Trade Shows

I've been away from active real-time trading for the past three days due to the Worldbex convention in Manila. One thing I noticed about trade shows here in the Philippines is that people go to the shows for retail purchases. Abroad, trade shows are where big deals are made and quantities are set via containers and not individual pieces. It seems to me that no matter how much we push for world-class events, people can't seem to grasp certain ideas. I attended the show on the supplier side and in the two days I was there, there were no more than 3 people who I spoke to who had an active knowledge of the product I was selling. I'm not trying to sound arrogant (although I might come out that way), but it was just ridiculous. An event that was suppose to bring out entrepreneurship was instead made into another excuse to party (clowns, loud music, and women in skimpy outfits all around).

Going back to the market, from my understanding the week has been pretty eventful for followers of EDC, DMC, and SCC; three of my favorite stocks. From my understanding, DMC and SCC are benefiting from their soon to be members status of FTSE Asia Pacific Index. Although, I'm not particularly fond of stocks rising due to inclusions into certain indexes; I don't mind riding the wave on this one. EDC, on the other hand is coming off a double digit growth in profits last year due to their geothermal plants. I recently spoke to a number of investors and analysts recently and they all mentioned that although commodities may be the prevailing theme this year for most of the world. Locally, companies like EDC, AP, SCC, power companies in general are still poised to set the pace for growth in the long term. Mindanao has a severe shortage of supply, Luzon's reserves are below recommended, and in the Visayas you hear news of power generating barges moved from one place to another all the time. This just tells me that the next big player in the market, may already be a big player today, it all depends who's investing in the right places.

On other news, NIKL may have to scale back its growth prospects due to the recent earthquake in Japan. NIKL sells quite a bit to a Japanese smelting plant that was recently affected by the quake, and although damage assessment has yet to be disclosed. It may prove to be a game changer for NIKL if they can't find another client to pick up some of the shipment.