6月的最后一天。早上大雨滂沱。阴雨的天气已经持续一个半月了，即使在夏季多雨的季节也有些出乎寻常。听人说今年是这个城市100多年来连续降雨量最多的一年，我打了个哈欠，望着车窗上忙个不停的雨刷暗想，今年已有这么多不寻常的事情发生，还真有些让人数得顾此失彼了。
The Observatory has just annouced to hoist Typhoon No.8 tonight. Much looking forward to it and hope it will last until tomorrow, (oops) so we dont need to come to work, financial markets will be closed and kids dont have to go to schools etc. It was actually a somewhat strange feeling to longing for a storm....But it seems that to wake up with a Typhoon Signal No 8 early in the morning was a small humble hope for many people work and study in the city every summer - so people could have a bonus "break" at home for an official excuse.
Storms at work seems to be underway too. UBS shares went up today as European markets opened as rumors resurfaced that HSBC is bidding for UBS. The market talk started one year ago and looks like it is not entirely 空穴来风.
A co-worker sent me this article today - It seems our job are among the most vulnerable types in an industry that is already very fragile... The first piece of news I read today was that Citigroup will further trim 10% of its investment bank workforce.....looks like bad news are still unfolding... ===================== NEW YORK, June 20 (Reuters) - U.S. investment banks are thinning the ranks of their specialty sales staffs as they look for ways to cut costs without limiting future revenue potential. Specialty sales staff, who typically explain complicated products to the marketers that deal directly with private banking clients, are often seen as more expendable because they don't deal directly with customers, experts said. Morgan Stanley <MS.N> has recently laid off marketers who focused on pitching bonds with embedded derivatives to private bankers, who would in turn sell the securities to wealthy clients, people familiar with the matter said. Other banks have taken similar steps recently, according to recruiters. Experts said specialty marketers are the sales staff most likely to be laid off. At investment banks that have large brokerages and private banks, these sales teams can make up to around 60 percent of an equity derivatives division, while the numbers might be closer to 20 percent at investment banks that have smaller retail banking networks. "When you need to ratchet down costs, you are loath to do anything to the people closest to clients, because you don't want to injure that revenue stream in any way. The further away you are from that relationship, the greater the risk of your being laid off," said Michael Holland, founder of Holland & Co, which oversees more than $4 billion of assets in New York. This sentiment has been echoed by Merrill Lynch <MER.N> Chief Executive John Thain. Thain said in a conference call discussing first quarter earnings that the firm is reducing headcount by 10 percent - excluding its financial advisors. Retaining this "industry leading team" is seen as crucial, said Nelson Chai, Merrill's chief financial officer. Financial institutions globally are facing pressure to cut costs after more than $400 billion of asset writedowns have triggered big quarterly losses, or at least reductions in profits. According to outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas, the financial sector announced more than 65,000 layoffs in the first five months of 2008, after announcing more than 150,000 layoffs in 2007. In the spring, Morgan Stanley wound down an internal sales group of around two dozen, including two senior managing directors, Jean Paul Armenio and Marie Mole, a person familiar with the matter said. Morgan Stanley declined to comment about specific downsizing, but said it is always evaluating its staffing. ======================
A sunny weekend is finally here after weeks of depressive rains. K and I decided to make our Saturday busier to take advantage of the good weather. We played tennis and then drove to Sai Kung to have a late lunch. And then I had an haircut, after which the sunset was already behind us.
The real interesting thing happened in the evening. We took a bus to Kowloon City to have dinner but somehow forgot to get off at the correct stop. On the way walking back to the dinner place, K suddenly stopped at a kiosk that I would normally never pay attention to. He stood there for a few seconds with some "strange" smile on his face. And then I saw a familiar face inside the kiosk. It was T, K's good childhood friend, who has semi-retired for a few years from his own business. After their conversation for a few minutes, I got to know that T is now back to work again and he is very excited about it - he just opened this barbeque 串烧 kiosk this week! The funnier thing is, if we didn't get off from the wrong bus stop, we probably wont be able to find his kiosk so easily - it was located in a relatively quiet street that I haven't been to before.
For the next 2 hours we stood in front of T's kiosk and discussed about his business plan. It was one of the most interesting discussions I have had in the recent months, and I felt quite excited too as we talked about T's expansion plans in the next a few years. There is for sure uncertainty as how profitable or sustainable this new business will be, but it seems this is a fun start and T is very motivated to make it a success...
At almost 10pm we said good-bye to T with a promise to pay more visits to his kiosk....Walking under the neon lights I seem to understand this city a bit better now....
How have you changed in the past year?
Submitted by littleduckling.
Many would agree 2008 has been an unusual year. The same applies to me and prompts me to start blogging to record what has been happening in life and how my thoughts have been like. Welcome to Kiterunner's Wonderland!
