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ftpofmpo

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is it a waste of money for those gov stat boards to issue own bonds at a premium? how will transport bonds in lta fare with loss of income this year?
 

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is it a waste of money for those gov stat boards to issue own bonds at a premium?
No, I don't think so. It's pretty routine for governments to compartmentalize their debt obligations.

how will transport bonds in lta fare with loss of income this year?
The LTA's bonds are still high quality bonds, if that's what you're asking.
 

ftpofmpo

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The LTA's bonds are still high quality bonds, if that's what you're asking.

from another perspective, it will be attractive to swoop them up for a penny, then in future offer direct loans to the organisation instead, ending the bond market for org of these nature
 

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22 this year, just saved up $10,000 as a regular and will be going uni for the next 4 years. Where can I put my money now amid the covid 19 to make the best use of this opportunity?
Unless you’re counting the “Bank of Mom and Dad” (could be a reasonable thing to do; it depends), isn’t that sum simply your emergency reserve?
 

_dXter

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22 this year, just saved up $10,000 as a regular and will be going uni for the next 4 years. Where can I put my money now amid the covid 19 to make the best use of this opportunity? Totally new to investing other than buying a blue chip regular savings plan from OCBC.

Thanks a lot

Doesn't SAF have a investment plan for regular officers? How does it compare?
 

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Yeah it's sort of my emergency reserve but not completely as I'm on a scholarship (lowest tier) with 12k a year, accomodation and food (If I'm not wrong 1 meal a day) paid for for the next 4 years in school.
OK, but that's expected future income, not emergency reserve.

Not going to lie, if all else fail, I'll rely on the bank of mom and dad* albeit not much as the whole reason why I signed on is cause I won't be able to afford university otherwise.
BM&D is a perfectly fine bank, as long as it's reliable. (Some of the BM&D branches aren't reliable. ;))

If BM&D is your emergency reserve, or most of it anyway, and assuming you've covered your genuine insurance necessities already -- see my various posts about that -- then now seems like a perfectly fine time to start your long-term investing life, or to continue it. How about hanging onto half of it as emergency reserve and putting the other half, at a S$500/month pace, into VWRA...for example? Since you're under age 26 Interactive Brokers has a monthly minimum commission of US$3 (until your 26th birthday), so that'd probably be a reasonable way to go, I think. Especially if you think you'll be saving some of that $12K/year, and assuming I've understood you correctly.

Looking to put the little money I've saved to work as I don't expect any scenarios where I'll need money other than some insurance which I'll be doing more research on before getting. Probably the SAF Aviva term life in case something happens to me for my parents and a class A public hospital IP.
You don't need life insurance of any sort unless you have at least one dependent. If you're relying on the BM&D, then you are the bank's dependent and not the other way around, one would think. It depends, but usually the dependency relationship is fairly one-sided.

An Integrated Shield plan has merit, but assuming you're a Singaporean citizen you can just go with Great Eastern's B Plus plan with Classic rider and save a few bucks. As long as you make sure you go to the polyclinic first (or A&E in an emergency) to get a specialist referral, you're good. The base plan premium at your age is $69 (MediSave payable, versus $81 for the A Plus plan), and the rider is $25 cash (versus $40). So you save $27/year (at this age) in premium if you stay in a public hospital 4 bedded room if hospitalized. That pays for your Gdrive, basically.

If it help, short term plans would be to save up for wedding and bto with my gf
Ah, OK. So maybe my 50-50 idea above is a good idea?
 

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Oil Price Weirdness

As I write this, Nymex WTI Crude Oil has been bobbing around US$15 per barrel, even below that figure, while Brent Crude has been up above US$27 per barrel. I don't think I've ever seen such a wide gap, especially in percentage terms, between WTI and Brent. It's absolutely amazing, really. We haven't seen WTI priced this low in nominal U.S. dollars since the late 1990s. And in inflation-adjusted terms the current WTI price is...well, I'm pretty sure it's at least a post-World War II record low real price.

As a side comment, one would think it's a political disaster for President Donald Trump. The President tried to organize a global cut in oil production, including U.S. oil production. (The U.S. has been the world's largest oil producer in recent years). Oil consumers in the U.S. -- including practically everybody who drives a car, SUV, or pickup truck, which is a lot of people -- really aren't happy when a political leader actively tries to raise their gasoline prices. Same with homeowners who heat their homes with oil. Of course oil industry workers tend to prefer higher oil prices, but if oil prices crash anyway (because oil demand is crashing even faster), then they're upset, too.

If you're a speculator/gambler then maybe this'd be the time to start easing into U.S. oil stocks. For non-U.S. persons, IUES, traded on the London Stock Exchange, is probably the best way to place that particular bet. I do not recommend you speculate or gamble.
 
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Hi BBCW, I have some balance in my OA and I am 25 years till I can potentially retire. My SA and MA are maxed out already. Any recommendations on how I can invest my OA money for better returns?
 

ftpofmpo

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As I write this, Nymex WTI Crude Oil has been bobbing around US$15 per barrel, even below that figure, while Brent Crude has been up above US$27 per barrel. I don't think I've ever seen such a wide gap, especially in percentage terms, between WTI and Brent. It's absolutely amazing, really. We haven't seen WTI priced this low in nominal U.S. dollars since the late 1990s. And in inflation-adjusted terms the current WTI price is...well, I'm pretty sure it's at least a post-World War II record low real price.

