fantastic !

@Lisa_Llama , Singapore has got my interest due to its pro-business, low tax setup. I think company tax there is 18%, they also don't re-tax income that has already been taxed. So if a company pays a dividend, I as the receiver am not liable to pay any tax on that dividend. I have more research to do, but my initial research seems to indicate that I would be able to collect dividends inside a corporate structure over there and reinvest them with no tax liability.

I've also identified a group of stocks that are paying decent dividends to that end, some of which have seen recent share price pullbacks that at initial analysis seem to offer reasonable chances for capital growth.

I'm actually traditionally very pro-bank, which has been a very unpopular stance that's stood me in good stead, believe me I don't say they look 'unattractive' lightly. I do wonder if there will continue to be price appreciation from here due to the need for income, zombie ETF investing, etc., but on the matrix I use to pick stocks I'm not confident that I'd buy more. That said, I'm not rushing to sell my existing large holdings accumulated at those better metrics.

My, admittedly broad, statement regarding the sectors is pretty much how I see the Australian market at this point in time, and it is sadly a very pessimistic view right now.

The US economy and markets, based purely on scale and historical performance, I have begun to think offers much better potential growth and with our currency finally appreciating a little, I'm looking to leverage the otherwise negatives of our current and likely ongoing interest rate rises to deploy more capital over there.

@tomsmithidg, I share your pessimism about the immediate future of Australia, but it is still the best country to live in, by a country mile. Of course, it is very possible to have your assets elsewhere. 

Here’s one example I am investigating (and it’s a DYOR, naturally) - the Asia Frontier Fund based out of Hong Kong. They invest in Asia-centric countries that have large populations of relatively young people. Think of countries like Vietnam, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and Bangladesh (the second largest garment maker in the world, after China).

They perform a rigorous top-down macro assessment of country stability, then look for larger, well-established, high-quality businesses they can acquire at PE multiples of around 8 to 10. Hard to find in Australia these days. The proof is in the pudding: the annualized volatility factor has been a low 10.6% since inception, compared with 13.6% for the MSCI World Index and 16.7% for the MSCI Emerging Markets Index. Plus, a 20.9%pa return isn’t too shabby a record, and I believe the best is still in front of them, given the demographics of the countries in which they invest.

If you wanted to invest in individual companies in Asia, I would also suggest looking into an investment service called Asian Century Stocks. That said, the advice freely shared on Strawman by smart investors is very, very hard to beat.  

G'day Tom,

As you'd imagine I don't have anything bad to say about Singapore, having lived here for 19 years now. Despite starting my career at H&R Block in 1999 my Tax knowledge for Aus is well out of date, however as I understand it and apply it to myself we are taxed on our Tax Residency.. So if an SG company pays you a Divi you will be taxed in Aus.. you would be allowed to offset the tax you've paid in Singapore, but that is Zero.. so nothing to offset.

For me it's the reverse.. My Dividends from Aussie holdings come with Imputation Credits, but I forfeit them and they do not carry forward. So I "pay" more tax than most Aussies, that's my argument when my Brothers accuse me of being a tax dodger and I'm sticking to it. lol

If I was the Treasurer one loop hole I would close is that under the Double Taxation Agreement signed in 1969 I'm also taxed in Singapore on Capital Gains from Australia, which also happens to be set at Zero. Turnbull closed the loophole on non-residents not paying CGT on Real Property in Aus, but we are still not taxed on Shares, which is crazy. I made a motza buying FMG at $4 and selling it at $28 so actually paid for advice from a Tax Advisor to ensure I was on firm ground.

I don't make the rules, I just play by them.

You could always move to Singapore!!

Cheers

JM

A move to Singapore is on the cards mate, I love it there, just not keen on the humidity. My wife worked there for 2 years while I was posted in East Timor, so we experienced first hand Australian's double tax dipping. As I said, more research is required, but I think a corporate entity in Singapore earning the money and reinvesting it over there would not count as income for me in Australia so long as no dividend is paid to me as a shareholder. Company buys the shares, earns the dividends, reinvests the dividends = no earnings for me as an individual, or at least that is the hope.

@PortfolioPlus , thanks mate. I've got to tell you that I was in Budapest recently and Hungary looks like a pretty nice place to live. One of the cleanest cities next to Singapore I've ever visited. No trash, no graffiti, no homeless anywhere in sight. Beautiful architecture, friendly people, amazing parks and some of the towns outside Budapest around Lake Balaton are even more beautiful.

