Oh man this is so funny.

Good stuff.

Well it was kind of a nasty day for me when nothing worked. All my longs got knocked out for full R’s loss. FMCN, TMO, AMT and BEN. The latter was entered after I’ve seen the trend change so I should have skipped that one. So basically this puts into the red for Jan. I’m still thinking on whether there was any problem with my trade selection or if it was market tone and going against the trend.

I’ve receive heaps of Nigerian style ‘help us get this oil money out of the country’ spam but this was the first Iraq themed such spam:

Dear Sir,
My name is, Capt Ernest Taylor representing a faction of American soldiers, serving in the military of the 1st Armoured Division in Iraq, we came across your e-mail address(s) in the process of research and enquiry into an immense military global data base.
I believe you are familiar with the war situation in Iraq? Besides the killings, a lot of activities do occur; sales of antiques, discovery of stocked foreign cash and lots more. In April 2003, Staff Sergeant Kenneth Buff of the United States Army found US$160 million hidden by fleeing members of the Baath Party led by former dictator Saddam Hussein of Iraq.
Later, a search of the area revealed more hidden loot, total US$650 million. All of this was turned to the USA Administration in Iraq.
Recently, during a routine archaeological excavation of the area east of Tigris River, I and my three other colleagues discovered 1 box of the similar kind found by US Army! After careful examination we discovered that it is $100 US Dollars bills total USD 16Million which we concealed and packaged in one box hidden safely and later send to Europe by a special Courier Service.
We require a trustworthy, upright and business minded individual for opening account in Europe and to receive this money for save keeping. Details will be sent upon signal of interest. Our contact email : [removed]
Thanks for your co-operation
Signed,
Capt. E. Taylor

The email came through an old NZ ISP email address I still have forwarding to me.

Oh yeah on the trading side – Ouch! 3 trades stopped out for full R’s as the market reversed to the down side. I have one more position that’s holding up ok-ish. Will detail the trades later.

I’ve been spending a quiet Sunday at home enjoying a bottle of wine, pasta and a nice book I picked up in Singapore in February but only just got to reading. It’s called Crowds and Power by Elias Canetti, a Literature Noble prize winner for 1981. It’s an excellent analysis of social behaviour and groups. Initially I started reading it trying to keep an eye out for the impact of crowds on financial markets (not the topic of the book) but I was soon lost in the brilliance of the author’s analysis and his ability to crystalize concepts which seem obvious but yet aren’t. Here’s one interesting quote on the institutionalization of crowds.

A man attending a sermon honestly believed that it was the sermon which mattered to him, and he would have felt astonished or even indignant had it been explained to him that the large number of listeners present gave him more satisfaction than the sermon itself.

Highly recommended.

The Kiwi Dollar is taking a nose dive against a strengthening US Dollar. I was lucky to buy some USD last night (well maybe not just lucky) before it lost amost 2 cents in the past 24 hours. The interesting thing I noticed is that my bank, ASB Bank does not update their exchange rate after 5pm but lets ppl transact at whatever rate was determined at the end of day. Although this sounds like there might be a lucrative opportunity here, the gigantic spread of about 3.5 cents ensures ASB won’t be terribly worried about this.