As a side comment, one would think it's a political disaster for President Donald Trump. The President tried to organize a global cut in oil production, including U.S. oil production. (The U.S. has been the world's largest oil producer in recent years). Oil consumers in the U.S. -- including practically everybody who drives a car, SUV, or pickup truck, which is a lot of people -- really aren't happy when a political leader actively tries to raise their gasoline prices. Same with homeowners who heat their homes with oil. Of course oil industry workers tend to prefer higher oil prices, but if oil prices crash anyway (because oil demand is crashing even faster), then they're upset, too.

If you're a speculator/gambler then maybe this'd be the time to start easing into U.S. oil stocks. For non-U.S. persons, IUES, traded on the London Stock Exchange, is probably the best way to place that particular bet. I do not recommend you speculate or gamble.

suppose oil prices remain below 40 next few years, is shale oil even profitable?
wti is landlocked, with higher storage costs and lower accessibility to tanks globally
 
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Wishdom

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As I write this, Nymex WTI Crude Oil has been bobbing around US$15 per barrel, even below that figure, while Brent Crude has been up above US$27 per barrel. I don't think I've ever seen such a wide gap, especially in percentage terms, between WTI and Brent. It's absolutely amazing, really. We haven't seen WTI priced this low in nominal U.S. dollars since the late 1990s. And in inflation-adjusted terms the current WTI price is...well, I'm pretty sure it's at least a post-World War II record low real price.

As a side comment, one would think it's a political disaster for President Donald Trump. The President tried to organize a global cut in oil production, including U.S. oil production. (The U.S. has been the world's largest oil producer in recent years). Oil consumers in the U.S. -- including practically everybody who drives a car, SUV, or pickup truck, which is a lot of people -- really aren't happy when a political leader actively tries to raise their gasoline prices. Same with homeowners who heat their homes with oil. Of course oil industry workers tend to prefer higher oil prices, but if oil prices crash anyway (because oil demand is crashing even faster), then they're upset, too.

If you're a speculator/gambler then maybe this'd be the time to start easing into U.S. oil stocks. For non-U.S. persons, IUES, traded on the London Stock Exchange, is probably the best way to place that particular bet. I do not recommend you speculate or gamble.
That's an interesting post to read. It didn't sound like you heeded your own advice though. Still, fun post.

Sent from Ilovennp using GAGT
 

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Hi BBCW, I have some balance in my OA and I am 25 years till I can potentially retire. My SA and MA are maxed out already. Any recommendations on how I can invest my OA money for better returns?
You might invest some OA funds via the CPF Investment Scheme in ES3 or G3B (STI stock funds), for example.

suppose oil prices remain below 40 next few years, is shale oil even profitable?
Extraction costs vary. Certainly quite a bit of oil extraction is profitable at that level.

Hi BBCW, what is the best way to invest in Gold for Singapore resident?
Please don't, but if you're a non-U.S. person and insist, have a look at IGLN, listed on the London Stock Exchange.
 

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As I write this, WTI crude oil is trading below US$9 per barrel. Brent is above US$26. :eek:
 

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OK, now WTI crude oil is trading below US$8 per barrel....

....Wait, Nymex just quoted US$6.13 per barrel. I'm at a loss for words. :eek: That's 2/3rds off yesterday's close.

....OK, now US$5.51!
 

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Apparently WTI crude oil is now below US$5 per barrel. This is the May, 2020, futures contract. Some folks have had to scramble to go look at whether it's possible to have a negative price on oil, just in case that's where we're headed. It *is* possible -- the exchange allows it, supposedly.

....And yes, US$4.94/barrel just hit the free Bloomberg site. Wow, wow, wow.
 

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Allegedly Western Canadian Select (WCS) is trading at minus $4 per barrel right now. WTI crude oil is "light and sweet," an excellent grade of oil. WCS is heavy, high sulphur stuff. Even so, a negative price is astonishing....

....We're down to US$4.91/barrel on May WTI. Still falling. Brent is still above US$26. I think it punched US$4.13 at one point.

The June WTI contract is holding above US$20 at the moment. This is just CRAZY. For reference, the average price the U.S. federal government paid for oil in the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve is currently US$29.70/barrel. There is a little bit of room left in the SPR, and now would be a good time to fill it.
 

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OK, so what's going on here? CLK20 is the May, 2020, oil futures contract. The last trading date and the settlement date are tomorrow U.S. time (April 21, 2020). Oil speculators who don't actually want delivery of WTI crude oil (in Cushing, Oklahoma) are in trouble right now, it seems. They're not able to unload their futures contracts onto buyers that actually want real oil deliveries all that much, so the price is crashing.

The CME (Nymex) oil futures market is generally open 23 hours per day. It closes for one hour from 4:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. Chicago time, but it also closes for most of the weekend. So we've still got many hours to go until the 4:00 p.m. Chicago time close on April 21, 2020, when CLK20 turns into actual oil deliveries in May.

WHOA, now US$3.54!

On edit: The primary reason Brent is holding above US$26/barrel is that it has already rolled over to the June, 2020, futures contract. We now have the largest gap between WTI and Brent futures ever recorded, both in absolute and percentage terms. However, it's reasonable to assume the prices will reconverge, and probably with Brent most taking the tumble. Also, I think the CME doesn't allow a negative WTI price. I'm checking multiple sources and there's disagreement on that point.
 
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