For a long time I'd agree with you that Australia is the best country to live in, and certainly it is still much better than most other places (particularly if you're a taker not a contributor), but I'm no longer sure that it is the 'best place' to live in.

@tomsmithidg Australia lagging ..they not making Australia Great! from a share market perspective.. Government not able to incentivise Productivity..

anyhow done a chart:

Shows the NASDAQ outpermance 134% the 7 techs - Nvidia, Meta, (invest in US Tech , Semiconductors etc)

Australian Resources, Materials 43% BHP, RIO (invest in Australian Resources)

XJO200 24%

Asx200 Info Tech -5% underperformance in the same period ...Ouch

*Chart Range weekly

Hyper ventilating is asx Healthcare down -42% the sentiment has left the room here! ..fellows

maybe a opportunity once the crowd returns from the tech ideas..

Interesting chart from Intelligent Investor, comparing the Top 20 ASX to the next 180. Normally the next 180 outperform, but recently have greatly underperformed:

Webinar here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pG48h5UmqEQ&t=4s

I've been following Intelligent Investor for over two decades, going back to Steve Johnson and Greg Hoffman.

Regretfully, I must mark their performance as a solid C+ (with a few major clangers & value destroyers, like Timbercorp)...BUT... for the first time in many years, I do believe they are onto something, and a few of their graphs show the folly of the divergence between growing income and a depreciating PE ratio. The "best buying opportunity in over twenty years" is a big claim... but they are onto something. A Video worth watching.

I haven't seen this much red on my portfolio for a long time. I finally bit the bullet and sold out of a share (MYR) that was down over 48% to minimise the 'opportunity cost'. I had made a miscalculation buying MYR, firstly putting too much stock in Solomon Lew buying acquiring a large stake and secondly (and more embarrassingly) completely misreading a figure and date, thinking myself very clever buying when I did when in fact I was a moron.

I always find it hard crystalising a large loss, but having listened to @Strawman bang on ad nauseam about opportunity cost, and with my anticipation of a coming recession that is likely to smash companies like MYR, I clenched my teeth and got it done. It was made a bit easier as it will offset some decent capital gains this year and there are a couple of my high conviction companies (like GNC) that are well down on price and about to go ex-dividend. Here's hoping I do a bit better on this 'tactical' decision and I'll put down the loss as a valuable lesson.

Another interesting discussion about Aussie small caps and their undervaluation to the ASX100, this time from Blackwattle:

"the entry point for Australian small caps today is around the most compelling we have seen in the last decade, at a moment when the conditions that sustained the discount are easing."

Australian small caps: the widest valuation discount in a decade - Robert Hawkesford | Livewire

@tomsmithidg My fear is the Reserve Bank’s effort to rein in inflation does not work, interest rates rise, productivity falls and we enter into a period of recession/stagflation. I’ve been implementing a few strategies to hedge against this:

Selling Overpriced Shares

We have already sold most of our bank shares CBA, NAB and WBC. We sold WOW when the price climbed above its valuation. We have reduced CDA, DUR and at high valuations.

Eliminating all Debt

In our personal accounts we had drawn down on some of our investment home loans to leverage into more shares. That debt has now been totally offset and we have surplus cash in a UBank Saver account.

Increasing Cash Reserves

With interest rates on the rise and the shares still relatively expensive, cash is looking like a good option. I’m holding more cash now IRL than I ever have (10% in our SMSF with a Rabobank saver account).

There are some very attractive interest rates for reward saver type accounts, and these are likely to lift another 0.5% this year. From 12 May UBank (digital subsidiary of NAB) are offering a 4 month bonus rate on a Save Account at 5.85%, dropping back to 5.1% ongoing, provide you increase the balance monthly. The funds are fully accessible.

Switching into undervalued recession resilient businesses

We have invested some of the proceeds from overpriced shares into underpriced recession resilient businesses. I’m wary of retail in the current economic climate and further reduced a small holding in Super Retail Group today on the flat results. I think Universal Stores is more resilient and would add more under $7.

If I add more shares going forward, they need to be profitable, well undervalued, preferably pay a dividend and have some resilience in a recession. I don’t think there’s a hurry to buy any shares. ‘Cash is king’ while the market is showing virtually no signs of pricing in a recession, especially in the US.

