Malcolm Surry

ON the notice board in the labour union office of Daewoo Motor just outside Seoul a tattered “wanted” poster offers a $500 reward for the capture of the missing chairman of the company Kim Woo-choong.

The Wall Street willies are the major influence on our stock market again after some promising signs of decoupling from the NASDAQ asylum. Every morning bleary-eyed

In October, Briefcase chose a basket of shares in local companies likely to benefit from strong oil and gas prices and stepped up activity in the North West Shelf. We struck a few modest gushers.

Regional banks could not get a guernsey last year while the big four were chalking up stunning average 24 per cent returns for their shareholders.

Financial commentators are clanking on again about the benefits of capital gains instead of dividends under the new tax regime. Sell the dividend payers and buy the growth stocks they cry.

WHY wait until later when you can panic today? Some of the economists who work for the big investment banks are salivating over the prospect of the US economic landing skidding off the runway in black ice.

A NUMBER of private investors in Perth got telephone calls from their brokers early in the year urging them to sell their boring old defensive banking shares, and buy beaten up cyclical growth companies.

Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, the pint-sized President of the Philippines, is said to be a talented ballroom dancer.

GUT wrenching volatility in the market, endless prattle from economists talking us into recession, up half the night filling in BAS forms. Its enough to turn a man to drink. In fact that might not be a bad idea.

CORPORTE chieftains have a macho image to uphold, but Alan Jackson, head honcho at Austrim Nylex seems to be taking it a bit far.

LAST year China became a trillion dollar economy, and landed the quinella of record export volume and boosted consumer spending at home.

ALAN Greenspan’s implicit promise not to let the US economic slowdown skid into something really nasty cannot be delivered too soon for much of Asia.

Well, there goes the neighborhood. The bull market which saw share prices hit a record peak in November is struggling.

CYCLONE Sam was a breeze for Woodside directors compared with the battening down of the hatches they have to do to see off Royal Dutch/Shell.

FINANCIAL commentators have been whimpering for more than two years over the dangerously overheated American economy and the iniquities of the Nasdaq gambling den.

THE October trade figures were absolutely stunning. So good in fact that Australian market economists should be embarrassed to show their scarlet faces in public.

It is drawing rather a long bow to suggest that the National Australian Bank sale of Michigan National for a tasty $5.3 billion somehow puts Bank of WA in play.

Bold readers who followed my September tip to take a punt on the shares of Zimbabwe Platinum at 27c may now form an orderly queue at the pay out window. Zimplats shot out of the starting gates to hit 46c, and are home and hosed. But they might now need a

THE Malaysian company Genting, which was joint partner in the Burswood casino during its most successful years, is constructing what it says will be the world’s largest hotel.

The latest failure of the Australian Stock Exchange’s SEATS system, which shut the market down for three hours was inexcusable. It was the second downtime fiasco in recent weeks, and the umpteenth since the Exchange sacked the chalk boys. The timing is

SURELY it is time that News Corp shares were hoofed out of the ASX 200 index, or at least quarantined from the rest of the market. The alternative is to continue churning out virtually meaningless daily share indices.

THERE’S no business like show business. But Simon Lyas believes you can go one better.

IF you believe craftsmanship no longer has any place in the business lexicon, pay a call on John Larner and Graham Devenish.

IF YOU thought the US election campaign was tough, watch out when Thailand goes to the polls early next month.Prime Minister Chuan Leekpai, a Democrat heading the six party coalition in power, has most to fear from the Thai Rak Thai party of businines

No matter which of the intellectual giants get to sleep in the White House, the President of the US economy will still be 74-year old Alan Greenspan, who recently began his fourth four-year term as head of the Federal Reserve Board.

SO the US economy “only” grew at the rate of 2.7 per cent in the third quarter of this year. That added the trifling sum of US$63.3 billion to the US$9.4 trillion GDP of that amazing country.

ONE of Japan’s foremost economic analysts, Dr Naoki Tanaka, was in Perth last week bringing mixed news on the prospects for the world’s second largest economy.

A CONSOLIDATION of Australia’s national rail freight network is closer following the $585 million purchase of Westrail’s freight business by the Australian Railroad Group.

WA’S unemployment rate fell to a 10-year low in September of 5.9 per cent. We now have a growing labour force of 930,000. More jobs is unambiguously good news – except for those bond market traders, who search for inflation under every rock.

THEY say people get the government they deserve. That is not true of the 78 million population of the Philippines, most of whom are hard working, talented and fun loving. They deserve better.

THE president of the European Central Bank, Wim Duisenberg, is a buffoon. Do not take my word for it. The head of currency research at Goldman Sachs in London, Jim O’Neil, says the man is “stunningly incompetent”.

WITH the gold price still sulking in the basement, it is mighty hard for junior explorers rattling the tin for cash.Perth-based Red Back Mining NL has done well to raise $1.47 billion to fund the second stage of a pre-feasibility study at its Chirano go