Had the good fortune of others paying for my expensive travel desire of late.
On the travel side went with my favourite, Singapore, which came out in the top 5 rankings the other week, (Cathay, QATAR and a couple of others not too fussed about), QANTAS and Emirates were well back!
On the observation side a number of points stood out:-
1)Australia was in the global press due to the stupid RSPT. Overseas editors could not believe how dumb this move has been;
2)The US still believe they are masters of the universe;
3)There is a growing Chinese backlash in SE Asia which I find a bit surprising. A number of countries do not want to bend over to Chinese investment. Reasons given related to treatment of local workers, lack of cultural respect and no add on financial benefits.
4)Gold was consitently on the financial news for the first time that I have noticed in decades. Sure it may get an occassional reference, but this was systematically covered on CNBC, CNN, BBC.
This last point I find very interesting, particularly as gold is such a "miner/minor"(?) part of the market these days.
I have only gold exposure plus cash in the cupboard at the moment. This re-affirmed my current thoughts as to uncertainty.
May do some quick June trades should tax loss selling create one or two opportunities, otherwise will keep accounts relatively simple for the superannuation personnage.