Lottery businesses

Historically, government lotteries often:

• stay relatively stable,
• grow slowly,
• or even increase modestly during economic downturns.

This is because lotteries are generally viewed by many consumers as:

• a low-cost form of entertainment, and
• a “small chance at a big change” during financial stress.

My pick here is Jumbo Interactive (JIN). I think JIN is one of the most undervalued quality businesses on the ASX. It is likely to pay a 5.6% fully franked dividend (8% gross yield) at a 60% payout ratio and ROE over 30%.

Distressed Debt Businesses

These are the risks in a recession and why businesses like Credit Corp do well:

• Defaults start rising → more debt available for sale
• Banks/lenders offload portfolios → better buying opportunities
• Prices for debt ledgers fall → higher returns on capital

The CCP trading update today showed evidence in the US of all three of these indicators heading toward a sweet spot for the business.

On Capital Gains Tax Reform

Phasing out the 50% reduction in capital gains tax will have a negative impact on low dividend, zero franking, high growth stocks. We will be looking for business that grow, but also pay out generous fully franked dividends. Keeping in mind that somewhere down the track all growth will be taxed in full, so in effect you could be handing 45% of your gains over to the Australian Government. Tax considerations will become even more important in the valuation and selection of shares.

These are just a few strategies I’ve been implementing. Open to other thoughts and ideas.

Thanks @Rick , I have held JIN before but sold out a while ago, I'll have another look, and similarly took a small position in CCP recently, which is already up 8%. I am not super comfortable with it as an investment though from an ethical business model perspective which has prevented me from taking a large position. Thanks for the suggestions.

I will probably decrease my bank holdings, I am comfortable with the returns on the metrics I purchased at and I'm unsure whether there is more growth or a possible decline in values so I'll likely hedge my bets, but I'll be waiting on them first going ex-dividend and for the next financial year to manage the tax implications.

I've also already moved more to cash, I'm with ING, 5.25% at the moment.

Thanks again for the reply and suggestions mate.

Saturday 6th June 2026: I'm still sticking to investing only in ASX-listed Australian companies, mostly because there is a limit to my bandwidth and I just can't stay on top of what's happening overseas enough to stay comfortable with overseas investments. There is one exception which is that I have a small investment in the Global Semiconductor Manufacturers ETF SEMI, and that one has had a brilliant run of late, but looks to be heading south on Tuesday (after our "Kings Birthday" public holiday in every state except QLD and WA).

That's market movements for the past week, and I've taken it from Marcus Padley's MarcusToday Saturday weekly wrap email (see here: https://marcustoday.com.au/).

Here's some of the headlines:

Wall St sold off hard on Friday, ending a nine-week winning streak. Dow Jones down 695 points (down 780 at worst). S&P 500 down 2.64%. Nasdaq down 4.18% - its worst day since April 2025. The SOX was the epicentre, down over 10% - its worst single day since March 2020, wiping more than $1T in market value. Other tech sectors down but not quite as nasty. SaaS down 3.6%. Mag7 down 3.8%. VIX jumped 39.7% to 21.51 in a blink.

The trigger was a blowout May jobs report. The US economy added 172,000 jobs - more than double the ~85,000 consensus - while unemployment held steady at 4.3%. The strong read all but killed hopes of a Fed rate cut and revived rate hike fears. Markets are now pricing a 42.7% chance of a hike by December. The US 2Y yield jumped 10.2bp to 4.15%, the 10Y up 5.9bp to 4.54%. AUD fell 1.28% to 70.42 US cents.

Selling was concentrated in the high flyers - semis and AI names. Nvidia down 6.2%, AMD down 10.9%, Micron down 13.3%, Intel down 11.3%, Broadcom down 7.9%, Qualcomm down 11.0%. No single catalyst was cited beyond the poor Broadcom result/guidance the night before, stretched valuations, and the rates shock amplifying an already overbought sector. Big tech broadly weak - Apple down 1.2%, Microsoft down 2.7%, Alphabet down 1.0%. Trump flagged interest in the US government taking equity stakes in leading AI developers, with meetings with AI executives potentially as soon as next week.

--- end of excerpts ---

My thoughts: Yeah, nah, it's all about perspective, so sometimes it's best to zoom out and look at what's happening today or this past week as a small part of what's happened over longer periods of time. For instance, let's take TSMC (Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., Ltd.) as an example, the largest semiconductor manufacturer in the world.

Down -20% in a single day. Time to get out of chip companies!

