Mainly to spend more time with my girlfriend, I took a job based in Shanghai, China, starting August. I expect my stay there to be around one year. In the meantime, because I was told that blogspot.com may be blocked from Mainland China, I'll switch to http://bpm4u.blog.tianya.cn/ for the time being.

For the past few weeks, dollar has rallied and commodities have been under pressure. I don't know whether this is a trend, especially when the US housing market is still in a terrible situation. When ommodities price ease, so does inflation pressure, and the Fed will have less incentive to up rates, which is USD negative. I'm currently long on EUR/USD.

My stock portfolio now contains CVTX, MO, HAL, OI, BP, C, SWN, SGP, PEP, MCD, HGM, EPD, WM, BE, FNM, and ChalCo. FNM may be in dire situation, which is also USD negative. PEP is more of a hedge on lower energy prices. RTN and MOT were closed when the underlying calls got assigned, turning a profit.