Crossdressing CEOs, the Falling Looney, and Other International Updates

This morning's Financial Times features a Dutch CEO (Gerrit Zalm of state-owned bailed-out ABN-Amro Bank ) in a front-page photo cross-dressed as Dame Edna Everage, showing how humor has international sway. Dame Edna (AKA Barry Humphries) is a frumpy fake-posh Australian woman with a shaky upper class accent. The FT is firmly British and really grand. And the Dutch bank chief is also quite posh. He discussed "brothel values in banking" which you can read more about here . However the same newspaper informs us that 38% of UK voters over 60 support the UK Independence Party, far more than any other party. That means trouble in the planned vote on continued British membership in an unreformed European Union. Old people turn out. They are upset about foreigners moving into their quaint villages and littering the lanes while laughing at jokes the old Brits don't understand. What seems to bug the Little Englanders most is foreigners who cannot be spotted at 20 paces: Poles, Bulgarians, or Romanians. Having just employed a Bulgarian to repair my NYC kitchen cabinets, I am astonished at this reaction. Moreover, UK old folks seem less troubled by exotics from the Subcontinent or Africa who stick out. I'm not sure about how the English view Irish or Canadian or American foreigners because they are too polite to say anything to my face and I am not privy to what they say behind my back. As for Dame Edna, I'm sure they cringe at her gall and wouldn't let her into their cottages or hedgerows. With their loony now at barely over 90 UC cents, I am not sure many Canadians (except for the head of the Bank of England) can make their way to the Mother Country at all.  Which brings me to the big news this week - the plummeting Canadian dollar or loony. We have a protection device, the Canadian listed DLR of Toronto, which rose to C$10.97 reflecting the c90 cents loony. The selloff in other brands of dollars also including the A$ is a reflex reaction to slower growth data from China. Commodity currencies are hurt when Chinese GNP data disappoint. However, as I wrote in my blog, it is still unclear how bad the Chinese numbers were and whether they indicate a serious slowdown. I remain agnostic. More international news follows from around the globe covering the Netherlands to Hong Kong, from Britain to Canada, from Ireland to Singapore, from Israel to Thailand. *The anti-Yingluck Shinawatra forces were bombed in Bangkok today wounding 31 people. This has hit the Thai Baht and the Stock Exchange of Thailand. Our informants from the country were split, with my Bangkok yellowshirt cousins negative and equity manager Paul Renaud of Phuket more upbeat. In the end we went with Paul, who was more persuasive but got it wrong. We are only half-weighted in Thai closed end fund TTF, and you don't want to sell in panic. So hang in there. The time to buy is when there is blood on the streets, but I am too craven to buy now. * Schlumberger Ltd from the land of the new Edna Everage (The Netherlands) reported earnings ahead of the Dow-Jones consensus at $1.35/sh for Q4 (vs estimates of $1.33 ) but missed on sales which at $11.91 bn were below consensus forecasts, hurt by slack demand for its exploration services in North America. However, it did see a rise in demand of 11% year over year in the rest of the world. SLB had fullyear profits of $4.75/sh vs prior year's $4.01. Goldman Sachs says to buy SLB because oil company capex is rising and SLB is tipped by many buy side analysts. Moreover SLB upped its dividend by a huge 28%, another mark of potential, to 40 cents/sh. * Bombardier repored a further 6 month delay before the initial flight test for its new C-Series commuter jets, taking the date into the end of the year from mid-summer. The stock is down 8% on the news. It also reported deals, a sale worth over $1 bn (US) of railroad stock to Queensland North Railway (in the land of the original Dame Edna, Australia) and another huge deal for $1.21 bn (with options as much as $2 bn) for C-series jets from Al Qantani Air Co, the buyer for Saudi Gulf Airlines. In case it isn't obvious, BDRAF keeps a pile of deals from being announced until there is bad news to offset. * Covidien declared a 32 cent dividend payable Feb. 20. The Irish maker of medical devices and supplies was recommended by RBC Capital with a $70 target price. COV. *Another day, another deal. Global Logistics of Singapore will build a 72,000 sq meter multi-client facility for $135.5 mn (US) in Yachiyu, Chuba (near Tokyo). Its partner in the venture to go live in 2015 is the Canadian Pension Plan Investment Board. GBTZF. * Haaretz breathlessly reported today that there is a potential conflict of interest in selling surplus gas to Jordan between Delek Group and its partner in Israeli offshore gas fields, Texas's Noble Energy . * Paddy Power plc is again in play now that The Capital Group Companies , fund managers out of Los Angeles, have taken a 10.0562% stake in the Irish bookie. PDYPF, the ADR which we own, is very rarely traded but the Irish stock and its UK variant are favorites of US institutional investors. *To clarify, we still own the US version of Tencent two ways, the ADR, TCFZF, and its 30% owner Naspers , NPSNY of So. Africa. We sold our 3 rd holding, HK:700 which is the underlying security for the ADR. It has risen 3.22% today which will boost the ADR. * Royal Bank of Canada put a neutral rating on BG Group , down from outperform. We told you first. It is the international arm of the UK gas co. * Credit Suisse cut Intertek (the UK inspection group) to neutral from outperform. We told you first. *Most dramatically, Soci été Générale put a sell on UK supermarket chain Tesco , TSCDY. I shopped there Tuesday and it was awful; they have eliminated the checkout staff to save money and the only way to shop is to use a barcode-reading machine and a British credit card (which I don't have). So I have to wait until a gallant attendant appeared to take my cash and make change. The largest supermart chain in Britain faces serious competition from low-overhead German discount grocers, and cutting staff seems to be the way they are trying to keep down costs. It is offputting to customers. We sold because Tesco abandoned its expensive retailing foray in the the USA, a tough market for foreign supermarkets even if we share a common language.