Or, we could zoom out and have a look at that -20% daily SP fall in the context of a period of time as short as the past 6 months:

OK, they're STILL up +58% in the past 6 months.

Over the past 12 months they're still up +137.69%:

Perspective.

It matters.

MT said: Trump flagged interest in the US government taking equity stakes in leading AI developers, with meetings with AI executives potentially as soon as next week.

Is that more likely to be bullish or bearish for the world's largest semiconductor chip makers? Bullish obviously.

Now I am well aware that there can be a chasm between what Trump says he's going to do, or what's going to happen, and reality, but the facts remain that everything that's happening in the world in terms of global megatrends depend on more and better computer chips. There's going to be winners and losers clearly, but the largest and most efficient chip designers and manufacturers are not going to have shrinking businesses going forwards, they're only going to be busier.

In the specific case of TSMC (TPE: 2330), they're own future will depend a great deal on if and when China invades (or "annexes") Taiwan, and how the rest of the world chooses to act in response to that aggression, but I put that into the "macro concerns over which I have zero influence, control or insight" basket, and I try not to worry about such things. If we end up in World War Three my SEMI ETF performance is likely to be fairly low on my priorities list at that point in time anyway.

So, yeah, I'll use ETFs for global exposure and I'll stick to the ASX for my direct investments outside of ETFs, and the only ETF I currently own is SEMI, because I can't see anything derailing that thematic any time soon, despite some significant daily volatility such as what we've seen in the past 24 hours.

Saturday 13th June 2026: One week on from my last post in this thread where I waxed lyrical about SEMI, the (ASX-listed) ETF that holds the world's largest semiconductor chip manufacturers and designers and has had a phenomenal run in recent months.

Here's Marcus Padley's table/graph this morning (from his MarcusToday Saturday weekly wrap email) that shows how markets fared over the past week:

MARKETS LAST WEEK

That gulf between AI enablers and companies that could potentially become AI victims is still widening - with the Mag7 still underperforming (down -2.41%) and the Semiconductor companies index up +9.42% for the week, being by far the best performing sector globally last week.

Disclosure: SEMI remains my only current ETF exposure, and also my only exposure to companies that are not ASX-listed. It's a small exposure unfortunately (0.64%), wish I'd gone a lot harder when I bought in a few months back.

My main exposures remain to Australian gold producers, explorers and project developers (most of my positions, around 67% of my total share market exposure), followed by Australian Engineering companies exposed mostly to gold and copper mining (GNG & LYL, total: 23%) followed by copper companies (6%), the SEMI ETF (0.64%), and the remaining 3.36% (approx) invested in a small bunch of other precious metals (silver, PGMs; mostly palladium), other base metals, and strategic metals such as rare earths, antimony, tungsten and niobium companies.

I did also recently hold a small position in a tin exposure (SRZ) but I sold that after MLX (Metals X) acquired a blocking stake in SRZ (Stellar Resources), which makes near-term M&A less likely now in my opinion with MLX remaining the obvious buyers and probably being in no rush to do that any time soon now that they have their foot in the door and can stop anyone else from taking over SRZ because they already own about 16% of SRZ.

Some of those exposures overlap, so my two antimony exposures are current gold producers already (BC8 and ALK) so I don't give any weighting to the antimony exposure in those two companies; I consider those two to be gold exposures with antimony as possible additional future upside.

So that's just a rough guide based on Friday's closing share prices. Wish I held more SEMI, but I find it difficult to buy something - or more of something - that has had such a sharp price increase recently - usually preferring to add more on a pullback - if we get one.

20th June 2026: One week on:

[The following tables in this post are all for the past 5 trading days, i.e. the past week]

Semiconductors still killing it.

The Poms have got their own issues with the UK Defence Secretary John Healey resigning on June 11th following a severe dispute with Prime Minister Keir Starmer over military funding. Healey stated that the Treasury’s proposed Defence Investment Plan (DIP) fell well short of the financial resources required to handle rising global threats and modernize the armed forces. I'm not saying that's the sole reason why the FTSE lagged every other share market or index over the past week, but it didn't help.

