that focuses on broadly diversified investments in undervalued stocks for their long-term appreciation potential. Does that mean we build portfolios of 20 stocks…30…? More like 50 and up. We like stocks. And we like a lot of ‘em. We don’t rely nearly as much on “how many” as we do “in which,” but we tend to invest in far more names than most. This expansive diversification, we find, potentially serves us well in two ways: we can further minimize the risk of individual stock ownership, while maximizing the likelihood of finding the…

Intuitive Surgical (ISRG) is an intriguing everything-proof stock for Trump 2.0. The company specializes in cutting-edge surgical devices and regardless of what the Fed or President-Elect Trump does in 2025, we know that Americans will continue to have surgeries. Human surgeons are expensive and prone to mistakes, so the big trend in the surgery room is towards robotics. Intuitive created the da Vinci system, the most widely used surgical robot in the world. Business is booming. The company anticipates 12% to 16% year-over-year demand growth for da Vinci. Its technology is less invasive and more precise than humans, which leads…

Team Name: SageMint Wealth Firm: LPL Financial Senior Members: Anh Tran, Ray Pai, Darcey Young Location: Irvine, CA Team Custodied Assets: $350 million Background: Anh Tran grew up in California and originally became a lawyer after attending the University of Southern California Irvine. Her first job out of school was as an attorney at Goldman Sachs’ personal financial planning arm, with a focus on corporate executives. She enjoyed working with clients and eventually became an advisor at the firm before deciding in 2010 to go independent, working at several different firms until 2016, when she joined independent advisor platform LPL…

In trading on Wednesday, shares of Verizon Communications were yielding above the 7% mark based on its quarterly dividend (annualized to $2.71), with the stock changing hands as low as $38.44 on the day. Dividends are particularly important for investors to consider, because historically speaking dividends have provided a considerable share of the stock market’s total return. To illustrate, suppose for example you purchased shares of the S&P 500 ETF (SPY) back on 12/31/1999 — you would have paid $146.88 per share. Fast forward to 12/31/2012 and each share was worth $142.41 on that date, a decrease of $4.67/share over…

Executive Summary The unprecedented stimulus announced by China’s government was a significant catalyst for China’s equity market broadly in the second half of 2024. Stimulus measures in 2024 included: Broad rate cuts The lowering of down payment minimums on home purchases RMB 500 billion stock market stabilization fund Special lending facility for listed corporations to finance buybacks RMB 6 trillion in relief for local governments In 2024, the KraneShares MSCI All China Index ETF (Ticker: KALL) returned 16.33%, the KraneShares MSCI China A 50 Connect Index ETF (Ticker: KBA) returned 16.06%, and the KraneShares CSI China Internet ETF (Ticker: KWEB)…

Key News Asian equities were mixed but mostly lower overnight as Singapore and Korea outperformed and Pakistan and Hong Kong underperformed. Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), Ministry of Finance (MoF), Ministry of Commerce (MoC), People’s Bank of China (PBOC), and the State Administration Market Regulation (SAMR) were in attendance. The Briefing was followed by a Q&A with reporters. Obviously, the market response was a yawn, though the release highlighted the unquestionable success of the auto and home appliance trade-in consumer subsidy programs, which is why it will be expanded by scale and scope in 2025. Some key quotes from the…

If you were taking a break from your family on Christmas Day, you may have caught my article on how Jay Powell’s recent “hawkish cut” is set to light a fire under high-yielding (and tax-free!) municipal bonds. Here’s why: Jay cut rates by a quarter point in December, but gave investors a stern pre-holiday “talking-to,” with the Fed slashing its rate-cut forecast to two from four in 2025. Stocks, as you’d expect, threw a one-day fit. But here’s the thing: The yield on the 10-year Treasury note (the so-called “long end” of the yield curve, which has a mind of…

Total assets under management (AUMs) in gold-based exchange-traded funds (ETFs) hit record highs of $271 billion in 2024, according to the World Gold Council (WGC). This represented a 26% year-on-year increase and was driven by a soaring bullion price. Total ETF inflows were modest, at $3.4 billion, although this was the first positive result for four years. The WGC said that “while Asia continued to lead inflows, Western investor appetite for gold improved with North American funds registering their first positive annual flow since 2020 and European outflows narrowing significantly compared to 2023.” However, collective holdings dipped by seven tonnes…