Can Weak Dollar Make Money

Can Weak Dollar Make Money

Yes it can. Deutsche Bank and PowerShares announced the listing of PowerShare DB U.S. Dollar Bullish UUP and the PowerShare U.S. Dollar Bearish UDN exchange traded funds (ETFs) on the American Stock Exchange. These ETFs offer investors access to the performance of the United States Dollar against global currencies.

Rant: This is simply wow. Investors can make money not only in the strong dollar, but also in the weak one. However investing in foreign exchange related product is not for everyone. One needs to understand and monitor the national debt levels, trade deficits, changes in domestic and foreign interest rates, regional and foreign politics, economics and financial events.

Wal-Mart soon to enter India
A potential joint-venture between Wal-Mart WMT and India’s Bharti Retail is likely on the way. Multi-brand foreign retailers are only allowed to operate in India with a local joint-venture partner. Bharti plans to invest $2 to $2.5 billion by 2015 across 30 Indian cities each with a population greater than 1 million. Wal-Mart has not said how much it plans to invest. At this stage Wal-Mart’s role seems focused on providing supply-chain and technology management to the venture.

Rant: Once Wal-Mart breaks into the Indian market, they have the capability to capture a huge market. However it would be a big mistake from their part if they step into the market without thoroughly understanding the mind-set of Indian consumers.

Sirius and XM Satellite to Merge
Satellite radio companies Sirius SIRI and XM XMSR have signed a merger agreement. The tax-free, all-stock deal values the combined company at $13 billion, including $1.6 billion in debt. The companies have lost $7 billion over the past eight years as they have battled for subscribers and high-profile talent, and their share prices have fallen 47% over the past year. Together, they can offer subscribers greater variety, including sports, news, and celebrity hosts. Sirius and XM claim their marriage would not create a monopoly, since they compete with media offerings like iPods, cellphones, and HD Radio.

Rant: The Department of Justice will need to decide whether the combination would violate antitrust regulations. This is going to be an really interesting merger. What you and me as an investor needs to find out is will a combined company be better equipped to stem the slowdown in satellite subscriber growth ?

JetBlue CEO Promises Big Changes
Recently a breakdown in communications at JetBlue JBLU led to passengers stranded for almost a week. JetBlue assumed that the ice storm would pass quickly and refrained from cancelling flights right away, as other airlines did. The storm intensified, and JetBlue ended up cancelling 1,000 flights within five days and shutting down service in 11 cities. At one point, nine full JetBlue planes sat on the runway at JFK for up to 10 hours. The company’s communication system failed to cope, pilots and flight attendants were not where they were needed, and there was no method in place to contact them.

JetBlue said they will enact a customer bill of rights that will pay stranded passengers and vowed to make changes.

Rant: Consumer confidence will be low after this mishap which would possibily affect their quarterly earnings. The stock is already seeing negative numbers.

(Source: SeekingAlpha)