Background (courtesy of Google AI):

The United Kingdom's Secretary of State for Defence, John Healey, resigned on 11 June 2026 due to a severe dispute over military funding. In a highly publicised resignation letter to Prime Minister Keir Starmer, Healey explicitly cited an inadequate financial settlement in the government's long-delayed Defence Investment Plan (DIP). [1, 2]

Healey stated that the proposed funding allocation fell "well short of what is required for defence and the country at this dangerous time". He was followed hours later by the Armed Forces Minister, Al Carns, who also resigned in protest. [1, 2, 3]

Core Reasons Given for the Resignation

• Inadequate Funding Levels: Healey argued that the treasury-backed plan, which targeted a 2.68% of GDP budget by 2030, fell short of the required 3% needed to address modern geopolitical threats. [1]
• "Backloaded" Budget Spending: Healey criticized the plan for delaying major funding, arguing it failed to address the urgent need to accelerate military readiness within the immediate next two years. [1, 2, 3]
• Political Blame on Leadership: In a letter quoted in and, Healey pointedly blamed both Prime Minister Starmer and the Treasury for being unwilling to commit necessary resources to national defense. [1, 2, 3]
• Risk to National Security: He warned that the underfunded plan would force a reduction in the readiness of UK forces and increase risks to personnel on operations. [1, 2]
• Imminent Geopolitical Threats: Healey referenced intelligence regarding NATO assessments that Russia could be ready to attack an ally as soon as 2030. [1, 2]

Wider Implications for Defense Capabilities

The dispute underscores the conflict between ambitious defense goals and strict fiscal limitations. Analysts suggested the proposed spending plan, as discussed in, could challenge the sustainability of major initiatives like AUKUS and the GCAP fighter program. [1, 2, 3]

Following these developments, Prime Minister Starmer appointed Dan Jarvis to replace Healey, defending the original funding strategy as a sustainable approach. [1, 2, 3]

--- end of Google stuff ---

With the USA's changed posture towards European defence, which has prompted the major European economies to increase defence spending and no longer rely so heavily on the US to provide the major military deterrent for bad actors in their region of the world, it's a bad look for the UK Defence Secretary and the Armed Forces Minister to both resign over inadequate funding for defence in the UK budget.

Germany and France in particular have stepped up to the plate, and UK is expected to do the same, but it looks like the UK is falling well short of what is required. This is why we see PM Starmer being so anti-Russia's-shadow-oil-fleet over the past week, trying to appear tough on defence and backing Ukraine without actually spending any extra money on the isssue - just using the UK's existing resources to be more pro-active about dealing with sanctioned ships sailing through UK waters instead of ignoring them.

From what I've been reading and watching, these resignations could be a severe blow for the Starmer government, at least under him as the UK PM. More here: UK Telegraph: Ukraine: The Latest: Ukraine destroys key bridges to 'strangle' occupied Crimea | Russia-Ukraine latest war news [12th June 2026] plus UK Telegraph: Ukraine: The Latest: Russian ships 'flee' after British forces seize shadow fleet tanker | Russia-Ukraine latest war news [16th June 2026].

But other than the UK market, not a bad week for major global sharemarkets and another excellent week for the world's largest semiconductor companies.

Down here in Oz, 4 out of 5 of our largest banks had a decent week (WBC was flat) and a couple of healthcare stocks (CSL, Sigma) regained some ground, while ResMed lost some more, and BHP was doing OK until they announced a new $2 Billion cost blowout on their Jansen Stage 2 Canadian Potash project on Friday and fell 5.6%, so they ended the week down -2.4%, with RIO falling even further, down -3.8% for the week, most of that being due to Rio Tinto's -3.12% SP drop on Friday, a day in which most mining companies got sold down on concerns around increased interest rates in the US this year and a stronger US$.

Woodside led energy companies down as the MOU between the US and Iran got signed late in the week, and gold got sold down in the back end of the week after the US Fed (Federal Reserve) meeting left rates on hold but issued statements suggesting that the chances of US rates moving higher some time this year were now higher than they had previously been.

Despite the late-in-the-week negativity and selling, the Aussie gold sector still finished the past week +9% up, and was Australia's best performing sector, with Healthcare being the next best sector in terms of weekly performance.

The Aussie gold sector was however coming off a low base, with some major selling taking place from March through to early June, so the selling had been disproportionately higher than the drop in the gold price, and now that gold has stabilised somewhat, or at least the downward momentum has moderated, some bargain hunters have been buying back in again, in my opinion.

Our IT sector is so tiny, it's almost meaningless, but it's their largest sector in the US and here's how their major tech stocks performed last week:

IBM and Netflix worst, Micron Tech and TSMC best.

