Andrew West

Have you ever noticed how little you hear about the Philippines market in these days? When was the last time you heard about a hot stock tip from that country? The Philippines contains a lot of people, about 72 million in fact, and it also has reasonably good...

Back in 1998, the big question in Japan was which, if any, of Tokyo's big banks could escape collapse. Burdened by massive, non-performing loans, and holding assets (like Tokyo real estate) that had plunged in value, Japan's big banks were in a serious crisis. Though...

Last Wednesday, 15 March 2000), a Thai bankruptcy court declared that Thai Petrochemical Industry Plc., (TPI) was insolvent. Thai investors, while hardly jubilant, were likely to be relieved about one thing: a Thai company can no longer refuse to pay back creditors...

Covering International equities over the last decade has been an interesting experience. Emerging markets in Asia and Latin America have gone through a couple of rounds of boom and bust, compressing into a few short years as much euphoria and desperation as most...

A lot of friends who dabble in the stock market have been calling me lately to pick my brain about this or that Internet stock. Of course, any word of caution or concern I express over lofty valuations invariably falls on deaf ears. God forbid I actually say anything...

Stock market indexes and market leadership has been growing increasingly concentrated in a small number of stocks and sectors. Professional portfolio managers often react to this market concentration by allocating more money to fewer stocks, reducing their...

I've worked as an equity analyst and portfolio manager for about eight years now, focusing on international markets. The question that I and most others in my profession are constantly asking ourselves is, "is the market wrong about this?" As a general rule, I think...

In my last article, I talked about the contradictory nature of the economic theories representing various schools of thought, and the fact that some of the most useful theories, those of the Supply-side school, are receiving the least amount of attention. Many of the...

The rate hike by the Federal Reserve has spurred a lot of discussion and a lot of disagreement about inflation and the economy. While differing opinions in economics have always been a reality, I thought it would be a good idea to clear the air a bit and go over the...

Political news shook Taiwan's economy last week. The tumultuous chain of events began with a cancelled power project, led to a cabinet shakeup, a warning to investors, and then a run on the stock market. Afterwards, Taiwan 's recently elected President Chen Shui-bian...

Government leaders have, for centuries, bemoaned the imagined ills of trade deficits. Kings of ancient yore endeavored to achieve surpluses to fund their wars. Dictators of all stripes have carefully sheltered their economies from foreign goods. Because of this...

As a global equity analyst, I have been faced of late with many questions concerning "DOW 10,000". Investors are curious about the importance of this number, and whether it is an indication of good economic news. For those of you pondering the same issue, I offer my...

"A lot of what keeps some economies immune is the fact that people think they're immune. Believing makes it so. And that's very good." - Paul Krugman, MIT Economist A dangerous notion is currently gaining credence among global policy-makers: perception "creates"...

This quarter the Clinton administration played the "good cop/bad cop" game. US chief trade representative, Charlene Barshefsky, was the bad cop, menacing Japanese steel producers with threats of punitive measures for "dumping". Robert Rubin played good cop, publicly...

England's Tories, following the dubious example set by their US Republican counterparts, seem to have also concluded that standing on principle is politically inexpedient. The Tories recently chose to celebrate the twentieth anniversary of Margaret Thatcher's first...

Some months back the World Bank issued a report titled "Global Economic Prospects 1998/1999". The report's foreword, written by Joseph Stiglitz, World Bank Chief Economist, is demonstration of how statists blame capitalism and free-markets for the disatrous effects of...

"An almost hysterical antagonism toward the gold standard is one issue which unites statists of all persuasions. They seem to sense, perhaps more clearly and subtly than many consistent defenders of laissez-faire, that gold and economic freedom are inseparable, that...

Accounting is no fun to me. In business school, it struck me as the dullest and most tedious part of the curriculum. Throughout the Chartered Financial Analyst program, accounting studies kept me up past an acceptable bedtime. So while I'm proud to say that I'm no...