Tables Source: MarcusToday.com.au

I bit the bullet and topped up my SEMI (ETF) position @ $43.48/unit on Wednesday (17th, @ around midday) on what looked to me like a small pullback - I wanted a larger pullback in the price, but the damn thing has too much upward momentum and tailwinds, so I ended up deciding I was happy to top up at that price even though it was 45% higher than what I paid for my initial position in late April.

+45% is a decent rise in 7 weeks. And it rose further on Thursday (18th) and Friday (19th) also.

Over a week that might look choppy (above), but zooming out to one year (below), it looks pretty good:

So my motto has changed. It's now:

Gold and Semiconductors still looks good to me.

In my post here on Saturday I suggested that having his Defence Secretary (John Healey) resign on 11 June 2026 due to a severe dispute over military funding followed hours later by his Armed Forces Minister (Al Carns) also resigning in protest, could prove to be a fatal blow to Keir Starmer as UK PM.

What I actually said was: "From what I've been reading and watching, these resignations could be a severe blow for the Starmer government, at least under him as the UK PM."

News just out from the New York Times: (22nd June 2026): BREAKING NEWS (credit: Jaimi Joy/Reuters):

U.K. Live Updates: Starmer Announces Resignation as Prime Minister

Prime Minister Keir Starmer stepped down as leader of the governing Labour Party. His decision clears the way for Britain’s seventh prime minister in the last decade.

Source: https://www.nytimes.com/live/2026/06/22/world/uk-keir-starmer-resign?nl=breaking-news&segment_id=221889

2 hours ago:

U.K. Live Updates: Starmer Announces Resignation; Burnham Wins Key Endorsement

Prime Minister Keir Starmer stepped down as leader of the governing Labour Party. Andy Burnham, the party’s most popular politician, said he would seek the prime minister’s job and secured the support of a potential rival.

Saturday 27th June 2026: Semiconductors NOT the best place to be this past week:

In fact the worst sector globally, with the Mag7 not doing well either.

SEMI still looking good over 12 months however:

This (from MarcusPadley's Saturday email) may be of interest:

BEST AND WORST ETFS LAST WEEK - this list excludes fixed interest and boutique active ETFs run by fund managers.

I lead with this because it is the best way to pick up the market themes.

Healthcare and drug companies outperforming for a change!

He also said this:

• Gold up $62.24 (1.55%) to $4,088.23. Gold miners ETF (GDX) up 1.8%. Junior Gold ETF (GDXJ) up 2.4%.

That was the overnight report, not the weekly report.

Here's the weekly ASX sector movements:

He's forgotten to include gold, however the XGD (Aussie Gold Index) was down -6.94% over the past week, so that would make them the worst sector with Industrials (-5.19%) and Resources (-4.49%) not too far behind.

The gold price dropped below US$4,000/ounce in recent days, but it's back above that level again now. And above A$5,900, after getting just below A$5,800 in recent days.

Those graphs are just for the past 24 hours (1 day). Sentiment is swinging wildly in the gold sector currently, on a day-by day basis, and I reckon that US$4,000 level has a fair bit to do with it.

Gold and Semiconductors still look good to me.

Sunday 12th July 2026:

MARKETS LAST WEEK

Above: Mag 7 best, Chips (SEMI) 2nd best. Except TSMC which was down roughly -9% for the week.

Below: Miners down, Oil and crypto up a little. Also BUGG (cybersecurity) up a little (+2.5%)

Gold was the worst ASX sector last week, Materials/Miners second worst, Energy was the best sector.

Source: https://marcustoday.com.au/member/webpages/80_view-report.php?

Despite gold companies being sold down, the gold price is still holding up above US$4,000/ounce.

Back in the green over 30 days in both currencies. Maybe US$4,000 is a downside resistance level.

My strategy remains heavily overweight gold, with some SEMI in there as well, and a few E&C companies (GNG + LYL) that specialise in designing gold mills.

Oil is too hard. I can be wrong about gold shorter to mid-term and still be right longer term - I just have to be patient and hold my nerve.

That said, I'm starting to move out of the goldies who are in a downgrade cycle (PNR, possibly MEK, haven't made up my mind on MEK yet) and put more capital into the better run ones. Management is very important in gold companies!

Plenty of money being made in gold at these levels, and we should see that reflected in the majority of the August results across the sector, with the producers at least. The July quarter reports this month will tell us most of what we need to know anyway.